Celebrity City Stay Amsterdam

[goobylal]

My family and I are will be sailing on the British Isle cruise August 6, 2018 out of Amsterdam and trying to decide if we should do the pre-cruise city stay in Amsterdam thru Celebrity or plan it on our own. If anyone has done this recently, I would appreciate any information. I am specifically looking for price, times of scheduled tours (we are thinking of doing "on my own things" so I don't want to have a conflict), what you thought of the tours/provided meals, location of the hotel and overall thoughts of the stay. Did you think it was worth doing the package stay? Any information you provide will be most appreciated. Thanks:)

[dodger1964]

I have never done a Celebrity package...so I can't be specific, BUT

 

I have never been able to figure out why people would pay so much for that service. (but i'm amazed at a lot of things people pay for to not have to do any planning on their own...but that is just me!)

 

Amsterdam is very easy city to navigate on your own..and there are many day tour companies to choose from if you wish to do them.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

We just did the British Open (Open Championship actually) cruise last month out of Amsterdam and had a great time.

[HelenREMfan]

Amsterdam is a wonderfully compact city and I found it easy to navigate and negotiate. There are many many hotels and they range quite widely in price. You have to recognise that with some of the more economically priced ones you might have to negotiate steep stairs in houses without lifts! I have always preferred to stay close to Centraal Station and like the Victoria just opposite it. There are many hotels in the museum area of the city though you are further from the hub of the city at night time down there. The public transport is good with the many trams.

I recommend taking the HOHO canal buses as to cruise around the canals gives you a great view of the city and familiarises you quickly.

Just along from the Victoria hotel and down from the station is a tour company Lindbergh on Damrak. They run many trips to locations in NL - we saw Den Hague, Delft, der Schans with its windmills, cheese and clog making, the fishing village of Volendam and of course the wonderful gardens Keukenhof. Of course it is also quite easy to take the train from Centraal Station to many destinations - all very feasible with a little bit of research.

Amsterdam is a fabulous city with so much to see and do. Use Trip Advisor for hints and tips and be prepared if wishing to visit the Anne Frank house - it is possible to prebook tickets so as to avoid queues.

[dodger1964]

Good points!

 

We did both the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum the morning of our cruise departure. Both MUST be booked in advance!!!!

 

We did opening time at Anne Frank (took about 1 or 1/2 hours) then walked to the Van Gogh ( I think we had 11 or 11:30 timed tickets)...Then caught Uber back to hotel, picked up luggage where we had stored at front desk, then continued to ship. With late sailing it worked great.

[Mr. Click]

I have to agree with the others. Amsterdam is a wonderful city with lots of hotel options so why deal with Celebrity and their agents?? We have had one cruise end there, one begin there. Both times we booked the Doubletree Centraal Station at a very reasonable price. The hotel is a 15 minute walk from the pier, right across from the Centraal Station, the major train, tram, bus and canal boat hub. It is in easy walking distance of many other sights and there are tons of great restaurants in the area too. We really enjoyed the Hop on Hop off Canal Boats. A great way to get around and much more enjoyable than the buses. Be sure to book your Anne Frank tickets well ahead. I think they go on sale about 90 days out. We were able to buy our Van Gough Museum tickets right on the canal boat. There are lots of places in and around the Centraal Station that can sell you tickets that let you skip the lines and that really does work.

[eandj]

If you have the time and interest DO book your hotel on your own. You are paying a premium to have Celebrity do the booking. They will do a per person charge as opposed to room rate. The transfers are not necessary/convenient either.

 

Do your research on the city layout. Use tripadvisor to help choose some hotels in your price point and needs. Then email the hotels directly when booking a room. They often will offer a free breakfast and/or lower rates..especially if not a chain. Compare to online pricing.

 

The hotels the cruise lines choose are often on the outskirts of town. You definitely want to be in a popular area in Amsterdam where the city is easy to walk or use their public system.

