The garden lovers part of the cruise was good. All garden trips were included but the best was Keukenhof Gardens. We did the whole day tour, and used every minute of the time exploring. Traffic delayed us 1 hour or more. We even got to see some of the flower fields up close from the bus as we drove into Keukenhof.

Prior to the ship leaving we went to Zaanse Schans for an optional tour. Zaanse Schans is a windmill city with mills that make cheese(with a demo and tasting of many different flavors of Gouda ), make wooden shoes (with a demo) as well as grinding pigments for paints (with demo). There were other windmills there, but it was only a 1/2 day tour, so we didn't get to see other demos. We could climb to the top of one windmill if we wanted. Would have liked more time there.

The Botanical Garden in Antwerp, the 'hidden gardens' behind canal homes in Amsterdam and the arboretum in Ghent were all very interesting. There was a lot of walking from one hidden garden to another, and the last one we visited was not worth it. No beautiful flowers, just a church. The canal boat ride in Amsterdam was just OK bc our specific boat didn't have a clear view of the buildings. It was an older boat, and the top didn't open to the sky. Other boats did. Read more