21 June

Reaching the cruise ship

The coach from Paris took us directly to our river cruise ship in Amsterdam. The ship was built by Shipyard De Hoop. We were greeted by the Captain at a cocktail reception, which was followed by a buffet dinner.

22 June

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Another sunny day. In the morning, we left in four buses and got on a glass-top canal boat cruise and explored Amsterdam’s maze of canals. We cruised past 16th century merchant houses and charming churches, dating back to Holland’s Golden Age, but there was no free time in the city centre. We did not enter any venue but saw them all while driving or sailing past.

 

 

We returned to the ship for lunch and then departed Amsterdam at 12:30,  sailing through the Dutch countryside, seeing canals, locks and windmills.

There was a mandatory safety briefing, followed by a practice drill on the sun deck.

There is very little clearance above the ship and there will be six days later on when the sun deck will not be accessible by passengers.

The cruise director hosted a slide show of the stops we will be making during the cruise.

We attended a cocktail reception at 18:45 where the captain introduced the senior crew members, who are mostly Hungarian and Romanian. The restaurant staff are mostly Indonesian. Later, we entered Germany while we finished a formal, a-la-carte dinner. Few men were in a jacket or a tie – most came dressed casually. Next stop will be Cologne around 1 pm tomorrow.

Most dinners will be a-la-carte affairs until the last night in Budapest, which will again be a buffet.

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Day by day

• Days -1 to -3 – Paris Extension
• Day 1 & 2 – Amsterdam
• Day 3 – Cologne
• Day 4 – Rhine Gorge – Rudesheim
• Day 5 – Miltenberg – Wertheim
• Day 6 – Wurzburg – Rothenburg
• Day 7 – Bamberg
• Day 8 – Nuremberg
• Day 9 – Kelheim – Regensburg
• Day 10 – Passau – Salzburg – Linz
• Day 11 – Melk – Durnstein
• Day 12 – Vienna
• Day 13 – Bratislava
• Day 14 – Budapest
• Day 15 – Disembarkation