As expected, it was very difficult for me to get out of my pit this morning, not only because of the late night, but because of one cocktail too many. I didn’t want to go up to breakfast, so Trevor made me a coffee in the cabin and went off to breakfast on his own, bringing me back a bran muffin on his return.
It was nearly 10 o’clock before I sluggishly swung my legs over the side of the bed, and got up. Outside, we were disappointed to see that the sky and sea were still dull and grey, and there was an ever-present threat of rain. Also, instead of beginning our transit of the Kiel canal at eight o’clock as scheduled (it takes around eight hours for the full transit from the North Sea to the Baltic), the Balmoral was just at a stand-still, and we occasionally saw other vessels sailing past us.
After pottering around the cabin and taking an age to get ready, we heard Captain Steffan’s voice over the PA system, explaining to us that as only one of the locks on the canal was working properly, Balmoral was in a queue to enter the Brunsbuttle Lock (the first one) and there would be a delay. It shouldn’t affect our arrival time into Warnemünde, however.
For lunch today, they were holding a snack barbecue lunch at the poolside on Deck 7 at 12.30pm. We went up to the Palms Café just before 12, where I enjoyed a refreshing ginger ale with ice. Wandering out onto the deck where they were getting the BBQ stuff ready, we were happy to see that there was actually some blue sky and it was dry (althought it had been raining), but there was still a nippy little breeze if you weren’t on the lee side of the ship.
The ship’s orchestra and one of the resident singers were getting prepared to kick off the lunchtime deck party; by now I was quite hungry because all I had had was the muffin. When they announced that the barbecue was open, I was one of the first in the queue, and Trevor wasn’t far behind me. 🙂
I enjoyed a delicious home-made burger with cheese, tomato, onion and home-made salsa, accompanied by crisp salad. We ate it in the Palms because it was just that tad too cold on the outside decks. I washed it down with a large glass of cold water. I really needed to up my water intake today to try to compensate for all the alcohol yesterday!
We went outside when the music started up and stood for a while listening to the band and watching the musicians. It was amusing because the breeze would occasionally blow the pages of the music books backwards and forwards, while the musicians carried on trying to play. I didn’t hear any duff notes though, and several people were up dancing.
After lunch I returned to 6009 and decided to lie down for a while as I was still quite tired. Trevor went off to do some laps around the promenade deck as, by now, the Balmoral was on the move again, over five hours later than scheduled.
I watched the passing scenery for a while, out of our window. Finally, the sun was out, and we passed lots of greenery as well as attractive little dwellings at the canal side and, of course, other vessels. This is actually the third time we have transited the Kiel Canal on the way to the Baltic; the first time was on Caronia in 2002 and the last time was also on the Balmoral, in 2017 (when we did it in both directions). The locks are not very large and the Balmoral is probably the biggest vessel that can go through; other ships have to go around the top of Denmark to enter the Baltic.
Before venturing out, I decided to have a refreshing shower and wash and blow-dry my hair, as it was now around 4.00pm. Afterwards, I put on a black and yellow dress with open shoulders with which I decided to wear my Irregular Choice shoes called “Lady Bee”, which are shaped to look like a bee, with black and yellow stripes and a cute bug face, with antennae, at the front.
I wandered around the decks until I found Trevor, and we spent some time gazing at the scenery, looking at the other ships, and taking photographs. We could see another cruise ship coming; a quick look at MarineTraffic told us it was the Amadea. There was also another ship behind us; this one was a Royal Norwegian Navy minelayer ship Vale and many of her sailors could be seen on deck.
As the Balmoral drew abreast with Amadea coming the other way, she gave three long blasts on her foghorn, and was rewarded by Amadea giving three blasts back. I love it when ships do that. The passengers on each ship waved madly to each other as we passed. 🙂
Walking around the deck, I soon felt the inevitable spots of rain, and the heavens opened. It was a total waste of time blow-drying my hair because, by now, it was all over the place. Just as well I had brought a couple of wigs with me. 🙂
We – and several others – shot back into the Balmoral’s comfortable interior to get out of the rain; we had to content ourselves with watching out of the windows. In any case, it was nearly time to return to 6009 and start getting ready for dinner. We hoped we would have quick service tonight and be out of the Ballindalloch Restaurant in good time, so we could get into the Neptune Lounge for around eight o’clock, and hopefully bagsy a seat at the front.
