FreestyleNovice

First thought when seeing this thread title: We certainly do have cheaper hotels than that! But as said as above, your dates are the difference. Not that the 4th or 5th are significant travel dates for the Dutch but in Amsterdam centre it may cause a peak in lodging demand as described by the others. OP: The evening on the 4th of May Nationale Dodenherdenking at 8pm on the Dam is something you can follow on TV in your hotel room. Almost anything closes early at 7pm, traffic will stop at 8pm, including Schiphol airport, the railways etc. It still gives me the chills and luckily most of us respect and honor this national tradition to remember those who lost their lives for our freedom. The 5th is a national holiday, and it's a festive one, whatever your plans are for that day; the national flag will fly everywhere and if you will visit any town there will be fairs, entertainment etc.

Hm, posting this extra information in a "NOT by train" thread might not as helpful for others as I thought..

And don't forget to stay with your luggage in the train at all times. With most of you probably traveling on our double decker trains (all stop services are smaller trains) the best choice is to grab a seat directly at the door section to avoid the small stairs up or down into the train compartment. Just avoid the sections where the bathroom is..

Edge also had this last month.

Food? Art? The canals? Or a trip to the windmills, perhaps some blooming tulip fields in spring? Coffeeshops? We got you covered in Amsterdam.

With three it makes sense! Enjoy The Netherlands!

I guess! Was our first Edge cruise last week, there are two parasols in front of the Retreat pool and two more further down aft on both sides of the ship so in total 6 if I recall correctly.

Further back on the Retreat sun deck are large parasols, at least two per side and I think three even. And the daybeds provide a bit of shade. Aug 27th sailing was 1300 pax, this week is 2200 and direct a new post Covid record for Edge.. so read the reviews of that sailing when they disembark.

I would not recommend a taxi for a single person unless you have mobility issues or other urgent reasons, the cost is just too high in my opinion. The point to point is convenient but getting on the train and off the train at Rotterdam is easy. Perhaps a taxi (from the cue) at Rotterdam Central Station to cruise ship I would agree on, not having to deal with the metro. The total costs would be a quarter or third of the whole journey by taxi. The NS (Dutch Railways) are heaving some difficulties at the moment but nothing can beat the direct train to Rotterdam; Intercity Direct with a 26 minute non stop connection. Single full fare 2nd class: €13,60, single full fare 1st class: €22,71. Add 1 Euro fee for a paper single use OV Chip Card if you don't have a plastic OV Chip Card. It's reliable, safe (safer than an all stop service..), there's 1st class, etc. At Schiphol the train platform is below Plaza (were you exit the baggage hall) and even before you enter the taxi line. At Rotterdam you will see a line of taxis outside the station.

You won't get lost with that dead end or make that mistake a second time heh. Here's an overview for anyone's future reference:

Depending on the cruise ports/-line. But you are right about the Amsterdam part.

Other passengers once asked us if we were crew...

Sorry, 1300 guests on our cruise this past week, 2200 guests on today’s.

2200 (1300 on Aug 27th) Safe sailings! Ship and crew are great, had a wonderful time!

As Prima is nearing the Dutch shoreline, before mooring Amsterdam I saw she’s still showing a 3:30am departure so I won’t be waving farewell but dreaming of her sounding her horn when setting off I guess I will be catching up on all what was posted when we get home. She seems beautiful and well received in all the comments!

Spoke to the concierge today, ran out of stock and Spanish VAT. Stock comes from the US, no point in stocking up before heading back. I don’t mind older stuff, for a Watch to giveaway or second Pencil it’s a nice way of burning OBC. Although I agree it could be better.

The latter was also on our minds this cruise, having >1400 USD in OBC. One can’t have too many iPads, one for every floor of the house.. It was a bit of a disappointment not seeing any hardware. Previous X cruises did have more so was wondering, perhaps supply chain issues etc. Thanks!

Is there always a lack of Apple items for sale on the iLounge on E class? Now on Edge but (apparently) it’s just the generic stuff in the displays, some cables etc. Absolutely no hardware. Asked the staff during the internet support hours in port but he simply replied “all that is/it’s in the display.” Could it be the Spanish VAT, Barcelona is included as port of call?

Plugging in the adapter, HDMI cable and in the iPad and having it work within 5 seconds as at home would indeed be the best case scenario

Unless it’s an hotel TV and locked. Sometimes you even might need an universal remote to even select the output. We too like to enjoy our local news (live TV app), subtitled movies (easier to follow ) etc from our own iPads or iPhones but we gave ships up.. Renting an HD movie through Prime or AppleTV and watching it on our lap with a pillow as support instead. Sometimes we do bring our adapters and HDMI cable to (smaller) land based destinations, with a 50% succes rate.

Two point and shoot cameras on display onboard Edge at the moment. No price tags. Regarding the iLounge, we’ve found that too in the past. This sailing (Med, with Barcelona as one of the ports) they are not even taking the effort to set up articles for sale.. besides the generic accessoires in the glass displays. Must be a Spanish VAT thing, might go the casino route to get our OBC. Can anyone enlighten me, do we have to load it all on a slot machine (“casino account”) and print out the cash out ticket? Thanks!

Brits and booze… There are even TV shows about them. edit: before I get flamed; thread title should or could be more including the subject(s), I clicked it because I thought it to be an etiquette question or along that.

Ditto. To the point of annoyingly and eventually making you doubt if you missed a critical form or whatsoever.

GoPro’s (Max, 7, 8, 9 and 10 I think) memory cards etc for sure. Will check the Edge’s Photo section again later this week. Besides the iLounge I haven’t seen much electronics on any X ship, it’s more perfume, jewelry, watches and some clothing/totes.

Onboard Edge right now, we asked about ordering from the MDR in Luminae during embarkation lunch. Waiter apologized and said it would take too long and reasons described earlier above.