A 20 Day Review

Not usually a part of my blog, but I decided to add a post trip review to reflect on choices we made.

Renting a car to get to Ft Lauderdale was a good choice. Total flexibility, and the most economical.

The Holland America Nieuw Statendam. The food was generally good. Scheduling and reservation system was far below expectations. Not only were reservations mixed up, a kind and nice way of saying screwed up, no attempt was made to either acknowledge mistakes or correct them.

There were a number of post cruise options, but none were listed before the cruise.

Excursion descriptions were fairly accurate.

Music was what I would expect on Carnival. Very loud. Next to zero listening or dancing music.

Entertainment was mediocre. Not as good as Royal, Celebrity, or Cunard. Headliners were repeated.

Seminars were a mixed bag. One series was professionally produced and presented by the cruise director. They were basically good. Another series, which unfortunately included the best topic, AI, was put together and presented by a horrible presenter. So bad in fact, that I could not bear to listen to him despite the AI topic.

Cabin. We lucked out and upgraded to a "family oceanview" designed for 5 guests, there were 2 showers and an extra closet. The standard configuration for most cabins is a shower in the tub. Fine, except no hand holds for safety when getting in or out or showering.

Bathrooms also had about a 5 inch step-up to enter.

Closet doors seemed to be backwards.

Not what I would consider a modern cabin design, but what I experienced on ships designed 40 and 50 years ago.

But being a cabin for 5, there was plenty of space for 2, and the bed was very comfortable.

Service staff and cabin staff were good. Cabins were cleaned twice a day. Two years ago Holland was still providing a chocolate every night. Now they have cut back to 1 every 5 days.

As with most lines, they rely very heavily on their app. It was often inaccessible, and gave incorrect information.

The biggest disappointment was lack of environmental temperature control in public spaces.

Once we left sunny Florida, The buffet, on deck 9 was usually cold because doors at each end opened to the outside decks and a cold blast of outside air would occur for about 2 minutes everytime the door was opened. Considering someone went in or out every minute, it was always cold.

Even worse was decks 1, 2, and 3 when we were in Port.

The gangway was either on deck 1 or 2. The doors open all day. Nothing blocked the cold air from coming in the gangway doors, down the open space and up the stairwells, making most of the public spaces unusable during port time unless you wanted to be in a 55 degree environment.  A simple design flaw that should have been addressed during a refurbishment, but so far hasn't.

8 and 10 hour excursions 3 days in a row is tough. I don't like to admit it, but I'm not 50 anymore.

For the most part the hotel in Amsterdam was good. The staff very friendly and helpful, but if I had known that the only way to get in or out of bed was to climb in from the bottom I would not have chosen it.

In general the hotel was nice, but the functionality of the rooms very poor. I would not choose CitizenM brand again.

I will add that the hotel is high tech with everything from lights, room temperature, and automatic blinds controlled from an I Pad. 

Totally unrelated they were the only place the entire trip that would not accept my goto credit card. Fortunately I always carry backups.

I am writing this as we fly nonstop from Amsterdam to Tampa. We deliberately booked a bulkhead seat in Comfort Plus section. A very wise choice as there is probably more than 4 feet of legroom!

A delta flight on a Delta Airbus A330, but totally handled In Amsterdam by KLM. Mostly full, probably 95%.

Amsterdam was an interesting city. By far the best public transportation I have ever encountered. Clean and friendly. Bicycles rule the streets, car traffic is light as many inner city streets are blocked to vehicles. Prices are probably comparable to US big cities.

Our plane was probably 95% full. What I did not expect was only 5% of the passengers holding US passports.

About 4 hours after touchdown we arrived in Clermont in our rental car. The end of another "adventure" as my grandkids would say.

Tours in Amsterdam

April 21. Up early, breakfast at our hotel. The driver has been in contact with us several times. He is at our hotel lobby door at 8:20 as promised.

The day long tour takes us to many of the must see's in the greater Amsterdam area. A cheese factory, wooden shoe factory, diamond cutter and diamond sales outlet, windmills, a 20 mile long dike holding the North Sea at bay, etc. Our guide talks non stop, and feeds us samples of local mints, chocolates, licorice, and cookies.

The other 6 passengers are from Singapore, Connecticut, and Japan. Definitely a divese group. All in all a typical tour. Parts were excellent, some parts were much less so.

We are back at the hotel by 6 and head down the street about a block to a local tavern for dinner.

A hamburger, fries and a couple of drinks, expensive but good. A full stomach ends a long day.

Next up on Tuesday is the Keukenhof Gardens, our main tourist destination here in Amsterdam.

I quickly mapped out that the tram just outside the hotel lobby door would take us to central station, but after talking with a local, he tells me the metro is much easier, and the metro station is only a hundred feet further away. One of the reasons I picked this hotel was it's location next to the tram and metro. That reasoning was definitely sound.

