LAFFNVEGAS Live From the 7 Day Viking Sagas On Board the MS Rotterdam 7/10/22

[RedneckBob]

13 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Good morning from Amsterdam. Today looks to be a beautiful day. 
I decided to call it a day at about 10:30 last night and slept sound till about 2:15. Then like an internal body alarm clock I was wide awake. Could not get back to sleep so grabbed my phone and started checking emails and doing some work by answering emails. 
Then about 4 attempted to sleep but not much. About 5:50 Tom appeared awake but said he could not sleep much either. We had this same problem in 2016 when we came to Italy for the Koningsdam we have a terrible time adjusting to the time. Although our two trips to Japan in 2017 and 2019 we had no problems at all.

this morning we watched Celebrity Apex come in. She is definitely a big ship.

Well guess I will start getting ready for the day. I room includes breakfast at the hotel, so we are meeting Marcia and Colleen at 8:30 then heading to the train station to meet up with @Ine

 

We recently sailed on both the Apex (Dec2021) and Rotterdam (Feb2022). Both were beautiful ships but miss the nightly performers other than dance company in Showroom on Rotterdam. Did not like Apt style balcony on Apex. Steak house on Apex good as PG. Service and staff were excellent on both ships. Enjoy your cruise!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Evening from Amsterdam. All of us are very worn out from a very fun day but I feel like I definitely over did it. My legs are throbbing. My Apple Watch/ Fitness app says we walked about 11,500 steps but Tom’s Fitbit watch says He walked over 12500. My knees and thighs are painful luckily I brought some Bio Freeze with me.
It was a very nice day, the weather was perfect, temps were perfect.
The four of us started with the breakfast buffet here at Movenpick which was excellent. Then started out short journey to meet up with Ine. Thanks to Ine’s excellent directions we figured out the correct train and got off exactly where we should to spend the day with her. We spent the day at Zaanse Schans Windmill Village. After several hours we then went to see she she and Ton live. 
A very full day for us weary tourist.
 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

And some more pictures from today , of course the days ended with dinner and ice cream. 😉

 

[2inSETexas]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

We spent the day at Zaanse Schans Windmill Village.

Love visiting there. It’s such a beautiful village and setting.

[Florida_gal_50]

Great pictures!

[erewhon]

Thank you for your reports and photos.  business class on that plane looks to be very cramped.

Wishing you all a wonderful cruise.

[Caribbean Chris]

Your photos in the Dutch shoes are so cute! Looks like a very fun day.

[puppycanducruise]

We loved our visit to Zaanse Schans a few years ago.  Thanks for your pictures.

[Cruzin Terri]

Thanks for the reports.  We spent a day in Zaans Schaans and also had a wonderful time.  That was quite a while ago.

Glad you’re all enjoying your trip.

Terri

[Himself]

1 hour ago, Cruzin Terri said:

Thanks for the reports.  We spent a day in Zaans Schaans and also had a wonderful time.  That was quite a while ago.

Glad you’re all enjoying your trip.

Terri

Thanks for the updates and pictures.

[aliaschief]

Thanks for sharing your cruise. We will be boarding MS Rotterdam in August for two weeks of cruising Best Of Norway.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Saturday Evening from Amsterdam. 
yippeee Tomorrow is Cruise Day. Being a land Tourist is hard work, we are more than ready to get on the Rotterdam to relax. I bought a spa pass from the week and I am ready to start using it.

This morning we met Marcia and Colleen for breakfast at 9. I don’t think I mentioned the breakfast that is included with hotel through HAL it is actually very good. Large selection of fresh fruits as well as. Am amazing selector cheeses, old and new cheese. Eggs made to order including omelets. Very good bakery with at least 8 different jellies and jam flavors. There is even fresh delicious honey in the honeycomb. Overall the breakfast is quite good. 
afyer breakfast today we had tickets for 11 for Anne Frank House. It really is something everyone needs to see once. But it is very emotional. But I will also say that to do the tour it was a bit on the difficult side with the extremely narrow steep stairs. Unfortunately my leg strength is not strong and being short it is quite difficult to step up especially with little to no hand rails. While it was difficult it is definitely worth seeing.

After Anne Frank House we spent the afternoon at the very crowded Albert Cuyp Market. It goes on forever. But we did pick up some Amsterdam souvenirs and had some hot freshly made stroopwaffles. Tom want to try Poffertjed which is a small puffy little pancake with powdered sugar and butter. He also wanted to try the French fries or frites but we total missed seeing that booth.. I was able to get myself a bag of assorted Dutch Black Licorice. I don’t have to worry about sharing since no one traveling with me likes Black Licorice 😂😉

After spending about 3 hours shopping we were all calling it quits and grabbed an Uber and headed back to the hotel.

we have really enjoyed our days in Amsterdam. Weather has been nice the last two days. 
we are now ready to start the next 7 days of our journey to Norway on the Beautiful MS Rotterdam.
 

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Dutch Black Licorice

They may sell them on Rotterdam as they previously sold it in Koningsdam's Dutch cafe.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Morning from the Movenpick Hotel in Amsterdam. Look what we caught this morning from our room.

It’s Cruise Day!!!

[oakridger]

Nice movie of the ship gliiiidddddiiiiinnngggg in!!

 

~Nancy

[Ine]

Have a great cruise. It was so nice to see you all. 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We just had our last breakfast at Movenpick Hotel. Definitely one of the better hotel breakfast I have had over the years. This morning we had an amazing view of our ship out the window.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

The best treat was the fresh honey in the honeycomb on toast it was amazing.

 

[Ine]

Lisa and others, check those live webcams! 

https://live.netcamviewer.nl/Webcam-Kade-PTA/242?fbclid=IwAR32noWMQhmF6_Ge2cR3yjFklHGoyiPbp8hyJZi7i-N2D4t06L_HGp29Kgg

 

and this one, it changes from time to time, you will see Centraal Station and surroundings, but of course also the Rtterdam sailing around 5pm local time. https://www.portofamsterdam.com/nl/ontdek/beleef-de-haven/webcam-amsterdam

Edited July 10, 2022 by Ine

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, Ine said:

Lisa and others, check those live webcams! 

https://live.netcamviewer.nl/Webcam-Kade-PTA/242?fbclid=IwAR32noWMQhmF6_Ge2cR3yjFklHGoyiPbp8hyJZi7i-N2D4t06L_HGp29Kgg

 

and this one, it changes from time to time, you will see Centraal Station and surroundings, but of course also the Rtterdam sailing around 5pm local time. https://www.portofamsterdam.com/nl/ontdek/beleef-de-haven/webcam-amsterdam

Thanks for the webcams.  The one showing Centraal station is very good quality.

 

[VMax1700]

Looks like people are boarding!!

 

 

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Yes, just started boarding. We are checked in but have boarding group 11. There is no Priority Boarding even for Neptune Suites. We are just in the boarding hall.Boarding started about 11:35

[VMax1700]

30 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

There is no Priority Boarding even for Neptune Suites

Wow, that is disappointing.

What was your allocated check in time?  

Wishing you a quick boarding.

[kazu]

40 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Yes, just started boarding. We are checked in but have boarding group 11. There is no Priority Boarding even for Neptune Suites.

 

 

Yikes!  that could be a long wait with no priority 😞 

 

[BetsyS.]

5 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Yes, just started boarding. We are checked in but have boarding group 11. There is no Priority Boarding even for Neptune Suites. We are just in the boarding hall.Boarding started about 11:35

Bon Voyage!  Thank you for your great reporting and beautiful pictures.