Norway Cruise embarkation

 Wow, went to breakfast this morning and so many people! I guess many runners in the marathon in Copenhagen are staying here. Front desk said there was a line up before breakfast even opened.

A little about this very cool hotel we are staying in. It is Mayfair Hotel Tunneln, one of the nicest front desk staff we have ever seen. This is what makes hotels rather than AIRBNB special, lots of suggestions about what to do and where to eat, not just a QR code you can scan for suggestions. This hotel forms part of Malmos oldest building, back to 1307. It started being used as an Inn in 1570, and it also was the residence of the Governor of this region in the 15 and 1600's. Prince and Princesses have also lived here. Also fun fact that a room had been boarded up at one point and was discovered in 2004 by chance. The oldest elevator in Malmo from 1938 is the lobby elevator, we have only used it to get our luggage up to our floor, the stairs the rest of the time. It is one of those elevators that you open a door, then there is another sliding cage door that needs to be opened.

Anyway a great stay here, next off to a massive cruise ship through Northern Europe, Norway. Really looking forward to it, we will see how we do on one of these massive ships.

Used public transit to get to the closest stop to the cruise terminal after checking out of our hotel this morning. We weren't exactly sure where to go until we saw a long line up of people with suitcases waiting outside the metro station, that must be it. I thought it was going to be a terrible wait but 2 buses came after not too long of a time so it wasn't that bad. Crazy the amount of luggage people bring for a 1 week cruise. Crazy that they expected to get all this on city buses. The cruise company runs these buses just from this stop to the cruise terminal, so no regular passengers thank goodness. We had luggage piled all around us, it was crazy, but it was only about a 15 minute bus ride so all was good.

Arrived at the cruise terminal, go ourselves checked in, then off to the buffet for lunch. Oh my, didn't take long to remember why I hate cruise buffets. Just trying to find somewhere to eat, and so so loud! This cruise line MSC lets you go to your cabin and leave your luggage there, a great thing to not have to watch over your things until your cabin is ready. Our cabin was already ready which was great, just dropped our stuff off and away we go. This is a huge ship compared to what we have cruised on before. We really have a hard time finding our room, which sounds crazy. Depending on what elevator you take it just is weird. We have had a few laughs thinking about what Wendy's Mom would do on this ship, she would be in big trouble with finding her way around.

Found our dining room for supper, it looks nice. Unfortunately no anytime dining for us, our meal is at 8, we will see how much we like that. Problem is the way the shows are done 8PM supper means 10:30PM show time, we will see how much Wendy stays awake for that.

The only choices for free dining are the buffet and the main dining room. We are used to a pub or something for another choice. There is pizza, and hot dogs/burgers served by the pool, so I guess that is another choice.

Dinner tonight was good. We have a table for 2, about 2 inches from another table for 2, which is 2 inches away from another table for 2. So really we are a table of 6, Really nice people, the couple beside us are from Portugal, the couple beside them are from Ireland. We are having a good time chatting together. The couple from Ireland this is their first cruise, and the couple from Portugal have cruised a couple of times. Lots of fun comparing stories.

Tonight's show was illumination, Wendy saw about half of it, Andre says she didn't miss much. Both of our new friend couples rushed out from dinner early as they were felling seasick, Wendy is fine on drugs. This is supposed to be the worst night, lets hope so.

Steps 11,000

The hotel hallway had display of the hotel past

photos of famous people who visited the hotel. In the center is George and Paul when they were on tour in the early 1960s

What the front used to look like

The lobby

The library where you could get free coffee and tea

Lots of artifacts and art all over the hotel

The breakfast buffet.  Lots of choices including smoked salmon

The sitting area at the end was left natural

The room is called The Beatle Room

Our courtyard. We were on the top floor in the corner

elevator from 1938

At the train station  in Malmo going to Copenhagen to catch the metro to the cruise pier. Train station had lots of places to get food and even a small grocery store

Taking the metro in Copenhagen.

Waiting to catch the bus to take us to the cruise ship.

A few more doing the same

Our home for the next 7 nights

Happy to be on the ship and not waiting for the bus when the rain storm came

The central lobby 

Ceiling was like Freemont Street in Vegas. Changing display but minimal.

The theater, 3 performance of 35 minutes each night. 

Went and found our table for the week. Happy to have a window. But at 8PM it was all dark and you could not see anything.

was a tad noisy when it was full

Sail away party was not too well attended.  It was a bit cold and partly cloudy

Windmills and the bridge that connect Sweden and Norway in the background

An ok show but not great