Live from JessyCruises European Vacation: Amsterdam, London, Venice & Explorer of Seas

[JessyCruises]

It has been awhile since I have posted a live and this will be a new kind of trip for us so I thought I might as well give it a go! I am excited to be doing a European cruise for the 1^st time which will be kicked off with some land travels!  Be prepared for me to get into the weeds a bit while I am discussing planning 🤣

 

My name is Jessica (Jess or Jessy works too) (46) and my husband Paul (48) and I will be travelling from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.  You may have stopped here as a Port of Call on a NE/Canada Sailing.  I have mentioned this before, but our condo is directly across the street from the cruise terminal here so if you have stopped in Saint John on a cruise, you will have seen our building. Here it is for reference.  We went on a cruise on Oasis in June 2022 which stopped here.  This is a picture I took of our building from the ship after we docked:

 

 

 And one I took from our dining room table when we got off and went home to work and do laundry for the day 😊

 

I am VERY excited about this trip!

 

A few months ago, Paul found out he earned the annual incentive trip for the company he works for.  I have never been to Europe before so I was so excited when I found out that it is actually going to Amsterdam!  That trip is scheduled for June 3-7, so we thought if his work is going to pay to get us there and back anyway, we should look into maybe extending the trip by visiting other cities afterwards or maybe doing a cruise, or both! It seems like an awfully long way to go for 4 nights...

 

It just so happens that the weekend after we found out he won, we were heading out on a cruise and on that sailing just so happened to earn a casino certificate that included sailings on the Rhapsody on June 9th out of Haifa or the Explorer June 11^th out of Ravenna.  We hummed and hawed about which to book, but ultimately decided on Explorer because 1) it would give us a few more days to explore, 2) we are not huge fans of the smaller ships so far so were worried we would not like Rhapsody and Explorer appears to be very close to Freedom class which we love and 3) we thought logistically it might be easier to get to Italy vs Israel.  This is the itinerary for our sailing.  My 21 YO son in ticked because I always told him if I ever get to go to Greece he is coming (he used to be really into Greek mythology).  I am sure he will get over it 😊

Edited June 2, 2023 by JessyCruises

[JessyCruises]

So we knew where we were starting and ending, bit what about the middle?  What do we do from between June 7-11?  We briefly debated getting a Eurorail pass and just go exploring along the way from Amsterdam to Venice, but after some light research, I decided that is not something I wanted to do with only 4 days.  It would just take too much time getting from Point A to Point B that you would not have enough time to visit each place.  So we settled on flying from place to place. 

 

I quickly decided I had to get to London as I am a huge English history buff and I know I will geek out.  The question became should we just do London, or maybe do a few days in London then skip over to Rome for a day or two? Or somewhere else?  Decisions, decisions!! 

 

I ended up going down the travel aggregator rabbit hole, trying to figure out flight costs from Amsterdam to London, then London to Rome and then a Train to Ravenna from Rome, or to Venice and then a bus from there to Ravenna.  We also briefly looked at some spots in France and Germany. After a few days my head felt like it was going to explode.  We are from a city that only has one tiny airport with two gates.  We only have one big airline (Air Canada) that flies here so there are not a lot of options.  When searching in Europe, it felt like there were 500 different airlines, most of them very budget oriented so everything was an upcharge, etc.  I am a spreadsheet person and it was so complicated getting pricing tracked so it was apples to apples.  Not to mention trying to figure out which airport to fly into and out of in London!  We ended up deciding to stay the 3 nights in London and flying to Venice on the 10^th. We went with British Airways as it was actually the most economical option when you consider it included all baggage, etc.

 

Here is the itinerary for the trip:

June 2 - Fly from Saint John to Montreal then an overnight flight to Venice

June 3-7 Amsterdam

June 7-10 London (fly British Airways from Amsterdam to Heathrow)

June 10 Venice (fly British Airways from Gatwick)

June 11 Explorer of the Seas

June 18 Venice (we could not get a flight home on debarkation day

June 19 Fly home

 

[sandebeach]

Happy to read your review! We are doing two trips to Europe next year that have time between each cruise and like you, I am struggling with travel info overload. Looking forward to reading about your exciting vacation. 

[JessyCruises]

Okay so now we knew what city and countries we were going to be in, but where are we going to stay?  What are we going to do? How are we supposed to get from Venice to Ravenna?

 

For Amsterdam, we are already covered because Paul’s company has everyone booked at Hotel de L’Europe (https://www.deleurope.com) which looks absolutely beautiful and is right on a canal and close to everything.  We also do not have to worry about what to do in Amsterdam as for the most part all of the activities are planned.  I know we are going to Ann Frank Haus, Vondelpark and several museums. Details are still pending.

