'Color Line's 'Color Magic' is marketed by the ferry company as the world's largest cruise ship with a car deck. She was built at Aker Yards (today Meyer Werft) in Turku in 2007 and floated out on 15th December 2006 at 03:33pm. She has a sister ship with a very little bit less tonnage and staterooms. Together with her sister ship, 'Color Magic' serves the route Oslo - Kiel - Oslo on a daily basis.

Early in the morning, I had already left Hamburg for Kiel, after I had booked the ticket for the Mini-Cruise to Oslo late in the evening before, a very short-term booking for something that I had not done for years, going to sea.

On the beach of Laboe in the morning just before 09:00am, crystal clear water, ducks, seagulls and a wonderful peace, there was only the sound of the waves and a smell of sea. The weather was not perfect, some clouds passed by, and then she came, 'Color Magic', she moved into cloud gaps for my photoshooting again and again. I took the 'Förde Fähre' back to Kiel and the 'Norwegen Kai' for check-in.

The ferry company 'Color Line' asked passengers to show up not later than 2 hours before departure, who sticked to it, saved themselves long waiting at the check-in. I arrived there at 11:45am, and after only 10 minutes of waiting, the check-in process was done within 1 minute. No passport control, and neither was I asked to present the bank or credit card I used to pay for the Mini-Cruise. The boarding was postponed to 01:30pm, so, there was still time to walk over the folding bridge to the city center of Kiel, whilst the modern 'Color Line' terminal became populated with passengers, and the queues lengthened.

When returning to the terminal, there were already long lines of trucks in front of the open aft ramp of 'Color Magic', and a giant crowd of passengers was waiting in front of the barriers in the terminal. The 2 luggage scanners were used for larger pieces of baggage only, and there were no people or customs controls, only the boarding card was checked. At 01:45pm, I was on board, crossed the shopping mall and climbed the stairs 3 decks up to my inside stateroom 10429, on the starboard side. The cardboard boarding card with magnetic stripe did not want to open the door, but after several attempts, it had worked out by inserting and pulling it out again very slowly. The light was switched off, and instead of the window, there was a mirror. The equipment otherwise corresponded to the catalog description, which had concealed the small and empty refrigerator, however. The pressure toilet system made some noise. There were German TV programs, but I could not find out whether it was possible to change the English menu to other languages.

Departure was on time at 02:00pm. On the aft sundeck, passengers arranged sun loungers on the heliport, and it soon was crowded. 'Color Magic' drew an exhaust gas flag behind herself, and smoked the city center of Kiel, on the ship itself, the exhaust fumes were also noticeably in the stiff wind. It was very quiet inside the ship, she vibrated slightly. Soft carpets, the luxury of a large, space-consuming atrium with fast, glazed elevators, everything flashing and gleaming. Board announcements were made in Norwegian language, followed by German and English, limited to the most necessary information.

Last chance to go online for checking the latest weather forecast for Oslo; cloudy until midday, then clearing up. Some obviously drunk people did not manage to behave decently, the laughter drowned the sonorous engine sound that came from the funnel in 10-second intervals, even though I was some meters away. An hour later, the ship had already reached the open sea, a magnificent blue sky, cumulus clouds over land. I was sitting on the aft deck and enjoyed the sun, lots of blue all around. And while I was looking at the fairway, I remembered the wisdom; 'If you want to move forward, you have to leave something behind!'

At about 04:00pm, Laboe slowly disappeared in the glaring sunlight, and landmass appeared in the west; Langeland, Denmark. The deck staff cleared orphaned sun loungers because they were moved by the wind and began to slide over the noticeably intense vibrating aft deck. Despite the sun, it was quite fresh and windy. Suddenly, 'düdeldidüd-düd', my mobile service provider welcomed me in Denmark. The fees promised to me by text message were quite high, before the abolition of roaming charges within the European Economic Area. I switched my smartphone to offline mode.

At 05:45pm, the colossal 'Storebæltsbroen' appeared on the horizon, and 55 minutes later, 'Color Magic' sailed under, with the crescent moon in the evening sky above. The wind had calmed down, the white caps on the waves had disappeared, and the evening sun brought some more warmth to the deck. An unusual luxury for me, to have time and just do nothing. The big ferry sailed at a snail's pace, just a little to the side of the ship, hardly anything seemed to move, the horizon even stood still.

The next morning at 06:00am, there were few people on deck. The horizon was colorful, a layer of clouds over land, and 'Color Magic' pulled its exhaust stream behind in the faint wind, coloring the horizon green-yellow in the southeast. With high-pressure water sprayers, the upper sundeck was cleaned by staff, and the spray poured down onto the sunrise spectators and their cameras a deck lower. Unfortunately, it was not possible to look over the bow open air on 'Color Magic', and besides, some interesting outer deck areas were closed as well.

At 07:00am, 'Color Magic' was already sailing in the Oslofjorden, which narrowed dramatically 1½ hours later. The deck was crowded with people and appetizing smells from the galley, probably more of a big commercial one, and the weather was wonderful, clouds only far away in the fjord. Suddenly, 'Color Magic' was wrapped in thick fog at 08:45am, there was hardly any visibility ahead, and the foghorn sounded several times, echoing in the fjord. The fog had turned into thick clouds when downtown Oslo appeared, and again: 'düdeldidüd-düd', my mobile service provider, apparently following me to every corner of the world, greeted me again, even knowing that I was in Norway now. I had left the EU, but not the European Economic Area, for which some providers later also abolished the roaming charges. The sun began to look through the clouds.

