2026 - Week 33 Wrap Up

As the second segment of the Oceania Vista cruise comes to an end, I say my goodbyes and start getting ready for the next leg of this trip. While I've enjoyed all the time with the people I've met along the way, I'm ready for some warmer weather! But I get ahead of myself - here's what happened this past week.

Schedule

• Thursday, August 20: Copenhagen, Denmark

• Friday, August 21: Copenhagen, Denmark

• Saturday, August 22: Warnemunde, Germany

• Sunday, August 23: Rønne, Denmark

• Monday, August 24: Aarhus, Denmark

• Tuesday, August 25: At Sea

• Wednesday, August 26: At Sea

  
  

Thursday, August 20: Copenhagen, Denmark

I signed up for an excursion with the ship today. It is scheduled to start at 5:50pm and we docked at 10am. Naturally, this meant that I was going to be super lazy all morning!

By lazy, I mean I double checked my travel plans for the coming few weeks and made sure that I had my transportation lined up to get to the next ship. Someone mentioned they wanted to watch me as I planned my adventures, so just a sneak peak into the madness, here’s a snap of my spreadsheet…

Yes, I run though all these logistics when I’m initially planning, but because most of this was worked out over a year ago at this point, it’s worth rerunning all the travel scenarios to make sure no trains are canceled or flight times adjusted.

Eventually, it was time to meet the group. Today’s excursion is a tour of downtown Copenhagen followed by dinner at a local restaurant. It’s an overnight stop, which means we have a lot more options since we’re not racing back to the ship.

The tour information was great! It’s one of the things that I miss about not taking more excursions. I’m still trying to figure out how to get an audio tour as I wander about cities, but for now, I mostly rely on Google Maps and AI to tell me about city sights. However, given the speed we went could be quickly matched by a snail, I was reminded why I normally head out on my own.

Anyway, we saw the most picturesque harbor with all the colored houses. She explained that there are a few different explanations as to why they are painted differently, but her favorite was that when sailors came in from the sea, often after having a few drinks, it was easier to just tell someone what color to look for instead of them trying to find a building number.

Next we saw the Amalienborg Palace, where the Royal family takes residence when they are in Copenhagen. Each has their own as there are four (4) similar looking buildings from the exterior, but the guide explained that each are dramatically different on the inside to match each person’s specific tastes.

They also had guards marching in front of them with the little huts like you see in front of Buckingham Palace. One major item of difference though is there is not a massive fence keeping you well away from the buildings. We would have been able to walk right up if we wanted. Instead, I just stood back and took a lot of photos.

From there, we walked by the Opera House. I can’t recall all of the details, but it sounded similar to the Sydney Opera House history where the initial architect ended up at odds with the owner / builder and never actually finished the project.

Then we walked along the harbor until we saw these odd shaped apartments. The guide explained that is known as Paper Island because that’s where they used to store paper.

Eventually, we found our way back to the restaurant, Nyhavns Færgekro, where we were served meatballs, potatoes, cabbage, and a berry dessert. While it is supposed to be a traditional Danish meal, it seemed very much like meals I’ve had around the world.

After a bit of free time, we gathered back at the bus. While I thought about staying out later, I decided to go to the Blue Horizons party and call it an early night to be able to head back out first thing in the morning.

Friday, August 21: Copenhagen, Denmark

Up and out by 8am, which was a very different start than the morning prior. I caught the first shuttle into town with no real mission, but a few landmarks that I wanted to check out. First being the colorful harbor again to see if I could get a few more photos with less people in them.

Next, I wanted to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus, but it wasn’t running yet, so I decided to walk to an area of town that was recommended as a good photography spot. It’s called Freetown Christiania. I think I was also there a bit too early as not much was open. However, there were a lot of murals and sculptures around. In addition to this very interesting church steeple.

At this point, it was finally time for some coffee. Not that it hadn’t been coffee time for a while, but there was a bakery at the corner where the Hop On Hop Off bus stopped, so I took it as a sign to take a quick break. The timing was perfect because within five (5) minutes of leaving, the bus came though and I was able to start the tour!