 

I had a real challenge trying to figure out where to stay in London and this is probably where I spent the bulk of my research time.  We ended up getting a 3 day Londonpass with a Oyster travel card which gives us unlimited transportation around London for 3 days and access to a ton of tourist attractions. Every one of the places I want to visit is on there so for us it was a no brainer.  We figured it would be easier than having to worry about entrance fees, tube fares, etc.  For hotels, I decided that I wanted to be south of Hyde Park (not sure why but it seemed like it was just closer to everything) and did not want to be too far West. I have to say, prices of hotels in London are kinda nuts!! After looking at the brands we normally stay at and not being able to find anything that wasn’t a budget buster, we originally booked the Mowbray Court Hotel in Kensington for a great deal at 400£ total for 3 nights.  We changed to Heeton Concepts Kensington last week after I found a deal on Hotwire.  It looks very nice from the reviews on Trip Advisor and it was only $513 CAD total including tax for 3 nights, which is about 100£ less than the other hotel we had booked and I think is incredible compared to what else I was seeing. I did book it through Hotwire as I said but knew what hotel I was going to get based off the photos and description.  It is a 2 minute walk to Earls Court Station which has a direct line to Heathrow There is also a Tardis near by which sealed the deal.

 

We have two nights in Venice, one on either end of the cruise.  Our flight into Venice is supposed to arrive at 10:05AM. We are hoping that will give us time to explore Venice and its canals.  We opted to use points at stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Venice Mestre San Giuliano which appears to be next to the bus/train stop with only a 10 minute ride to the island (or whatever they call it).  We will be staying there June 18 as well. 

 

I looked at several options for the transfers from Venice to Ravenna (train, bus, private shuttle, etc), but we opted to just stick with the bus transportation that RCL can provide.  It ended up being $90USD per person round trip.  So $180 for ease of mind and not worrying about them leaving without us is fine by me.  I had it set up to pick us up and drop us off at the airport.  I kind of had to lie to get it booked from there as we are arriving a day before and leaving a day after, but we wanted the convenience of having the transportation to/from the airport. They told me when I booked that it would be leaving at 9:00 AM but when I got my cruise docs it said 11:30.  With a 2.5-3 hour drive, that means we would not be arriving at the ship until 2:30-3:00.  We wanted to get there earlier so I switched the shuttle to the Tronchetto station in Venice which does leave at 9:00 AM.  I did have to pay a little more ($232 vs $180), but i think it was worth it.    

 

For transportation while in Venice, we know we are going to need to take at least 3 bus/trains to & from the hotel & Tronchetto on the island and then Vaporettos while travelling around so we opted to go with a  ACTV 1 day Transport VENEZIA DAILY PASS for 25€  each so we do not have to worry about the prices of tickets, etc.  According to the site, the pass gives us: Vaporetti water-buses in Venice, Lido and lagoon islands / ACTV Buses in Mestre, Marghera and mainland /Tram/ People Mover service / INCLUDED: It includes the Trenitalia train service on Regional (R) and Fast Regional (RV) trains within the territory of the municipality of Venice (Venezia S. Lucia, Venezia P.to Marghera, Venezia Mestre, Venezia Carpenedo, Venezia Mestre Ospedale) NOT INCLUDED: ACTV Services from / to Marco Polo Airport, water-buses no. 16 and Alilaguna lines.

 

I did reach out to the company and they said this will give us rides we are looking for.  I pre-purchased it and we can pick it up from a ticket machine at the airport. As mentioned it does not give us transportation from the airport, but we have arranged with the hotel to get a shuttle for 20€  total.

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by JessyCruises

[KiwiGal117]

Looking forward to this!  We are doing the Explorer cruise out of Ravenna in September, though we have some different ports of call compared to your cruise.  London is one of my favourite cities and I have been there a number of times (my brother lives not far from London).  Enjoy it all!  I'm looking forward to coming along for the ride, even if it is virtual.

[JessyCruises]

Our flight was supposed to leave Saint John at 4:45PM and arrive in Montreal at 5:15PM.  My phone just alerted me to a flight delay - our plane is now leaving at 6:10PM and arriving at 6:40PM.  Thank goodness the flight to Amsterdam does not leave until 9:50PM!  Fingers crossed that there are no more delays!!

[h20skibum]

I will be following along.  The only place we have been to on your itinerary is London.  We did have the London pass, and it was well worth it.  
 

I think we only rode the tubes once, and we ended up walking most everywhere.  If I recall correctly, there were a couple things not included in the pass, like Buckingham Palace and London Eye.  We had to book Buckingham for a specific time, a day in advance.  We also got a fast pass for London Eye, which cut down on the wait time.  
 

Enjoy your trip, and I hope you have no more delays. 

[clochette]

really looking forward to your trip.  And I get the same way with planning so many options it can be difficult to figure out.

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, JessyCruises said:

June 2 - Fly from Saint John to Montreal then an overnight flight to Venice

June 3-7 Amsterdam

 

Are you sure? 😉

 

Eagerly following along and wishing you a very enjoyable trip.

 

If I may offer some advice, since I've stayed in Mestre, as well as in Venice....I would switch to a hotel in Venice. Technically, it is 10 mins train time from Mestre to Venice, but the train station is quite far from the center, and you have to be there at least 10 mins before, and also not all trains stop in Mestre.

 

It is a huge difference in terms of experience between Mestre and Venice.

