Caitlin: Gallivanting in Germany

Hello

Bit of a short post from me today because we weren’t on land for very long. We had a couple of stops in Germany, the first being Bremerhaven. But we only managed to get off for half an hour in between rehearsals.

It was Sunday so most things were shut but we had a nice walk around the marina where there were lots of old sailboats.

The second stop was in Wismar, where Nosforstu was filmed.

We don’t have any short cruises left now, which means we’ll be travelling further and further from the UK. We’ll be having some more sea days as we’ve got to go back to Southampton to change passengers and then we’re sailing to Canada!

Caitlin: Getting to know the crew

Hello

I’ve been to two more ports since I last wrote. We went to Brest in France and then Flåm in Norway. Brest is in northern France and is best known as a naval port.

This means it has things like castles and forts and defence posts, to stop invaders from attacking France.

The canon wasn’t loaded. I checked first! It was Assumption Day when we were there, which is a Catholic religious day, meaning a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed, so we didn’t get up to much! We bumped into one of Beccy’s band mates though

Beccy decided I’d been with her long enough it was time I started to meet some of the other crew. And that I could start pulling my weight and do some work!

When we got to Flåm, we had to use the tender boats like we did on the Isle of Man because it was a small port. I was allowed to help supervise in the cockpit.

It looked like a difficult job, so I kept saying ‘left a bit, right a bit’ to help. I don’t think he was impressed though because he kicked me out! Instead I helped passengers get on and off.

We had a bit of time to wander around a bit of the Norwegian countryside while we were there.

You can see that our boat is really close to the mountains! Norway has lots of Fjords, which are a bit like a cross between a lake and the sea.

We found a tractor which I was tempted to try out driving, but Beccy said I’d been in trouble already once that day for trying to operate the boat so I decided to leave it!

We went for a walk with the band mates Beccy plays with instead.

It’s very pretty here. It’s quite chilly though, I think the UK still has sun!

Then we had to head back to the tender boat.

This is the Master At Arms. He’s in charge of security and making sure everything is legal.

And this is a deck cadet. He’s responsible for making sure everyone and their luggage gets on board.

These seamen help with parking and mooring the boat to make sure we don’t float off!

Lots of the crew are from the Philippines so I’ve been trying to learn Tagalog, the language they speak there. I offered to teach them Cat but they said they didn’t think they’d meet many other Cat passengers…

And these are some of the women who work in the salon on board the ship. Some of the crew always have to stay on board when we’re in a port, but it rotates to make sure it’s fair and everyone gets to see lots of different places in the world.

It’s getting a wee bit chilly now, I’m glad I’ve got my fur to keep me warm! Beccy says it’s quite hard work packing for multiple countries and seasons because the crew cabins are quite small and you need to be ready for lots of different weather! I wonder what the weather will be like in our next port…

Caitlin: Liverpool & the Isle of Man

Hello

You’ll be pleased to know I haven’t got lost again since being in the Netherlands. We headed back to the UK to change passengers and pick up supplies, this time stopping in the port of Liverpool.

I was quite excited to be in a place with native English speakers, although Dutch people speak very good English.

Except, despite the fact that they’re very friendly people, I didn’t really understand most of the scouse accent. I had a nice time looking around the city though, despite the grey weather!

Then we moved on to the Isle of Man. I thought this was part of the UK, but it’s not, it has its own separate flag and government and everything. I could understand the accent a bit more!

It’s a very small port, so our big ship didn’t fit in it, meaning we had to get a tender ship (smaller boat) from the cruise ship to the port.

Look how far away we had to dock! It was quite strange being on a small boat after the big one. It moves a lot more so I had to be careful to hang on and not fall in. I had a life jacket as well.

It’s a pretty small island but I liked the look of it. It felt cheerful.

I managed to find a space on the top deck of the tender boat on the way back which gave me a great view.

Then it was back up the gangway to our cruise ship! Next time you hear from me I shall be in France!

Caitlin: Latvia & Kite Surfing

Hello, back again!

The good thing about traveling around Europe on a cruise is that nothing is ever really that far away. It’s not like sailing from England to America for example. However, it does mean that I’m getting confused as to which country I’m waking up in!

We’d just finished our time in Sweden and then traveled to Latvia. I don’t know an awful lot about Latvia, but Beccy says they’re one of the countries that have ‘interesting’ Eurovision Song Contest entries. I think she was being polite…

Anyway, when we arrived in Latvia, we were able to see how huge our boat was while we were leaving the port.

I know my way around the boat now, so it doesn’t seem as big as what it looks from the outside.

I wonder how many miles I walk per day, because it really is massive!

The port we were in was called Riga and had lots of old buildings along with new ones. I quite like places like that because it means you can learn about the history of a place.

After being in Scandinavia, Latvia felt soooo much cheaper when paying for things like food. Beccy had to stop me from buying and eating everything in sight!

Back on the boat and it wasn’t too long until our next stop, Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. Random fact for you- everyone thinks that you can call the Netherlands Holland as well and it’s just got 2 names. But you can’t- Holland is the name for the region immediately surrounding Amsterdam, the capital city, whereas the Netherlands is the name of the country.