I left the ship at 10:25am through the barriers in the 'Color Line Terminalen' in Oslo, where the boarding card was scanned. The sky was already clearing, much earlier than predicted, and it remained clear for the rest of the day, clouds were hovering far away, if at all. Not far from the 'Color Line' terminal, there is the quarter of 'Tjuvholmen', which reminded me easily of the 'HafenCity' in Hamburg, opposite, the royal yacht 'Norge' was moored. After all, Oslo had evolved considerably since my last visit some 20 years ago, with new buildings and modern architecture everywhere. Oslo became a melting pot as well, but not as intense as Hamburg. After marveling the old ships in the harbor in front of the town hall square, I walked up to the fortress 'Akershus', with a view of the city and after that to the futuristic new opera house, where I began to wonder which city has copied which one, Hamburg Oslo or vice versa.

Children's hordes with almost always light hair populated the monumental building which was surrounded by construction sites. In the shopping district, the same fashion branches as in Hamburg and street café's, which were really built on the street, still leaving one lane for the car traffic. I was wondering if I should change money, Norway not just refused to be member of the EU, but also to take the Euro as currency. I did not change money, and that was a good decision, because an hour before departure, I was still in the middle of my sightseeing tour, not leaving time for something to buy or to eat somewhere. I was very pleasantly surprised by the city and the many great impressions. Although Oslo is 1 hour by plane north of Hamburg, the deciduous color was just as advanced there in early September, it just started to dye.

At 01:45pm, I was back at the terminal, passing the gates where my boarding card was scanned, and I was back on board as one of the last. 'Color Line' asks passengers of Mini-Cruises to come back on board not later than 15 minutes before departure. The sundeck was already crowded when 'Color Magic' moved away from the pier punctually at 02:00pm, turned just behind the terminal and headed off to the fjord. A grandiose panorama offered itself from the aft deck, while a seagull flew always beside the ship, got fed by a passenger from the hands. Many houses on the fjord, wonderful location.

The Norwegian tall sail ship 'Christian Radich' had already left the city at midday, 'Color Magic' caught up with and passed her in the Indre Oslofjord. Speedboats escorted 'Color Magic' when she left the narrow part of the fjord around 03:30pm. The wind came hard from the south, blewing everything over board that was not fixed. At about 05:00pm, 'Color Magic' sailed out of the fjord, it was still very windy and it felt quite cold therefore. About 1 hour later, only a few clouds above Norway could still be seen in the distance, while Swedish landmass extended in the east. Another hour later, Sweden also thinned to a line as the sun descended lower and lower to the horizon in the west. Ships were rarely seen. After the late summer sunny afternoon at 25°C in Oslo, it was already very cold in the Skagerrak, and after 2 hours in the weak evening sun on deck, I was well frozen.

Although the board language is Norwegian, I have mostly heard German and saw many people again on the way back, I had already met somehow on the way to Oslo. I felt the communication with the crew in English less bumpy, but some of them did not speak English very well. In the evening, I took a look at the changing-color illuminated shopping mall with shops, bars and restaurants on deck 7. There was also the reception and the starboard gangway in the 3-deck atrium. As everywhere else in Scandinavia, prices were significantly higher than in Germany. In the duty-free shop, I was amazed and bought only 2 products that were not available in Germany. The elk sausage, however, was too exotic for me. Although EU citizens received an additional 20% discount in the duty-free shop, the products were still about 25% more expensive than in Germany.

Noticeable waves did not occur on both sailings because of the throughout calm sea, but in the stateroom, I always had the feeling that I was sleeping on a vibration bed. During usual times, changing water temperatures in the bathroom, equipped with a washbasin, shower, toilet, towels and liquid soap dispensers. Of course, everything was a bit cramped, but I could not complain about the design of the interior in the stateroom, everything expedient, taking out most of the small space, and in pleasant colors. I felt the orientation aids on board as getting used to, the signs were kept small, information about the location scarce, passengers without knowledge of maritime basic concepts may had even more difficulties. Smokers had less to laugh on board, and therefore ignored the rules occasionally, non-smokers in return had to live with smoldering disturbances of the holiday fun at different corners on the outer decks. I did not notice anything of a dress code on board, for staying on deck, a laced hood is recommended however, caps were occasionally blown away.

Very early in the morning, I watched 'Color Magic' approaching the 'Storebæltsbroen' on the webcam from the bow, which was transferred to the TV monitor into the stateroom, she passed the bridge at 05:20am. It was already dawning, and later at sunrise, the deck crew started again with their wet spraying work. Above Langeland, a long white cloud was floating, which immediately reminded me of New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud, where there are also fjords. At 06:30am, the sun rose over the horizon, there were many more clouds now on the way, and high fog in the distance partially covered the spectacle. It was not as windy but noticeably warmer than in the Skagerrak.

My camera battery started to empty after well over 2000 shots, the memory card was full as well. I had calculated with half of it, never gone so far to the limit with the resources, the battery warning indicator overturned almost. Since the southern tip of Langeland, there was no good weather to take photos anymore, and Kiel hung under a closed cloud cover.

At 09:40am, when 'Color Magic' was turning in the Kieler Innenförde, I left my stateroom a bit wistfully. After docking at the 'Norwegen Kai', the cleaning crew was coming on board first, and a few minutes after 10:00am, the passengers could get on land. A customs officer stood with his arms crossed in front of the barriers, where once again the boarding cards were scanned. According to the Schengen Agreement, which includes some non-EU states such as Norway, there were no identity checks. A wonderful trip with mostly great weather came to an end, and I had already wanderlust again ...