Edited June 2, 2023 by dani negreanu
staying in Venice rec

[dani negreanu]

Since your time in Venice is quite limited, don't waste so much time going to and back from the train station, I can highly recommend a budget friendly hotel in Venice.

 

Excellent location, a mere 3 mins walk (no bridges and stairs involved) from the Alilaguna Blu stop at San Zaccaria.

 

Very convenient from and to the airport - hotel Fontana

 

https://www.hotelfontana.it/en/

 

 

 

[JessyCruises]

Well, we are at the airport but our flight is further delayed. It has moved several times since we have been here.  It now says we are scheduled to leave at 7:10 and arriving at 7:50.  Here is hoping there are no further delays so we don't miss the Amsterdam flight at 9:50.  There is only 1 flight a day and the next one does not leave until tomorrow night.

 

Have I mentioned how much I hate living in a town with a tiny airport?!

Edited June 2, 2023 by JessyCruises

[marchand28]

Following. Always excited for a live @JessyCruises review. Of this trip, we too have only been to London.

[JessyCruises]

Wow what a whirlwind 24hrs!  We ended up getting to Montreal with an hour or so to go before our flight was boarding for Amsterdam.  Both of the lounges we have access to were full so we ended up getting stuck with Subway (why is airport food so darn expensive!?).

 

The flight was uneventful and with a little help from my friend melatonin, I slept a lot of it.  We arrived in Amsterdam at 10:40 but by the time we got our bags and to the hotel, it was noon.

 

 

 

This hotel is gorgeous!! We were greeted with mimosas with gold dusted strawberries. Paul’s work has the whole hotel rented out and they have been spoiling us rotten. The title is apparently owned by Heineken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JessyCruises]

Before the event last night, we had some free time to explore the city.  I have never seen so many bicycles in my life !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Royal Palace.

 

 

only in Amsterdam can you get a Cannabis Cruise instead of a Booze Cruise!  

 

[JessyCruises]

The event last night was great and do much fun.  They really pulled out all of the stops.  they had the most beautiful flower station where you picked a vase and 5 stems and they made you an arrangement.  They have such beautiful flowers here! 

 

 

 

[JessyCruises]

This morning I woke up with a horrible migraine and did not get my meds in time so I was out of commission all day until about 5pm.  I missed the excursion the company had planned for us, but luckily Paul got to go. They visited two museums and then headed to Vondelpark where they had a seven course lunch at an outdoor venue there.  He said the food was incredible.  Here are a few photos he took. 

 

 

 

We were on our own for dinner today, so once I was up and about, we headed toward the red light district where we had been told there were allies and streets with tons of restaurants from all over the world.  I was craving shawarma so that is what we went with, but it was nothing like what I am used to.  I would say it was closer to sweet and sour chicken which was weird. I failed to take a pic.

 

 

 

Tonight they have a dance party planned for us.  They just delivered this “recovery kit” to our room.  I think they are expecting us to need it in the morning 😂

 

 

 

[Cherful59]

Loving the pictures of Amsterdam.  Have an Arctic Circle cruise booked for July 5, 2024 out of Amsterdam and looking to get in a few days early to spend some time going around the area. 

[patattack]

Enjoying your review.  I cruised out of Amsterdam about 4 years ago and we spent a few days in Amsterdam before the cruise touring.  Hope to go back again.

 

Pat

[#55worktoplay]

Well this is going to be good. 
 

That was a little nail biting with your flight but so glad you made it. 
 

Enjoy!

[Tin can]

We are on the same cruise in August, really looking forward to your live review 

[karebare22]

Looking forward to your review and photos! Our family is sailing this itinerary in August, first week of a back to back.

[perfect match]

This is going to be a fun trip. I’m glad to be virtually cruising along with you! 😎🛳️

[JessyCruises]

First off I am very sorry I have not posted in several days. I have literally not stopped and have had 0 time to post.  My feet are toast and I cannot wait to board the ship on Sunday!! 

 

Regarding Amsterdam, it is hard for me to share what Paul’s company had planned for us because I think most of it would not be available to the general public so would not be very helpful for planning purposes.  Regarding the dance party I had mentioned above, it was at the Supper Club / Flying Dutchman on the upper floor.  There were sofas everywhere and tables with dancers and an aerialist.  It was amazing but we did not stay long as we had a Dutch Cultural excursion booked in the morning which took us to Anne Frank Haus and the Van Gogh museum.    The Anne Frank annex was moving and humbling and i am so glad we chose it versus going to see some windmills. The Van Gogh museum was extraordinary as expected.

Edited June 9, 2023 by JessyCruises

[JessyCruises]

That evening (Monday), we had the gala event at the Nautical Museum.  This venue was extraordinary!! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by JessyCruises

[JessyCruises]

On Tuesday, we had the day at leisure and we had nothing planned.  We walked to Foodhallen which is an amazing eatery/food market and had an amazing lunch.  That evening, we had our farewell even at Straat Museum which is a graffiti/street art museum.  I highly recommend it if you are in the area!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed to back to the hotel relatively early as our car service was arriving at 4:40 AM to take us to the airport for our flight to London. 

Edited June 9, 2023 by JessyCruises