It was a bit dull and windy looking so I wasn’t that keen to get off the boat in case I got so wet my fur went all soggy. But Beccy said I should come with them because it would be worth it.

We went kite surfing on the beach! Basically, you need a lot of wind and you sit in a buggy looking thing on the beach with a kite above you in the sky and the wind catches it and you move around. It was fun, but I dread to think how long I’ll be finding sand in my fur for!

Our next port is back in the UK in Liverpool, so I’ll update once we’ve been there! Bye for now!

Caitlin: Scoping Out Scandinavia

Hello

I'm finally back with Beccy after getting lost in Amsterdam! Safe to say I've learnt my lesson- stay near Beccy all the time! I had a nice sleep and got some rest on the journey back from Amsterdam…

… then we headed north from the UK to Scandinavia. First up was a trip to Gothenberg.

I got a bit confused and thought we were going to Gotham City to meet Batman! Beccy laughed and said no, Gothenberg is in Sweden. We had a wander around. We were a bit surprised that the Opera House looked a bit like a military ship from a distance!

Then we got back on the cruise ship and headed to another Swedish city; Stockholm. We really liked this city. It had old and new buildings and was really pretty in the sunshine.

I didn't like the look of Swedish food so I had some Korean food, because I know I like that. This is called bibimap and is a rice dish.

Next, we explored a church which is on its own island in the middle of the city.

Our final port in Scandinavia was Turku in Finland.

We were really lucky to be there at the same time as the Tall Ships Festival. There were lots of people though so I made sure to keep close to Beccy and not get lost!

Tall Ships are literally what it sounds like- really tall ships! But they're a lot older than the cruise ship we travel on. They still use sails!

A sail is how ships used to get power before engines were invented. It's a big bit of material which is attached to the mast (a pole basically) and the wind catches it and pushes the boat along. I think I like our cruise ship better… I'm a cat who likes my creature comforts!

It was a bit of a whistle stop tour around Scandinavia but it's a really beautiful region of the world. I think I liked Stockholm the best because it was such a lively and lovely city. After a few days at sea, our next stop is Latvia!

Caitlin: Iceland

Hello

After leaving the Orkneys, we had a bit of time at sea when we sailed to Iceland. Two things I’ve learned about Iceland are:

1) The words are really long and hard to spell. Apologies if I make any errors!

2) It’s nowhere near as icy as I thought! It’s actually got quite a lot of greenery, which is weird because according to my musician friend, Greenland is more icy than green! 

Anyway, our first port was in Seydisfjordur. I was really excited to get off the boat and explore. We climbed up a waterfall and got pretty wet and muddy, but that’s ok because British cats are used to rain and mud. 

Although it was really sunny which was nice.

We also had a brilliant view of our ship. It’s actually pretty huge! 

Next up, we visited Myvatn Nature Bath. The water is supposed to be warm but I wasn’t a big fan of getting my fur wet so I watched the others.

The water was a similar colour to my fur! I had the opportunity to try some Icelandic meat in Reykjavik. It was a bit more chewy than I’m used to but tasted nice.

We had a look around some shops and found this yarn shop…

… and also a Viking tourist photo opportunity!

I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a Viking! This was our last port in Iceland so we boarded the boat again ready for some more sea days before our next destination. 

Because we were so far north, Iceland and other countries nearby don’t have the same length days as in the UK. So in the Summer, the sun doesn’t fully set, called the midnight sun. This is half sunset half sunrise I guess.

It was past my bedtime and I was already cat napping so the musician took a photo to show me. The disadvantage of having really long days in the Summer is they barely get any sunlight in the Winter!

I’ll be back soon when we’ve been to another port. Bless í bili! (I think that means goodbye for now in Icelandic!)

Caitlin: Finding My Sea Legs

Hello

This is Caitlin the Cat with my first blog post about my time sailing the seven seas (or at least a few of them anyway) with a musician working on a cruise ship. 

It’s a pretty exciting but also terrifying thing having to pack for months away at a time. Especially when you’re going to hot and cold countries, so you have to make sure you have clothes for *every* eventuality. Oh and clothes to work in too! 

It’s a good job she had me to help carry her bags for her! The cabins for the guests are quite big and comfortable, depending on the type and price you book of course. The crew quarters are comfortable enough, but tend to be bunk beds. 

I’d never slept in a bunk bed before, but now I find it quite cosy being rocked to sleep by the waves and closing my curtain to sleep. There’s no window in our cabin so it’s really dark! 

My room mates are nice, which is really good. Before welcoming any passengers on board, we had to make sure the ship was ready and we’d completed some training and drills to keep everyone safe.

We made a good team. I managed to sneak into Dover for the afternoon for a last day in England and found some beautiful flowers.

Soon we cast away! We set sail from the south of England (Dover) and headed to our first destination, the Orkneys. 

I was glad for sunny weather because it meant I could say goodbye to England properly.

Soon we were out at sea and it was time to go inside and do some work!

We had a brief stop in the Orkneys and popped onto shore to look at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. It was built in 1137 and is owned by the people of Orkney. The people here are super friendly so I think I’m going to try to come back soon. 

That’s all from me for now. We’re currently sailing to Seydisfjordur in Iceland. I will update you in my travels once I’ve had some more adventures!