After the really early night the day before, I was wide awake at 05:30. This time round, I did not fight it. I checked if there was a webcam. I did find one and saw something that may or may not have been our ship. It was still a little way out, but this matched the tracking maps. I checked in online to see if anything interesting was happening. Then I played my game on my iPad.
Our alarm went off at 07:00. We got up, had a shower, and got ready for breakfast. While Graham had his shower, I sorted out our luggage tags and reorganised my hand luggage. Once Graham was ready, we headed down to breakfast. Graham had coffee, apple juice, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, berry compote, and a couple of fruit yoghurts. I had orange juice, a flat white, bacon, sausage, baked beans, hash browns, and a couple of mini muffins.
After breakfast, we had a quick costume change. I did not want to risk that we spilled some of our breakfast down our embarkation tops. We packed the last odds and ends. I attached Graham’s luggage tag. Then we headed downstairs to check out. We walked the short distance to the Docklands Light Railway station. A train pulled in shortly after we arrived on the platform. Stratford International was just a couple of stops away. We just had to cross the road, and we were at the mainline station. For some reason, our tickets would not scan at the gates, but there were two members of staff around. They had a quick look at our tickets. Then they let us through. We found some seats on the platform. We had timed this just perfectly as there was a major downpour just after we got to the platform. There was a roof above where we were sitting. I worked on my trip report while we were waiting for our train.
When the train arrived, it had a different destination on it from what was on the departure board and the screens on the platform. They all showed that the train was going to Sandwich, but the train actually went to Ramsgate. Graham thought this was the wrong train. However, there was no other train for a while. We checked the stations on the train display, and this was definitely our train. We got on. We had no issue finding a seat. I continued working on my trip report for a while. I had always shied away from booking a cruise from Dover. I had only been to Dover once previously to catch a ferry within the first few months of living in the UK. This took forever. On the highspeed train, it took just short of an hour.
As we were getting closer to Dover, I watched the world go by. I was hoping that I would get a glimpse of the ship before we got to Dover Priory station. I did get my wish. Shortly afterwards, we arrived at Dover Priory station. There was some signage for a cruise port shuttle. We followed this, but I could not find any information about this at the only bus stop. We decided to head for the taxi rank. We were surprised that there were no taxis waiting when a cruise ship was in port. One taxi had come and picked up some people while I was heading for the bus stop. There were a number of people waiting, but they all seemed to belong to one group. We were next in line after this. A minibus taxi arrived and started loading. The driver then asked us if we were heading to the cruise port as well. When we told him that we were, he told us to hop in. On the way, he told us that due to high winds that morning, the ship was not able to dock at the cruise terminal. The ship was actually at one of the cargo docks, but we would still check in on our allocated terminal and then coaches would take us to the ship. He also told us a bit about the history of the port. In the end, he charged us £4 per person. The shuttle would actually have been more expensive.
When we pulled up in front of the terminal, a porter came up and loaded our luggage on a trolley. The group headed out as they wanted to go and see Dover castle before checking in for the cruise. We headed straight to the terminal. There were already quite a few people there, but most of them had their luggage with them. At some stage they were sent outside to drop of their luggage. We were told that check in would open at 11:00. In the end, it was a little later than that. However, as the official time was midday, I was happy with that.
Once they were good and ready, we were sent upstairs. Check in was a very smooth process and we were then sent to a waiting area. There were photographers just outside the waiting area and we stopped for some embarkation photos. When we entered the waiting area, we were given a boarding group number. I was very pleased that we got group one. I don’t think we had this since our cruise out of Singapore in 2019. There were more photographers in the waiting area, and they encouraged us to get some more photos. As Graham had worn a jacket in the original photos, I asked him if we could get an embarkation photo minus the jacket.
After this, we sat down again. A little while later, an officer from the ship came to advise that the coaches were ready for us. They called boarding number one. I had expected that at some stage we would need to complete the border formalities for the Netherlands in Dover, but nothing was mentioned. We were directed straight to a coach. It took a little while until the coach was full. We actually had to leave the port, drive a short distance, and then enter the port again. When we got to the gate for the dock where the ship was, there was some disagreement about whether we needed to clear security. In the end, they accepted that we had been processed at the cruise terminal. They let the coach through, but the driver was asked to keep us on the coach a little longer as the gangway was congested at this time. About 10 minutes later, we were allowed off the coach, and we were able to get on the ship. They had two different lines, one for passengers who had a port call in Dover and one for passengers who were embarking in Dover. We just had our boarding passes scanned and then we were free to explore the ship. The people who had Dover as a port call needed to have their bags scanned and go through a metal detector.
