Celebrating Retirement with a Grand European River Cruise - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Celebrating Retirement with a Grand European River Cruise
Well, here we go!! Just as a reminder, the cast members of this Grand Adventure are:
Me, Pris, 66 and retired for 2 days when this trip begins!
DH, Wade, not retired but ready to go anyway
The trip is a 14 day tour on Viking River Cruises. We sail from Amsterdam on the Rhine, Main and Dunube, ending up in Budapest. We arrived a few days early for a short stay in Amsterdam.
So, let's begin!!
Thursday, May 29- Friday, May 30
We had a lazy start to the day with a 4 pm flight. Of course, I had to make a last minute run to Target to get a new battery for the luggage scale, but we came in around 40 pounds for each bag so all was good. We did discover that our scale was about 3 pounds under the scales at the airport. Our dear neighbor picked us up promptly at 1:30 and we had a fairly uneventful drive to the airport. Checkin and security were totally fast. We were waved through the pre check line with no hassle. Wade is battling a major crick in his neck taking muscle relaxants and pain meds, but it is getting much better.
Our flight left Memphis on time and made an uneventful flight to Detroit. Once there we determined where our connecting gate was, then grabbed Taco Bell for dinner. We settled in at the gate expecting to wait another hour or so for our flight. The plane was already there. Promptly at 8:45, they started boarding, then less than 5 minutes later a we were informed that boarding throughout the airport was suspended! It ended up being a two hour delay! We were all searching it out on line and found out that there was an airport lockdown due to a security breach. Someone apparently went through security inappropriately, whatever that means. He had to be apprehended and decisions made... We were certainly glad we weren't already on the plane! One lady who was on had to have medical attention. She was ok, and did reboard and fly out I believe.
Finally we boarded and settled into our seats. We had 2 seats alone on the side thank heavens. There was a pillow, blanket and night mask waiting for us in our seat. It was almost midnight when we took off. I hooked up a movie right away. There was an excellent selection and I decided to watch Despicable Me 2. I was so tired that I'm sure I missed a lot of it. They served us dinner. We got meals, but they weren't very good at all. When the movie ended I tried to sleep. It was not very productive. The blanket was very slippery and did very little good. I was chilly all night, despite having my jacket on and having turned off my air vent. I must have slept some though because somewhere along the way Wade shook me to hand me a warm cloth. When I lifted my eye mask (which we had brought from home) I discovered bright lights. We only had 1.5 hours left and they were serving a light breakfast. I quickly scanned the movies to see what I could watch in the time left and picked Little Mermaid. I actually missed the last 10 minutes or so due to landing in Amsterdam
We found bathrooms and went through customs, then on to baggage claim. My goodness, we had to walk a mile to find our carousel! Upon moving out to the arrival hall, we quickly found the Viking man waiting for us and one other couple. We loaded up and headed for the hotel, The Radisson Blu. It's a lovely place right by a canal in the old part of Amsterdam. We checked in and met with the Viking representative who gave us a city map and instructions for when we were to meet. One plus to being two hours late, was that our room was ready. We headed up to rest a little.
Wheee! I was trying to be patient but am very glad you've started this. Flight delays are so horrible when you've got a long flight ahead of you. You're right, though, much better to spend the delay in the airport than on the plane! It makes travel so nice and easy to have someone meet you at the airport to facilitate your getting to the hotel. It's not easy to think straight when you're jet-lagged. The room looks very nice and comfortable. A new hotel in the old section of town sounds just perfect to me.
Ugh - how awful about the flight delays, but what a relief you weren't on board when that happened! It sounds like it wasn't the greatest flight over, but at least you're there and the hotel looks nice.
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Wheee! I was trying to be patient but am very glad you've started this. Flight delays are so horrible when you've got a long flight ahead of you. You're right, though, much better to spend the delay in the airport than on the plane! It makes travel so nice and easy to have someone meet you at the airport to facilitate your getting to the hotel. It's not easy to think straight when you're jet-lagged. The room looks very nice and comfortable. A new hotel in the old section of town sounds just perfect to me.
