A fairytale island, life on board ship, and packing talk
The first stop on our Scandi/Baltic cruise was the town on Visby, on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. I think it’s a relatively new cruise stop, probably added after St. Petersburg (sob!) got taken off the itinerary for this cruise. I wasn’t even aware of Gotland, an island slightly smaller than Rhode Island, which is very popular for summer homes for Swedes. The town of Visby is charming, with its medieval wall around the city, and streets of colorful cottages with flowers spilling out of window boxes..
There is a colorful shopping district, and I was pleased to find clothing designed and produced in Gotland (although it was all sized for slender Swedes). We had a lovely wander through the lanes of cottages, climbing along the ancient wall, and stopping for a local brew in the sunshine.
There are LOTS of ruined churches in Visby – abbeys & cathedrals – the Black Death, invasions and the Reformation were hard on them…
We sailed aboard the Holland America Nieuw Statendaam, the same ship from our New England/Canadian adventures last fall. I think it was my 8th cruise, and I definately noticed changes from the decades past. The major emphasis is on selling alcohol, and all drinks have a 20% service charge built in. When you order a cocktail, most bartenders or waiters automatically ask if you’d like a double. While a gin & tonic was $10.25, a double was $25! Checking charges to your account daily, which you can do on the TV in your room, is really important. Service and food were excellent, and it’s a beautiful ship, spotlessly clean and in excellent repair. The value for money was untouchable. The cruise cost worked out to $150 each per day – equivalent of swanky hotel, gourmet food and travel of several thousand miles – can’t touch that any other way…
Our stateroom was perfect – with a balcony, in the middle of the ship and one floor below the buffet. We visited someone in one of the prized cabins off the back of the ship, and I found the propellers (or azipods as they’re named) to be too noisy for my taste. Our balcony was beautifully silent in calm waters.
Y’all know by now that I’m a planner, right? Who’s also particular about her clothes…so I get a little, um, HYPER-organized with my packing. Especially if I’m on a long trip with air travel and the need to pack light, I make up a spreadsheet where I list each day, the activities involved, what I’ll wear, if I’m changing for dinner or other reasons during the day, and what footwear. I make sure each piece is worn multiple times. This is done AFTER laying everything out on the bed first and seeing what will mix and match.
That worked out well as usual for this trip. Only one piece did not get worn at all, and that was because we didn’t eat as many nights in the dining room as we have in the past on a cruise. I also took a pair of heels that only got worn once, because I had trashed my feet (more dedicated foot-talk to come – I know you can’t wait…)
This is the first trip where I took more dresses than anything else, and no jeans! Emboldened by an unprecedented forecast of warm, dry and sunny days, my daily uniform was usually a linen dress, tennis shoes, and a denim jacket (either blue or white). And reader, this served me well.
I did take a pair of wide-legged white (! yes, but managed to keep them clean) jeans too. The jackets were good for cool mornings when we were some of the first off the ship, and being by the water. And you better believe I had a rain jacket, too, that got used on our only drizzly morning. I wish I’d had a lightweight tote, for carrying the jacket when it got warm and shopping. Note: you’re expected to have your own shopping bags in many European countries – your purchases are handed over in small paper bags, not big plastic ones.
With that much walking in dresses, I feared the dreaded “chub rub”, and invested in a pair of anti-chafing shorts. The Thigh Society model I chose was as soft and cooling as advertised, but did ride up, and I had to keep pulling the legs down. I have since gotten a pair from Snags, which does NOT ride up (yay) but is not quite as buttery soft. It’s definately a great product for summer, though, and I’ve got 2 more pairs coming from Thigh Society that are a 7″ instead of 5″, which I hope solves the problem.
Regarding life on board ship, this was the first trip we’d taken in a decade without other family members. We had a looser schedule that concentrated on our destinations, without a set time for dinner or feeling like we needed to see the show every night. Because we wanted to make the most of every destination, we were off the ship as early as possible and got back not long before the ship departed. Some days we were so tired and hungry, we descended upon the buffet, ate our fill and had an early night.
This was the first cruise where we made friends with other passengers. I struck up a conversation with Michelle by the pool our first afternoon at sea, and soon we were thick as thieves with her and her husband Chuck. After that, we would see each other a random places on shore, met for cocktails and dinner, went dancing one night, and generally had a great time together.
Because we didn’t have an assigned seating for dinner, we met other folks sharing tables in the dining room and in the buffet hall. It was fun seeing them throughout the ship and on shore (we’re both from the south, so we talk to strangers – or people we’ve just met). This cruise’s passengers were much younger and mobile, with far more European, Asian and South Americans than we’d seen on previous cruises to the Caribbean or Canada. There were still lots of 3-generation families, with grandparents having a ball being with their children and grandchildren. I think cruises are great for that.
So tell me if you’re a cruiser, where you’ve been and what kind of experiences you’ve had – and if you’d ever heard of Visby!?!?!
