Wednesday, 20th September 2023

After getting an early night, we were rudely awakened by an announcement over the ship’s tannoy system at 06:45. It was our Captain informing us that we were not in Hamburg as planned. We weren’t even in the River Elbe on the approach to Hamburg. Bad weather overnight had seen the port closed to all shipping, and so we were in a queue to have a pilot come on board and steer us up the river and into the harbour. Instead of being tied up around 07:00 we’d be lucky to get into port any time before 14:30… It’s fair to say that the weather news came as something of a surprise to us, because we’d not noticed a thing overnight. It had seemed so still that both John and I had been sure we were actually in dock prior to the announcement. In fact, we’d been going round in great big circles out in the North Sea while we waited for the traffic ahead of us to clear. No rush to get up then. Except we were now fully awake. Our plan to have breakfast at 08:00 still stood in a case of “might as well then”. 

Post breakfast, it became a case of what shall we do now? Because it was supposed to be a port day, there wasn’t much scheduled, though that was counting without the resourcefulness of Cunard’s staff. An initial announcement told us there would be a new and rather fuller daily programme and that it would shortly be distributed in our staterooms. Initially, though, we’d take a walk outside and watch as the Queen Mary 2 slipped into the Elbe and traversed the distance to our destination at as fast a pace as was permitted. It was a sunny day and perfect to take the camera out and about to see what I could see. The crew were running maintenance on various parts of the decks, the chairs were filling up, and lots of people were watching out to see the pilots come alongside.

We glided past the entrance to the Kiel Canal, and were fascinated by the many shapes and size of shipping out there, including river buses, small yachts, dinghies, massive Maersk container ships and the like. We passed the airport (which was unbelievably quiet), and people lined the banks to watch as we passed. People of the river buses were waving and taking photos, to our amusement. Eventually we tired of that and went roaming further to see if we could find the library and bookshop ahead of going back to Illuminations for another talk. We did finally locate it, and a very fine establishment it is too, with gorgeous shelving and several thousand books. There is also a bookshop, but thankfully that was close. Peering through the glass, I could see that it looked as if it could prove expensively dangerous (or even dangerously expensive). We’d already handed over $11 for a fridge magnet, after all!

Having finally found the panoramic lift, we were ready for a sit-down. We settled down in the Illuminations venue, though I was having trouble now taking it seriously because every time anyone said the name all I could think of were the minions and the introductions to the “Despicable Me” films where they deliver the word in a variety of daft ways. The morning’s talk was by Major Scotty Mills, a retired Royal Marine, who we had skipped over the day before. We really shouldn’t have done, because he was fascinating and inspiring in equal measure, and he had a fantastic story to tell. We thoroughly enjoyed his talk and made a note to go back the following day when he would be speaking again on a different subject.

After that we grabbed a coffee and some lunch from the Lido and King’s Court buffet, but couldn’t find anywhere to sit. Plates in hand, we went to our balconies to watch as we did what appeared to be about a 400 point turn to get into the harbour, seeing the Hamburg skyline come into focus, with the Elbe Philharmonie at one end and the TV tower at the other. A rejig of the planning meant that a fleet of coaches was waiting to take us all into the city centre, with the last bus back at 20:00. It was now 15:00 so we would only really have a couple of hours to sightsee. Just as well that I already know the place.

We decided that Miniatur-Welt would have to wait for another time. It wouldn’t be much of a visit if we couldn’t spend several hours in there. Another time perhaps. Instead, we stuck our heads inside the fabulous Rathaus, walked over to the Nikolai Kirche for a brief look at the history of the WWII destruction of so much of the city, and then walked along the Binnenalster to look at the fountain and enjoy the views.

We felt that we needed a refreshment stop at one of the waterside cafés in the arcaded section along the Binnenalster before we went back.

Everyone seemed happy enough with the shortest of short tours, and so we caught the bus back in time to get cleaned up and dressed up for dinner. We tried another bar this time. Or at least we attempted to. The Chart Room was heaving, and we couldn’t find four seats. We changed our plans and started at the Champagne Bar, where we confined ourselves to prosecco, despite the availability of a range of Champagne Laurent-Perrier offerings by the glass, ahead of the evening meal. By the time we finished the first drink, space had become available as people went in to dinner, so we took a table over by the wall. The Chart Bar does interesting cocktails, including a daily special, and if you time it right, there may also be canapés. We’d timed it right!

Dinner was in the Britannia restaurant as ever and was again good if not exciting. We drank some fantastic wines though. And afterwards we decided to see what entertainment was available. An excellent band were in action in the Queens Room, so we hit the dance floor for the second time in three nights, only quitting when the band did.

Hamburg had never especially loomed that large in our plans so we weren’t too disappointed at not getting to see much of it. I am, however, starting to take my inability to get to Miniatur-Welt personally though. Janice suggested I may be cursed where that is concerned. We’ll see. I reckon it could be third time lucky… Maybe I just need to sneak up on it, rather than confront it head on. Maybe we should have booked it through Cunard and then at least we’d have got a refund.