Live - Island Princess Oktoberfest cruise Sept. 27 - Oct. 7

[Rick&Jeannie]

Ok, I'm finally caught up as far as excursions go.  We are having a well needed sea day! 

 

This has been a great itinerary in that you go a couple of ports, sea day, rinse and repeat. Ample time to recharge for the next port(s).

[Rick&Jeannie]

Ok, I'm finally caught up as far as excursions go.  We are having a well needed sea day! 

 

This has been a great itinerary in that you go a couple of ports, sea day, rinse and repeat. Ample time to recharge for the next port(s).

[Rick&Jeannie]

Berlin wall

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Copenhagen Opera House

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Norwegian Museum of Cultural History 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Fram ship

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

I'm very surprised (pleasantly) that the internet is doing as well as it is to allow uploading of pictures! I was not expecting that at all.

[Rick&Jeannie]

The Bordeax MDR *is* open today for lunch (sea day). I was most likely mistaken previously...it appears that the MDRs were closed on port days.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Island Plaza view

 

[tml1230]

Rick, your trip report is outstanding! Just getting caught up now as we had a call from hurricane Ian...

my wife and I will be on the Island next fall from Rome to Fort Lauderdale with stops in Israel.  By chance is your mini suite a club class? We  booked one at a good price and wondering if it worth the extra cost.  

Again thanks for a very informative and entertains report, we are following!

[Loveh2ofl]

@Rick&JeannieThanks for all your posts!  Can you please check the chart and see if the names of the Captain, Cruise Dir and Restaurant Dir are correct?  Also name of an Entertainment Dir if possible?

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2724695-princess-senior-ship-staff-inc-cruise-directors-entertainment-directors/page/20/#comments

 

Wishing you a continued wonderful cruise!

[Rick&Jeannie]

Today we were docked in Rotterdam but we went to Amsterdam for an excursion. "The Best of Amsterdam " is your typical bus-based excursion.  We started off at about 8:30 and we saw just a few of the sights of Rotterdam as we were headed to the highway towards Amsterdam. It's about a 1.5 hour drive to Amsterdam with very picturesque scenery along the way. Many, many wind turbines along with a few of the old wooden windmills scattered throughout the countryside.
Once in Amsterdam our guide pointed out a few of the sights that were on the way to our Canal boat.  This was a totally enclosed glass-roofed Canal boat which made it very easy to see in most every direction.  The Canal portion lasted just about 1 hour. 
We were then taken to a local restaurant which apparently opened up at noon strictly for our group. I can't say that this was an authentic Norwegian meal...it was a chicken breasr and mashed potatoes.  Oh well...it was tasty.
From there we headed towards the Vincent Van Gogh museum. One thing about our guide...she seemed to think that she was not doing her job unless she was filling 90% of the time with "local color commentary".  She had a fairly thick accent and not what I would call a full command of English.  Some of her comments sounded as if they were delivered by Yoda! Somewhat backwards from typical English as well as some very unusual pronunciations. We had to really pay attention!
The Van Gogh museum was a bit rushed if you wanted to study all of the paintings...we just hit the highlights as with most excursions of this type. 
Time to head back to the ship.  What was a 1.5 hour trip in the morning turned into about 2.5 hour run due to very heavy traffic. 
We got back on board at about 6:10pm. We headed straight to the MDR after dropping off our excess wares in our cabin.
We have had excellent weather for the entire cruise so fat...only raining on one day just a few minutes after we got back on the ship! Absolutely no complaints so far and tomorrow in Belgium it is supposed to be sunny and clear. That's all for now. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

On 10/4/2022 at 6:19 PM, tml1230 said:

  By chance is your mini suite a club class? We  booked one at a good price and wondering if it worth the extra cost.  

I think you will like the Island.  This is our first time for this ship but we have another booked for next year on her. Ours is not a club class. I looked into upgrading about a month before sailing but they wanted about $1000 for the privilege! We've done CC once before and thought that we would try it again but I don't think it was worth it. We would be missing out on the great conversations we've had with adjacent table guests. While we could certainly have similar conversations in CC, I don't want to pay $1000 to do so!

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 hours ago, Loveh2ofl said:

@Rick&JeannieThanks for all your posts!  Can you please check the chart and see if the names of the Captain, Cruise Dir and Restaurant Dir are correct?  Also name of an Entertainment Dir.

Captain is Rikard Lorentzen. CD is Andy Sanders.

I don't have anything to confirm the restaurant director...sorry.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Interesting sign in the Rotterdam cruise terminal:

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Van Gogh Museum 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Canal boats

 

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Canal boats

 

Venice of Northern Europe 

[t&atravel]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We were then taken to a local restaurant which apparently opened up at noon strictly for our group. I can't say that this was an authentic Norwegian meal...it was a chicken breasr and mashed potatoes.  