10 Comments
Suzanne
Hi MK, we have cruised about a dozen times, and when we cruised the Baltics with Princess a few years ago it was slightly cooler than the weather you enjoyed. My packing was a little different, with lightweight jeans, long-sleeve tees, vests, and a couple of sweaters being my base wardrobe. I like wearing GoWalks by Sketchers in any season and with just about anything from jeans to sundresses. Like you, my goal is to rotate my clothes and get the most from every item to keep the packing light.
When the cruise is port-intensive we often skip the shows, grab something at the buffet, and call it an early night in order to be up and out early. Transatlantic crossings are a lot more leisurely (lots of sea days) and we tend to take advantage of the ship’s amenities, including eating almost every meal in the dining room, visiting the casino, the shows, joining in for Trivia and late-night games.
We are both introverts (my husband more than me), but we enjoy conversations with like-minded folks, especially on the longer cruises. We met a couple on a 36-night cruise about ten years ago that we still get together with.
I love your Excel schedule and packing list. I’m old-fashioned and just lay everything out a week ahead and keep adding and taking away until I get it close enough. I do tend to narrow the color pallet to navy/black/white/beige and keep shoes to no more than four pairs.
I completely agree with your cabin selection. We usually go for mid-ship, balcony, far enough up to clear the lifeboats, but not too high where the motion becomes a problem. It all depends on the ship.
I have not heard of Visby, but it looks like a nice addition to the itinerary. I enjoyed this post, your accompanying photographs, and your style!
mkmiller
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Suzanne! I really liked reading about your cruise experiences. I would like to do a transatlantic, after I’m retired and have “all the time the world”, right? I suspect it won’t feel quite like that, but a girl can dream…
Jodie
Hyper organized??? Omg that’s even more OCD than me. 😜😜😜
But here’s me giving you a standing ovation for taking and wearing dresses!! I just think they are such a wonderful option.
That’s so interesting about the drinks on the ship. I guess it will save us money now that we really don’t drink although since we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary, we might have to have a drink or two.
And of course you talk to other people and met a wonderful couple. You are such a friendly and open-hearted person and I wouldn’t expect anything less.
I have to admit it is nice to have a more open schedule because then it really feels like a vacation.
Xoxo
Jodie
mkmiller
Jodie, we’ve decided the perfect itinerary for us would be 2 days of heavy sightseeing, then one “day off” with sleeping in and or pool, massage, etc. Hard to arrange for a cruise, but a goal, nevertheless. I saw that “uniform” of dress, sneakers, and hat everywhere we went!
Penny
Hi Mary, you’ll never believe it but I shall be going to Visby next year on a cruise called Scandinavian Islands! It was so interesting to hear about your life aboard ship and get your views on cruising. I’ve just returned from a cruise in southern Norway which had lovely weather too. But oh my word, your spreadsheet on what you were going to wear – just wow! I thought I was organised but you take the biscuit on organisation! And actually I probably should have done that myself as I took a dress that I didn’t wear although that was partly because I can see that the dress code is has changed over the years – not as dressy I’m sorry to say!
I adore cruising and this latest one was our 8th. We have experimented with various cruise lines including Holland America but your description of the price of drinks and how that is organised is very different to Saga, the cruise line we use. The reason being that unlike a lot of cruises there are no add ons whatsoever, You could go on a Saga cruise and never open your purse once. Because this is how they do it: the cruises are expensive but everything is included, and I do mean everything starting with picking you up from your door which is free if you say you are OK to share the car; then health insurance is included (so important once you are over 75, which we are) all drinks including spirits, some excursions, tips to the staff, plus all the specialised resturants and the afternoon tea – everything is free. I really like that as you know where you are with this cruise line. I love Saga and will always use it!
What a great post as it showed me your take on cruising and the cruise you went on – it was so interesting.
mkmiller
Wow, Penny – no one else seemed to have heard of Visby, including me! If it’s being added to more cruise iteneraries, I hope it can stay as unspoiled as it seemed this year. I’ll bet the folks with holiday homes there HATE the cruise ships stopping…Saga sounds fabulous, especially picking you up at your house! The more you can have included, the better, for sure. I’m looking at our next cruise going along the coast of Norway on the Hurtigruten route – everyone seems to be raving about Norway these days. I appreciate your cruise wisdom, friend.
Laura Fincher
Enjoyed this post! Impressed with your planning in your packing. (But then you are an expert event planner so I’m not surprised the love of details carrys over to other parts of your life.)
🙂
mkmiller
That’s very kind, Laura – thanks! You’re a pretty good planner yourself…
Jill James
Sounds like you had a wonderful time and I so enjoyed your photos. I have never been on a cruise and probably never will as it really holds no appeal for me. I prefer to do my own thing and so enjoy the planning .
My goodness you are so organised with your packing , I need to take notes as I am travelling to Europe for 10 weeks next month and the weather will be variable .
mkmiller
Wow, Jill – 10 weeks in Europe sounds like a dream! I would think the challenge would be not hating everything in your suitcase after 3 weeks. I’ll look forward to hearing all about it! I do have real mixed feelings about ocean cruising, but we did own thing at each port, thanks to plenty of research and planning – which I enjoy almost as much as the actual experience!