kikki21

So we got off the canal trip & basically walked in a quest of finding lots of Dutch food, our own food tour if you like!

There are plenty of tourist cheese shops where you can taste samples of cheese, mustards etc. We found one such shop & bought a truffle mayonnaise & a cranberry mustard plus tasted a bit of cheese!

Every so often, we would come across a bakery with lots of colourful macaroons in the window & of course we had to sample a waffle which was freshly made & tasted really good!

We found Dam Square & some fridge magnets to take back home as we collect these!

It’s all about the canals & bridges & the history of the city & the Lovers cruise company did a good job of the story telling on the audio. 

The city is certainly very pretty to look at & is rightly called the Venice of the North but it’s not really the calibre of a Rome or Barcelona in our view but you can feel the quirky vibe of the city for sure.

I did enjoy the canal trip & was glad we did this prior to walking around!

We sailed past HAL’s Nieuw Statendam in the dock ahead of us & we were here. We didn’t have any plans in Amsterdam other than walking around & maybe a canal boat tour & that’s exactly what we did!

It’s a fair walk to the Cruise Terminal but there is a kiosk there selling trips so we opted for the 1 hr canal trip which was good & gave us a flavour of the city. 

It’s then another fair walk to the central train station along the docks for cruise & river cruise ships & that was the flavour of the day. We sat right at the back outside for the canal tour so I was able to get some great photos. 

Going through the lock was an experience - it never looks like the ship is going to fit but it does. We felt like we had a mini Panama Canal experience plus a river cruise sailing into Amsterdam. We were in our cabin so watched the bridge cam & views out the back before we moved to the sides of the ship for views closer to Amsterdam.

Never seen so many river cruise ships moored altogether! 

We needed to get warm after the Lawn Club Grill experience & spent some time wandering round the shop eventually ending up in the Sky Lounge where we couldn’t get the bat staff to make me a Bushwhacker but I eventually got a very nice Lava Flow cocktail & my fiancé made his own cocktail! We called it a night & decided to have the latest room service breakfast we could prior to docking in Amsterdam. This was scheduled for 2pm but we did arrive slightly earlier. 

There was the strange sight of seeing the Costa ship right in the middle of nowhere but Amsterdam have introduced a port tax recently & many cruise lines have pulled out of stopping there so they dock just before the locks in a small terminal & coach people in - luckily for us, we were going in! 

Room service was excellent, phone call to say they were coming then literally 30 secs later they were there & then phone call after go check we were satisfied. Now where are those canapés?! 

All my photos are taken on my iPhone by the way. I have the 7plus.

You can just see the Spinakker Tower in Portsmouth on the first photo.

We went to see the show Life on the first night & it was pretty enjoyable - then we were early to the Lawn Club Grill. The food was amazing but they really need to think of better ways to enclose this space when the wind is blowing as it was! It’s not a location to have food in the English Channel! 

But the food was good, that filet mignon was worth it for the price alone & it was a first night discount price. 

I should have chosen Murano & been warmer though! 

I do like the Atrium on these ships with the glass lifts either side. Mmm for some reason even though we said yes please bring us the canapés in the afternoon, we never saw them again! Oh well, no shortage of food on board.

As we left Southampton, we had views of the Britannia & Sapphire Princess. Plus glimpses of the rough & windy weather to come! 

So after lunch, we explored the ship & checked out the Lawn Club Grill where we were eating later & got to view all the speciality restaurants & Cafe Al Bacio cakes which my fiancé loved! 

He is a cake addict! 

The lunch food was good. It was nice to sit down & not fight it out in the buffet! Rooms were ready at 1pm

so it was perfect timing to dump our bags & explore although of course I have already been on the sister ship, the Reflection. 

They are sister ships but the Artwork certainly seems better on the Reflection.

We has views of the Azura from our balcony. 

I enjoyed this cruise. I wanted to have the experience of a sunset view balcony & we had concierge class 1676. It was a lovely room & hardly any noise but we did experience plenty of movement on the first night, it was quite choppy. 

Benefits of the room were that it was a quiet location, being right at the back plus you get priority boarding - the queues looked bad but we were on board within 30 minutes & of course you get the concierge class lunch in the MDR. It seems to be the same each cruise as I checked what it was for the next cruise.

As we were staying outside Southampton, our first glimpse of the Silhouette was on the road leading up to the port. 

