crewsgirl

We also are planning to visit Stavanger in June on the Koningsdam. Is it possible to walk to the dock if we book the fjord cruise with Rodne? Is this a better cruise that the ship's tour offering? We typically enjoy independent touring unless the ship's time schedule is impossible. TIA

We spent a few days in Amsterdam in 2015 and one our our highlights was the Hungry Birds food tour we took while we were there. It was a lot of fun, introduced us to some delicious foods and gave is a tour of areas of the city we might not have visited otherwise.

 

We also found a great restaurant, Van Kerkwijk and ate there twice during our three nights in Amsterday. It was so good the first night we had to go back. Be sure to get there early if you don't want to have wait a long time for a table. When we were there the line started forming shortly after they opened.

Oh the Hungry Birds tour sounds so fun! Thanks for the tip, I will be looking for that one.

Thank you Ine, I will be making our ticket reservations on Saturday for Anne Frank. We inadvertently missed that on our last visit so this will work very well.

Quick question for Amsterdam and Norway. Do I need a power converter or adapter to plug in our devices? Seems like I had one for our last trip and of course, now of course, I can't find it. We are staying at a traditional Dutch bed and breakfast in the canal area if that matters and sailing on HAL's K'Dam.

If you have a recommendation I am interested. Thanks.

Good to read this thread. We just tossed this issue around and decided to go a la carte on beverages on our upcoming HAL cruise also. I think we are going to be fine. I think I read that 8 drinks/day is what it takes to "break even" on the drink package. But, honestly, if I drank the limit of 15 beverages/day which is what the package allows, my head would be on the table by 6 p.m., hahaha. And the biggest reason to reject the package is that the wine I like is priced at $9.75/glass and the package only allows beverages up to $9. Why in the world would they do that? That would really make me mad to find out I spent $700 for the week but still was billed because my wine exceeded the allowable charge.

So, we are taking 2 bottles of our favorite wine and will just buy drinks as we go...I'm sure it will be less than $700/week!

Waterbug, you are going to love Alaska, its pristine, gorgeous and we had great weather in July when we went there years ago. The glaciers are amazing and I hope you have a lovely trip. I may take your advice and do the repellent spray, its hard to give up valuable luggage space for heavy shoes. I think I have decided on a pair of black booties that will be good for daily wear. Hiking in the city...haha.

But, I may check out the goretex per Hoyaheel's recomendation above

I pack in ziplock compression bags and carry Lippault luggage, it is incredibly lightweight and I rarely hit 50 lbs. so I am planning to minimize as much as possible. I will have a 25" checked bag and I like to use the smaller carryon Lippault that I will pack just for the 3 days precruise in Amsterdam and then for the trip home in the event of delayed travel. I have a LV large tote that I put all the electronics and incidentals in for the plane. And my absolute other must have is Noise Cancelling Bose earbuds.

What are the things that you love most about cruising? I loved our last Viking river cruise....it was so easy-peasy and laid back. This trip on the K'dam with HAL will be a huge ship, so a big change for us.

H2OMac3- your trip sounds fabulous! And yes, I love gardens, so now I will be looking up Flor go Fjaere! Thanks for the info. I am thinking a fleece, probably not a turtleneck.

Karen604- I am so excited about this trip, its not anything we have ever done before, so yes, I hope we meet you and lots of others as well. I definitely have a packable down hooded coat that stuffs into a nothing-sized pouch, so yes, that is on my list as well. I like jeans of the stretch-y variety, but I am more of a black leggings kind of girl myself. I am planning to bring my fleece lined Avalanche leggings for that bike ride down the mountain!

and Waterbug- Yes, I need to pare down the toiletries but OMG, can we please discuss the shoes! I like flip flops and that is not going to work on this trip.....so what kind of waterproof shoes do you use??? I have a great pair of UGGS rainboots but they are far too heavy to pack for this trip. Lightweight packable tennis shoes for biking, but if it rains in the city.....what are you taking?

Thanks for the ideas...keep 'em coming!

Thank you Ine for the information and good to know Alex88 about the credit cards too. I didn't think we needed a chipcard for such a short visit.

I do think we can do Zaanse Schans on our own using the bus. My husband really likes to use public transportation when we travel just to get that local feel. We were able to visit Kinderdijk on our last Viking river cruise and the Dutch engineers are absolutely brilliant! We enjoyed the history there so much.

I went ahead and booked a half day group trip to Delft/Hague/Madurodam as we enjoy meeting others and the trip sounded very easy to do this way. I can't wait to see the gorgeous Delft blue pottery! That is going to be a highlight for me and I am very excited about that.

