LIVE from Celebrity Apex: Best of Scandinavia May 25, 2023

[lennythenose]

We have friends who left today and I’m about 99% certain they will be on your cruise. I’ll have to keep an eye out for them in your pictures. I’m so jealous of this trip😂. Enjoy every minute of it!

[love2crews.]

10 hours ago, Ciaranaman said:

Following!  We will also be on this itinerary next May on the Silhouette.  Your first day in Amsterdam sounds really yummy!

Those stroopwafels are HUGE!

 

I think it’s just the camera angle, but they were still a good size!

[love2crews.]

10 hours ago, Silkroad said:

I’m very happy to see this! Do you think your arrival would have been fairly easy if you’d not booked the M&A service? We’re flying into AMS for a b2b in late July, and I’ve been hoping we wouldn’t encounter the chaos that passengers found last summer. I had noticed the M&A service on the AMS website, but hadn’t researched it further. It’s great to have a positive review! Thanks for mentioning it.

 

Absolutely.  I think you’d just wait a bit longer at customs, especially during the summer in July.  We also had a little “shortcut” way to get to the customs area, but other than that not much of a difference.  We will see on the way back when we leave AMS and how the service differs from arrivals.

 

[love2crews.]

10 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I used to travel to Amsterdam for business quite often a few years ago.  Schipol is large but I like that airport.  Have a nice cruise and I will definitely be following along.

 

Your photos are nice and adding a blank space between them will make them show even better.

 

I find it easier just to add the space before I load each photo.  You can add the spaces after you load all the photos but you have to be careful where you tap on your screen to place your cursor before you hit the return key to add the space or you could wind up deleting the photo instead.  You will get the hang of it.

 

Have fun.

 

Thank you!  I’ll try this next time I post a photo dump. 🙂 

[Norwaylady]

Looking forward to your adventure⚓️😎🤩 

as said before, the sail in/out of Stockholm is gorgeous🤩 

 

[catgirl411]

8 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

Looking forward to your adventure⚓️😎🤩 

as said before, the sail in/out of Stockholm is gorgeous🤩 

 

It sure is. Definitely a highlight of any Baltic cruise!

[love2crews.]

It's been a crazy day and a half and we're officially onboard the Apex!  Woo hoo!!!!  We had a little glitch in the boarding process, but more on that later...

 

Going to start with yesterday's itinerary and then I'll post another update about today.  I still need to post hotel info as promised, too.

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) started with a quick breakfast at our hotel's restaurant, Jansz.  It had a cold buffet with meats, cheeses, bread, fruit and freshly squeezed juices.  My sister would like me to add the orange juice had too much pulp for her liking, lol.  It was delicious though. 

 

You get the cold stuff from the buffet and order the hot food off a menu.  My sister and I each got the eggs benedict and my mom ordered the avocado toast.  We also got a side of potatoes and bacon.  OMG, the eggs benedict was probably the best I've ever had!!!  Everyone loved their food!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

After breakfast, we met our tour guide, Steve, in the hotel lobby for a walking tour of the city.  Let me start by saying the tour was absolutely WONDERFUL and Steve is such an INCREDIBLE and knowledgable guide!  We had also booked him for a few days after the cruise and I am sooo glad we did!!!

 

Throughout the course of the day, we passed by the Anne Frank Hiding Place, strolled around the city learning history, seeing the sights found in well-known paintings, visited the Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum, stopped by the floating flower market and checked off several foods from our list.  We did not have reservations for any of the museums.  We walked right up with Steve and he got us in, even if it was sold out for the day. 🤫 He has special passes for everything.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also got the hang of our family very quickly.  When my sister was tired of all the walking, he knew to use the tram to visit the last few sights.  He already had the tram cards and we didn't have to do anything other than tap in and out at each stop.  The tram was not additional.  He includes everything in the tour so you don't have to worry about anything and can just enjoy the city. 

 

For lunch, we stopped at Café In de Waag.  We got some toasties, steak tartare, and the soup of the day: mustard soup.  Lunch is not included in the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the snacks we tried throughout the tour (again, not included, but Steve will tell you the best places to get the snacks on your must-try list):

-pickled herring (Amsterdam style)

-croquette from FEBO food vending machine

-lavender goat cheese (from Henri Willig)

-traditional dutch cheese sandwich from Sterk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still had a few things planned after our tour ended at 4:30.  More to come in a separate post.

 

For those wondering, Steve is from Private Day Tours Amsterdam.  His tours are all-inclusive and you don't have to worry about anything other than food/drinks.  10/5 stars for Private Day Tours Amsterdam and Steve ⭐

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

At 5:30, we went to the Anne Frank house (or as Steve informed us, her hiding place, NOT house).  We opted for the introductory program which said it lasted about 30 mins.  It was more like 45.  I expected a video presentation, but it was actually a guy talking.  We thought it was a bit long, but I'm glad we did it.  Anne's original diary can only be seen if you opt for the introductory program.

 

For those who aren't aware, the Anne Frank tickets go on sale 6 weeks in advance on Tuesdays at 10:00 Amsterdam time.  They sell out in minutes, so you have to set an alarm and be quick.

 

Photos are not allowed inside the museum once you go through the ticket scanners.  You're given an audio guide and can go through the museum at your own pace.  It was a very memorable experience and I'm grateful we were able to experience it.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

After Anne Frank, we had dinner at Long Pura and tried the traditional rijsttafel, or "rice table."  We went here on Steve's recommendation and really enjoyed it.  We didn't have a reservation, but fortunately, they were able to seat us.  We were in and out fairly quickly as we had a 9pm canal cruise to get to.

