This is one of my favorite ports to go to. Not because it is so special with what there is to see and do but because the cooperation with everybody here is so friendly and well organized. Also the locals have a very warm heart for the maritime world so it is always a “Can-do” situation instead of “this might not work because………..” The biggest reason that we call at Warnemunde is the option to take the train to Berlin for a full day tour. The train leaves early in the morning and returns an hour before departure. The important thing is that the train leaves before the commuter trains start running and thus it is my task to arrive ahead of schedule. So I did this morning. Official arrival time is 0700 but I had the gangway out by 06.20, which gave the local officials ample time to clear the ship and shore excursion enough time to march the troops to the train and get them away on time. All worked out, the train was ahead of any other train on the rails and the people had a good day in Berlin.

The person who also had a good day was the Chief Officer. For most of our past cruises we were docking in ports were no maintenance was allowed at all and in the ports where it was, we could not get any sky lifts or cherry pickers. Now we are back in the Baltic we have ports where we can work and where cherry pickers are available. We had ordered one for this call; but when we saw two standing on the dock side, it only took five minutes to rent the 2nd one as well. Although it was a Sunday, it also took the agent only 10 minutes to get the owner to the ship. (That is so nice about Warnemunde, it gets fixed instantly) Today I docked starboard side alongside, next call I will go portside alongside to have them work on the other side. The chief is now looking at other ports to get the same organized.

I was approached today by the reverend (pastor) of the local Seaman’s centre to see if I was willing to participate in the yearly church service for sea farers in Warnemunde. This is a big thing as it takes place during the Hansa week at the biggest church in the area. Hansa week is something similar to the Kiel Festival Week but less noisy and more focused on traditional and commercial crafts. I felt quite honored to be asked from all the other ships/captains in port and after they promised that the Holland America Flag would be prominently on display, I had no problem with saying yes. Now I have to sharpen my writer’s talents and come up with a speech that includes, 9/11, the peaceful living of different nationalities onboard and that is based on Psalm 107. Preferably in German and lasting between 5 and 7 minutes. Well, I’ve got a month to think about it.

Another nice thing about Warnemunde is that every call we get an Oom-pah orchestra onboard which plays in the main show lounge for most of the evening and offers traditional party and Beer festival music. The ship provides German snack food and German draft beer. Sometimes we have a small orchestra this time there were 10 of them. The funny thing is that during each break they drink at least a pint of beer and during each music set after that, they play better.

There was more music when we left. Warnemunde is the only port that plays farewell music when a ship is departing. They have a very good loud speaker system, performance quality, and when the ship glides away from the pier it starts up. First with a few German songs and then with the final song; Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. As I have been there now a few times, I am close to managing the whole departure maneuver within the playing time of this song and with wind-still weather it just looks like it if the ship is slowly dancing away from the pier to this music.

We had to swing around in the port to get back to open sea as our next port of call is Helsinki. This means tomorrow we are at sea for a day as we have to cross most of the Baltic to get there. The weather looks good, sunny with a moderate easterly breeze.