Amsterdam Cruise Day 3

Thursday

This morning we got up and left the ship at around 1000, as we left the ship we bought HOHO tickets which cost €65 in total and were valid on buses and boats.

We started on the boat from outside our dock, we rode until stop 8 (I think there were 9 in total) when we disembarked.

We wanted to see Anne Frank’s Haus but couldn’t get tickets and I didn’t realise you can’t see it from outside.

So we went for a walk around and found a ‘Febo’ where we got a croquette from the vending machine. I can’t actually remember what was in ours but it was quite tasty.

We then went in search of lunch and found an area that Rob thought “looked quite nice” only for us to realise we had drifted into the Red Light district.

We also saw what appeared to be urinals in the street! I googled these later and discovered there were installed to avoid men just going in the street.

We headed off in a different direction quite quickly 

We found a sandwich shop and ordered paninis with Dutch cheese and ham (that was the actual description on the menu). I had a red velvet macchiato and Rob had a coke.

At about 1330 we got on the HOHO bus where we almost did the full circuit but got off at stop 9.

Whilst on the trip we saw the last remaining windmill in the main city.

Once off the bus we got drinks and cookies and then headed back to the ship. We also stopped along the way to get some snacks to take home.

We were back onboard at about 1600 where we rested and then popped back out to get a few more snacks and drinks for onboard as I was getting fed up of paying £3.55 per coke!

We returned to the ship for the last time at about 1830 and then we people watched for a while before dinner at 2045 at The Beach House.

This was an odd venue that is part of the buffet by day but a bookable restaurant by night.

I had chicken tenders and Rob had a burger and that was followed by cheesecake with ice cream and chocolate fudge cake for Rob.

We were most baffled by the fact that only about 3 tables were occupied especially as last night we were turned away as they were “fully booked.”

Oddly, this ended up costing more than the Glass House at £34.

The pricing for this definitely wasn’t clear (I think there was an £11.50 charge per person plus some items had an extra charge) and I wouldn’t have said it was a better experience.

Back in the cabin we waited for the ship to leave port, Rob watched some boat ‘boy racers’ being chased by boat police.

He also waved to people on the dock as we sailed using his torch (they were doing the same). Before we finally went to bed at about 0030 

Amsterdam Cruise Day 2

Wednesday

We got up at about 0930 (ship time had gone forward 1 hour overnight) and by the time we were ready we were too late for Main Dining Room (MDR) breakfast so we went to the buffet.

Side note - Rob had finally managed to remember his binoculars on this trip!

It was very busy and almost impossible to find a table, we had to walk around several times to find a table and then we were a long way from where they were serving food as they weren’t using all of the serving areas.

We got a few pastries (which sadly weren’t great) and some tea/coffee and I also had some fruit.

Given the ship was pretty full it is odd that they weren’t using all of the serving areas and to be honest they probably could have done with extending the timing in the MDR.

We then explored a bit more of the ship and found a few areas we hadn’t seen - including the theatre.

We got in the virtual queue for lunch at 1145 and our table was ready at 1200, there was still a queue to get in though!

We had salad with fries (me) and burger (Rob) followed by chocolate cake plus some ice cream.

We came back to the room for a rest and to watch the ship enter the lock before we went to the gym.

I walked 2 miles and then we both did some weights/strength.

Back to the cabin for a shower and to wait for the ship to dock.

We got a quick burger from the poolside grill but light bites seemed much less easy to get on this ship 

We headed off the ship just before 1900 and took a quick walk to the central station where we got some drinks – paying £3.55 per drink was getting a bit tiresome.

We also got our magnet so we didn’t need to get one the next day.

Back into the ship and we tried in vain to get dinner at the Beach House which was apparently full (it didn’t look full).

We instead went to the Glass House where Rob had steak and I had pasta followed by a ‘British’ trio of desserts.

Rob had a beer and it cost us £32.15, this was a much nicer venue and it was a really good meal.