I am still debating the Brugges trip. I would like to do it, but the DH is less inclined to want to do the day before we board the ship. What other must see/do things in Amsterdam can you recommend? I probably need tickets for Anne Frank and we might do the Heinken experience. Is that worth the time?

Hello, this sounds like a great option. Can someone provide the link to book a ticket for the train and also how to reserve the bike from the cafe? Thank you!

Here is the link for the bike rental http://caferallaren.no/en/

and I booked our tickets for the train here: https://www.nsb.no/en/frontpage

When I just checked that site, it states that the Flam-Myrdal line is closed for maintainence, hope that changes before late June!

Good luck! We are so excited for this day. We will be there on June 29 and hoping for great Norweigan weather!

Schedules and price here:

https://www.ns.nl/en

Thank you Ine, I am looking at the train to Delft and can you tell me if we need to get the OV-chipkaart? Would that be the best thing to do? I don't really think we will be using the train much in Amsterdam, probably just for this one day trip is my current thinking. I appreciate your help!

Well, we actually bought round trip tickets. If it is 40 degrees and raining hard we might be glad we did. 10 mile on a bike even with a rain suit right not be a lot of fun. Just a thought.

Yikes! I booked one way...and we will have to be flexible with the weather, I guess. We are living on the edge over here and hoping for good bike riding/hiking weather end of June. ;p

CCJack's comment about...no turning back made the difference. :') But, you may see me in the ticket line if the weather decides not to cooperate!

And Alegeeter, it might be a good idea to get your mom and sister out and do some afternoon weekend bike riding in your area for a couple of weeks before the trip and they can decide how comfortable they feel about doing the trip. I do think the gravel is the biggest hazard, but they can certainly walk the bikes at that point if they don't want to ride.

We took a bus tour to Bruges and it was 3 hours each way. Bruges itself was very nice but I felt traveling for 6 hours for a 5 hour tour was a colossal waste of time.

Sue

Oh shofer, you sound like my DH! He is not keen on spending all the time on the road, so we may opt for a great side trip to Delft/Hague and enjoy more of Amsterdam.

After reading this again, it actually has a Pickup Code at the top of the email that will be used to generate the actual ticket at the station is how I am understanding it. At any rate, I am excited that the train is set and our bikes are reserved so Flam is going to be an adventure. Hoping for great weather!

I just booked our tickets for the Flam railway using the nsb link that was on this thread. It actually had a statement right at the checkout time that said Paypal was the preferred method of payment if you were in the US, so that sure was easy. Our bed and breakfast host also requested Paypal for our deposit rather than a credit card which is actually fine with me.

Anyway, this is the info I received after purchasing:

Your receipt NOK 780,-

Journey #259330758

Boarding no later than 20 seconds before departure

Departure Friday 29.06.2018

fromFlåm - ToMyrdal Departure09:45 - Arrival10:43

Train towards Myrdal, track 4

2 Flåm Railway, AdultFree seating

All prices in NOK.

All taxes and fees included

VATValue added tax 12%. BasisBasis: 696.42kroner. VATValue added tax: 83.58kroner

Entur AS - Org nr. 917422575 VAT

Paid with PayPal

And I am wondering if a screenshot of this receipt will be sufficient at the station to actually get the validated ticket? Does anybody know? I am also wondering if this price is better than the ship's group price, I honestly didn't check it yet. Anyway, we are set to go and we will be riding the bikes down, so a one way ticket for us! Can't wait, we are getting excited over here.

Does anybody here have the link to the train schedule and how to purchase a one way ticket? Which train do you think is the earliest one after the ship docks that we could make? Also, do you know if we are going to tender into this port? I thought I read that somewhere but I'm not sure. Thanks.

try this site

https://www.rome2rio.com/

 

I am sure Ine will have more info on getting around

Thank you so much! I am there now and what a helpful site, LHT28!

Absolutely Delft, a charming city. In the church on Grote Markt dutch royal are buried. Maybe in combination with The Hague. Easy to do by frequent trains.

Do you happen to have a link to the train schedule? I hadn't considered that option, but maybe that would be faster and easier. Wonder if we could still have a local guide there? Thanks so much for the information.

and now, I definitely think we need to do both! LHT28, the information about Bruges looks wonderful!

We are planning to be in Amsterdam for a few days before our ship departs for Norway and we are looking at possible day trips. Which would you choose, Delft/Hague or Bruges? Or both?

We love walking through historic districts, sampling the city, I would love to see the pottery factory, but I am wondering if we can do 2 days of touring before getting on the ship. Is it worth it? Would you choose Viator tour groups to do these day trips? If not, then who?

Would love to hear your suggestions and thank you in advance.

