For a short cruise this one was eventful. Embarkation was impressively efficient but was followed by a series of announcements delaying departure whilst awaiting the arrival of a plane. A large contingent of Japanese passengers (said to be 300) were on board- perhaps we were waiting for some of them. The sailaway party was fun - great music and wonderful sunshine. We had comfortable balcony cabin on deck 5 and steward Dennis - who was rarely seen but kept everything ship shape-had left a bottle of bubbly and a bucket of ice. We had chosen 1st sitting and were allocated a table of 6. Our respective vegetarian and Diabetic requests were taken care of by Dave and Angel and attentive Maitre de Noel. My partner subsequently regretted his choice of low sugar desserts as the days progressed due to the apparent laxative effect thereof- perhaps sorbitol sweetener may have caused this? We watched a rather unbalanced show in the beautiful Royal Court theatre. An amusing risqué set by a northern comedian ( which I suspect must have been baffling for the Japanese), was sandwiched uneasily between 2 sessions by the 4 resident singers (whose early costumes were decidedly unimpressive).
Day 2 was formal night and splendid birthday bash, cake, balloons and bands. Dancers were in their element. During the day there was a helicopter evacuation of a sick passenger. The deck was cleared- furniture was removed, lamp standards dismantled and the pool drained and fire marshalls moved efficiently through their paces- passengers were kept well back and balconies were not to be used. It took hours as the patient needed to be stabilised before being moved and once this had happened the helicopter returned and the evacuation was completed. the crew then had to reverse their actions and reconstruct the top deck. After that sea day we were overnight in Amsterdam.
Excursions are so expensive and difficult to justify (or afford) and we made our own way from the dock into the city. We stayed aboard to relax and enjoy the facilities the following day. Activities were disappointing I thought. I managed to miss the one speaker on the cruise, attended an ok quiz in the pub and we found one useful IT/ iPad session.
Well appointed. Very comfortable pillows and bed. Good situation
Excellent embarkation experience
We didn't take an organised excursion and enjoyed our rather tiring day with bus trips to Blankenberg and beautiful Bruges and advice and conversation with friendly Belgian companions. We visited the Michelangelo statue of the Madonna in a mediaeval church bought chocolates and enjoyed a great lunch of soup, local beer and fruit in a little place called Soup by the hall in the main square