21 June
Reaching the MS Emerald Sky
The coach from Paris took us directly to our river cruise ship the Emerald Sky in Amsterdam. The ship was built by Shipyard De Hoop. We were greeted by the Captain at a cocktail reception, which was followed by a buffet dinner.
22 June
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Another sunny day. In the morning, we left in four buses, got on a glass-top canal boat cruise, and explored Amsterdam’s maze of canals. We cruised past 16th-century merchant houses and charming churches dating back to Holland’s Golden Age, but there was no free time in the city centre. We did not enter any venue but saw them all while driving or sailing past.
Europe River Cruise Begins
We returned to the ship for lunch and then departed Amsterdam at 12:30, sailing through the Dutch countryside, seeing canals, locks and windmills.
A practice evacuation drill on the sun deck followed a mandatory safety briefing.
There is very little clearance above the ship, and there will be six days later when the sun deck will not be accessible by passengers.
The cruise director hosted a slide show of the stops we will make during the cruise.
We attended a cocktail reception at 18:45, where the captain introduced the senior crew members, mostly Hungarian and Romanian. The restaurant staff is primarily Indonesian. Later, we entered Germany while we finished a formal, a-la-carte dinner. Few men wore a jacket or a tie – most came dressed casually. The next stop will be Cologne around 1 p.m. tomorrow.
Most dinners will be a-la-carte affairs until the last night in Budapest, which will again be a buffet.
Day by day
- Days -11 to -15 – Singapore
- Days -4 to -10 – UK
- Days -1 to -3 – Paris Extension
- Day 1 & 2 – Amsterdam
- Day 3 – Cologne
- Day 4 – Rhine Gorge – Rudesheim
- Day 5 – Miltenberg – Wertheim
- Day 6 – Wurzburg – Rothenburg
- Day 7 – Bamberg
- Day 8 – Nuremberg
- Day 9 – Kelheim – Regensburg
- Day 10 – Passau – Salzburg – Linz
- Day 11 – Melk – Durnstein
- Day 12 – Vienna
- Day 13 – Bratislava
- Day 14 – Budapest
- Day 15 – Homeward Bound