Ship-Photo

Vision of the Seas Cruise, Part 2

(For Part 1 click here)

Capt. Johansen hit the horns as we arrived at Amsterdam, probably not only to let the world at large know we'd arrived but to warn people that we were turning round. It was a public holiday in Holland, Queen's Day, so the Amstel river was alive with vessels of all shapes, sizes and vintages, from decent-sized ships to frail-looking tiny boats and a party was evidently in full swing, so it would have put a bit of a downer on things if we'd crushed anybody!
At the passenger terminal, the brand new AIDAsol, complete with AIDA's highly original but rather ugly 'eyes and lips' paint scheme, was already there, occupying the rear berth, so we docked in front of her after being turned round.

We were scheduled to remain in Amsterdam until the following day, as was AIDAsol only she was going early the next morning while we were sailing at 1700.
We decided to get off the ship and walk round to a piece of public land across the canal so we could get some photos of her and AIDAsol docked. It was hot, crowded and a bit of a step to get round there but we could get views of both ships. First though, we could go down to the dockside and photograph Vision from close quarters - imagine being able to do that in the security-obsessed UK where even aiming a camera at a public building can bring uniformed security guards scurrying over to you, demanding to know what you're doing.
I used my 18-55mm wide angle zoom for the pictures. This lens wasn't the best, with softness at the edges and chromatic aberration and has since been replaced, but was better than nothing in 'emergencies' and certainly better than my little Samsung compact, which was also along for the ride.

That night was 'formal' dress code. I'd brought some posh clothes with me but, to be honest, it's one of the things that puts me off cruising a bit. I hate wearing formal clothes as, frankly, it makes me feel very uncomfortable and not 'me', so I was glad when the evening was over because I felt out of my depth. I don't think I'll be taking a trip on a Cunarder any time soon, they love all things formal, as I understand. I even had a 'Blue Wave' cocktail, also known as 'Blue Lagoon' or 'Blue Hawai'i', which was very alcoholic indeed. With that and a beer a bit later, I felt slightly pissed to say the least!
Dinner that evening, though, banished all thoughts of stuffiness and discomfort as it was easily the best meal we'd had. Lobster bisque (soup, in other words) and a curry were on the menu and they were very good.

The following morning, Sunday 1st May, was hot and sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. I got up late, partly due to feeling lazy and partly due to the inside cabin being as black as a coal cellar at midnight and consequently not having a clue whether it was day or night.
Cunard's Queen Elizabeth was due to dock in the cruise terminal at 1300, so I went on deck and waited for her to arrive. Patsy was already there but the ship was late so, instead of turning round in the river, she was put in behind us bow forward. As Queen Elizabeth approached, people poured out on deck to watch her approach and be stuffed into her dock. It was a tight fit, between ourselves and some Rhine river boats opposite, and we were half expecting a prang, but the pilot, captain and tugs all knew what they were doing and QE went into her berth with (little!) room to spare. It was around 3pm before she was alongside.

We were scheduled to depart at 5pm but were delayed slightly because some people were late back to the ship, having got lost in Amsterdam. They'd phoned the ship to tell them they were late, luckily for them they had the number.
While we were waiting to leave, a very loud ship's horn sounded from somewhere. It sounded like a Tyfon horn, of the sort QE2 had and similar to Vision's own horn. It wasn't us and, from the direction of the sound, it wasn't Queen Elizabeth either. The small mystery was solved as a sailing ship passed us, with a ship's horn mounted on deck and a bloke with ear defenders on pressing the button at regular intervals.

After we sailed, we were followed out by an escort tug, Hephaistos, and various small craft, one or two of which got a little too close and were unceremoniously ushered out of the way and told off, via loudhailer, by the escort tug. It was a pleasant journey along the North Sea Canal back towards IJmuiden Locks and the North Sea, because the weather was glorious and the sun shone warmly down.

As we cleared IJmuiden Locks and entered the North Sea, we could see a large fire ashore, off the starboard side. I don't know what was burning, but it appeared to be a large grass fire. I wouldn't have been surprised as spring 2011 was one of the hottest on record and the UK was also plagued with forest and grass fires. By the time we were at dinner, it was twilight and I could see lots of ships in the anchorages, mostly tankers. We were very close to the ships and, if we hadn't been at dinner and it was lighter, I would have got some very good photos.

Next stop, the final stop, would be Copenhagen in Denmark, over 500 nautical miles from Amsterdam and it would take two nights and a day to get there, at 17 knots.
The night we left Amsterdam I tried to get some interior views of the ship, including a couple of very nice models in the Crown and Anchor Study on Deck 8. One model was of the SS United States (I think I heard somewhere that RCI own, or once owned, the United States) while the other was of Vision of the Seas. I used ISO 'stupid hundred' (my camera ISO goes up to 6400, with a High setting of ISO 12800) to get the photos because the models were in glass cases and flash would just reflect off the glass, so I used ISO 6400 rather than 12800 which is very much for 'emergencies only'. The Canon 7D handles noise very well, and the photos only needed a little noise reduction.

