Kiel Canal, Germany

Stage Manager’s Log
M.S. Prinsendam
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Kiel Canal, Germany

I got up this morning to see some of the scenery and watch as we went through the locks into the canal. I have to say, the locks were not quite as exciting as I was hoping. I guess the change in water level was not too great so you could barely tell that we moved at all. It was interesting to see all of the traffic on the canal. This canal is actually the most active canal in the world. The Prinsendam is the only HAL ship that can sail this canal, as the other ships are too tall to fit under the bridges. The Prinsendam’s radar mast can be collapsed and then we just fit under the lowest bridges.

We had rehearsal for Hit the Deck this morning at 1200. It was pretty normal. Then I grabbed a quick lunch and came back for one of Barbara’s port Lectures, followed directly by the new explorations speaker, Gerry Lucas.

After the Lectures I finally had some time to relax a bit and watch some of the scenery going by. One of the more interesting things we passed on the way down the canal was the flying ferry bridge. This bridge has a train track on top, but underneath, running on tracks, is a suspended ferry that shuttles people, bikes and cars across the canal. It was pretty wild to see the ferry go and the trains run on top.

I had dinner as we headed into the locks at the end of the canal. We had our two showtimes as usual, and I think Peter was pretty happy with them. He said after that he thought the show was a little soft, but he didn’t want me to turn it up since he got some comments from last cruise about it being too loud. I think it was just fine, Hit the Deck just doesn’t have as much energy as some of the other shows.

After showtime I did my laundry and hung out some with the crew before heading off to bed.