New here..Century 9/3/2007

[dawna1212]

Hello everyone.. :)

I just booked our first cruise to Europe and we are so excited!

Ive cruised twice before (once with my husband) but this time Im taking my mom.

Shes never been anywhere,so Im really excited for her.

 

Were going to be going a few days early into Amsterdam so we can recover from any jetlag.

 

I have a couple of questions I hope someone can answer.

 

Is there any good hotels near the port?

 

How much would a taxi ride be from schiphol to the port?

 

Im sure Ill have a 1000 more questions later.

 

Thanks for any help!

Dawna

[Ine]

Hello everyone.. :)

I just booked our first cruise to Europe and we are so excited!

Ive cruised twice before (once with my husband) but this time Im taking my mom.

Shes never been anywhere,so Im really excited for her.

 

Were going to be going a few days early into Amsterdam so we can recover from any jetlag.

 

I have a couple of questions I hope someone can answer.

 

Is there any good hotels near the port?

 

How much would a taxi ride be from schiphol to the port?

 

Im sure Ill have a 1000 more questions later.

 

Thanks for any help!

Dawna

 

Taxi from the airport to city-center will be around Eur. 50.-. or higher depending on the traffic.

There also is a frequent shuttle-busservice to various hotels, check:

http://www.schipholhotelshuttle.nl/site/home.asp

The cruise-terminal is close to Central Station and city-centre and has a tramconnection(nr.25) in front of the cruise-terminal. Not very convenient with much luggage.

 

I have made a list of various hotels in Amsterdam, so look around.

On the Amsterdam-tourist office link at the bottom, you can also find more details about what to do/visit (Ann Frank house, Rijksmuseum, Van Goghmuseum, make a canalboattrip etc.)

 

Small selection of Amsterdam hotels:

Banks Mansion: http://banksmansion.carlton.nl/default.asp?tc=UK&action=page&paginaID=5401

Ambassade Hotel: http://www.hoteliers.nl/amsterdam/ambassade-hotel/

Movenpick Hotel at the cruise-terminal: http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/hotels/HKAMSHH/hotelWelcome.htm

Hotel Pulitzer: http://www.pulitzer.nl/templates/mercury.asp?page_id=4607

Radisson SAS Hotel: http://www.radissonsas.com/cs/Satellite?cid=1053502946171&pagename=RadissonSAS%2FPage%2FrsasHotelDescription&language=en&hotelCode=amszh

Victoria Hotel: http://www.parkplaza.com/webExtra.do?hotelCode=NETAMST

Crown Plaza: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/1/en/hotel/amsnl?_requestid=1189162

Hotel Estherea: http://www.estherea.nl/estherea_content.html

Hotel Brouwer: http://www.hotelbrouwer.nl/index.html

Hotel Le coin: http://www.lecoin.nl/indexEN.html

Hotel Aalders: http://www.amsterdam-info.com/Hotel_..._Amsterdam.htm

Hotel Piet Hein: http://www.hotelpiethein.nl/engels.html

Hotel Jan Luyken: http://www.janluyken.nl/janluyken/

NH hotels (a.o. Krasnapolsky, Barbizon Palace and other NH Hotels, http://www.nh-hotels.com/site/hol/hotels-amsterdam-3020.htm

Ramada Hotel:

http://www.westcordhotels.nl/hotel/hotelRes.php?lang=EN&hotelID=8&pageAccor Hotels also various hotels from luxury to budget: (The Grand, Sofitel, Mercure, Ibis a.o.

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/reservation/liste_hotels.shtml#top

B & B :http://www.flynt.nl/

Low Budget:Hotel Kap www.kaphotel.nl/

Hotel de Munck www.hoteldemunck.com/

Also check Tripadvisor for hotels and rates:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g188590-Amsterdam_Noord_Holland-Hotels.html

MORE HOTELS ON THE AMSTERDAM TOURIST OFFICE WEBSITE:

http://www.vvvamsterdam.nl/

[Globaliser]

Hi, dawna1212, and welcome to CC!

 

I hope you're finding your way around the boards already, but in case you haven't yet seen the roll call forums, it looks like there's already a roll call thread for your cruise here - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=357420, so you might want to have a look at that thread.

[dawna1212]

Thank you both for the info!

I really appreciate it. :)

[sealover155]

I hope you have a fabulous time with your Mother. My husband, his Father and I were on Century from Amsterdam to Barcelona last September. You can read our review on the ship review, Century 09/06. In my review, I give a few hints for traveling with an older parent. We went to Amsterdam a few days early also, staying at the Hotel Pulitzer which we adored. It is so very close to the Anne Frank House which was interesting to all but especially to my father-in-law who was born in Europe. Everything is close to the port, and we found taxi fares to be easy and reasonable. Biggest mistake we made was to bypass the flower market! Next time, next cruise.

 

Hi Ine - we loved our cocktail get-together with you at the Red Lion.

 

Mary Anne

[Ine]

I hope you have a fabulous time with your Mother. My husband, his Father and I were on Century from Amsterdam to Barcelona last September. You can read our review on the ship review, Century 09/06. In my review, I give a few hints for traveling with an older parent. We went to Amsterdam a few days early also, staying at the Hotel Pulitzer which we adored. It is so very close to the Anne Frank House which was interesting to all but especially to my father-in-law who was born in Europe. Everything is close to the port, and we found taxi fares to be easy and reasonable. Biggest mistake we made was to bypass the flower market! Next time, next cruise.

 

Hi Ine - we loved our cocktail get-together with you at the Red Lion.

 

Mary Anne

 

Hi Mary Anne.

It is always very nice to meet people who I "talked to" on the board.

I loved it too to see you there.

Hope you and your family are doing o.k.

[dawna1212]

Hi Sealover,

Thanks for the tips!

I plan to take it slow and easy with my mother.

Did you have a private tour or did you take all the cruises excursions?

 

Im thinking I should plan some private tours so we can take our time and go at my moms pace. I dont want her to feel rushed.

 

Thanks again!

Donna

[sealover155]

Hi Dawna, hi Ine,

 

Regarding shore excursions, we did some of both. We took Celebrity's walking tour of Bruges because we didn't want to subject Dad to possible lines to get on the canal boat tour. He had no trouble keeping up with the pace but was happy when we had some time on our own to relax in a restaurant. We also took X tour of the Normandy Beaches as we wanted to eliminate the possibility of missing the ship ( his great fear). Lisbon we also took the X tour to Sintra and Cascais. Gibraltar and Malaga, we were on our own. Since we'd all been to Rome the year before, we just took the X bus to the city and then went at our own pace. Took 1/2 day tour to Monaco/Monte Carlo with X. Lots of people trade flexibilty for an organized tour, but you should remember that on the buses, they give you so much information about what you're passing through and about to see. Some guides are obviously better that others, but there is some value to that. I wouldn't have changed anything. For Dad, it was perfect.

 

We are all fine, Ine, but this was definitely Dad's last big trip. We're all so grateful that we did this when we could. Dad will be 88 on Wednesday!

 

Mary Anne