 

It was nice having a variety of options to try and everything was delicious.  Another food/experience checked off the list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

A quick stop to Albert Heijn to grab a few more snacks to try before the canal cruise…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

For the final activity of the day, we caught a canal cruise at our hotel, the Pulitzer, on "The Tourist."  This is an absolutely beautiful boat and is also a part of history.  Our captain, Niells, explained how Winston Churchill rode The Tourist when World War II ended.  Such a remarkable experience to be on the boat and cruise through the canals.  

 

We chose a 9pm start time because sunset is around 9:40 here.  This way, we got nice photos both in the day and at night.  There weren't too many boats on the canal and Niells even let us "steer" the boat and brought along a captain's hat for photos.  He also had blankets to use and drinks/snacks available for purchase.  There was a toilet on board as well.

 

The cruise was an hour and a half and ended back at our hotel at 10:30.  

 

What a way to end the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[love2crews.]

Tomorrow I'll be posting about our hotel and boarding day experiences.  Logging off for the night. 💤

 

Thanks to everyone following along with us! 😃

[lostchild]

Watching this thread, as we will be on the same cruise on 6/25.   Currently trying to book excursions taking advantages of the 35% sales.

[Jim_Iain]

On 5/23/2023 at 1:21 PM, love2crews. said:

If anyone has tips/tricks for posting photos, I’m all ears!

 

I made the post on my iPad and then uploaded photos from my phone.  I’m going to try to figure out how to add spacing between the photos next time.

looking forward to following along. 
 

Trick to adding line space.   First you have about 10 minutes to edit.   
 

After uploading all the photos and press on the small white space on either side of photo without clicking on photo and then hit a return. 
 

takes a little practice but you quickly get good at it

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

After posting saw you did a great job on your own. 
 

Really miss Apex.  I’m playing on cc while flying home. 

[love2crews.]

Well...accidentally butt dialed room service and now waiting on a club sandwich.  My diet will restart tomorrow.  Oh well.

 

Took over 6 calls to order the sandwich.  Kept getting disconnected and called back only to speak to the same man who kept acting like he didn't know my order and that he didn't just disconnect me.  Quite humorous and with our lack of sleep, we are in delirium.  My sister and I are in hysterics as we type this!  This better be a good club sandwich!  I've heard good things about it from the Traveling Gamblers' videos.  Looking forward to trying it as I'm a big club sandwich fan.  Let's just hope the sandwich shows up!!

[love2crews.]

2 hours ago, lostchild said:

Watching this thread, as we will be on the same cruise on 6/25.   Currently trying to book excursions taking advantages of the 35% sales.

 

I heard about that sale!  Kind of jealous we just missed the chance to cancel and rebook to get better pricing.  We only have one excursion booked through the cruise line and that's when we visit Warnemunde.

 

[mahdnc]

8 hours ago, love2crews. said:

It's been a crazy day and a half and we're officially onboard the Apex!  Woo hoo!!!!  We had a little glitch in the boarding process, but more on that later...

 

Going to start with yesterday's itinerary and then I'll post another update about today.  I still need to post hotel info as promised, too.

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) started with a quick breakfast at our hotel's restaurant, Jansz.  It had a cold buffet with meats, cheeses, bread, fruit and freshly squeezed juices.  My sister would like me to add the orange juice had too much pulp for her liking, lol.  It was delicious though. 

 

You get the cold stuff from the buffet and order the hot food off a menu.  My sister and I each got the eggs benedict and my mom ordered the avocado toast.  We also got a side of potatoes and bacon.  OMG, the eggs benedict was probably the best I've ever had!!!  Everyone loved their food!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice photos.  Your spacing between them is exquisite.

[love2crews.]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

looking forward to following along. 
 

Trick to adding line space.   First you have about 10 minutes to edit.   
 

After uploading all the photos and press on the small white space on either side of photo without clicking on photo and then hit a return. 
 

takes a little practice but you quickly get good at it

 

 

 

Thank you!  Yes, it's definitely taking a lot of time.  I'm sure it will be easier as I post more.

 

I found it's easier for me to break into smaller posts.  I type the post on my computer, post it, open cruise critic on my phone, edit the post and insert the photos,  

[mahdnc]

At some point you may get comfortable enough to intersperse the photos with the text!

[love2crews.]

Room service took a while but finally came.  I forgot to time exactly how long to share here.  I'm learning, lol.

 

The plate was clearly sitting there for quite some time.  Maybe under a heat lamp?  The tomato, onion, and lettuce are literally dehydrated.

 

Trying to figure out why it was so hard to place the order and why it was so old.  Don't think they're short staffed as our butler told us we're at 1300 out of 3000 capacity.

 

Definitely plan on giving the club sandwich another chance.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by love2crews.

[lostchild]

While you are at Amsterdam, you can visit the roof top bar at the W hotel.  Anyone can go up there and you don't have to be a guest of the hotel.   The view up there, outside by the pool area, is great.   It was one of the stops of our small group tour last time we were there.

[love2crews.]

Going a little out of order as we just had a medical evacuation via helicopter.  So scary to see it in real life.  It was a very well executed maneuver and was relatively quick.  From what we could see, the person did look conscious/alert.  The person in the orange suit gave a tap to the person on the stretcher prior to hoisting them up into the helicopter and the person nodded like they were ready to be lifted.  I hope they are ok and they recover quickly.  Closest land is Denmark so this is a Danish helicopter.

 

 

[love2crews.]

9 hours ago, lostchild said:

While you are at Amsterdam, you can visit the roof top bar at the W hotel.  Anyone can go up there and you don't have to be a guest of the hotel.   The view up there, outside by the pool area, is great.   It was one of the stops of our small group tour last time we were there.

 

We love a good photo opportunity!

 

We'll have to add this to our list. 🙂