Land & Sea - LIVE (nearly) from Amsterdam and ms Rotterdam 15 day Atlantic Sojourn - October 7th, 2023

[Nickelpenny]

@kazu have a fantastic time Jacqui!!!!

[travelnap]

Glad to hear you made it there safely, Jacqui.  Enjoy your time there to relax before your cruise begins.

[BetsyS.]

Jacqui - I'm sorry you had such a long travel day. Glad your hotel had good snacks and wine and that your canal trip is not until the afternoon! 😊

[skypig]

Quite the long travel day you had! Glad to hear you arrived safe. I am sitting in Detroit waiting to board Delta flight. They just announced an oversell of 8 people looking for volunteers. Offering $1000 gift card & flight thru Paris. Very tempting. There was a stampede getting to the desk. Needless to say I think they had way more volunteers than needed! Lol

[bennybear]

Sorry I’m so late to the thread!  I’m glad you’re safely in Amsterdam!  The Banks hotel looks awesome and that lounge menu, I’d try the Rose Champagne on the way back if you can.  Yum! 
 

Is the signature lounge just for international?  We had a very nice one in Vancouver when we went to Japan, with a chef.    Loved your menu!   
 

wishing you a fabulous trip!  

[erewhon]

@kazu Sorry that you had such an exhausting journey to reach Amsterdam. 

Hope that you have now had a good sleep to recover.

Very best wishes to you for a wonderful safe healthy cruise. 

[kazu]

6 hours ago, bennybear said:

Sorry I’m so late to the thread!  I’m glad you’re safely in Amsterdam!  The Banks hotel looks awesome and that lounge menu, I’d try the Rose Champagne on the way back if you can.  Yum! 
 

Is the signature lounge just for international?  We had a very nice one in Vancouver when we went to Japan, with a chef.    Loved your menu!   
 

wishing you a fabulous trip!  

 

The Signature Lounge is for International - Europe and Asia.  I believe you had the same thing in Vancouver.  Those are the only 2 in Canada to my knowledge.   Ours had a chef, too.

 

Thanks everyone for the good wishes. I’m 

 

 

[kazu]

12 hours ago, oakridger said:

Good to see you have arrived!  Based on reviews on Cruise Critic I am staying at Banks Mansion next May.  I will love to hear more about your stay there and in Amsterdam!

 

Have fun!!

 

Thank you,

~Nancy

 

I will keep you posted, Nancy.

Jose and I stayed here last time and loved it.  So far, there are 3 of us here - HELNEPSL & myself and they are very happy with it too.

The breakfast was delish.  And the fresh squeezed oj was very good - so sweet and delish.

 

 

There is a nice array of European meats and cheeses and, of course smoked salmon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and eggs cooked any way you want them.

 

 

the coffee machine is quite decent.

 

 

 

Hotel is basically all inclusive - breakfast, mini bar, library drinks are all included.

 

hotel staff are nice as before and very helpful.  

[kazu]

13 hours ago, recruiter 28 said:

Getting closer...OHare United Club...we want to be just like Jacqui 😉

 

 

Nice!  Hope your travels are very smooth.  “Sea”  you soon 🙂 

[ski ww]

Glad you have finally arrived, getting to the port of departure can be an adventure in it self.

[cunnorl]

 Glad you arrived safely. Getting there is a chore in itself now a days. Rest and enjoy your latest adventure.

[0106]

Woke up this morning to a cancelled Delta/KLM flight which we had booked through Flightease.  Although we were on the phone for 2 hours, they were able to rebook us through Boston (instead of JFK).  I’m happy that we used Flightease because they did all the work for the rebooking.

 

The train was an efficient and inexpensive way to travel into Amsterdam.  It was an easy walk to the Movenpick Hotel.  
 

Although my DH was to tired, I went on

a fantastic canal cruise organized by Jacqui.  A wonderful way to get my first taste of Amsterdam.

There are a wide variety of houseboats in the canals.

 

 

These houses are leaning.

[kazu]

So, first of all, a bit more on Banks.  it is basically all included.

 

There are drinks available all day long from coffee to beer to coffee and coffee additives in the “library with comfy chairs.  You may take the stuff to your room.

 

This morning we had Dutch cookies and treats available.

 

 

 

The library’s bar.

 

 

 

 

 

there is NO bottled water though as they say they have the cleanest best water in the world.  LOL.  

 

 

and here is the weekly menu for our evening wine and cheese and charcuterie board.

 

 

[Bluenoser3]

Gracious sakes! A library bar and a cheese trolley. Sounds like my kind of place!

 

Glad that you have ended your long journey and are enjoying yourself now.

 

See you very soon!

[seaoma]

35 minutes ago, kazu said:

So, first of all, a bit more on Banks.  it is basically all included.

 

We ♥️ the Banks Mansion. Do they no longer have the bar in your room? I can understand why this could have been discontinued. Enjoy your stay!

[skypig]

@0106 I agree about the train. I took it today around 1300 from the airport. Piece of cake! My walk was a bit farther though to the Hotel Jakarta across the water from you! It wouldn’t have been half bad if it wasn’t for all of the brick walkway lol. 

