The NCL cruise is on! We are ready to board the Norwegian Star! The normal filing in at the port of entry is as expected. Lots of people getting checked in at the Copenhagen port, checking their bags, going through security, leaving their credit card info with the finance department…
First Stop: Warnemunde, Germany
It’s the cruise ship port for anyone going on to Berlin. At the port there was a sand sculpture contest (see above). Some passengers took the train to Berlin (3 hours one way!) but we decided to just check out what was in town.
A few sites in Rostock as well
Anyone on a Baltic cruise knows this port well. 1) The city hall and 2) Boats along the river Warnow. Warnemunde is a small town of about 15,000 and the population is used to all the cruise traffic. The much larger Rostock (Pop. 200,000) used to have factories that made airplanes for the Luftwaffe during WW II so many of the medieval buildings were destroyed by allied bombers. The 13th century church 3) St. Mary’s escaped the destruction. 4)A local wedding photo stop in the town square.
The Norwegian Star left the port late in the evening (due to those passengers coming back on the train from Berlin) and even though the citizens must have seen hundreds of these huge cruise ship come in and out of port every year, a good number of them headed for the banks of the Baltic Sea to wave goodbye to us! Sorry we didn’t spend much money there except for the one hour train ride to and from Rostock.