Just curious as to why you expected an authentic Norwegian meal in Amsterdam which is Dutch?  Was it specified as a Norwegian restaurant?

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Today we were docked in Rotterdam but we went to Amsterdam for an excursion. "The Best of Amsterdam " is your typical bus-based excursion.  We started off at about 8:30 and we saw just a few of the sights of Rotterdam as we were headed to the highway towards Amsterdam. It's about a 1.5 hour drive to Amsterdam with very picturesque scenery along the way. Many, many wind turbines along with a few of the old wooden windmills scattered throughout the countryside.
Once in Amsterdam our guide pointed out a few of the sights that were on the way to our Canal boat.  This was a totally enclosed glass-roofed Canal boat which made it very easy to see in most every direction.  The Canal portion lasted just about 1 hour. 
We were then taken to a local restaurant which apparently opened up at noon strictly for our group. I can't say that this was an authentic Norwegian meal...it was a chicken breasr and mashed potatoes.  Oh well...it was tasty.
From there we headed towards the Vincent Van Gogh museum. One thing about our guide...she seemed to think that she was not doing her job unless she was filling 90% of the time with "local color commentary".  She had a fairly thick accent and not what I would call a full command of English.  Some of her comments sounded as if they were delivered by Yoda! Somewhat backwards from typical English as well as some very unusual pronunciations. We had to really pay attention!
The Van Gogh museum was a bit rushed if you wanted to study all of the paintings...we just hit the highlights as with most excursions of this type. 
Time to head back to the ship.  What was a 1.5 hour trip in the morning turned into about 2.5 hour run due to very heavy traffic. 
We got back on board at about 6:10pm. We headed straight to the MDR after dropping off our excess wares in our cabin.
We have had excellent weather for the entire cruise so fat...only raining on one day just a few minutes after we got back on the ship! Absolutely no complaints so far and tomorrow in Belgium it is supposed to be sunny and clear. That's all for now. 

I assume this was a Princess excursion. Did you consider one of the many independent excursions that are available,  which, by the sound of your tour ,  would be far more interesting  ?

[Rick&Jeannie]

One thing I've discovered while trying to do some of these longer posts...you're better off composing your item off line using some type of notepad app. Ship wifi being what it is these days, your signal is more than likely to "glitch" and the CC editor does not seem to handle it very well. And as far as pics are concerned...just wait til your off the ship in a port and not using the ship's "Best WiFi at Sea"!

[Rick&Jeannie]

9 hours ago, t&atravel said:

Just curious as to why you expected an authentic Norwegian meal in Amsterdam which is Dutch?  Was it specified as a Norwegian restaurant?

Hah! Once again, I am mixing up my ports. I'm going to have to just take notes along the way! Sorry! Yes, of course it would be Dutch!

[Rick&Jeannie]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

I assume this was a Princess excursion. Did you consider one of the many independent excursions that are available,  which, by the sound of your tour ,  would be far more interesting  ?

Yes, Princess tour. We have occasionally done a private tour but we just get really nervous about getting back to the ship! I probably have not done this one justice with my recap...it was a fine tour.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Last port, last excursion! We have arrived in Belgium this morning.  Port of Zeebrugge.  "Ghent by Canal Cruise" is a half-day, Discovery recommended tour.  Another bus ride! (Aren't they all?) This one starts early after meeting at about 8:10  in the Explorer's  Lounge. 
Ghent is about an hour away from the port. I honestly think we saw over 100 wind turbines on the way to Ghent. The Belgians are certainly taking advantage of what eco power they can harness. 
Once arriving in Ghent we were taken directly to the Canal boat embarkation point.  Unlike the previous Canal boats we did earlier in the cruise,  these were full-open boats which gave unlimited and unobstructed view in all direction.  
Another absolutely beautiful day as far as the weather was concerned! I can't believe how lucky we have been on this cruise. Not once has it rained on us while we have been off the boat. Only once did it rain *after* we returned to the ship. 
As far as the boat ride goes, we saw most of the important historical buildings and the interesting items that go along with life on and around a Canal in a historical city.
Our Canal boat ride was in 2 parts...I couldn't figure that out at first but then it became clear. After the first segment we had about an hour of free time and then we re-boarded the Canal boat. (We had an excellent boat pilot, BTW.) The second boat segment was simply to get us to an easier place for the pickup by bus. Still, we got to see a different portion of canals and it even opened up into a small river before we ended our ride.
At that point we proceeded back to the ship  (about an hour via a different route than we used in arriving to Ghent. )
This hasbeen a great cruise, and we both felt that the time had really flown by fast! I guess that means we were having a good time!
We will spend 1 night in London before making our way home.