Sadly, the commentary on the bus was less informative than other HOHO buses that I’ve taken. The narrator only provided some brief comments between stops, so I didn’t learn too much, so I got off at one of the stops that had a massive fountain! Specifically, the Gefion Fountain, which depicts the Norse goddess Gefion driving four mighty oxen, who apparently were her sons at some point.

Instead of getting back on the bus, I decided to walk to the Little Mermaid Statue. Technically, she was supposed to be 2 stops away, but with the garden short-cut, it only took about 5 minutes to get to where I could see a crowd of people gathered. Let’s just say, I was underwhelmed. Especially compared to the Gefion Fountain! The Little Mermaid was perched on a rock, but the statue is much smaller than I expected. However, I dutifully, found my way to a good vantage point in order to snap a few shots.

Back on the HOHO bus, I jumped back off by the King’s garden, where I happened to find a castle! I didn’t go into Rosenborg Castle because the line was pretty long, but I plan on going next time I’m in the city.

With an early all-aboard time, I decided to cut back to the main part of town to get the shuttle back to the ship instead of taking the HOHO bus any further. Although, this means that I still have a few things left on my to-do list next time I’m in Copenhagen, such as the Hans Christian Experience and Tivoli Gardens.

On my way back, I made another stop to check out a church steeple. They are all so very ornate and different!

And then… I almost froze. Yeah, they have this place called the Ice Bar, which I just couldn’t pass up. I had been in one on a cruise ship many years ago, so I had an idea of what to expect, but I still wanted to do it again. Getting there almost as soon as it opened meant that I had the whole place to myself! Except for the worker, who ended up being a new grad on her gap year, so we chatted a bit about traveling and life, while standing in a literal ice box. (Yes, I also quested my sanity.)

Not too much time later, I was back on the sidewalk headed to the shuttle. As I turned to the main square, I saw the line for the shuttle which seemed to be wrapping around a block. Instead of waiting in that line, I chose to go find the HOHO bus again because it also had a stop back at the cruise ship. Happy decision because I ended up having a top-deck, front row seat, instead of being crammed into a large tour bus.

For dinner, I headed to Jacques! My favorite! Although, it was a bit awkward because I had a share table, rectangular with 3 on each side, with two couples facing each other and then me… Plus it was one of the guy’s birthday. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the food, but the orientation and conversation definitely left me feeling like I ate on my own, just at a table with others. Oh well, that’s part of the lottery of a shared table.

For the evening entertainment, we were treated to a new face, Susana, a violinist.

Saturday, August 22: Warnemunde, Germany

Another excursion day! I chose this one because we got to ride a vintage train! However, it also didn’t leave until afternoon, so I had another lazy morning. While I often feel more productive getting up and moving early, there is something about just lounging about while the rest of the world rushes about the ship without you.

The adventure today started with a bus ride to Doberan Abbey, a monastery in the city called Bad Doberan. It’s an easy city to remember because just imagine you are yelling at a dog.. Bad Doberman! (Yes, this is what I thought about on the journey.)

Anyway, it’s no longer an active Monastery because of the Protestant Reformation, which was a similar history as St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall that I visited earlier this year. However, much of the interior is still intact, so they turned it into a museum.

From the Monastery, we loaded back on the coach to travel to the train station. Once on the train, we were to told we could spread out in the first three cars. Naturally, I headed towards the front, where it turned out to be mostly empty! Including the seat where I could look out the door towards the engine the whole ride!

Once we got to our destination, Kühlungsborn, a sea side resort town, we disembarked the train to load back on the buses. Our guide explained that we were headed to the beach where we’d have a bit of free time. Now this is where I can provide a good example of how Oceania’s excursions cater to their demographic: The bus drove us about 2-3 blocks down the street. Yep, instead of walking from the train station to the beach area, we took the time to load and unload the bus. Oh well, once we got there, we were given free time.

I was on a mission! Soft pretzels and postcards! However, the weather had other plans… it started to rain. Not just a nice summer drizzle, a full out downpour! Thankfully it only lasted about 10 minutes as we were all huddled under trees and canopies.