2 minutes ago, loveheart said:

I would also confirm that they were in a hurry to off load us. We decided to take our own cases off and were up early so we could have breakfast before leaving the ship. We were almost packed but had left our cases and other hand luggage on the sofa in the room. It was about 7.15 when we got back to the room to collect the cases only to find our room attendant stripping the beds and having a good old sort out. He was reluctant to leave but we needed to go to the bathroom etc and asked if he would give us 10 minutes. He did so but we felt it was bad form for him to be in there before we were gone or at least to apologise and let us finish our packing with good grace.

I’ve never heard them do that before official end of cruise time to vacate your cabin before 8am! And you came back in plenty of time. The MDR was open till 8.30am but they were already asking people to leave the ship & it took time for breakfast as lots of people didn’t want to share! We weren’t bothered & shared the table!

I’m back & home now!

I will upload some more photos - we were not really bothered by the stag & hen parties on the cruise but the large groups did take MDR time. 

I thought the food was good in the MDR, at least it was hot! But then again food is subjective. 

It was obvious that they wanted everyone off the ship ASAP judging by the constant final calls to get off the ship in the morning - they were really anxious to get everyone off very early indeed! There were still people having breakfast! 

I have stayed at both the Holiday Inn & the Grand Harbour Hotel but you really do need to book in advance to get the best deals. 

This time I stayed at Chilworth Manor Hotel just outside Southampton - got a great dinner, bed & breakfast deal through the Secret Escapes website & then paid for parking through AB Parking - the hotel does stay, park & cruise deals as well. 

Yes Sue Denning is the Cruise Director & it’s great to finally meet her as heard so much about her on CC boards. You will have a great time with her as CC. 

I’m on a mission to basically just chill out & eat today. I haven’t been great on the LIVE part of the cruise so apologies for that! 

We will go off to play the slots in a bit - I think it has got to the 3rd day where typically people start to relax & I have & just crashed big time! 

I think these shorter cruises from the UK are very popular with stag & hen parties & people celebrating big birthdays. I always like to research what people like to buy on cruises as I sell merchandise & jewellery & i’m going to bring out my own design of cruise t shirts for men & woman so watch this space! 

The other half has gone gone off for a jacuzzi & to go to the gym. I was going to join in but decided it was better for me to fall asleep instead 😂

Hello @villauk nice to “see” you!

I was in the MDR this lunch time & it was packed but we walked straight in without delay at 1pm.... this was because my fiancé wanted the experience of having a proper sit down lunch after he fetched me breakfast from the buffet earlier but actually not that much earlier! 

I’m having the Sailor’s Crush which is pretty good actually. I’m going to sleep well tonight that is for sure! Over 16,000 steps & still counting! 

We had room service breakfast this morning & generally chilled out before getting off the ship just after 2pm. We walked about 15 mins to the side of the main train station as we got the 1 hr canal tour & decided to do that first before walking miles & miles! 

Photos from the World Class bar cocktail menu! 

Just having a lovely dinner in the MDR! So hungry after walking over 15,500 steps today!

it’s been a lovely day & I’ll write more with pics later! 

Morning all - we have breakfast arriving at the latest time slot for in room service soon! 

The ship is giving us a good ride but is quite rocky out back. We don’t get to Amsterdam till 2pm so we might have a bit more kip afterwards or we might go to the gym although we will be doing plenty of walking in Amsterdam! I think chilling might be better here! 

I’ll attempt to photograph some bar menus! 

Although at the Sky Lounge one bartender did not know how to mix a Bushwhacker but fortunately did know how to mix a Lava Flow - he may have been new though! 

Our current position rocking in the North Sea! 

We went to see the show Life in the theatre before dinner - I was never one for ship theatre shows before I met my fiancé but seeing as he is in the theatre business, now I have to! 😂

anyway the show was very good & well worth seeing.

so we went off early to the Lawn Club Grill - the food was VERY worth it but dining in the English Channel with a 25mph wind in very unseasonable May weather was totally freezing. There are blankets & heaters but they are both pretty inadequate to be honest but we toughen it out! 

14 minutes ago, bernipops said:

Thanks for the update.  Only 6 weeks to our cruise so am avidly reading your review.

 

 

I’m looking forward to LCG as you mentioned earlier! We have done plenty of walking already. Over 6000 steps & I walked up the stairs from deck 5 to deck 11! Got to build up that appetite! 

Ooh just thought about the TV having a USB port & it does so now happily charging my iPhone through that - phew!!!