Disembarkation Day (Day 121) - Cruise Statistics - Travel to Belgium

Hello Everyone,

Wednesday 6 May 2026

Well, it's finally here - the last day of this amazing four month adventure. It doesn't seem that long ago I was leaving cold, winter weather in Ohio, heading to Los Angeles, to join 800+ people I'd never met to go to places I'd never seen. Soon I'll be heading home to a place that ostensibly is familiar, but one I'm sure has changed while I've been gone. I'm looking forward to seeing both the new and the old (especially my three cats! Will they know me?). I’ll have some overall reflections on the entire trip once I get back home to Ohio.

Cruise Statistics

But before I get into today's adventures, let me pass along some statistics on the cruise.

• Total distance traveled: 29,847 NM
• Total fuel consumed: 1.88M gal ($7.5M)
• Bed sheets per day: 300
• Bed sheets total: over 13,000
• Tubes of body wash consumed: 30,000+
• Total meals served (all venues): 184,221
• Room service meals served: over 10,000
• Total number of individual excursion tickets printed: 42,340
• Avg number of people on excursions each day: 640
• Local guides employed: 1,600
• Number of passengers who booked another Viking cruise while onboard: 792 (94% of guests - as a Viking shareholder, I especially love this statistic!)
• Food Consumption:
• 68,000 eggs
• 29,000 L milk (7,661 gal)
• 2,500 kg beef tenderloin (5,511 lb)
• 1,500 kg burgers (3,307 lb)
• 2,000 kg lobster (4,409 lb)
• 15,000 kg flour (33,069 lb)
• 4,500 kg French fries (9,921 lb)
• 7,310 kg sugar (16,116 lb)
• 2,000 kg chocolate (4,409 lb)
• 122,870 water bottles
• 32,674 bottles of wine

Mind boggling numbers, for sure!

The Next Several Days

Although the 2025-2026 World Cruise is in the logbook, my trip isn't quite over yet. Today I traveled to Tremelo, Belgium to spend the next five days with my friends Digno and Lieve. I've known them since 1992 when we were next door neighbors in Dayton, OH. Both served in the Belgian military, and Digno was assigned as a Belgian liaison to the F-16 program office at Wright-Patterson AFB. We've stayed in touch, and Ellen and I made countless visits to see them in Belgium over the ensuing years.

Lieve, Digno, and Me

From First Class to No Class!

This morning everyone had to vacate their rooms by 8:00am and clear the ship by 9:00am. The ship sailed this evening with an almost entirely new group of passengers on a cruise around the British Isles, so the crew needed to prepare nearly all of the 450 or so cabins for new guests. We had to put out luggage out in the hallway last night so that it could be collected and loaded onto buses, and be sorted by departure times and destinations. I arranged to have my two biggest bags shipped home rather than schlep them to Brussels. I had just two small bags and my backpack. Some people had relatively early flights from Heathrow and had to be ready to leave the ship at 2:15am. Thankfully, because I had independent travel arrangements, I didn't have to be out until 8:00am.

I didn’t sleep well last night because I guess I was nervous about leaving and hoping everything would go OK. I woke early, around 5:30, and got dressed. I went to meet friend for one last coffee together at 6:00, then returned to my room to work on e-mails, the blog, etc. I already had everything packed that I needed for today, so I just added the few things I still had out and left the room about 7:45. I went down to the atrium area, grabbed a coffee and a muffin, and hung out until my group was called to depart the ship.

Once off the boat, the reality of no longer being on a first class cruise hit home! Suddenly I was on my own - no one to tell me where to go, no one to carry my luggage. It wasn’t unexpected - I knew it would be that way - but still, it seemed an abrupt transition.

When I arrived ashore I went to the designated luggage area, found my bags, and walked to a location nearby where I agreed to meet my Uber driver. I was about an hour early though, so I tried to see if I could move up my pickup time. I could, but the price almost doubled, so I just pulled out a book and hung out.

My driver showed up on time in a nice car (a very clean/neat Prius) and we set out on the supposed 45-minute cross-town ride to St Pancras Station in the heart of London. I say “supposed” because traffic was just awful. Most of the time we barely crawled along. Finally, after an hour and a half, we got to the station.

I had a first class ticket on the Eurostar high-speed train from London to Brussels, and Lieve was kind enough to arrange for an intercity ticket for me from Brussels to Mechelen, a town close to where they live and where they agreed to pick me up. All I had to do was figure out the trains. I wan’t worried about that at all, as I’ve taken trains and subways in numerous cities previously.

St. Pancras was incredibly busy and crowded. It seemed like everyone in London decided to go on an international trip that day! I had a designated check-in time for the train and I’d arrived early, so once again, I read my book and watched the crowd.

A few minutes before the designated time, I heard an agent announce that check-in for Brussels was open. The line immediately filled up, but moved fairly quickly. The process was similar to airline check-in, except you handled your own luggage. I had to pass through security, customs, and passport control before entering the waiting area in the station. Security was like at an airport except there were no restrictions on liquids. Good thing, because I was carrying a bottle of scotch for Digno and Lieve!

My train number, car number, and seat were already assigned and listed on my e-ticket, so I looked at the big board to see what platform the train would leave from. Again, they had everyone wait until closer to departure time before allowing us to go up to the platform. Once I did, I quickly located my car and seat and settled in. The train left on time.

The train was comfortable, smooth, and quiet. I saw almost no empty seats though. We were served a light meal during the 2-hour ride to Brussels, and it was quite tasty. I had poached salmon, a salad, some potatoes, asparagus, and a cookie for dessert.

We moved along smartly, at times reaching speeds of 160-175 mph. The ride through the “Chunnel” was a non-event. Except for being in a tunnel for a long time, there was no other indication that we were crossing the English Channel. The train made a very brief stop in Lille France, then continued to the Brussels/Zuid (Midi) station south of the city. We arrived within one minute of our scheduled time, 4:09pm.

I gathered my things and followed the signs to the main hall and quickly located the platform for my train to Mechelen. It was leaving in about three minutes, and the platform was all the way at the far end of the hall. I got into high gear, dodging the crowds, and made it to the train just in time to watch the doors slide closed. However, there was an agent there who saw me coming and immediately opened the door for me. I quickly stowed my luggage and found a seat. Truth be told though, if I’d missed that train, I could have used my flexible ticket for any train, and the next one left in about 20 minutes.

The train was nearly full. Our first stop was at Brussels Centraal, right in the heart of the city. Because it was rush hour on a weekday and commuters were going home from work, the train quickly filled to capacity with standing room only. The train arrived just a few minutes late in Mechelen at about 5:00pm and Digno was waiting for me on the platform. It was great to see a familiar face! We hopped in his car and headed for the house.

Upon arrival, I settled into the familiar guest room. Digno offered an aperitif and we began catching up. He made some fabulous steaks and a salad for dinner. Lieve had to work a last-minute job in Amsterdam today, so she didn’t arrive home until a bit later, but joined us in time to have a bite of dinner too.

We gabbed into the evening, enjoying fine Italian wines and made plans for the next day. Digno and I  decided to go to a Belgian military museum in Brussels tomorrow while Lieve attends to some Zoom calls for work.

Soon it was time for some well-deserved sleep. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next few days - It’s always nice visiting with these friends and we never fail to find some interesting and enjoyable things to do.

More tomorrow,

Jim