The day dawns brightly, making us very happy as we have a trek to and from both train stations today. We’ve been very lucky with the weather so far, and it seems to be holding for us today. After a quick breakfast, final organizing and tidying up the apartment, we hit the streets, dropping the keys in the mail slot for Dino and Marjan, then hauling the bags to the train station. We are early enough that we can sit and have a cappuccino (or cafe latte as the case may be) before hopping on our 10:30 train. Once again Renfe app to the rescue – everything is on the phone and so simple – we are aboard, luggage stored and on our way for the one hour trip to Amsterdam.

Arriving right on time (like clockwork) we make our way out of the train station and head toward to the port. A good 20 minutes later we are handing over our bags to the porters and hopping aboard our new home for the next 31 days. Stowing our backpacks and coats, we head down to the muster station (it is so great, we only need to watch the video on the tv and check in at the station, no lining up and all that rigmarole). As it turns out, our muster station is the main dining room, which just happens to be open now for lunch. Well, why not? We’re right here. Best decision of the whole cruise! We are 1 of only 2 tables, and we meet Kadek, who will become our waiter for the entire rest of the cruise, every time we are in Aqua which is where he is stationed. We hit it off immediately, talking about Bali and that we will visit there in February. Turns out he lives 10 minutes from where we are staying and he says he will hook us up with this wife and brother who will be there when we are. So sweet.

After a fabulous lunch, that we lingered over far longer than we would normally, talking to Kadek, we head back to the cabin, find one of our bags, start to unpack, get worried our other bag hasn’t come, scour the hallways, it finally shows up, unpack completely, get our bearings (this ship is a carbon copy of the Star, so we’re pretty sure we know where everything is), then hit the gym before sailaway. But, um, no, there is no sailaway today. As we are in the gym, the captain comes on with some very important news – there is a weather system in the North Sea causing very strong winds, which makes it unsafe for us to sail tonight. Thus, we are staying overnight in Amsterdam and adjusting our itinerary accordingly.

Well, accordingly means changing our itinerary completely! We are still going to Brugges, just one day late, then instead of Scotland, we will now be staying on the south of the British Isles, adding Dover and Liverpool. Bummer! We were very much looking forward to going to the Orkney Islands as well as revisiting Edinburgh. Poop. Nothing we can do about it – just re-plan our adventures! And cancel our pre-bookings! Thank God for T-Mobile data!

Our first evening then begins – at port – with dinner with Kadek in Aqua, Much preferable on this ship, nothing like the craziness on RCL. But then again, there’s no comparison really. There are 11 dinner venues on this ship, so you really can’t compare. No matter. We’re happy. 

Hit the theater for the show – a singer tonight – checking out different seats. We have 30 days to find the perfect perch for shows. Think we’ll be fine. Drinks at O’Sheehan’s then off to the cabin to plan for our unexpected day in Amsterdam