kwokpot

With the wind and rain I and no particular sightseeing plans I had a relaxing morning just chilling in my room and then went for a workout in the hotel fitness center (pretty well equipped). Took a long hot shower and by 4pm the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek out. Went out for a walk around the narrow streets of the tourist district. Remanents of the storm included mangled umbrellas and a giant tree that fell down a several hundred yards from the Central Station. Tonight's dinner was at a little Italian restaurant that had good reviews on Google but to me it was just OK, nothing special so no dinner pictures (my husband enjoyed immensely his pasta with pesto sauce). .

Yes, about 13-15 minutes away.

9:00am report (like the cruiseships!) Today is a severe weather alert. We received mobile phone warnings about high winds and rain, and are advised to stay indoors. Anyone flying in today will be affected. Train and tram service will also be affected. Quite nasty outside. Temps in the 50's.

It's a known fact that the Dutch are tall people. Having said that a hotel in Amsterdam isn't just for Dutch people, especially with Amsterdam being one of the top visited cities worldwide. Yet the security peephole in our hotel room is probably at 5'9" or 10";I'm 5'6" and I CANT SEE THROUGH THE SECURITY PEEPHOLE! https://dutchreview.com/culture/why-are-the-dutch-so-tall-answers/#:~:text=We don't know if,(5'9”).

I went back to the room and my husband woke up and after his shower we went out at 7 to find some dinner. We decided to go to a restaurant that we've been to the last time we were in Amsterdam called Humphreys. It has a fun decor, an eclectic menu, and the pricing is prix fixe. Three courses for €37.50. Pictured below are the entrees and desserts: Thai chicken curry, Dover Sole(surcharge), Rubarb Compote with ice cream, tiramisu. The food was very good and generous portions. I would highly recommend it! https://www.humphreys.nl/en/restaurants/humphreys-amsterdam

After breakfast at the Doubletree hotel restaurant we had some issues getting our room which although was empty and cleaned didn't pass housekeeping inspection despite being almost 2 hours from when we were first told about the same situation. We insisted on getting our room and the Front Desk representative said there's was another room available. Ultimately the room was on a lower floor with no view but on this occasion we just wanted to get into a room so we could take a nap. At 11:10 am we were able to get a room and we promptly took a nap. I slept about 4 hours and then woke up, took a wonderfully long hot shower, and went out for a walk while my husband napped a bit longer. Photos of the Doubletree Hotel and some of the surrounding buildings. Oh a tiny micro car!

Amsterdam Central Station is huge and although I knew how to get to the hotel we got turned around and exited the wrong end of the station, which caused us to walk all the way around to get to the hotel. . We checked into the Doubletree and with a 2nd highest status Hilton our room was cleaned but not quite ready for us yet. We are currently having breakfast awaiting a call for our room to be ready.

We are staying two nights at the Doubletree Hilton Amsterdam Central Hotel, using Hilton points. We planned on taking the train from the airport right to the Amsterdam Central station, and then walk about three blocks to the hotel. I had downloaded the app for the Netherlands train system and pre bought train tickets for a 9:18 train but the tickets can be used for any train. We deplaned and made our way through passport control which has a small line of passengers. Then off to collect our bags which happened to be the first ones on the luggage carousel! We were almost an hour ahead of schedule so I checked the train app and there was a 8:35 train we could take, so we followed the signs to the train and made our way to the track where we boarded the train to Amsterdam Central Station. The train was nice and quiet but there no place to store your luggage and the space between the seats aren't wide enough for luggage and your feet so we just kept them in the aisle next to our seats. Tbh it's not the most ideal setup but the ride was only 18 minutes (this train had 2 stops, there are nonstop trains that take 14 minutes) and it wasn't packed so it was all good.

Our flight on KLM from JFK to AMS in coach was on-time on both ends and uneventful. There was good legroom for coach but the seat cushions weren't comfortable for a 7 hour flight. The other issue was the cabin temperature. It was COLD the entire flight, and I would guestimate it was about 65-66 degrees with cold air blowing and no individual adjustments. Luckily they provide blankets for every seat. The majority of the passengers were using the blankets. I was wearing a long sleeve T-shirt and a light rain jacket with a hood and I definitely needed to have the blanket wrapped all around the whole flight. There was a dinner meal and a savory cheese pastry for breakfast.

