After having endured a very wet and very muddy Wacken Open Air festival, my family and I spend a couple of nights in Kiel to decompress. The city is not one instantly beautiful German tourist places, but at a second glance very charming and with lost of things to discover such as the easily walkable harbor area or the German Naval Memorial and sandy beaches of Laboe where you can even explore the last remaining VII C submarine, the type made famous by the movie Das Boot.

In a very cliché allocation of activities the ladies went to a spa and I went to experience the hands best birthday presents ever: A day on the Kiel Canal (aka Nord-Ostsee-Kanal in German) aboard a historic, steam-powered paddle streamer.

The vessel Freya operates as an excursion boat out of Kiel. Her history is pretty checkered. Built in 1905 in the Netherlands she operated as a royal yacht, bunker and supply ship under several names. During the Nazi occupation it even served as a hideout for Jewish refugees. In 1986 she was sold for scraps but in the end was renovated and used as a VIP charter boat in Rotterdam. In 1999 Adler shipping purchases the ship, renovates and renames it as Freya. Since 2000 the steamer paddles the Baltic Sea around Kiel and especially the Kiel Canal.

This waterway connects the Baltic and North Sea between Kiel and Brunsbüttel near Hamburg shortening the trip around Jutland by about 250 nautical miles. First ground for this project was broken in 1887 and regular operations commenced on July 1^st 1896.

The canal then named Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal after the German emperor Wilhelm I. quickly attracted traffic and also gained military importance, as Germany aggressively expanded its navy.      

Ship movements peaked in 1964 with more than 80,000. Since 1999 the number of ships as well as the fright volume is in a steady decline reaching only 24,866 in 2024, and preliminary figures for 2025 indicate another 8-10% decline.

However, there was plenty of ship traffic to be seen during my tour.

This excursion is offered by Adler Schiffe in Kiel with several departures per week from April until October. Check out their, German only, webpage and search for “Große NOK Fahrt”, which is 7,5 hour day trip from Kiel harbor to Hohenhörn. A bus will take you back to Kiel from there. The ticket includes a brunch buffet on board which is an excellent spread. Later in the day you can partake in the German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen (afternoon coffee) with an opulent buffet of cakes and pastry.

A very knowledgeable commentary was provided by the captain on my trip, who not only talked about the canal’s history and hydrography but also addresses the current ship traffic around our boat. That said, the focus of this excursion is more to spend a nice day out on the canals, enjoying the plentiful buffets and a few drinks. Die-hard shipping nerds might be a bit disappointed at times. These aficionados formed a minority among the passengers, who were mostly senior citizens enjoying a day out as well es members of an organized tour through northern Germany.

Adler provides excellent service throughout. Every passenger has a reserved seat on the lower or upper deck, while the outside areas are free to roam. To avoid long queues, passengers are called table by table to the brunch and cake buffets. Brunch was amazing with a huge selection of cold and warm dishes – the latter even included proper lunch items such as pasta dishes, soups and roasts.

The cake buffet was nice enough, but didn’t quite reach the quality of the brunch edition, as parts of it where obviously factory-made frozen stuff. Water, juices, coffee, and tee are included during mealtimes. Other drinks are brought to your table by very friendly and attentive waiters and prizes were pretty reasonable.

All things considered: A pleasant day out on a fascinating waterway with lots of shipspotting opportunities.