Days 17–19: Heading Home

Days 17, 18, 19 — at sea. It took three straight days of sailing to get from Reykjavik, Iceland, all the way back to Bremerhaven, Germany. I said I was done taking photos, but a few slipped out anyway, out of pure reflex. 😁 At one point I stepped out on deck and was genuinely surprised by what I saw: I had never once seen the ship in the dark! The moment we set off we headed straight north, and by the very first night we'd already left darkness behind, even though we hadn't crossed the Arctic Circle yet. And even though I was super excited and couldn't sleep and wandered the decks around 4am like a ghost… I don't remember ever seeing the ship in darkness as black as on that last night heading back, right before we docked in Bremerhaven.

On arrival, after watching the docking maneuver as always, and to my delight trading a few words with the captain, we had one last breakfast on board, disembarked without incident, and the adventure was over for us. But for others… the adventure was just beginning! The Artania didn't stay in Bremerhaven any longer than it had at any other stop along our route. By around 6 or 7 in the evening it was already pulling away from the pier and setting off on a new adventure, with new guests aboard! And some lucky ones didn't even disembark at all — they simply stayed on board for another week, two, three, four, five, six weeks of sailing the world's seas and oceans.

Artania carries on with her adventure around the world — through the Baltic Sea, Sweden for a while, then back out into the North Atlantic and off toward Greenland! Oh, how I wish we could have stayed aboard to keep living this life and posting photos and videos from Greenland! 🙂 But… maybe next year.

We're in Hamburg now, but in our minds we're still on board. We know what time the announcements are made, what time dinner's served, and we even know tonight's dinner menu, because the program printed on board and delivered to the cabins every day is also available online — so we know everything: the course, the position, the state of the sea and wind, and even what the view from the bridge looks like. 😁

https://www.phoenixreisen.com/hier-ist-die-artania-heute-.html

https://www.phoenixreisen.com/public/xml/ART/2025/2025-08/2025-08-08/TP.pdf

It'll be a while before we settle down and get back to our normal routine. Post Travel Blues is a serious condition, we know that from experience. 😁

A lot of bad things get said about cruise ships. And they're definitely not for everyone. Not all cruises are equal either — some are really just an excuse for consumerism. And their impact on the planet is most likely not negligible. But things are changing, slowly but surely, like a diesel engine. The Norwegians at Hurtigruten, for instance, are leaders in sustainable cruising, with hybrid propulsion, zero emissions, transparent recycling, and so on.

There will always be people who choose this way of exploring the planet, or simply of spending their vacation.

And there will always be people who jump at the chance to work on a cruise ship.

I met so many young people on board who aren't necessarily cabin stewards or cooks or waiters, and who work with real passion: camera operators, photographers, dancers, musicians, tour guides, carpenters, content managers, lecturers, salespeople, barbers, masseurs, sound engineers, electricians, plumbers, doctors, nurses, and so on.

One of them is a bike guide, organizing cycling tours wherever the ship stops. He loves what he does, sees the planet, and lives a life to be envied. And he's not even 20 years old. What options did I have at his age? It lights a fire under me just thinking about it.

Another one flies the drone and captures fantastic footage everywhere the ship goes. In the evening he edits the day's clips, and the next day he starts all over again. At the end of the cruise, guests take home a professionally filmed recap of everywhere they visited.

Another one dances on stage at night and teaches yoga / aerobics / fitness, whatever, in the morning. It's not for everyone… but if you love what you do so much you'd do it for free, on a cruise ship you get the chance to do it for money, see the world, meet people, and have experiences you'd otherwise have no shot at getting anywhere near, stuck in whatever comfort zone you happen to live in.

Not you specifically, I mean, just speaking generally now. 🙂

For instance… I was in the Arctic Ocean, writing a post about feeling at home near the North Pole, while a band played oldies but goldies in the background… and, to my surprise, I could barely believe my ears and nearly fell out of my chair, even with the sea flat as glass, when the drummer suddenly stirred up memories from another life, when I was the bassist in a rock band called Dirty Job, back in Miercurea Ciuc, counting off the next song with: egy… két… há'rom… négy! 🤣

Turns out… the band in the Pacific Lounge was from Hungary, and looking closer… they didn't even have a bassist!! 🤣 If I were younger and free of obligations, I probably would have tried to convince them they needed exactly me on bass! 😁

In any case: I'm still fascinated by everything I experienced on this ship over the past few weeks. But I've got just one more post planned on the subject: I still have some video clips to sort through, and if I find any good scenes in there I'll throw together a simple edit and upload it in the next few days, after which I promise I'll leave you in peace about cruises. At least for a while. 😜