[Bluenoser3]

So glad to hear this about the train. Thanks! We are back to giving it a go!

[kazu]

1 hour ago, seaoma said:

 

We ♥️ the Banks Mansion. Do they no longer have the bar in your room? I can understand why this could have been discontinued. Enjoy your stay!

 

yes, there are still items in your mini bar and on the table but the little carafes of port are gone.  I totally get that with a) covid concerns and b) waste, (not everyone drinks port).

 

I am more than content.  That’s the only key cutback I see other than the little appies they used to get at the market on certain nights.

 

I am more than content and still think it’s a great place.  the staff are superb

[kazu]

Have to say I love my new EU converter.  My other one burnt up in Barcelona - smoked and so did my  gadget attached.

 

Unplugged in time and the hotel lent me one.  

 

Last night I charged my Ipad, keyboard (I have a Bluetooth one) and IPhone all at the same time 👍 

 

 

Easy quick,, and very reasonable on where else?  Amazon.

[P&PNH]

Jacqui,

We are so glad to hear you made it to Amsterdam safely. Your hotel looks great!  We took the canal cruise the first night we were in Amsterdam after flying all night.  It included wine and cheese for everyone, needless to say none us had a problem getting to sleep that night.  Getting up the next morning was the problem.  Enjoy the city, we certainly did when we were there.  Especially the national museum. 

Peter & Paula

[kazu]

So today, after a delish breakfast, we headed out for a canal tour with Captain Dave’s boat.  5* on tripadvisor and it is indeed 5*.  

 

It’s a historic boat that has been preserved to protect it during history.

 

Very comfortable (seats 12 max - roof opens and closes depending on weather and very, very comfortable).  I think everyone in our group were happy.

 

Here’s a pic of it as we were getting ready to board.

 

 

 

 

Our lovely guide Anna.  She’s a chemistry student but is tempted to just become a captain with Dave 😂

 

 

A few of our roll call members on board.  I mucked up one pic 😔. Should have checked. GRR

 

 

 

 

I LOVEd that they had a little bit of history on the boat on board.  Here are a few highlights:

 

 

 

 

Guess I should have checked my pics - either something went wrong or I am doofus.  (Probably the latter)

 

This ship has been sailed on the QT on a “private tour” with the previous king and queen consort of Amsterdam.  A number of euros went into restoring and saving it by Captain Dave.  So glad he did.  it was lovely and different way to get a sense of Amsterdam than last time we were here.

 

 

 

[NextOne]

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure, @kazu Jacqui! The pictures are wonderful!

 

[kazu]

Have no idea what I did wrong but some of the pics I took weren’t there.  Must learn to double check.

 

Anna was a great guide - not overwhelming and informative.  Really liked her.  She was as good as she looked.  (I thought she was very pretty).

 

There are a TON of houseboats on the canal.  they are all owned (although the can be rented if the owners like). Some were truly amazing.  The spots they park at are paid for - they gave to leave the port every 10 - 15 years for underwater maintenance on the canal.  The maintenance on the homes are highly regulated but not the houseboats.  They all have electricity (mostly propane) and pay taxes.  It’s not a cheap enterprise having a houseboat.

 

 

 

 

the houses / apartments are tall and narrow as I am sure many of you know.  Nothing to do with taxes I had heard.  There were so many that wanted to live here long ago they made the lots narrow and built the housing tall and narrow.

 

 

 

Some of the houses are leaning.  Most of the canal is a UNESCO site so no major renovations are allowed.  So steel rods are put in to help keep them from leaking too far.  I guess if they lean too far and collapse it’s too bad so sad.  No other renovations are permitted.

Some of them are leaning so much they are called the “dancing houses”.

We noticed a number of windows without windows and thought they were empty.  Nope the restaurants, Air BNB’s etc have curtains.  Apparently a lot of the locals don’t and don’t care if you can look in and see.  Anna joked that some were exhibitionist.

 

 

The Opera and test his is a real pic.

 

The old Amsterdam when it was first formed.  The name comes from where the dam meets where our cruise

 

 

And the new Amsterdam:

 

 

It was wonderful way to see Amsterdam from a totally different view than walking and very relaxing for those of us who travelled far too long yesterday and more than planned and for those that arrived today.

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Sitting in the library at Banks enjoying a VERY nice glass of white wine (the Daily-ites that are reading will get that).  And I think, I’m mostly caught up?
 

I will take pics of my room tonight as I know at least one person is interested in Banks.

For the record, I have the cheapest room here.  It’s not cheap but all inclusive, it does not take long to add up.  Also love the gifted  tote bag.  It’s not orange of course, but it came in handy to carry my umbrella and sweater (i barely needed either.).

 

LOL - don’t judge what I wear by the weather.  It turned into a beautiful day despite the start but my Florida friends had Jackets on.  I”m from Canada and wearing my Birks. 😂. Very pleasant weather (for me) and it’s semi off season which is a huge plus.  I believe we are the only ship in port for most of our stops..

[seaoma]

My husband has family that lived in Amstelveen. The first time he visited them, during a walk around the neighborhood, my husband commented on all the windows without curtains. His uncle replied that the Dutch were too polite to look into the houses of other people.