Roll Call: Tulip Time - Avalon April 1, 10 sailing

[Louisana cruiser]

Anyone on Avalon's Tulip Time April 1, 2010 cruise?

 

Also, what is the best way to get from the airport to a hotel in downtown Amsterdam?

[CanadacruiseRN]

My Mom and I are bookd on this cruise. She really wanted to see the tulips and Keukenhoff gardens are the ultimate.

 

The best way to get to downtown Amsterdam from Schiphol is train, I think. We did this and were staying at the Park Plaza Victoria across the street. Worked great. Public transport in Amsterdam is wonderful, with a great tram system.

 

Hope to meet you on the ship!

 

Laurel

[Ine]

If your hotel isnot in the vicinity of Centraal Station (in case you want to take the train) you will need onward transportation by cab or tram.

 

Also this shuttle from/to the airport to all major hotels works great:

http://www.schipholhotelshuttle.nl/site/info.asp?Language=EN

[trustcat]

My girlfriend and i are on this trip as well. We are flying in to amsterdam 2 days early to sight see. Begining to get excited but getting worried about the cold ! Where is this cold coming from, go away, go away. We are from So Florida. What about you both ?

[CanadacruiseRN]

My Mom and I are fromm Winnipeg, Canada. It is directly above Grand Forks ND. Cold and windy but we love it. Mom is 83 and is now in CA visiting family.She is a real mover. I sometimes have trouble keeping up with her. She is Miriam and I am Laurel...we are also flying in 2 days ahead to do some sightseeing. Hope the weather smiles on us!

 

Laurel

[trustcat]

Hi Laurel: My girlfriend and I live in So Fl and are hoping things warm up. We would like to see the tulips bloom ! Starting to get excited as time approaches. Planning Amsterdam pre trip tours

[CanadacruiseRN]

My husband and I just got home from Florida. We were travelling in our RV and visited Orlando, St Augustine, Titusville (Nov launch!), a month in Marathon and Grassy Key, Sarasota, Naples and Ocala. We had a great time even though the weather was a little cold. The keys were HOT and sunny. Beautiful. Hope to see you on the ship.

 

I have been to Amsterdam before and really enjoyed the Museums...they are terrific. Also the architecture and atmosphere! Very unique.

 

Laurel

[Louisana cruiser]

Louisiana cruiser and husband, cousin and his wife, and another couple from VA are in our group. We actually met the VA couple on our Southern France Avalon cruise last year at this time. Yes, there were some cold moments, mostly in the early morning. By noon, we had shed our jackets, but of course we were in southern France. We are hoping the really cold weather has cleared by the time of our trip. We also hope there are lots of tulips in bloom, but I read (after we booked) that the peak tulip blooming time is more towards late April - early May. I did read that other flowers in in bloom just before the peak-Tulip time.

 

All 6 of us are leaving the USA on March 28 to have more time in Amsterdam and maybe a side trip to Harlem.

 

Names: Amy (Louisiana cruiser) and husband, Ches (3rd Avalon cruise & 4th EU river cruise)

Cousin & wife: Tim and Lisa (1st Avalon and 1st EU river cruise)

VA friends: Paula & Will (2nd Avalon & EU river cruise)

 

See you onboard or maybe on the streets of AMS.

 

(BTW - If you see anyone onboard or around town with a "WHO DAT" shirt or anything with a fleur de lis on it, it is probably us. We are still glowing from our Saints winning the SUPERBOWL!!)

[CanadacruiseRN]

Hello Louisiana Cruisers!

 

Congrats on the Super Bowl. We are deeply involved in the winter Olympics here in Manitoba as we have many participants in almost every sport! It is winter here for about 7 months each year! Our speedskaters have not been able to perform as well as we hoped.

 

The visit to Keukenhoff gardens will be full of tulips. The gardens have huge indoor spaces full of hundreds of types of tulips, as well as many other flowering plants. My husband and I were in Holland in early April and the gardens were beautiful but the outdoor spaces were not yet blooming.

 

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

 

Laurel

[Louisana cruiser]

Great to hear about the tulips; we are excited.

 

We have been glued to the Olympics and have also enjoyed the scenes from the Vancouver area. We visited Vancouver and Victoria prior to an Alaskan cruise a few years ago - - what a beautiful part of the world!! We have been to many parts of Canada, and you have an amazingly beautiful country - - with such gracious :) people.

 

We have friends in Sudbury, who we met on a Caribbean cruise + land trip many years ago. We still keep in touch.

 

Can't wait for the AMS/Belgium cruise.

 

Have you ever been to Harlem - about 15 minutes by train from AMS? We heard it is worth the trip, but it depends how much time it takes us to get through AMS sites.

[trustcat]

Welcome Amy

We Floridians are hoping for coat shedding weather too

Im patiently waiting for optional excursions and tickets n the mail

ITS March and we leave in 27 days !

[trustcat]

still impatiently waiting on tickets...

How do u ladies suggest we get from Amst airport to hotel and from ship to airport ?

[CanadacruiseRN]

We are also waiting for tickets, and info.

 

Last time I was in Amsterdam we took the train from the airport...worked fine. There is also a hotel shuttle that will take you right to the door.

 

Laurel

[Kajuntraveler]

After a little research, it seems the best way to get from the airport to the downtown hotels is the "hotel shuttle" (schipholhotelshuttle.nl.com) for 15 euros one way per person.

You could take the train, but then you either need a taxi or drag your luggage until you find your hotel.

After an overnight flight, I'm not very coherent, so I think we will use the bus service, mentioned above, getting dropped off at the door of our hotel.

