Pre Cruise:

The vacation started off in the worst possible fashion with all our luggage being mislaid en route to Europe. Equipped with only a small carry-on bag we duly arrived at the Westcord City Centre Hotel, sans our suitcases, for a three night pre cruise stay in Amsterdam.

Although our room was very small, the Westcord was reasonably priced and proved to be an ideal base for exploring the sights and delights of beautiful Amsterdam. Centrally situated, the hotel was within (active) walking distance of most of the main museums and art galleries, the downtown shopping area, Chinatown, the floating market and, of course, the ill-famed red light district. On our first day in a new city we usually opt for a hop on/hop off service to help us quickly orient ourselves to the new, strange environment. However, on this occasion we decided to explore Amsterdam on foot and are glad we did as it gave us the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of the city and gave us a completely different perspective of the major sights from that of a canal cruise that we were to enjoy a few days later. Read more