Before I signoff as we taxi away for our journey to Amsterdam I want to apologize for any typos that may be present on my initial posts. I created this posts after two cocktails and being Asian that's my limit! 🤪

Waiting to board our KLM flight to Amsterdam. General boarding zone 5☹️ Getting to JFK and clearing security was actually painless (we have Clear and precheck) considering we're flying on the July 4th weekend. No issues getting into the AMEX Centurion Lounge, but walking to our departure gate the line to the Delta Sky Lounge was just crazy in JFK Terminal 4!!!

We're departing today, July 3rd,from JFK on KLM flying coach using frequent flyer points. We started off the trip in the AMEX Centurion Lounge in Terminal 4,where I enjoyed two cocktails; a Boulevardier and N Espresso Martini.

Sone background. I'm Anthony and with my husband Robert we're both Native NY'ers that retired to Philadelphia 17 years ago. We're prolific travelers and this Celebrity Apex cruise will be our 104th cruise since 2000. We will actually be on a second cruise after the Apex; a 7 day Greek Islands cruise on the Royal's Odyssey of the Seas out of Civitavecchia.

For Cruise Critic regulars you'll recognize my screen name and hopefully appreciate the contributions I make to this forum. I have the utmost respect for those posters that can write multiple dossiers about their cruise vacations and remember and document the minutiae of their experiences. If you're looking for that here you won't get it. Instead you'll get little tidbits of information about our trip experience.

Those folding bifold doors are just window dressing and act more like room dividers;they aren't airtight. People are wishing for things that are impossible for this very reason; the whole IV cabin is an indoor space, it was never and will never be a true outdoor space. Again, it's no different than opening a window in your bedroom. On the icon they did away with the bifold doors and use fabric curtains to separate the space. Again, the bifold doors were never meant to create a true outdoor space, it's all fakery.

That's NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN for the same reason the HVAC shuts off when you keep a traditional balcony door open.

I remember awhile back when I first sailed the Pride from Baltimore the was definitely an issue with vibrations. It was so bad that eating dinner in the MDR the vibrations caused the waterglass to literally move around the table since it was the new glossy wood tables without tablecloths. We had to hold on to everything on the table otherwise all the tablewate would have fallen off!

I'm not sure of the actual room count, but if you look at the deck plans for the Icon, Decks 9,10,11 have MAJORITY of the cabins as IV's;whatsmore, there are new IV categories with larger cabin space meant for families. So far from being a failed concept, Royal has embraced the IV concept as ONE of the various cabin types it offers.

Very well put!

Hyperbole. Do your own research. Here's the true cost of a few Virgin cruises. Those are 5 night cruises and the prices are the for 2 persons.

Oh boy! We have 4!!!ships in port that day. At least those will all have come on at the morning. I regret now not buying the Oia on your own earlier. We will have to make do with whatever comes our way. Thank you for the insight.

We were in Santorini in Dec,4,2019 as a stop on a Suez Canal trip. Luckily we were there many times before. This time everything in Fira was shut down, basically 90% of the restaurants and shops were closed. It was cold and blustery and TBH not particularly pleasant. We walked around, had a coffee and snack a one of the few open places, and made our way back. ZREO lines either way for the cable car. we didn't bother with going to Oia. Oman and Petra, on the other hand was magical!

We are also on Royal next month and but we don't dock in Santorini until 1pm. I was going to buy Oia on Your own but it's sold out! I wonder will they have more? I wondering if the private boats companies to Oia will have availability around 1:30pm?

The baked goods and sweets is specialty bakery quality and is superior to anything Carnival, Royal, Celebrity, MSC, NCL, and Princess puts out.

This comment isn't aimed at you but people should note that The Points Guy is no longer being just written by it's founder and it sources it's travel information and articles from multiple reviewers and article writers with various levels of travel expertise.