Imagine having to go through an old warship to board your ritzy cruise ship. That's exactly what we had to do to get on and off the Silver Wind before embarking on a 10-day European voyage.

For two days, the sleek white Silversea vessel was anchored on the River Thames in the heart of London alongside the HMS Belfast, a British cruiser that saw action in World War II and the Korean War, and now is an extension of the British Imperial War Museum. In addition to the six-nation itinerary — England, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Sweden — what made this trip memorable wasn't as much the gourmet dining, luxurious accommodations and nightly entertainment, as meeting and socializing with passengers from other countries. Only one-third of the 250 guests aboard were Americans.

We took advantage of the ship's open-seating policy by requesting seats at six- and eight-passenger tables for lunch and dinner, enabling us to meet some very interesting people.

There was the Welsh physician, a pediatric oncologist, who had been honored by Queen Elizabeth II for her work; the California malpractice lawyer and his wife who turned a walnut-growing hobby into a lucrative business; the apparently super-wealthy and loquacious German home builder and his wife, who couldn't stop laughing; a charming Australian couple with a rigid daily exercise regimen; an English mechanical engineer and his wife on their 11th Silversea cruise; and one of the ship's dance hosts, a jovial chemist from New Jersey.

"Yes, it can be tiring," the dance host confided, "but it's a great way to see the world on the cruise line's dime."

The Silver Wind is a midget compared with the 2,000- and 3,000-passenger cruise ships plowing the seas today. It is 514 feet long with a crew of 210 from 36 countries and facilities for 296 passengers. Our cabin, with a marble bathroom, roomy sitting area and balcony, was twice as large as accommodations my wife and I have shared on larger ships.

Its small size also allows it to go where the big ships can't fit.

So there we were, docked on the Thames near the Tower of London Bridge in the heart of London. Its size also made passage possible through the narrow Kiel Canal, which connects the Baltic and North seas, and allowed us to dock on the River Scheldt within walking distance of downtown Antwerp, Belgium.

Honfleur, a quaint French fishing village of 8,000 at the estuary of the River Seine near Le Havre, was our first port of call. It's an artist's dream with colorful old buildings, narrow streets, rows of small boats and busy outdoor restaurants lining the waterfront.

Every diner, it seemed, was feasting on mussels in what looked and smelled like a creamy, garlicky wine sauce.

A treasured landmark, the towering St. Catherine's Cathedral can be seen from almost anywhere in town. A dark, brooding wooden structure, it was built to celebrate the departure of British occupiers and the end of the Hundred Years War in 1360. Its massive oak belfry is now part of a museum named after Eugane-Boudin, Honfleur's most honored artist.

In Antwerp, Europe's second largest port, we booked a tour called "City Highlights and Rubens House." The advertisement cautioned that it'd involve an hour-and-a-half walk on cobblestone streets. Turned out to be a 41/2-hour walking marathon that took us through the city's touristy Town Hall Plaza, shopping area and the 500-year-old Cathedral of Our Lady known for its display of several Renaissance painter Peter Paul Rubens' masterpieces. The tour concluded at the palace-like downtown building, now a museum, that was Rubens' home and studio from 1616-40. At a 2002 Sotheby's auction, one of his paintings, Slaughter of the Innocents, sold for $76.2 million.

A landmark statue in front of Antwerp's Town Hall celebrates the action of a mythical hero. Legend has it that a giant villain exacted tolls from persons crossing the River Scheldt, and he'd cut off hands of those who refused to pay. Enter the hero who cut off the hand of the villain and tossed it into the river. The Town Hall statue appears poised to throw the hand toward the river, and hand displays at various city locales recall the folklore.

Monocle Magazine rates Copenhagen second in its list of the 20 "most livable cities." It's also one of the greenest. Entering the port, you can't help noticing scores of windmills along the shore. They provide 20 percent of the energy for the city's 700,000 residents, according to Anette Jensen, Copenhagen's cruise marketing director.

Bicycles were everywhere — weaving in and out of traffic, lined up in auto parking lots, in front of large buildings and churches, some without locks. With gasoline topping out at nearly $10 a gallon in Denmark, the bike riding was understandable.

Occupying most of our day was a canal boat ride and bus tour, lunch of a variety of herring, a visit to a recently renovated boutique hotel with room rates starting at $1,000, the relatively new David Liebeskind-designed Jewish Museum and Tivoli Gardens.

Upon returning to the ship, we learned that a fellow passenger had $5,000 in traveler's checks and $450 in cash stolen from her handbag while in a crowded Copenhagen store. She didn't even see the culprit, she said. Luckily, the pickpocket didn't get her credit card. Using it, she obtained cash with help from the Silver Wind's purser.

The incident prompted us to be especially cautious and to make good use of our cabin's safe as we continued on to Ronne, Denmark, and Rostock, Germany, before disembarking in Stockholm, ending a rare learning experience and coming away with some extraordinary new friends.