Live from Rotterdam to Norway, Sept. 6-13, 2014 (plus a few days in Netherlands)

You might remember me from September 2012's live thread to Canada/NE, our pretty terrible August 2012 Veendam adventure to Bermuda or probably more importantly HALfacts.com.

This year we are fortunate to go on a 13 day adventure that includes a land trip around the Netherlands followed by sailing Rotterdam to the majestic fjords of Norway. We fly out this evening, volcano-willing, and hope our pilot doesn't make a wrong turn so we successfully make the IAD-AMS trip without issues.

We'll be hopping around The Netherlands a few days, staying with friends we first met on last September's Eurodam cruise. They own a bakery. I'd be lying if I said I'm pretty much just as excited for their baked goods as anything else on this adventure.

Saturday we embark in Rotterdam and head for the trolls. Our cruise itinerary:

I'll do my best to post daily reports, but they're dependent on wifi access. If I can't post one day, I'll still do a write up and post ASAP. If all else fails I'll post the daily reports when we get back to civilization, ie Amsterdam. As always, this report won't be the caliber of others, I intend to capture the mood and not focus on specific details. Ignore all typos, too, as I'll be posting from my phone most often. I'll post photos when the connection allows.

If anyone has any specific questions about ms Rotterdam, Norway, advice on how to win the lottery, how best to avoid the bathrobe-wearing backward-baseball-hat-wearing smokers who don't tip but hog the MDR, or anything else ... I'll do my best to get the answer.

Gotta go pack now; I work best on tight deadlines.

More later.

Enjoy your cruise. We are just back from 2 weeks ms. Rotterdam, Ireland, Scotland and Norway.

Alesund is very interesting, Bergen is easy to do youself.

Hopefulkly you will have the same fine weather as we did.

Have a great trip!

Have a great cruise.

Looking forward to reading all about it.

Thank you for taking us along on your journey - looking forward to reading about your adventures.

I'm so jealous that you will be aboard my new favorite ship. I can only wish for you that your cruise is as wonderful as mine was. I'll be following along to relive the fun.

See you on board ...we've finally got a cabin number so I'll email it to you later and we can arrange that drink.

We arrive in Amsterdam ridiculously early on Saturday so looking for a way to pass the time in Rotterdam now.

Enjoy your baked goods :D

have a safe flight x

Wow, great itinerary! Get up early for the sail up Geirangerfjord. It's spectacular. Have a wonderful cruise!

Have a great trip.

Looking forward to your "Live" posts.

Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Anxious to hear all about it.

Here we sit staring at the 767-300 at Dulles International Airport. Did you know the distance between Parking Garage 1 and our gate at Dulles is exactly 693.6 miles? I always forget the walking this place requires.

I also am reminded of the greatness of Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. God bless traveling like its 2000.

Our flight leaves in about 2 hours, then another 7 or so and we'll be in Amsterdam. So assuming all goes well I'll see you on the other side (of the pond). We have no plans in Amsterdam except to wander. And see the Anne Frank House. And drink beer. And explore. It'll be greatness.

More then.

Here we sit staring at the 767-300 at Dulles International Airport. Did you know the distance between Parking Garage 1 and our gate at Dulles is exactly 693.6 miles? I always forget the walking this place requires.

 

I also am reminded of the greatness of Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. God bless traveling like its 2000.

 

Our flight leaves in about 2 hours, then another 7 or so and we'll be in Amsterdam. So assuming all goes well I'll see you on the other side (of the pond). We have no plans in Amsterdam except to wander. And see the Anne Frank House. And drink beer. And explore. It'll be greatness.

 

More then.

If you need a lift after the Anne Frank House, the Tulip Museum isn't far away.

Here we sit staring at the 767-300 at Dulles International Airport. Did you know the distance between Parking Garage 1 and our gate at Dulles is exactly 693.6 miles? I always forget the walking this place requires.

 

I also am reminded of the greatness of Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. God bless traveling like its 2000.

 

Our flight leaves in about 2 hours, then another 7 or so and we'll be in Amsterdam. So assuming all goes well I'll see you on the other side (of the pond). We have no plans in Amsterdam except to wander. And see the Anne Frank House. And drink beer. And explore. It'll be greatness.

 

More then.

We are going to follow in your footsteps one of these days (except for the 693.6 miles part!). Can't wait for your daily postings---which will surely include renamed ships and the famous "overheard comments". :)

So much fun to look forward to as we follow your travels. Have a great trip!!

Greetings from Amsterdam!

After an hour and a half ground stop at Dulles we were able to depart and had an unevenly 7 hr 30 min flight. Even better, our luggage decided to make the trip as well!

We are now settling in at our hotel, Estherea, alongside the Singel canal. What's that, you ask? This is the view from our open hotel room window:

Picture perfect. #nofilter

It's a gorgeous sunny day, highs in the lower 70s. A perfect day for walking. And that's what we are about to do.

More later from canal country.

Glad you had a good flight!

Glad you had a safe flight.

Wonderful view from your hotel.

Pleased that you have safely arrived in Amsterdam.

Lovely view from your hotel room.

Wishing you a wonderful cruise.

glad you are there safely. Love your pic:D

Looking forward to your reports.

I hope you don't forget to get some pics and send them to halfacts:p:D

We stayed in the same area a few years ago. I would suggest the Van Speyk restaurant a few blocks away, fantastic food :D.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Roy

Enjoy your cruise & my beautiful country.

We did this exact trip in July and it was lovely!

I'm gearing up for our next trip, on the same day you disembark... can't wait for it to be the 13th!

cruise_bunnies

Just a little word of warning, coming weekend, in Rotterdam it is time again for the “World Port Event”, a yearly returning event in and around the port of Rotterdam, with lots of visiting ship, navy and all and demonstrations in and around the harbor. The Ms Rotterdam will be right in the middle of it and it will attract quite a crowd, especially because the weather outlook for this weekend is not all that bad. It will start on Friday and last until Sunday.

Make sure you plan some extra time for travelling to the cruise terminal.

If you want some information regarding the event; http://wereldhavendagen.nl/world-port-days/

Looks like a great start to what is sure to be a fun trip! Looking forward to reading more.

Did you know Amsterdam was built on the back of beer? Neither did I but it makes me love it even more. Back in the 1600s "they" establish a beer tax and it had to be paid at a sea lock station. I told our tour dude I would've started the Amsterdam Beer Party had I been around. I don't think he got it. My better half rolled her eyes at me.

I also saw something I never knew existed: parking garages for bicycles. Makes since of course but cool to see nonetheless. However I have enough time find my car in a parking garage, can you imagine trying to find your bicycle amongst the thousands of identically-looking ones?

Tomorrow we head to the Anne Frank House, another museum (not decided yet) and a little more exploring before our friends pick us up in the afternoon. It promises to be another banner day.

After extremely little sleep on the plane and a day of walking around 10 miles we are about to hit the hay. Who cares if it's 8 p.m. here and 2 p.m. at home.

I'll leave one image for you as a recap of our day. I hope you enjoy it.

More later from Beerdam.

Overheard comment of the day: "These canals sure look old."

Thanks for taking us along. I'm subscribing.

Somehow I think this will end up costing me a cruise.

(I'd better start budgeting).