Regal Princess Baltic Cruise Day 10 - Stockholm (Nynashamn)

Today's Patter was a first for us as we noticed upon receiving it in our cabin mailbox the night before, the front page had an announcement saying that everyone on an excursion was to actually arrive at their meeting places 15 minutes after the time it says to on the tour tickets we got back on the first day of the cruise. We soon deduced that it was because they were going to be able to use the special retractable dock! This dock was built to entice more cruise passengers and if the weather and water conditions align correctly, they can omit the need for tenders. It makes for a much smoother time getting off and back on throughout the time in port. 

No time for breakfast this morning as we had booked the Stockholm City Drive and Vasa Museum ship excursion. Read lots of reports from fellow cruisers who said get out early and go to the Vasa Museum on your own because once the tours get there, it's a madhouse. They weren't kidding as the madhouse crowds started before we ever left the ship. Our tour filled 9 buses! Moments of confusion as we sat packed in the theater because they stuck our group 8 in the same row as group 7. No one at the end of our row in group 8 wanted to listen when we said they needed to move because they'd only called group 7 until we pointed out that the people breathing down my neck now stuck at the inside end of this row belonged to group 7. Got led outside to our bus and for someone reason it was the only one with solely upper level seating. It was such an effort getting two older gentlemen with disabilities up those stairs that they opted out of actually going into the Vasa Museum fearing that they wouldn't be able to get back up the stairs again. The guide kept insisting that they could help the gentlemen but they weren't comfortable taking the chance. There was at least a couple parking lots full of buses when we got to the museum after a 45 minute ride listening to our guide try and figure out how not to yell into the bus' microphone. 

The guide did not seem very organized as she'd tell us before entering to go through the ticket line past her and wait so that the guy at the ticket counter could count us. First handful of us did as we were told but then she stopped the rest of the group having changed her own directions. Several times as we moved about the museum she'd start to mention that we were free to explore with a time to meet back but then yell at anyone who started to walk away from the group. At one point, we tried to hang back against the wall in sight of the display she was explaining and she yelled at us for not being close enough to her. 

Come, no, go, no stay! 

We finally were able to sneak away and check out the exhibits despite the massive crowd. Ran into new trivia friends Priscilla and Howard on their own tour and we teased each other about getting in the way of our respective camera shots. After a while we grew tired of the chaos and made our way to the meeting spot of the gift shop thinking there would be water for purchase. Alas, no drinks and the only food was so called local delicacies like fudge and jam. 

If only we could find some water to put in this handy drink pouch from the gift shop!

Our guide soon arrived and Dad asked her about being able to purchase a drink. He really had to hold in his temper when she matter of factly replied "Oh there was a café at the back of the museum." We decided to remove ourselves and headed out of the museum toward the bus. On the way, we passed a small café just before the street level and waited in a semi long line for people who wanted cookies and tea. Dad chose the first water bottle he saw and a cinnamon bun to keep from having to get change. Unfortunately, it turned out to be lemon flavored sparkling water and the one sip I tried made me nauseous. Thankfully I had thought to tuck some mints in my pocket before we left the ship this morning. I always try to pack a baggie full of the individually wrapped Lifesavers mints on trips as they are great in a pinch for an upset stomach, scratchy throat, low blood sugar, or dry mouth when water supplies are few and far between.

The wives of the men who stayed onboard the bus also had ducked away after telling the guide in order to bring their husbands back some soup and one of these cinnamon buns. 

Half of the ride back into town was useless because anything she pointed out to the right, no one riding above could see since the window was completely obscured by dirt:

We pointed it out once she stopped the bus for a photo stop but she just said "Hmm, okay" and went back to pointing things out from that same side. We made it up an alleyway a little further once some other buses moved on and our guide jumped ship, err, bus rather. She left us alone with just the bus driver to take us back to the ship so she wouldn't have to make the trip back from our ship in Nynashamn. 

Once back on board we decided to see if the pizza would be any better and managed to arrive just as a new pepperoni pizza was being baked. Another plus for having the drink package as I was so parched I downed two root beers waiting on that pizza. The fresh pepperoni pizza was definitely tastier but for some reason the pepperonis themselves were chewy and halfway through I got tired of sawing through the crust. I've never minded Princess' pizza, except when you can tell it's been sitting there a while, but I must say Carnival's Quatro Formaggio is still the best cruise pizza I've had!

After some afternoon trivia, we grabbed a couple sandwiches from the International Café and returned to the cabin to watch another movie. It ended just in time for our sailaway and I rushed upstairs to watch them pull back in the retractable dock. 

No pier runners here! You'd have to become pier swimmers!

Dad enjoys the magic shows and we both enjoy the comedians on cruises so when we saw tonight's show was a ventriloquist, we put off dinner and headed to the theater. It appeared that several others were also glad to see something besides the same singers as the theater soon became full. We've had our fair share of encounters with seat savers but it was surprising to me how shocked a family was when they came in because we offered to move over so they'd have enough seats to sit together. 

This ventriloquist incorporated singing into the joke routines he performed with the puppets and enjoyed messing with people in the audience. Those spontaneous bits were funny but his scripted jokes fell flat. We chose to leave the show early in order to make the evening's activity of a Spelling Bee. First time I've seen such an activity offered on a cruise and just had to check it out. A definition was displayed on the screen with blanks for the letters and our host Kim would recite the word we had to spell. For one of the words, having the blanks there is the only way I knew how to correctly spell it since it told me that there was a double letter thanks to that extra blank. The activity wasn't highly attended and I noticed after going first and winning a water bottle that the words got harder and the rules got more relaxed the later in the game you went. As each further person would start to say the wrong letter, Kim would stop them and say to try again. The prizes were based on whether you wanted to chance going for 10 words (water bottle) or stop at 5 (notebook). If you made it to 10 you could pick either a water bottle or the bottle of champagne they were still desperately trying to give away. Only one other passenger made it to 10 after being pressured to participate by his friends after wandering in and happily took the champagne!

Since I wanted to attend the music trivia that followed in Princess Live, Dad and I rushed upstairs to the buffet to wolf down a few bites. It was now too late for dinner in the main dining room but here's what was on the menu.

Dad chose to go to the casino to use up the last of his chips at the craps table while I headed to trivia. Unfortunately, the two musically inclined ladies I'd enjoyed playing these trivia games with chose not to attend and I really could have used their expertise. I then headed down the casino myself to give it one more go at the slot machines before cashing out. I tried to head back to the buffet for something to take back to the room since I hadn't eaten much for "dinner" but they were already closed up. Grabbed a small dessert at the International Café and returned to the cabin where Dad had long since headed to bed.

Good night Love Boat lovers!