Well, I did it. Booked my first ever solo river cruise.

[bubbulz]

“If it’s Tuesday, this must be…” Oops, no it’s Wednesday and we are at Maastricht, our first stop in the Netherlands. We had a walking tour this morning or there was an option to visit the American cemetery. It is a charming little town with lots of shops and sidewalk cafés and it was nice that we could step right off the ship into the old town. The week is going quite quickly and tonight there is a 70s party after dinner. The weather has continued to cooperate, with highs in the low to mid 50s. Fingers crossed that this stays the course and we have tulips before we leave. (Or maybe I will just have to stay in Amsterdam until they bloom! 😉)

[Sleep7]

Hi Bubbulz!

Wow! So glad you are having such a wonderful time.

It's so nice to see all the places we went a few weeks ago in the bright sunshine instead of the daily drizzle. 

Enjoy every moment.. I am loving all your beautiful pictures!

[CastleCritic]

you know youre having fun when the vacation stops mapping to the real world its its just 'day 6, this port"

[bubbulz]

I’ve been a bit remiss with posting updates, but only because it has been very busy with full schedules. The weather turned pretty dreary again yesterday, but at least it was not pouring rain. In the morning we were bussed about an hour to Nuenen for a Van Gogh “village day“ with a country lunch at a mill. The brand new van Gogh village museum was not due to open quite yet, but they let us have a pre-opening tour that was very well done.  Then in the afternoon we met the ship in Heusden. We went into several shops on a walking tour, and if the weather had been more cooperative, I would have wandered around for much longer. Now we are on our way to Schoonhoven and the Kinderdijk windmills. Skies are still overcast but dry. More photos to come but here’s one I just took out the window as we were cruising.

[bubbulz]

Van Gogh village day / Nuenen and Heusden
 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by bubbulz

[bubbulz]

Today we sailed in the morning to Schoonhoven and arrived after an early lunch. I took advantage of the free morning to schedule a massage and facial and just take in the scenery as we passed by a number of windmills. For the afternoon we had the choice of a bus ride to the Kinderdijk windmills or doing a walking tour of Schoonhoven. I chose the latter and we visited the Dutch silver museum and a craft center. Although the day was bit overcast, it didn’t rain at all and temperatures stayed above 50°.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by bubbulz

[bubbulz]

Excited to see this since we sail tonight to Amsterdam and will visit Keukenhof Gardens tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed the rain stays away. 

 

 

[bubbulz]

I am not a big one for taking photos of my food, but I have to say that every single dish of every meal on this cruise has been fantastic. I honestly was not that impressed with my last Uniworld cruise several years ago, which was my third one with the company, and I was concerned that perhaps things were going downhill. Everything on this cruise has been stellar. 

Edited April 7, 2023 by bubbulz

[Ritabob]

It's god to know you think things have improved since your last cruise with Uniworld.  We felt the same way in 2019. Couldn't point to any one thing, but something was off.

[bubbulz]

53 minutes ago, Ritabob said:

It's god to know you think things have improved since your last cruise with Uniworld.  We felt the same way in 2019. Couldn't point to any one thing, but something was off.

I felt the same on the last one. On this one, it was obvious that there were a lot of new crewmembers, but the customer service level was up overall despite that and the food was over the top wonderful in general.

[CastleCritic]

its a good thing if the impressions are this high early in the season.  Last year when I went for a May1 cruise in Europe (on AMAwaterways) it was clear  the crew was just getting into the groove of it/working together on that ship.  In fact the maitre'd for my cruise came onboard the same day we did due to, as he said "some dropsies in service" on recent cruises and the waiters were shuffled a few times over the week.

[bubbulz]

7 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

its a good thing if the impressions are this high early in the season.  Last year when I went for a May1 cruise in Europe (on AMAwaterways) it was clear  the crew was just getting into the groove of it/working together on that ship.  In fact the maitre'd for my cruise came onboard the same day we did due to, as he said "some dropsies in service" on recent cruises and the waiters were shuffled a few times over the week.

It was somewhat the same here in terms of the crew becoming the well oiled machine it would be by the end of the season, but the food and the crew’s attentiveness more than made up for any glitches.

[bubbulz]

And, of course, the highlight of the trip. The weather gods were with us and gave us temperatures of almost 60° and bright blue sunny skies. And lots of tulips. We went early in the morning and beat the crowds; there was quite a traffic jam to get in to Keukenhof Gardens as we were leaving. As we drove in, we were met by massive fields of tulips of all colors. I’m looking forward to flying over them in a few days since the airport is nearby. 

[Sleep7]

🌷G O R G E O U S!!🌷

[sharkster77]

@bubbulz, we will be on our tulip cruise exactly one year from RIGHT NOW, so we are living vicariously through your reports and postings!  Thank you, and more please!!!

[Ritabob]

If you have an extra morning i n Amsterdam you must go to the Aalsmeer flower auction. You will never see so many flowers and plant material in one place anywhere else in the world.

[Canal archive]

Bubbulz wonderfully superb photography.

[bubbulz]

6 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Bubbulz wonderfully superb photography.

Awww, thank you. Just my trusty little iPhone. I considered bringing my SLR but decided not to at the last moment. 

[bubbulz]

7 hours ago, Ritabob said:

If you have an extra morning i n Amsterdam you must go to the Aalsmeer flower auction. You will never see so many flowers and plant material in one place anywhere else in the world.

I had heard about it and definitely will look into it more since I’ve got a few more days. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by bubbulz

[Canal archive]

Most times it’s not necessarily the equipment but the eye behind that equipment. ‘Bob Carlos Clark’ friend and photographer sadly missed.

[bubbulz]

I love getting my laundry done as a complimentary service as a repeat cruiser, but it is also bittersweet seeing it arrive as I know my cruise is coming to an end. 
 

Leaving the boat yesterday was organized and straightforward and I took a taxi to my hotel in Amsterdam after breakfast. I had a great lunch at the Dutch Restaurant and then I did a two hour canal tour. Dinner was at an Indonesian restaurant near my hotel (Indrapura) that I enjoyed so much I will go back for the rice table tonight. 

[bubbulz]

Banks Mansion has a complimentary happy hour and breakfast that I neglected to take photos of so far. In any event, they had a great selection this morning of salmon, salads, cold cuts, breads, cheeses, coffees, eggs made to order, cereals, juices, and yogurts.  Last night included wines, salamis, cheeses and breads/crackers. Needless to say, I am not starving now that I have left the ship.😉 I walked around Amsterdam and bought souvenirs at a couple of the rubber duck stores (who knew this was a thing?) and also went to the flower market to browse. All in all, a nice unstructured day. 
 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by bubbulz

[sharkster77]

Great report!!  We did a rijstafel (rice table) in Amsterdam during our pre-cruise visit and it was excellent, and not super expensive at all (2019, we had ~14 options for about 22 euro pp, for around 32 euro pp the selection was around 30 items, including fish, we were very happy with chicken and beef options, w/o fish).

 

Oh, our restaurant was Desa, in the De Pijp neighborhood.

Edited April 10, 2023 by sharkster77

[bubbulz]

12 minutes ago, sharkster77 said:

 

Oh, our restaurant was Desa, in the De Pijp neighborhood.

We had enjoyed it at Tempo Doeloe the last time in Amsterdam but it looks like that restaurant may have closed. 

[Canal archive]

Loved the bike barge. Depending on the water flow a duck race is one of the staples of a canal narrowboat water festival - so exciting!