In 2018 LL & I took our first ocean cruise in years on Viking’s new ocean liner. We spent our first day in Barcelona, and one day was simply not enough to see everything (we did a Keystone Cops taxi tour of the major sights in town, with LL hopping out at each place to take photos before popping back into the cab – typical North American tourists). The next morning, as we should have been pulling into Monaco, LL pointed out that the sun seemed to be on the wrong side of the ship. Just then the captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker (tannoy) to announce that an engine, or propeller, or crank shaft, or something had broken, we were heading back to Barcelona, and the cruise was cancelled. Instead, we were to spend the next 12 days, courtesy of Viking, berthed in Barcelona – our cruise was free, all excursions were free, plus we got 50% towards our next cruise. Jackpot! While much of the rest of the ship’s passengers railed at the staff, or cried (seriously, people cried), or went home; LL & I looked at each other, grinned, and said, “Freebie!” We had the best two weeks in Barcelona exploring it properly (no taxi-hopping anymore). And we even signed up for the same cruise the following year (which turned out just great too).
Well, zip forward four years. I have always wanted to visit Denmark, particularly Copenhagen. I saw this cruise online and while it didn’t stop in Copenhagen, it did hit one Danish city; and as mentioned before, the cruise started out of Edinburgh.
I have enjoyed every stop so far. We have two cities left: Sassnitz Germany today, and Szczecin Poland tomorrow. I was particularly looking forward to Szczecin as it has two specific shops I wanted to visit, that I haven’t found in the UK or even northern France.
Well not so fast, Lainey. Yesterday afternoon the captain came over the tannoy (loudspeaker) to say that an engine, or propeller, or crank shaft, or something had broken and our cruise was being altered. It seems we are able to sail, just at much slower speeds. So today’s stop in Sassnitz is still on, but Szczecin has been cancelled and replaced by a day in Copenhagen. People seem to be reacting fairly well – no tears – we Scots are a stoic race – and while I’m bummed about missing those two shops in Szczecin, I get to go to Copenhagen.
My only worry: am I like those people who can’t wear watches because the watches always stop working on their wrist? Am I breaking ship propellers with some sort of electromagnetic force?