Ohhh thank you KroozNut, that is helpful....See THERE is that Cloudy Bay! Yikes!

Just be aware of the common misconception that the beverage packages (Signature/Elite) are for alcoholic drinks only because they are not. they also include just about any beverage that incurs a cost, such as specialty coffee drinks, sodas, bottled water, etc.

 

 

When you consider this, the 15 drinks per day can add up rather quickly..

Ohhh, yes, I agree and I also think just the convenience of knowing that you don't have to find your card, etc everytime you want something is part of the lure of the SBP for sure too.

Do you happen to know the pricing for specialty coffees, waters, & sodas? So, when you are in the Lido, if you have a fountain drink for lunch, they charge you for that? Is that correct? And regular coffee/tea/water is available. Now, I remember why Viking was so easy!

Theoretically speaking here because I am really trying to figure this out, haha.....

7 a.m. breakfast- specialty coffee/mimosa

10 a.m. water

12 noon lunch bloody mary/diet coke/water

2:00 snack/hot tea

5:00 cocktail

7:00 dinner 3!!! glasses of wine

9:00 show cocktail

That's 12 drinks for me...and I seriously would be facedowndrunk on day 1. ;p;p.

So, truth of the matter....I'm a lightweight at the bar....No way I could sustain that schedule and make it all week. But, again, the good NZ Sauvignon Blanc is 9.75/glass, so I would have to upgrade to the Elite package? Is that correct? Now, if my choice of wine could be included....and I didn't incur the upcharge...that might be a different story. But to pay 750+ and not have the wine of choice is not gonna happen over here. And of course, my husband prefers red! Ha!

We are planning to go to Norway this June on the Koningsdam and will have a few days pre-cruise in Amsterdam. I would like to be efficient, yet prepared and would love to hear your tips for packing the right things for this trip.

We will be visiting the fabulous art museums in Amsterdam and a day trip to Delft/Hague.

On the cruise, we will be doing the train/bike ride in Flam, so I need some appropriate outwear gear as I am concerned that it will be cold coming down the mountain. Oslo and fjord viewing on the deck are on the agenda as well as Kristiansand and Stavanger. I will be researching the weather in those areas but I need to be prepared for late June.

We will do a night or 2 of specialty dining and we enjoy dressing up occasionally. Ha! I am pretty sure the hubs is leaving the tux at home, unless anybody here deems it an absolute necessity. Our last cruise was a Viking river cruise and we enjoyed the relaxed laid back atmosphere, so I need some comparisons and advice.

So show me your best lists and ideas of the essentials for a 13 day N. European adventure. And, I need it all to weigh under 50 lbs. :'):halo:If any of you have done this itinerary, please weigh in too!

Thanks in advance.

Beautyandtheblanc.....you are reading it correctly! Do you typically drink 15 drinks/day on vacay? We are doing the beverage cards and a wine package and I think we will be fine. I think we will have everything we both want for less than $750 and not feel denied. Our cruise only has 2 days at sea and those would be the days I think we could take advantage of it the most, but even then, we won't drink 30 drinks together....I would be face down drunk.....but the real reason we are not getting the package is that the wine I like is listed at $9.75/glass and it would not be eligible for the beverage package anyway....and that would really irritate me!

I think it depends on what you enjoy doing while on your cruise.

Yes! Thanks so much for all the info Kazu. You are getting me motivated and organized!

So excited to find this thread! We are planning to visit Norway on the Koningsgdam in June and love to ride bikes. This is definitely on our ToDo list. Hope to see you there ChinaShrek!

Yes, PSR, I knew he was talking about the beverage card, and I think that will be a good way to go for us. Thank you Kazu.

Can we talk about that rule of bringing 2 bottles of wine onboard at embarkation? I really love a good Sauvignon Blanc from NZ and the choices were limited on the list provided on the website. If we bring 2 bottles on in Amsterdam, can we bring another bottle onboard in a different port a few days later or do they collect all wines/liquor at the door when you reboard the ship?

I also am hoping they have the water package available in the cabin at embarkation as well. Or do you know how that works?

Haha, TAD2005....that Wang Wang sounds like a doozie!

All of this info is so helpful and impressive! Our last cruise was a Viking river cruise and the beverages were all included, so this is new for us.

We are mostly wine drinkers and I think we are doing the 6 bottle wine package and adding the bottled water package and maybe adding a couple of beverage cards for afternoon coffees or occasional soda. Is the beverage card an actual physical card that you produce each time you order? I saw it on the HAL site but I haven't heard much about that one.

And lastly do you all recommend ordering this ahead of time online before your cruise? Or it is better to do it when you embark? TIA!