Shortly thereafter, I had both a pretzel and a postcard in hand, but got momentarily distracted by a food vendor with a sign that said Bockwurst. Therefore, a quick detour emerged as it’s basically required to try things with your name on them! It was basically a hot dog. I did not finish it and instead enjoyed my pretzel.

Back on the bus, we headed to the ship! Once at the pier, I realized that we still had a bit of time before all-aboard time and ventured into the port area of Warnemunde. It was really cute! And very walkable. There were a few restaurants and shops along the way to the train station, but once I passed the station, it opened up to a little town, with tons more shops and restaurants. For dinner, I had another soft pretzel and a beer. Why yes, soft pretzels are on my top 3 favorite food list. How did you know?!

Back on the ship, the evening show was the Vista Showband’s piano player, Tee Jay, performing on the MainStage.

Sunday, August 23: Rønne, Denmark

One thing I’ve learned in my travels this year is that most European cities are closed on Sunday. Rønne was no different, especially being a fairly small fishing village. Knowing this, and for some reason being a bit grumpy this morning, I waited a bit before heading towards the city center.

While I was able to see most of the key sights in under an hour, I got back to the ship and since my mood hadn’t improved, did what any normal person would do to feel better - book a massage! Yes, it turned out to be an excellent day for the spa! Especially since I still had a voucher for this segment, meaning the cost would be cut in half. Woo hoo! Things were already starting to look up.

Not really sure why I was in such a bad mood, but let me tell you, a hot stone massage works wonders for your mindset. After 75 minutes of pure bliss, I was feeling much better!

And if that didn’t do the trick, then a hosted dinner with Z and Laura definitely would have! We met for a pre-dinner cocktail in Martini’s and then headed to the Grand Dining Room. The challenge on the table for all three of us turned out to be where to live. Seems like an odd issue for a group of 20-40somethings to all have, but here we were, discussing the pros and cons of different housing types and also the potential locations. In the end, I don’t think any of us figured anything new out, but helpful to chat through different thoughts.

The evening entertainment was new to me - Lindsay Hamilton, a vocalist. As normal, I sat in the front row to get the best vantage point for photos, but apparently, it was obvious that I did not know many of the songs she sang, and she made that point to the whole audience, indicating my age was the reason I was oblivious, but little does she know that I just don’t know many songs from any decade! Although, at this point, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard most of the big songs from the 60s given how many concerts I’ve been to onboard.

Monday, August 24: Aarhus, Denmark

Our house, in the middle of our street! Yes, I had that song stuck in my head the ENTIRE day. Anyway, today, we were in Aarhus.

My plan was to take the Hop On Hop Off bus to a few of the key landmarks, but when I couldn’t find the first stop, I decided just to walk to one of the stops that was top of my list - Den Gamle By (aka Old Town). It’s an open-air museum dedicated to urban history in Denmark. This was one of the places recommended to me by the student from the Ice Bar in Copenhagen.

They had exhibits from various eras throughout history, up to 2014. I’ll admit that I didn’t quite realize that until I saw a Blockbuster and a modern loft, depicting the lifestyle of a single woman. Unsurprisingly, her place didn’t look too much different than mine would, except I couldn’t figure out if she actually lived there and how that worked when the museum closed at night…

Anyway, I ventured in and out of other eras, not really surprised that most of the shops looked very similar to those in the States from the 1950s era.

Eventually, I decided to stop for lunch at the restaurant in the museum. They advertised open faced sandwiches, which sounded good. At first, they gave me a menu in Danish. When one of the waitresses walked by, she saw me struggling to use my translate app and handed me one in English. While I’m all for trying to figure out what different words mean, it is nice to sometimes know what you’re ordering. I chose Faroese salmon because it said it was cured with “Detroit Dark Red” beetroot. I’ve never heard of that before, but similar to having to eat things that have your name on them, this one had “my city” in it. (Loosely defined as my city because it’s just the closest big city the most people are familiar with.) Oh man, it tasted amazing!

