A Rhine Repast
September 13, 2016
This marked the final day in Germany before a full 24-hours sailing to the port of Hoorn in the Netherlands. Today, we took a tour of Cologne including the magnificent gothic cathedral that dominates the city skyline. Cologne is beautiful and is somewhere I'd like to go back to, as a few hours isn't enough to see all the highlights. The evening also marked the Captain's Farewell Gala Dinner, which was a six-course meal including a musical parading of the baked Alaska, complete with sparklers. Everyone on board was dressed up and, like every other evening, got full involved in that night's entertainment.
A full night and morning sailing brought us into the small town of Hoorn in Holland at around 1:00pm. As always, I was very impressed at how quiet and still the vessel was as it sailed along, with the nights passing completely undisturbed. From Hoorn, we were taken with our tour guides to the port town of Volendam for a charming (and unfortunately very wet) tour. We also visited the “Alida Hoeve” cheese farm for a demonstration and tasting.
From Volendam, we travelled via coach to arguably the most well-known city in Holland, Amsterdam, for a canal trip. The day's excursions and beautiful city tours were only outdone by that evening's dinner and entertainment. Once again the four-course meal was exquisite and accompanied by complimentary, free-flowing drinks throughout. The Panorama Bar had meanwhile, been set up to accommodate the “Shanty Choir”, a band of ten Dutch singers who would perform a variety of national sailing songs. The atmosphere was amazing and the whole crew got involved in making the entire experience very immersive and memorable.
The final day on board marked the end of my river cruising experience, as we enjoyed our last breakfast in the restaurant, not leaving any of the many buffet options untouched. Thanks to the previous night's disembarkation talk, the departure seemed to go very smoothly, with crew organising all the luggage into the correct transfers and grouping passengers off the ship according to schedule. Our own transfer took us from the comfort and luxury of the Amadeus Silver III back to reality and the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
The experience really only touched the surface of this wonderful vessel, sights and destinations that are all part of an Amadeus river cruise.
With all excursions and destinations planned to perfection, matched with enough time to experience everything that you wish to see, the Silver III really is designed for the guests. The tour guides throughout the trip were fantastic, full of interesting facts, passionate about their home towns and spoke excellent English. The crew were friendly, helpful and available 24 hours a day to help make your journey as easy and comfortable as possible. All excursions, entertainments and afternoon socials are completely optional, with plenty of alternatives and onboard activities to choose from, everything is designed for you to enjoy your holiday as you see fit.
If you would like to enjoy a trip like the one Charli went on, contact us today and we will find your ideal itinerary.