Once we were on the ship, I asked Graham what he wanted to do for lunch. I misunderstood him and headed to the Grand Dutch Cafe. When we got there, he said he thought we were going to the buffet. With hindsight, we should have stuck to the Grand Dutch Cafe as we did not manage to get a seat at lunchtime later in the cruise. Still, there is always next time.
When we headed to the lifts, they were packed. We sat down near guest services as we did not fancy going up the stairs from deck 3 to deck 9. After a while, I decided to check out the forward lifts. One came straightaway and was empty. I went back to get Graham, and we headed to deck 9.
For embarkation day, the buffet was very quiet. Graham had rotisserie chicken with loaded mashed potato followed by Holland America Line bread pudding with vanilla sauce. He had a glass of iced tea with his lunch. I started with a bowl of potato and sausage chowder. For my main course, I had a slice of roasted tri-tip with sautéed green beans and loaded mashed potatoes and a sloppy joe with grated cheese. For dessert, I had a Boston cupcake. I had a glass of lemonade with my lunch, which actually tasted like it contained some lemon. After lunch, we braved the filter coffee. It true cruise line fashion, this was pretty horrible.
When we were leaving the buffet, we were told that the staterooms were ready. We headed up one deck. Our suitcases were near the lifts, and we took them with us. We watched the safety video and then unpacked. I decided to check out if the doors on Nieuw Statendam were better for magnets than this was the case on Koningsdam, but the doors were equally disappointing. I packed the magnets away. At some stage, our stateroom host came by to introduce himself. Holland America still makes up the cabins twice a day and there were two of them sharing the job.
Once everything had found a place, we headed downstairs to check in at our muster station. There was nobody there. On Koningsdam, it took forever to clear immigration in Vancouver, and we did not get on the ship until nearly all aboard. I expected that the muster stations would be open soon after embarkation like this is the case with Royal Caribbean. This cruise was unusual anyway. Interporting is nothing new for us. This is what happens when Royal Caribbean Oasis or Icon class ships come to the Mediterranean for the summer. However, the second embarkation port falls around halfway through the cruise. Technically, the day we got one was the final day of a British Isles cruise with the Norwegian fjords cruise starting in Amsterdam the following day. I was not sure how many people would get on in Dover, but when I asked one of the port agents , she told me that about 800 people were getting on in Dover. This was about a third of the total passenger count. However, as this was a port call for a lot of passengers, the muster drill was not even mentioned on the daily programme or on the app. I checked with guest services and was told that the muster drill would start at 15:30.
We went out on the promenade deck to get some fresh air. There were some nice views, but for once, I had not brought a gadget. I quickly headed back to the cabin to get me phone. We stayed outside for a while, but it was quite windy. We decided that we fancied a decent coffee. We went to Grand Dutch Cafe. Graham has developed a taste for alcoholic coffee and had an Irish coffee. I decided to try the Dutch coffee, which was coffee with gin and whipped cream. As much as I love all the individual ingredients, I came to the conclusion that alcoholic coffees are not for me.
We headed back to deck 10 to relax for a bit in the lido. They do not have round loungers, but they have rather comfortable square loungers. A bar server came around. I had a margarita and Graham had a glass of Chardonnay. Just before 15:30, we headed downstairs to our muster station. This time there were crew members there and we got checked off the list.
We then headed one deck down to Billboard Online for team trivia. I decided to have a mocktail. I had a melon mint no’jito, which was nice. The trivia was pretty tough. We got 5 out of 17 and the winning score 12. We found out that they had no tulips, but they were hoping to get some more later in the week.
After the trivia, we headed back up to deck 10. The same square lounger was still available. We settled down to watch the sail out. I took some more photos, but in general, we just relaxed. When it was time for dinner, I quickly got changed. Graham took a couple of photos of me in my outfit. Then we headed to the buffet.
Holland America had recently reintroduced a farewell dinner in the dining room. This was not something that we are keen on anyway, but we most certainly did not want this on our first night. It was British themed dinner in the buffet that night, Graham had a Cobb salad and some cheese. I had chicken tikka masala, rice, tandoori prawns, and poppadums. I also had a couple of Dutch meatballs. Dinner was nice.
After dinner, we headed to the Panorama Bar for a nightcap. I had a melon margarita, and Graham had another glass of Chardonnay. Once we had finished our drinks, we headed back to our cabin. We got ready for bed. I read for a bit, but soon we were asleep.
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