Live from the Silhouette Mini Cruise to Amsterdam

[kikki21]

The city is certainly very pretty to look at & is rightly called the Venice of the North but it’s not really the calibre of a Rome or Barcelona in our view but you can feel the quirky vibe of the city for sure.

I did enjoy the canal trip & was glad we did this prior to walking around!

[kikki21]

It’s all about the canals & bridges & the history of the city & the Lovers cruise company did a good job of the story telling on the audio. 

[hcat]

23 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Nor us. We asked to be seated at another table in MDR (Select) on the second night as listening to what the stag party, on the next table, were planning to do in Amsterdam wasn’t something I was comfortable with in front of the two teenagers at our table, and to be fair neither was I! They obviously didn’t want anyone to know back home either, tensions were heating when some wanted to lock their phones in their safes to prevent social media finding out what they were up to 🙈😬.

Sounds like a cruise to be skipped in the future...real high class fun!

[kikki21]

So we got off the canal trip & basically walked in a quest of finding lots of Dutch food, our own food tour if you like!

There are plenty of tourist cheese shops where you can taste samples of cheese, mustards etc. We found one such shop & bought a truffle mayonnaise & a cranberry mustard plus tasted a bit of cheese!

Every so often, we would come across a bakery with lots of colourful macaroons in the window & of course we had to sample a waffle which was freshly made & tasted really good!

We found Dam Square & some fridge magnets to take back home as we collect these!

[kikki21]

6 minutes ago, hcat said:

Sounds like a cruise to be skipped in the future...real high class fun!

 

It seemed worse on the P&O Cruise we did to Bruges!

[hcat]

13 minutes ago, kikki21 said:

We sailed past HAL’s Nieuw Statendam in the dock ahead of us & we were here. We didn’t have any plans in Amsterdam other than walking around & maybe a canal boat tour & that’s exactly what we did!

It’s a fair walk to the Cruise Terminal but there is a kiosk there selling trips so we opted for the 1 hr canal trip which was good & gave us a flavour of the city. 

It’s then another fair walk to the central train station along the docks for cruise & river cruise ships & that was the flavour of the day. We sat right at the back outside for the canal tour so I was able to get some great photos. 

 

 

Thank you for the lovely review and beautiful photos.  We really like Silhouette generally  but it  seems there were some dining and service issues on this short cruise.   LCG looked well worth it!

[villauk]

7 minutes ago, hcat said:

Sounds like a cruise to be skipped in the future...real high class fun!

 

 

Definitely not our usual X experience. Tbf, we prefer a more international mix on board and sailing from Southampton would obviously make this unlikely. 

[kikki21]

Next up on the food quest, we did Chocomel & bitterballen - basically croquettes. We should have gone to the Foodhallen apparently but never mind, it was enjoyable doing what we did. 

We did go into. Traditional coffee shop but I couldn’t take the stink of cannabis, it was very, very heavy - possibly why people here are chilled out & mellow! 

[kikki21]

Next up on the food quest, we did Chocomel & bitterballen - basically croquettes. We should have gone to the Foodhallen apparently but never mind, it was enjoyable doing what we did. 

We did go into. Traditional coffee shop but I couldn’t take the stink of cannabis, it was very, very heavy - possibly why people here are chilled out & mellow! 

[villauk]

1 minute ago, kikki21 said:

couldn’t take the stink of cannabis, it was very, very heavy -

 

 

It was very noticeable, but to be expected I suppose.

 

Well done on the photos - great job!

[kikki21]

After 5 hrs plus of walking round, we had had enough & walked back to the ship, we were both pretty tired by now & wanted some food & a rest. We had a lovely rainbow greet us as we entered the passenger terminal & a nice sunset too as we were getting ready for dinner. Yes that’s what a sunset view balcony is all about! 

[kikki21]

2 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

It was very noticeable, but to be expected I suppose.

 

Well done on the photos - great job!

 

I’m pretty sensitive to smells & it was over powering to me but yes this is the city for it plus magic mushrooms & all sorts! 

 

Thank you re the photos, I do love to take them & took over 400 on this short break alone! 🤦‍♀️

[kikki21]

We were pretty famished for dinner but didn’t have much of a wait for a table in the MDR as I guess some people went out for dinner in Amsterdam or were out all night - those days are past us so we were happy to get back on board & dinner tonight was really good. The lamb in filo pastry was very tasty indeed & the lamb was soft & tender. 

My fiancé enjoyed his sea bass too. I was wearing my new trinket. Even though I sell jewellery, I have been after an anchor/sailing pendant for ages & couldn’t quite find one I liked until I found one in Amsterdam & I love to buy jewellery from around the globe as well! 