 

There will be a shuttle from the NH Amsterdam Centre hotel to the ship. Not sure if this is a convenient location for you, but the cruise director will be there to coordinate transfers and optional excursions, if you arrive early enough. Because of this, we booked our 3 pre-cruise nights there.

 

We don't have documents yet either, but I did get a list of optional excursions from 2009. (If you want them, let me know. I was told that the 2010 optional excursions are not out yet.

 

This happened to us last year on the Avalon Southern France cruise. Our cruise was the 1st one of the season, so they did not get optional excursions until we got onboard the ship. The cruise director was very secretive about them, and only wanted to give us the ones for the next day - - until the passengers pressured him to give us the complete list, so we could plan our "free time".

 

Haven't checked the AMS weather recently - - hoping it will be somewhat spring-like and sunny, but we have endured cold and rain on past spring river cruises in Europe.

 

Suggestion: Pack a compact umbrella for each person in your party, a waterproof jacket with hood, and shoes that are somewhat water resistant. Last year in Avignon, it poured, and some areas of the town had water that was "almost ankle deep".

 

Someone told me something years ago that I'll always remember:

There is no such thing as bad weather on vacation; there is only poor planning & poor packing.

 

Less than 2 weeks - - What flight from US to AMS are you all on?

[letsgo39]

Was there any problem with high water and bridges last year on your France cruise? How were the temperatures?

 

I love your comment about bad weather and poor planning. Brings to mind our Italy trip two years ago when it rained EVERY day for 10 days.We were ready for it as I had checked the 2 week forecast before we left and packed for the weather.Had a great vacation as we were in Italy and what could be bad about that!:D I got to see Venice flooded for the first time and that was so much fun walking in knee deep water in Piazza San Marco!!!! :eek:

 

One month from today I will be in Paris!!!!!

[Kajuntraveler]

No problems with highwater or bridges. Passing under a couple bridges, we just barely cleared it. The captain let us all go on the Sun Deck but everyone had to be seated (except me, since I'm only 5' short). This was an event for everyone; it seemed like we would hit the bridge, but we did just barely clear it.

The weater was rainy some days. Other days, it was quite chilly in the mornings and evenings, but warmed up to "no jackets" by midday. We had an amazing time, but again, we packed for all weather conditions - - layers and rain gear/footwear.

 

Bon Voyage!!!

[CanadacruiseRN]

My Mom and I are flying from Winnipeg to Chicago on March 29 then (6:05pm) direct to Amsterdam, arriving there at 9am March 30. We booked into the Grand Amrath hotel just 500 metres from the Centraal Station so we will walk as it is pretty easy. In fact it is a walking city as it is completely flat.

 

We hope to have enough time to see some of the museums and recover from jet lag!

 

Our hotel has a pool, sauna and a steam room so hope to start our vacation with a little spa time.

 

Laurel

[trustcat]

Still no tickets - I want the detailed itiniary

 

We arrive Wed early am from Miami-Atlanta to AMS. We are also staying at the Amrath because it looks absolutely gorgeous. Hope to hit all three museums on Wed and Thursday Anne Frank, Van Gogh and Rijks.

[Peacemkr59]

Hi all, I'm trustcat's cabin mate, our docs arrived yesterday but still no optional excursions listed. They won't be available until we get there. Canadacruisern, I'm on a flight from Chicago to Ams as well only the following day. Staying at the Amrath but only for one night...maybe we'll see you there!

[letsgo39]

Just wanted to mention that Amsterdam has a HOHO bus/canal boat 24 hr ticket available. DH and I used the canal boat a couple of years ago and it was a great way to get around.If you don't want to do that they also have a really good public transportation and everybody speaks English if that matters to you.

 

Also Avalon/Globus does not change their optionals much year to year so if you know what they offered in 2009 it is probably will be mostly the same.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful time.Be sure to check the weather forecast before you leave.Do be ready for some wet weather.

 

Bon Voyage!

[webfoot]

While waiting at the hotel for transportation to the ship, Avalon offered two different tours. We took the trip to look at a village that made wooden shoes and had a working windmill ... and a shop with wonderful cheeses and ice cream. I don't remember where they other trip went.

 

When we were done with this tour, we were taken directly to the ship and our luggage was in our rooms.

 

Enjoy your trip ... we can't wait to go!!!

[Kajuntraveler]

Thanks for the information about the optional excursion to the nearby town. This is the excursion we are considering, if we don't get to Harlem before then.

 

What time did the excursion depart the hotel?

[Kajuntraveler]

We plan to take the bus from the airport directly to our hotel (15 euros per person).

 

We received documents yesterday also - with a note saying that the optional excursions will be given once onboard.

 

I hope our tour director is prompt with giving us the entire list.

Our tour director for the Southern France cruise was secretive about all the excursions; he only wanted to give us what was available for the next day.

 

Several of us pressured him to give us the full list, so we could plan our time better.

[webfoot]

I believe that the optional trip left about 2:30 and got us back to the ship by 5:30, which gave us enough time to chill out, empty suitcases, etc.

 

On the Windmills, Vineyards and Paris cruise last year, optional tours had been listed on the Avalon website. Once we got on board our tour guide gave us the list to look at. Once we were under way, she found that there was not enough time to do one of the tours. She also had to cancel one or two more due to lack of interest.

 

Our first year I think that we took just about every optional tour that was available. Last year there often were two optional tours at the same time. My husband was interested in military history and went on one or two of those while I did the other trip.

[webfoot]

Optional Excursions have been added to the Avalon website ... check it out!!!