Off on the Metro, at central station we then hop on the ferry to cross the river and have about a 10 minute walk to check in for our canal cruise and visit to the gardens. Public transportation systems here are excellent. Just scan a credit card when you get on a bus or tram or enter a metro station, scan again when you leave.  Charged by trip and distance, but a maximum of $10 euro per day.

I always try to allow plenty of time. It was good that I did today. Just as we reached the metro platform, the train was Leaving. Just as we reached the ferry, the gates closed and we need to wait for the next.  Combined with my "fast" walk, it couldn't have taken us longer.

At our designated meeting point there are hundreds if not thousands of tourists in various ques for different busses. Crowded but organized. Again we knew this would be the case with Easter, the tulip festival, and "Kings Day" celebration all taking place in Amsterdam.

We are given a blue card to get us on the proper bus. We make it. The driver wants to know who is staying at a certain hotel? The tourist gave him his blue room key instead of the blue card to board the bus. We are on our way.

The canal tour was good. Past farms and small villages only accessible by boat. 400 and 500 year old wind mills are still used to manage the canal and farm fields water level. The canals are 15 feet below sea level, the farm fields are another 10 or 15 feet below the canal levels.  First made lower as peat was harvested, and then sinking more as the land dried out. Many of the farms have been in the same families for hundreds of years.

After the canal we are off to the gardens. Absolutely gorgeous, and despite the very large crowds it was not crowded.  I was really mentally prepared for large crowds. Actually there were, but the grounds are very large so the crowds are dispersed. We wandered on our own for hours and then hopped the next tour bus back to Amsterdam. 

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun burned thru the clouds just as we stepped off the bus for the canal tour, and remained out for most of the rest of the day. Much nicer than the rain that had been forecast.

No scheduled return, but were warned the last busses leaves at 6:30. We beat that by several hours.

The journey home is basically the reverse of the morning trip. Bus to drop off, walk to ferry, ferry across river, and metro to hotel.

Leaving the metro we were able to help a couple from Italy lugging suitcases that didn't understand the metro process. Just a tiny payback for all those that have helped us.

Exhausted and hungry after we freshen up we return to the same pub for dinner. They are very busy with many reservations. They find a table for us, inside of course. Outside is too cold for us Floridian's.

The small world part. The couple from Italy we met several hours earlier on the Metro arrive and sit at a nearby table.

No alarm to set tonight. Tomorrow is basically an easy day. Nothing scheduled except packing in the evening.

April 23, our last day in Amsterdam.  The hotel has a good  buffet breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh pastries, juice and fruit. We indulge again. 

Today we will explore the city and little by tram, or light rail as we would call it.  Dr Google tells us tram 2 is one of the most scenic in the world. Why shouldn't we trust Dr. Google?

Again metro to central station then find the stop for tram 2. It arrives within minutes and we board. It is quickly packed. We have seats, but it is difficult to see.

The tram takes us past many museums and beautiful buildings, and across many canals bustling with boat traffic. The end of the route is in the residential suburbs. We change trams and are soon headed back towards central station. This time we are able to secure prime window seats.

At central station Lynn does a little gift shopping as we head to our metro line.

When we arrive at our metro station and emerge from the underground maze, we are concerned we are lost. Nothing looks familiar, but should as this is our 4th passage though this station. Did I make a mistake and get off at the wrong station?

Studying Google Maps for a few minutes I was able to conclude we just took a different exit from the underground, about a block away from where we usually exit..

Tonight we have pizza at the hotel. It is raining lightly and we have had enough of the local pub.

We decide to try Uber and book our trip to the airport for Thursday morning.  A driver is assigned and will pick us up at 6:40 AM.

Thursday, April 24 home to Florida.

The app says our driver is waiting and is around the corner from our hotel. We check out and step outside. I can't find any way to message him so we start walking towards where the app says he is parked.  A truck has parked on the sidewalk, and I trip trying to get around the truck and all the bicycles. Fortunately this time it was only my pride that was broken, honestly I didn't check the bikes.

Uber is not where the app says he is.  We go back and head the other direction and see a parked car with flashers on. Yes it is our driver. A Tesla 3. He is reluctant to load our luggage, but eventually does. We are on our way.

He soon relates to us that Uber tracking is horrible and often sends him in wrong directions. He is not surprised that he wasn't parked where the app said. Traffic is light. He drops us about 100 feet from a terminal entrance. He is happy that the traffic isn't too congested yet. It will be soon.

It takes a little over an hour to get checked in. KLM does all the terminal stuff for Delta. The staff is very helpful with a process that is much different than any other airport I have ever been through.

As planned we have plenty of time for breakfast. Yes, McDonald's. 

By the time we board the plane our passports have been checked four times. My shoes taken away to be x-rayed, and of course the normal body scans and pat downstairs.

Our gate is very close to the main terminal, so the walk isn't too bad.

Boarding is just a few minutes delayed because of security inspection of the food.

Our seats are just behind a bulkhead, so I have not only lots of leg room, I can stand in front of my seat whenever I so desire without blocking the aisle. A great personal comfort during our 10 hour flight to Tampa