[hcat]

7 minutes ago, kikki21 said:

 

I’m pretty sensitive to smells & it was over powering to me but yes this is the city for it plus magic mushrooms & all sorts! 

 

Thank you re the photos, I do love to take them & took over 400 on this short break alone! 🤦‍♀️

Great job with the photos...would live to visit there some time..for the beauty, food  and history ...not the other stuff!  Thank you again for sharing...

[kikki21]

The cheesecake tonight was very yummy! We had a walk around the shop & decided to have some cocktails in the Passport bar. My cocktail was lovely but my fiancé chose one & it was to be honest nasty... the bar tender said he could have another one which was good service on his part! 

[kikki21]

We slept in for a bit the next morning & planned go get breakfast/brunch of some sorts - actually my fiancé went to get me breakfast from the buffet to eat on our balcony which was great! My legs were still tired! 

The Kentucky Calling was the yuck cocktail - my fiancé loves his whisky but not in that cocktail!

 

We now had the Viking Jupiter for company this morning albeit briefly! Good horn battle though! 

[citronella]

Very nice and thorough review.

[kikki21]

Mmmm Mexican Eggs Benedict were delicious & in case you were wondering if the river/canal can take 2 cruise ships travelling in opposite directions then yes it is wide enough as the Columbus passed us the other way plus there was another ship in a dry dock as well. 

It’s not the prettiest of journeys as you go past some very heavy industry but it was still interesting in places! 

[kikki21]

So I decided on another snooze before lunchtime 😳 as you do as today was relaxation day! 

We decided on another MDR luncheon just as we were getting to the lock! Looking down from the MDR, you do wonder how on Earth the ship fits in!!! 

[excitedofharpenden]

40 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

Definitely not our usual X experience. Tbf, we prefer a more international mix on board and sailing from Southampton would obviously make this unlikely. 

I had friends onboard for this short cruise.  I heard that there were still diners in the MDR at 1am, drinking and chatting and crew had to be back on duty at 6am.  This may go some way toward explaining the less than happy faces on the waiters.  I understand that aside from hen and stag parties there was a travel agent conference and cruiseline staff on a jolly.  My friends said it sure wasn’t the usual Celebrity experience,  but short cruises you stand a fair chance of it being like this.  

 

Phil

 

 

[kikki21]

So we waved goodbye to Holland & hello to the North Sea & going back to Southampton. At least the sea tonight was far less choppy. We looked round the shops as they cleared to open at 2pm & we went to the casino for our free 5 dollars to donate back to the casino - we only play the slots though nothing fancy.

We got ready for dinner tonight & ready for the show as well which tonight was Cosmopolitan which I enjoyed. 

[kikki21]

12 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I had friends onboard for this short cruise.  I heard that there were still diners in the MDR at 1am, drinking and chatting and crew had to be back on duty at 6am.  This may go some way toward explaining the less than happy faces on the waiters.  I understand that aside from hen and stag parties there was a travel agent conference and cruiseline staff on a jolly.  My friends said it sure wasn’t the usual Celebrity experience,  but short cruises you stand a fair chance of it being like this.  

 

Phil

 

 

 

Yes there was a Royal Caribbean conference on board as we talked to a lady that was on it! 

 

[villauk]

3 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I had friends onboard for this short cruise.  I heard that there were still diners in the MDR at 1am, drinking and chatting and crew had to be back on duty at 6am.  This may go some way toward explaining the less than happy faces on the waiters.  I understand that aside from hen and stag parties there was a travel agent conference and cruiseline staff on a jolly.  My friends said it sure wasn’t the usual Celebrity experience,  but short cruises you stand a fair chance of it being like this.  

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

Yes, short cruises produce a different dynamic, but I never gave it a thought that there would be stag and hen parties on board. Admittedly, I should have realised as our only port of Call was Amsterdam. All I can say was thank goodness for the peace and serenity of the Elite breakfast; I wouldn’t have been able to endure the buffet each morning.

[kikki21]

There were plenty of dressed up people tonight but dress ranged from smart casual to dressed to the nines & everything in between!

It was a longer wait for dinner tonight & we had the dreaded pager! The duck starter was delicious but the beef sadly was chewy in places which was a shame.

 

[kikki21]

The cheesecake again - this time the chocolate version for me!

plus midnight snacks in the buffet later having had a few cocktails. I do really like the pizza they make on board but they never seem to have enough of it for everyone with the midnight munchies!