The reason? Tonight, instead of any featured cabaret, the entertainments team were showing the 2024 Euros final, England versus Spain. We imagined that the place would be chock-a-block, so we wanted to ensure we had an unimpeded view of the big screen.
After dinner, therefore, Trevor hotfooted it to the Neptune Lounge to find a good seat, while I went to the loo. When I went to find Trevor, here we was, with another couple, at the centre front. Great! We were also joined by Sheila from table #109, who had brought an England flag to wave.
As usual, there was half an hour’s ballroom dancing from 8.00pm, and Trevor and I got up and did the Chicago Swing, the Rumba 1 and the White City Waltz.
As it happened, the lounge never did completely fill up (there were quite a few spare seats) but we shouldn’t have been surprised because, after all, there were a lot of Scottish passengers on this cruise, who were either not interested or who wanted Spain to win!
The game was not due to start until 9.00pm (European time) and, in the meantime, some of the entertainments team came around with picture quiz sheets showing the team badges of all the football teams that had taken part in the competition, and you had to guess what they were (with a maximum of six to a team). Trevor and I struggled, so I took a photo of our sheet and sent it, on WhatsApp, to two of our friends who know a lot about football, to see if they could help us out. 🙂
A few minutes later, they sent back their answers and we filled them in on the sheet before handing it in, with our cabin number 6009 on the back. The winner would receive a bottle of Fred Fizz as well as a Fred Olsen Cruise Lines goody bag. We technically only had four in our quiz team, so we hadn’t broken any rules. 😉
The match kicked off and the lights in the Neptune Lounge were dimmed. Waiters came around offering drinks and there were several football-themed cocktails on sail, as well as a finger buffet, the tables set up at the back of the lounge.
Half time came around and the scores were at 0-0 in what was, so far, a fairly lacklustre match. England had had their chances but then again so had Spain. We certainly didn’t look like a team who would win so far.
We enjoyed our drinks and chatting to the couple in front of us, everyone offering their opinion on the final score and who the goalscorer(s) might be. Then the lights dimmed again and the second half started.
A couple of minutes later, Spain were 1-0 up, the goal scored by Nico Williams. It seemed to wake up the Neptune Lounge as everyone started shouting unheard encouragement at the large screen. Every now and again we heard the words “Come on, Spain!” shouted out in a Scottish accent! A couple of times the screen froze and we were subjected to the ‘circle of doom’ while we waited for a better connection – this is the trouble with live-streaming on a ship.
In the 70th minute Gareth Southgate decided to make a substitution, and Cole Palmer was brought onto the pitch. Three minutes later he scored, accompanied by a large cheer in the Neptune Lounge – England 1 Spain 1.
So the game continued, with England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saving a couple of certain goals from Spain. It got to the 87th minute, when it looked as though the game was going to go to extra time, when Mikel Oyarzabal scored for Spain. 🙁
That was it, then. No further attempts on goal were made, and the final score was Spain 2 England 1. To be fair, the better team won.
The Scottish fans tried not to gloat as the England fans made their way dejectedly out of the Neptune Lounge. It was nearly 11.00pm now, but we just remained in our seats, talking to the couple in front and enjoying another drink, because there wasn’t any late-night entertainment on the ship tonight. In fact, it was about 11.30pm when we returned to 6009 as we had to be up at 7.30am tomorrow and we wanted to get a good night’s sleep.
As we made our way back to our cabin, a look out of the window on the way told us we were still going through the Kiel Canal, but it was wider here and we could see that we were almost into the Baltic Sea.
It was about midnight when we settled down and turned out the light. Tomorrow we were due to dock in Warnemünde, Germany, our first port of call, from where we would visit Berlin for the day. We slept very well, and looked forward to whatever the day would bring.