Laurie, that was exactly why I chose to do our extension through Viking rather than on my own. I was totally out of my element in Europe and didn't want the stress of trying to plan things with so little knowledge to build on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Ugh - how awful about the flight delays, but what a relief you weren't on board when that happened! It sounds like it wasn't the greatest flight over, but at least you're there and the hotel looks nice.
The hotel was quite nice and right in the heart of things.
Here are a couple of more pictures from the hotel, showing the lobby from our floor. We did get turned around the first time we were looking for our room as it is quite large with more across the street. You can tell that they have encompassed a number of old buildings and enclosed an area of a street. There was a small model of the hotel that was really interesting to view to see what they had done.
Nice start to the TR! Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.
That's too bad with the long flight delay! At least everything went well with the flights and made it over to Amsterdam. Looks like a nice hotel! Is the hotel near the train station (Centraal Station) and Damm Square? If so, that's the area where I stayed when I was in Amsterdam back around 1996-7.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Nice start to the TR! Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.
That's too bad with the long flight delay! At least everything went well with the flights and made it over to Amsterdam. Looks like a nice hotel! Is the hotel near the train station (Centraal Station) and Damm Square? If so, that's the area where I stayed when I was in Amsterdam back around 1996-7.
It was a nice hotel and not too far from Centraal Station and Dam Square either. I was able to walk to both of those locations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I'm not of fan of flight delays, but so true that it's better to wait in the airport than on the plane. Your hotel looks very nice!
After an hour or so, we set out down to Nieuwmarkt Square to find a place to eat. We ended up in a nice little pizzeria. It seemed nicer than that on the inside. I thought the pizza was quite good. At Nieumarkt, there is one of the Old City Gates, which is now a restaurant. An open air market had been set up, but was now closing down for the day. People were out enjoying their evening. at the many tables set up in the area.
After that we walked a bit and found the recommended canal tour not too far from the hotel. We enjoyed taking the tour, but by the time we were pulling into the dock, my head was nodding.
I was fascinated by all the hooks on the buildings to haul things up because of the narrow stairways.
Replica of The Amsterdam in front of The National Maritime Museum
The different styles of rooflines was neat to see
Munttoren Bell Tower rebuilt around 1620 with 38 bells in the tower
A short walk took us past the University of Amsterdam,
then brought us back to the hotel and bed followed quite quickly. The weather today was mostly sunny in the mid 60's.
What a lovely blue sky you had on your arrival in Europe! I took one of those canal cruises with the covered boat as well and enjoyed it so much! Can't believe it's been about 17-18 years now, since I was in Amsterdam on my 2nd trip to Europe! How time does fly. The first being in 1995.
The canal cruise was quite interesting as it began at dusk and when it began to get a bit dark, we could see all the red windows lit up with the ladies there in them, just waiting to be called upon, in this part of the city! I don't think, I need to elaborate more on this!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
The canal cruise was a good choice for that first evening. Even though you had a hard time staying awake it kept you up long enough to sort of get you onto the correct time zone for bedtime! I love the houses along the canal, but those steps are narrow and steep!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Beautiful photos from around Amsterdam. With weather like that greeting you, no wonder the weather later in your trip was a bit of a shock to the system!
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Our dear neighbor picked us up promptly at 1:30 and we had a fairly uneventful drive to the airport. Checkin and security were totally fast. We were waved through the pre check line with no hassle. Wade is battling a major crick in his neck taking muscle relaxants and pain meds, but it is getting much better. 
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It sounds like it wasn't the greatest flight over, but at least you're there and the hotel looks nice. 
Looking forward to hearing about your adventures.
If so, that's the area where I stayed when I was in Amsterdam back around 1996-7.
I took one of those canal cruises with the covered boat as well and enjoyed it so much! 
How time does fly. The first being in 1995. 
Beautiful pictures of the city and the hotel! 
Parlor Panther in 'stalking mode'
Linear Mode
