Our flight arrived in Amsterdam about 7am so we got our luggage, got a cab and arrived at the dock around 7:30. It was hard to tell which was our ship because many ships were all lined up next to each other at the dock. He got out to look for Helvetia, and it was the very last one. When we got to the ship, we walked through another ship to get to ours. We planned to just drop off our luggage, but the front desk took our names, let us keep our luggage there and told us to go get a hot drink and offered us breakfast. It was raining hard so we sat in the comfortable lounge, had a hot drink and a snack and waited for the weather to clear. We had a chance to talk to others who had just finished the cruise and get their feedback -- everyone was happy.

Restaurants/shops that we tried to use credit card in Netherlands only took Mastercard. Several restaurants/shops in France/Germany would not take any credit card. Take plenty of cash with you -- we had to use ATMs to get more cash. Also keep 50 euro coin on hand for bathrooms -- some were free, some we had to pay for.

Cabin very small (smaller than we're used to on the cruise ships). I know I saw the picture when we booked it, but when you walk in, there is a single size couch and my friend and I looked at each other like "where do we sleep?" The room steward quickly popped the other bed out of the wall and made it up. The beds were very comfortable for us. Not much room in between to maneuver. Our suitcases would not fit under the bed (we really tried but they were both too tall). We stood them up behind the door (our friends in another cabin kept theirs in the shower!) We made it work -- after all, we didn't spend much room in the cabins. Bottled water was provided in the rooms. Read more