[colliercruiser]

My family and I are will be sailing on the British Isle cruise August 6, 2018 out of Amsterdam and trying to decide if we should do the pre-cruise city stay in Amsterdam thru Celebrity or plan it on our own. If anyone has done this recently, I would appreciate any information. I am specifically looking for price, times of scheduled tours (we are thinking of doing "on my own things" so I don't want to have a conflict), what you thought of the tours/provided meals, location of the hotel and overall thoughts of the stay. Did you think it was worth doing the package stay? Any information you provide will be most appreciated. Thanks:)

 

 

We are also on a British Isle cruise out of Amsterdam... in July 2018... and have wondered about a possible Celebrity City Stay. We did one in Barcelona before a Med cruise and really enjoyed it. Met many fellow cruisers that we toured with, and enjoyed the included excursions. The transfer from the airport worked well, and the transfer to the pier was great since we left our luggage in our hotel room and it was handled all the way to our cabin.

 

We didn't compare pricing vs doing it on our own. But it did provide time to do things separately on specific half days.

 

 

 

 

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[bigbenboys]

Yes as others have said Amsterdam is a great city. We also stay near the Amsterdam Centraal Station at Max Brown Hotel. While I do like large hotel chains, Amsterdam has great smaller boutique hotels.

[dabear]

Good points!

 

We did both the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum the morning of our cruise departure. Both MUST be booked in advance!!!!

 

We did opening time at Anne Frank (took about 1 or 1/2 hours) then walked to the Van Gogh ( I think we had 11 or 11:30 timed tickets)...Then caught Uber back to hotel, picked up luggage where we had stored at front desk, then continued to ship. With late sailing it worked great.

 

We are departing from Amsterdam next summer and will be staying at Doubletree Centraal . Can we do what you suggested or substitute hoho canal boat for museum and still make a 5pm embarcation?

[hubofhockey]

We are departing from Amsterdam next summer and will be staying at Doubletree Centraal . Can we do what you suggested or substitute hoho canal boat for museum and still make a 5pm embarcation?

 

If I had to do it over again, I would have stayed in the Doubletree. Great location, great reviews, good prices, and fairly new. It is very close to walk to area for Canal cruises.

 

The Anne Frank House is powerful. I would suggest that and a canal cruise or do a guided walk of the city. I would suggest Mark Law ("that dam guide"). Mark is a bit on the eccentric side, but he does great tours.

 

I am a huge Van Gogh fan, but we have seen much of his work at the Orsay and something had to give. Amsterdam is a great city. We were there a couple of days and visited the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House, Canal cruise, walking tour of the city, and Red Light District tour at night.

[floridaag]

We stayed at the Ink Hotel - was fantastic

[countess5]

We just returned from Amsterdam after the British Ise cruise. We use boutique hotels in the museum area, hotel Aalders.

 

As all have said Amsterdam is an easy city. Use the Tram buy a day pass, cost effective.

 

For a tour check into That Dam Guide, Mark does a fantastic job, both a city tour or a country side tour. For transfers check Amsterdam Airport transfers. Very reasonable. We have been to Amsterdam the last two years and used them for transfer from airport to hotel and hotel to port then from port to airport. Juan is great to work with.

 

Enjoy the cruise!

[RICCruisers]

I will second the recommendation of the INK Hotel. An easy walk from Centraal Station.

 

 

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[floridaag]

I will second the recommendation of the INK Hotel. An easy walk from Centraal Station.

 

 

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Was a perfect location - and if interested in craft cocktails, very close to Tales and Spirits - which is highly recommended

[nikel]

I will second the recommendation of the INK Hotel. An easy walk from Centraal Station.

 

 

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Glad to hear 2 good reccomendations for the INK. We are staying there next month.

[Mr. Click]

The loop of the HOHO canal boat takes less than two hours but if you are looking for just a canal boat ride there are plenty of other options that are just tours and take less time because they don't make the stops.

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

I'm on that cruise!!!

 

We are planning to use Journy (a 25 dollar/day planning service) to help us plan our pre-cruise time in Amsterdam. The formal, Celebrity pre-cruise seems both too spendy and rigid for our tastes. We've used Journy once before, and were really pleased with their insights and the value we got.

