Jim_Iain Apex Key West, TansAtlantic and British Isle with a Week in Amsterdam

[Jim_Iain]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[awhfy]

Truly enjoyed your blog, love the flowers & doors. Thanks for taking so much time to do it!!

[Jim_Iain]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MisterMet]

14 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

After dinner we returned to the room to find these. 
 

 

The dreaded luggage tags. 
 

Always a bummer

[hcat]

Loved the latest photos..you are really seeing the sights! Glad we get to see them too!

[DaKahuna]

Amazing photographs as always Jim.  Keep them coming. 

 

P.s. our adventures ended today.  We are in Sacramento spending a long weekend with our Son, DIL, and youngest grandson.  

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 5/6/2023 at 11:20 AM, upwarduk said:

Did you ever find out why you are docking in Rotterdam, not Amsterdam.

 

Yes -  Amsterdam has been having lighter than usual rainfalls and the watery system in the bay in increasing in salinity.    They are attempting to thwart the salt water intrusion.

 

Due to the drought and the lack of precipitation, the Netherlands is experiencing low river water levels and high salt levels in the canal. The low water levels mean that less water can be brought in, resulting in high salt levels in the North Sea Canal.

 

This is not good for water quality. The Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat)  has requested us to adjust the passage regime of the locks at IJmuiden. This should ensure that less salt enters the North Sea Canal.

 

Instead of passing ships through the lock on demand, we will pass as many ships as possible at the same time. This will be done in twelve-hour blocks, thereby limiting the number of passages per day. This measure will take effect next Tuesday, 19 July. Also, passages will only occur when there is a sufficient quantity of ships. As a result, vessel traffic delays will increase because not all ships will be able to be passed through the lock when they want. How many delays will occur is impossible to say at the moment because it depends on the number of ships. The lock scheduling will be continuously made, revised and communicated to all parties using the lock.

[Jim_Iain]

23 hours ago, FeebeeH said:

Jim, my husband is a keen gardener & loves your floral shots.  The style of your photos is  very similar to the ones he takes of the plants in our garden.  You have a great eye for the artistic shots.

 

 

Thanks... During Covid I use to shoot pictures of flowers I came across and also painted rocks with messages and art on them.    It's incredible what you see and learn.

 

[Jim_Iain]

I am sure many of you know a feature of iPhones and I would presume Android to identify trees, flowers etc. 

 

Simply press its i button 

 

Then click Loki’s Plant also location where taken

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/26/2023 at 5:54 AM, JackE said:

@Jim_Iain Thank you for such great posts! New to the CC boards and have very much enjoyed your cruise adventure news! My partner Andrew and I have a Med cruise booked on the Edge this August, and then the second sailing of the Ascent in November. We can't wait to retire like you and Iain and cruise all the time! We live in NYC and have a couple more years of working.

 

Wanted to let you know that we spent some time in Amsterdam last August before and after an Apex cruise to Scandinavia/Baltic. Have two restaurants that we highly recommend: 

 

Van T' Spit (From the Spit) located on Frans Halsstraat near where you staying around the museum plein (if I remember from your post). The BEST rotisserie chicken and homemade sides. Very casual but DELISH. In fact, we went there twice, once before the cruise, and once after.

 

Restaurant De Kas - which is set in a greenhouse in a local park. They only serve what's fresh and what they have grown themselves. It's in a park that we took the local metro to (Amstel Station I believe, and then it's about a 10-15 minute walk). Very charming and an experience not to be missed. You need reservations for this one - going for lunch is cool so you can appreciate your surroundings. 

 

Have a wonderful time in one of our favorite cities! Jack

 

Thank you Thank you.    I have been spending the who morning searching on e-mail's thinking  I had received by e-mail.    Iain, always the logical, suggested I search on this Thread and found it in 1 minute...  Just had Iain write them down and look up on Google Maps

 

For Others -

De Kas

Chic garden conservatory serving Mediterranean dishes made from organic ingredients grown on-site.

