Uniworld 7 Night Holland & Belgium at Tulip Time Cruise

Hi,

We are taking this cruise on March 26th and staying 3 nights before in Brussels and 2 nights after in Amsterdam on our own. I've made dinner reservation for the Atomium in Brussels and bought tickets to the Anne Frank's Museum in Amsterdam. Plan to do a day trip to Bruges and Ghent as well and visit the Rijks and Van Gogh Museum.

Are there other attractions and/or restaurants that you would recommend? Is there anything we need to know about the River Ambassador ship before we leave? Thanks.

In Brussels I recommend seeing the houses of Victor Horta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Horta Definitely get some chocolate. In Bruges do a boat trip (if available that early in the year) or go to the Beguinage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguinage Bruges is nice for eating crepes and galettes (savoury crepes). Have a look at a couple of "Flemish Primitives": https://www.visitbruges.be/en/groeningemuseum-groeninge-museum

Have a great cruise.

notamermaid

Happy Travellers, you're going to be getting off the Ambassador as we are going to be boarding! We're going to be in Amsterdam for 5 days prior, so could be able to give you some up to date information if you take your time getting away,

The River Ambassador has the smallest cabins in their entire European fleet. They are 'cozy', but very efficient use of space, and the bed...Oh, the bed ! The staff will be fabulous and you will want for nothing...except maybe warmer weather and more Tulips at Keukenhof.

If you have time to do reports every couple of days I'd really appreciate it.

Have a great trip

RB

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to provide update during the cruise.

How are things in Brussels? The weather ? Enjoy your cruise !

Take hats,gloves and scarfs! People on my cruise years ago seemed to think tulips bloom when it is warm. Not true, also be prepared for rain. We did the Brugge canal trip in mid April.

Second seating

We did the Tulips and Windmills cruise two years ago and were surprised to see people who were not prepared...and oh, the complainers. Our canal cruise in Brugge was a fiasco in the pouring rain. It was hilarious....with all the umbrellas no one saw a thing, and they were all sitting in puddles. My raincoat is long so at least my butt was dry.

Weather forecast is looking good for you , so enjoy !

Just finished our third day of the cruise. Weather this week has been perfect. A little chilly in the morning, low 40s, but warming up to mid 50s and even mid 60s today. Still need a good jacket for late March departure. The ship is wonderful. Room is small so two of us can't cross the room at same time. However, the closet space is well organized so all our clothes fit without a problem. Toiletries are good but no conditioner. Hair dryer is strong. Only 1 US outlet in the room plus one in the bathroom. Front desk can lend you a converter. Daily freebies start with water bottles, the lip balm, then hand cream and recipe cards tonight. Staff are extremely helpful. Got a blanket and cappuccino while watching the ship depart Antwerp today. 90 guests on board but we don't feel crowded at all. Food is excellent! Although choice is very limited at dinner, everything is delicious! Breakfast and lunch are buffet style. The tours have been very informative and entertaining. They take place in the morning and bring us back for lunch. Then we can take shuttles at 2 or 3 pm back to Brussels or Antwerp. 2 optional tour are Waterloo from Brussels for 75 euros or Dutch cooking class for 80 euros.

The only minor complaint is that the ship's satellite wifi is often down and not stable. There is free wifi in parts of Brussels and Antwerp.

We went to Ghent and Bruges on our own by taking the train and spent 6 hours or so in each city and had a great time.

Love the experience so far and can't stand the thought of leaving!

So glad to hear things are going well. Was the optional trip to Waterloo mentioned in the cruise companion ? Did you go on it or hear from someone who did ?

Who is your captain and hotel manager ? Cruise director?

Thanks,

RB

Captain is John. Hotel director is Sylvia. Cruise director is Jessi. They announced the optional excursions during the first afternoon. Don't know if they had enough people signed up.

Had the 7 course dinner at Atomium and that was nice. Options at Village day in Heusden are bike ride, bakery class or cheese factory tour.

If you want to see Rubens House at Antwerp, you need to sign up right before first night's dinner since space is limited to 15 people. I highly recommend it.

We did the Brussels city tour with Botanical Garden and that was very informative. Also a small castle on site.

Now, if we could just ride the bikes to the bakery and the cheese shop...that would be a good outing.

RB

The ship will stay overnight in Heusden so you can still do the bike ride on your own. Order the Dutch style veal chop. It is absolutely amazing.

We got off the ship today and the process was quick and easy. Had breakfast and then left our luggage behind while we visited the Rijks Museum. Came back at 12:15 to have the final lunch on board. Saw some of the new group of guests have arrived for lunch as well. Picked up our luggage on the dock and walked to our hotel afterwards. It was an excellent cruise with the most attentive staff. We had beautiful weather all week, just a morning shower while we were at Keukenhof. The highlights are the windmills, tulips and other flowers at Keukenhof. Thoroughly enjoyed the visit to Rubens House as well. Had such a wonderful cruise and would definitely consider sailing on Uniworld again.

By the way, if you are staying in Amsterdam afterwards and like ethnic food, definitely try the Max Amsterdam. We had the Indonesian tasting menu for 37 euros each and the food were both plentiful and absolutely delicious. Even though we were beyond full, we couldn't bear to leave food behind. It's located off Herengracht street, near Dam Square.

For anyone who's interested, I've posted pictures of the ship, schedules, menus and food items on the River Ambassador in my online album. The free gifts we received on board were: water bottle, lip balm, hand cream, small tube of perfume, recipe cards, photos of the staff and a couple of postcards. All excursions were included except for 2 optional ones: tour of Waterloo at Brussels and Dutch cooking class at Heusden.

https://goo.gl/photos/NkQzBQvYvu5JMbAw7