[crusingnut]

We (group of 10) cruised BI 1 yr ago on X, it was a great cruise. Pre-cruise we stayed 2 nights @ the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel (Marriott) it was centrally located. We walked everywhere, central train station is 5 min, Anne Frank was 15 min.

 

We did a evening Red Light District walking tour w/Mark "That Dam Guide", he was awesome! We also did a city tour with "That Dam Guide" which was great. We got tickets for Anne Frank in advance and did a private canal tour w/Rederij Paping. We started our canal tour just before the sun went down so we could take in daylight & evening, the lights that line the bridges are beautiful. We had dinner @ Ristorante Savini which was across the street from our hotel, highly recommend them.

 

Post cruise stayed one night @ same hotel and took a tour of Volendam, Zaanse Schans windmills & Marken w/Amsterdam City Tours. Beautiful area.

 

Amsterdam is one of our favorite cities. We had some wonderful private tours throughout our cruise. Enjoy your cruise!

[shfd251]

We are sailing July 25. Doing Amsterdam on our own for 2 days, and a Viator trip from Amsterdam to Brussels and Antwerpe.

 

We have done a celebrity stay package in Rome and while it was very pricey, we had a wonderful time, with a great tour guide. We also enjoyed meeting many people are going to be with us on the cruise following the celebrity stay package. We decided not to do this in Amsterdam, since the city was easier to navigate, and exploring options on via tour gave us the option to visit Belgium.

[lv2tvl]

My family and I are will be sailing on the British Isle cruise August 6, 2018 out of Amsterdam and trying to decide if we should do the pre-cruise city stay in Amsterdam thru Celebrity or plan it on our own. If anyone has done this recently, I would appreciate any information. I am specifically looking for price, times of scheduled tours (we are thinking of doing "on my own things" so I don't want to have a conflict), what you thought of the tours/provided meals, location of the hotel and overall thoughts of the stay. Did you think it was worth doing the package stay? Any information you provide will be most appreciated. Thanks:)

 

 

My husband and I (Jacob and Elaine) from Staten Island , NY

 

We are actually on this sailing. I would go a few days early. We are staying at the Apollo Museum hotel in Amsterdam in a month. Will let you know how it is. Since we are spending 5 nights in Amsterdam in April we booked pre and post nights with the cruise line. We are staying at the airport . It’s always recommended to book with the cruise line Incase of changes to the itinerary. I booked my air separate and did the hotel with the cruise line. Going a day early in case of flight is delayed. Easy to get around in Amsterdam. Big Bus Tours are a easy way to get around.

 

Let’s get together on the cruise. Hope there is a meet and mingle.

Happy Cruising

Elaine

 

 

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[Kansasshfd251]

We are on the July25 cruise. We did the Celebrity saty in Rome last year and it was great.

This year we are soing Amsterdam on our own and actually have a day trip planned to Brussells!

Regards

Jim

[Dawg67]

Does Celebrity award cruise tier points for a pre-cruise city stay?

[Kansasshfd251]

I do not remember getting any!

[shofer]

If you have the time and interest DO book your hotel on your own. You are paying a premium to have Celebrity do the booking. They will do a per person charge as opposed to room rate. The transfers are not necessary/convenient either.

 

Do your research on the city layout. Use tripadvisor to help choose some hotels in your price point and needs. Then email the hotels directly when booking a room. They often will offer a free breakfast and/or lower rates..especially if not a chain. Compare to online pricing.

 

The hotels the cruise lines choose are often on the outskirts of town. You definitely want to be in a popular area in Amsterdam where the city is easy to walk or use their public system.

 

We (2 senior ladies) did a Baltic cruise last year and spent 2 days pre- and one day post- in Amsterdam. I used Rick Steves guide for Baltic cruises and of course there was a section on Amsterdam.

 

We booked the Ibis in Central Station and the location was perfect. My DIL is a travel agent for Europe and she assured me that Ibis was a big brand in Europe. The kiosks for the HOHO bus and the canal tours are visible and easy to use. This is a great city to get around either walking or with public transportation. Everyone who deals with the public speaks English.

 

Sue