Page Three

The cruise was with Royal Caribbean with whom we had had our first very fondly remembered cruise (see 2008 Cruise) and bizarrely this cruise was with the same ship – Brilliance of the Seas. So it would be a reunion with cruising and with the ship we’d grown to love back then.

Aside from the pressures of paying for the cruise, we also had to find somewhere for Jaffa to spend his time and so he was booked into the local Luxury Cat Hotel … where he had a bed, a view of the chickens and top quality tuna provided to him!

 
Jaffa in his Hotel

So it was that the Band of Eight – as I’ve decided we’re going to be called – found their various ways to Harwich to board Brilliance of the Seas. A happy reunion for the Harris-Muller clan!

As ever the first day was spent getting your luggage unpacked and settling in – and reacquainting ourselves with layout on board. Unusually the first full day was spent travelling across the North Sea so was largely uneventful aside from the first of the formal evenings.

Brilliance of the Seas 2014 Cruise

The next day we woke up to rain. Well, I say woke up to it – we were in an inside cabin this time, so we didn’t actually know it was raining until we went to Deck 11 for breakfast.

This was our first port of call – Copenhagen – and it looked like it was going to be a bit damp. Damp would become a bit of a pattern for this cruise.

Now, I’ve been to Copenhagen before – twice in fact in 2001 and 2008 – so I knew the city quite well. Because some of the people in our Band of Eight aren’t very mobile it was decided to use the Hop-on Hop-off bus service which picked us up directly outside the ship.

It was my first Hop-on Hop-off and I must admit I didn’t know how it would work out. It turned out the answer to that would be “differently every time”! This time we sped through the outer edges of Copenhagen, passing by the yellow houses of the ancient Nyboder (new houses) Quarter before arriving at “Stop No. 1” by the Tivoli Gardens. Here the bus sat … and sat … and sat.

Nyboder, Copenhagen

Eventually, about 15 minutes later it set off again, passing by the familiar square of Rådhuspladsen that I knew well and then diverging off in strange directions around the more modern back end of the City before crossing the Langebro (Long Bridge) to Christianshavn and then back again to the area around Christianborg Palace.

Christianshavn, Copenhagen

From here we went down some tiny side streets and bumped across a bridge at the bottom end of Nyhavn – which didn’t look quite so sunny this time around.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

The bus then went past Amalienborg Palace heading for the Gefion Fountain.

The Gefion Fountain, Copenhagen

There was then another weird trundle around some odd little streets before we washed up – inevitably – near The Little Mermaid. Of course, this is the place that people chose to get off the bus to see Copenhagen’s best known landmark.

The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen

It was very busy around the Mermaid today, presumably because there were several cruise ships in town that day.

Another view of The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen

After a brief stop here, we got back on the bus thinking it would then take us back to the Ship.

It didn’t, after a little while it became apparent we were heading BACK into Copenhagen. So we spoke to the driver who said we had to get off at Gammeltorv (Old Market) in the centre of Strøget and wait for the next bus.

As we headed towards Gammeltorv the sun finally began to show itself.

Gammeltorv, Copenhagen

This was the square with the fountain in the centre where the water squirts from the lady’s breasts … I remember it now from previously! It is actually the oldest statue in Copenhagen and dates to 1608. We all piled out of the bus and milled around in the Square. A few odd bits of souvenirs were bought and then the next bus arrived to take us onwards.

Another view of Gammeltorv, Copenhagen

However, “take us onwards” actually meant we went back to Stop No. 1 at Tivoli and sat once more … and sat … and sat.

Then we were off again, going back around the same circuit we’d already been around. Back to Christianshavn – back to Christianborg Palace – back to the Gefion fountain!

The Bourse and Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen

And then after all of that, we arrived BACK at The Little Bloody Mermaid!

Despite the feeling of pointlessness of the last hour driving around the same places we’d already driven around I did finally after all my visits get some pictures of the Mermaid IN THE SUN!

Little Mermaid in the Sun! Copenhagen

Finally, at last, the bus arrived to take us back to the Ship. By this point we were starting to get a bit twitchy in case the Ship left without us, but we made it.

Copenhagen Tour Bus

Back to the Brilliance of the Seas

And so we left Copenhagen behind us having not really seen anything much beyond through the bus window and The Little Mermaid (twice). A rather frustrating day in some ways, although I know the city well and have seen most of what it has to offer. It turned out, though, that this was peanuts compared to the frustrating day that we were going to get in Stockholm… our next port of call.

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