At the centre of the ship, several decks high, there is the Centrum. At the bottom of this, on Deck 4, is an area where there is usually a band playing in the evenings. On the nights we were there, one of the entertainers was an Elvis impersonator and he actually wasn't bad. The lighting was neon whose colours changed from green to blue, pink and back again and the effect was quite pretty.

The next day, Monday 2nd April, we were at sea and cruising along the coast of Denmark. Monday night was the final night of the cruise and we'd be docking at Copenhagen at 0700 the following morning, 3rd May.
During the evening we entered the Skagerrak and we'd spend the night cruising down the Kattegat to Copenhagen. I went onto the Boat Deck and could see lights on the coast of Norway (probably the town of Kristiansand) off the port side, and those of Denmark on the starboard side.

We arrived in Copenhagen early the next morning, docking at 0700. All the following pics were taken with my little Samsung compact, rather than the SLR.
All to soon the sad moment to leave the ship came. When it came to it, I didn't really want to leave, Vision of the Seas is a lovely ship, one of the last of the nice looking passenger ships before the floating blocks of flats that have come along since she was built in 1998.
As Patsy has 'Platinum' status, we got priority disembarkation and we got the chance to take pictures of the ship at the dockside. We left our bags with a Royal Caribbean shoreside employee and got some pictures of her alongside. Unfortunately, we couldn't get bow shots as she'd dock stern in, but made do with stern shots instead. It has to be said that, as far as modern ships go, Vision also has a nice backside...Patsy says the ship's stern reminds her of a duck's behind and so nicknames her 'Ducky', but I can't see it myself.

We took a taxi into Copenhagen town centre, as we were booked at a hotel next to the railway station, in order to get to the airport quickly the next morning. The original plan had been to fly straight back to the UK, but we decided to have a look round the city instead; however, that plan came to nothing in the end as the weather turned nasty and it poured with rain for the rest of the day. Also, Denmark proved incredibly expensive. The taxi ride from the docks came to the equivalent of £20, a snack at lunch was the same. As I only had 300 Kroner and I don't think Patsy had a large amount either, doing a lot wasn't practical.
We had gone as far as Tivoli Gardens, but we didn't go in because they wanted 75 DKK for the privelige so, especially as it began to rain, we headed back and watched Fawlty Towers, Allo Allo (both with Danish subtitles) and some assorted rubbish on the tv for the rest of the day. It was one of the most boring afternoons and evenings of my life!

The next morning we left early and caught the train to the airport for our 0745 flight to London Heathrow. The plane's route almost matched the ship's route but instead of 4 days, we took less than two hours to arrive back in England. After the usual formalities (only the second time I'd needed my passport the entire trip was at the UK Border - the first time was at check in at Southampton. At Amsterdam and Copenhagen, formalities were non-existent) we had a 2.5 hour wait for our National Express coach back to Southampton, where we arrived at the Central Coach Station just before 1415. Patsy and Kevin headed back to Dibden on their bus, while I had a short wait for the free bus to Town Quay.

The 1415 Red Jet was cancelled, due to some saga or other with technical difficulties (the fast ferries of RF and Wightlink always seem to have some issues) so I had a bit of a wait for the next one at 1445, so I took the opportunity to walk along Town Quay, get the SLR out and take some pics of Independence of the Seas alongside Berth 101. Typically a Red Funnel car ferry got in the way, as Red Funnel ships always do, so I had to wait until it was out of the frame.

And that was that. The trip went quickly, as all good trips always do. Would I go on a cruise again? Yes, I would. I like ships (of course), I like the sea, I like being on the sea and it's something different. I wouldn't want to do it all the time though, and I don't think I'd want to go for more than a week or even 10 days, mostly because it gets expensive and because there are people around all the time.
The reason for the expense is that you don't pay for things on board at the time of purchase, you have a card that they swipe every time you get a drink in a bar, or an item in the shop and, if you're not careful, it mounts up. On one visit to the shop, I managed to rack up a bill for $94 and when I added up all my costs for drinks, etc, later the bill came to far more than I intended to spend. If you could pay by cash or debit card, life would be simpler, rather than getting an unexpectedly massive bill at the end.

A round trip, Southampton back to Southampton, would be better. It saves the hassle of having to fly one way. Next time I do a cruise, I would take one that went from Southampton and back to Southampton. But, despite minor aggravations such as one or two idiot passengers and the formal night, I enjoyed it.
As for Vision of the Seas herself, she's a poppet of a ship with a lovely happy crew and I hope she comes to Southampton again sometime in the not-too-distant future. She gets 4.5/5 from me, not that I know anything! The missing 0.5 was for the food being slightly hit-and-miss, especially the steak being practically inedible.