After wandering a bit longer, I decided it was time to go find the HOHO bus. From the online map, I wandered to where I thought it would pick up, but after 15 minutes, I started questioning. It seems that I was at the right spot, but the bus just wasn’t running that day. Lame. So I walked back towards the ship.

Since it was such a nice sunny day, I headed to the pool onboard for an afternoon of reading and relaxing. I downloaded a few new books to my Kindle since I remembered while we were in port and could use the hot spot on my phone. This is a new mystery series set in Brighton, UK, which is my next stop! (I like to read books that feature locations that I’ll be visiting to give me some additional context for the places.) Little did I know at the time that I downloaded them that the main characters were known as the Magic Men and the first of the series focused on a crime likely committed by a Magician. (Giant sigh… Thankfully, after a few chapters that featured magic tricks, it pivoted to more about detective work and solving the murder.)

The evening show was Our World by the Production Cast. I’m happy to report that I did not ball my eyes out this time! There may have been a few tears rolling, but for the most part, I kept it together. Since it was the last time that I’d see this show and a show by the Production Cast, I took tons and tons of photos! Which also means that I spent half the rest of the night editing them all.  That’s okay though because we have two days at sea to recover!

Tuesday, August 25: At Sea

Sea Day, Sleep Day! So far this segment was very lean on naps! But don’t worry, I made up for it today!

I also finished the new book. It’s called The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffith. As I read it, I tagged places that it mentioned on my Google Maps so I could visit them once I got to Brighton.

Since I had downloaded the second of the series already, I read that one too. It is called Smoke and Mirrors, also set in Brighton, also with theater / magicians. What can I say, it was already downloaded and since we were at sea, my library was limited.

As we are nearing the end of this segment, the Crew Salute was scheduled after the pre-dinner show. With that, I headed to the theater to watch Susana’s second show followed by seeing the Vista Crew parade down to the stage to say Thank You and Goodbye. Once again, a few tears escaped, but the waterfalls stayed put. I don’t really know why I react this way each time since I know there’s a high likelihood that I’ll see many of these people again, but alas, I’m as tough as nails, until you poke one into a bucket of water, then the leaks start springing!

This calls for a pre-dinner cocktail! I was joined by two of the Production Cast, Kat and Markesha, who then hosted me for dinner at the Grand Dining Room. Tonight’s conversation centered around mentoring and growing up. Once again, we didn’t solve any problems, but it’s nice to share stories and find commonalties to learn from.

Wednesday, August 26: At Sea

Sea Day, Sleep Day! Just kidding. Apparently, I only get one of those, so instead I woke up at 6:30am to get to the laundry room first. It happened to be my lucky day because I needed to run two loads before packing up and all the machines were wide open when I got there! It’s a miracle!

With my one major task complete, I tried to go back to sleep for a bit, but my brain was already on full speed ahead thinking about packing, disembarkation, travel, and what to do for the next few days. Eventually, I gave up and decided to read the third book in the Brighton Mystery series - This one called The Blood Card. Yep, still magician inspired, but it had a weird turn, which was very unexpected and I appreciated the surprise plot twist. I can’t say more in case someone reading this decided to pick up the series.

Once I was done packing, I got cleaned up and headed to Horizons to listen to pre-dinner Karaoke! There was quite the diversity in skills at today’s set! No, I still have not showcased my spectacular lack of skills and today was no different.

Dinner was a reverse-hosted event: I got approval to invite four (4) of the Production Cast to the Pizzeria. We’d been talking about grabbing pizza “at some point” throughout the whole World Cruise, so naturally, it took to the very last night of my last Oceania Vista cruise for the year to make it happen. At some point, Susana joined us, resulting in being a bit late to the evening show (so no more photos of the entertainment tonight…).

With the night prior being my “last night out” and needing to get up early to disembark, I headed back to my cabin to organize for the morning.

Editorial note: Yes, with two sea days, you would have thought that I’d find time to write and publish this week’s wrap up on time. However, you’re forgetting that sometimes I procrastinate and just want to rest. Instead, I’m writing this on my last night in Brighton because I don’t want to start the next leg of this trip over a week behind! Plus, it’s raining.