Service options: Dine-in · No takeout · No delivery

Address: Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3, 1097 DE Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hours:

Open ⋅ Closes 4 PM ⋅ Reopens 6 PM

Phone: +31 20 462 4562

https://restaurantdekas.com/eng/menu

 

Book Early -  All evenings all week are booked but we are waitlisted for a couple nights.     They had 2 times for lunch but we decided not.

 

Van T' Spit

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, upwarduk said:

So, it must be tide dependent, as cruises are still being advertised as leaving Amsterdam.
We did a repositioning  Amsterdam to Southampton, in 2012.

 

Yes they are still doing but limiting the number of ships into the lochs.     The Apex Norwegian will leave today Rotterdam an Disembark Amsterdam.    (Maybe a different Loch from the North).       Next Sunday for the UK Isles we depart Amsterdam and disembark Rotterdam.   You can only how that screwed up many hotel reservations. 

[kabmab]

Love your beautiful pics and commentary!  Many thanks.

[Jim_Iain]

We were getting a bit peckish so went in hunt of a light lunch.   We always avoid the town square’s with their not so good overpriced food.  Or cheap and nasty 🤮 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

We wandered and about a mile out of city center found a card  and coffee shop with a sign Soup. 
 

I went inside to inquire and she said yes she had broccoli today.  Sold.   Two bowls and Two cappuccinos.  
 

this is what came out

 

 

 

 

 

 

she then said if you need more bread just yell

 

we couldn’t even finished what was in the basket.   What a nice treat and just what we were in the mood for. 

[Jim_Iain]

I got a kick out of this.  We heard music coming down the street.  Just some folks enjoying their local on a Saturday afternoon.  This woman grabbed my shoulder a said film me dancing.  
 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Time to head back to the bus.   Just one more stop to buy som Belgium Chocolate.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

Yesterday they finally had Lemon Tartlets.  Little different with gramcracker crust 

 

[TommyD3]

Now that you are off the ship, how are you uploading all the pictures?

Do you have international coverage from your cellular provider?

[Jim_Iain]

Disembarking Rotterdam

 

 

 

Decided to figure out getting to Amsterdam.  I first checked Uber.   Decided to go by train 

 

I’m going to bring you along to see how challenging. 
 

[Jim_Iain]

First - Already had the Dutch Rail NS App

 

 

Easy to use and intuitive.  Also if two traveling a big discount

I first checked Google Maps to see schedules and blow by blow walking instructions 

 

Then I went to NS and booked tickets on a intercity 

 

 

 

 

 

What the heck 1st class and IC premium

 

 

See the joint ticket for 2

 

 

 

comparison of fares

 

 

 

 

 

Walked out of terminal and turned left

 

Short paved walk to subway. 
 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

The only difficulty we had was trying to figure out using subway.    They only had a machine to add finds to a card. 
 

A nice person came to our aid.  They don’t take cash.  Either Cc or Apple Pay.   Just tap the pad at gate and it opens. 
 

We thought we had a 30 minute wait.  
 

Two trains coming and the sign says both stop at Schiphol and CS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

 About 20 minutes we were at Rotterdam Central.  
 

Google maps told us we were departing track 11

 

Tapped our QR codes from NS and were at the tracks in no time.  There was a IC to CS sitting so hopped on and away we went.   I don’t think we were in Rotterdam for more than 5 minutes. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

We stopped at the travel and ticket office and bought a 7 day bus / tram ticket and grabbed Uber to AirBnB

 

i should have listened to our host and grabbed the bus.   Uber doesn’t pick up at  the station and. You have to walk to a listed hotel. 
 

 

[jetblue]

Thanks for leaving the Apex nice and clean for us, Jim. Boarded today and she's still beautiful. Sorry we missed you guys!

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, hcat said:

Loved the latest photos..you are really seeing the sights! Glad we get to see them too!

Thanks --- I have to say we do love to get out and see a city.   That area where we had lunch was really a local area and was so accommodating.