Bimmer 09 sails APEX to Iceland June 2023

[Bimmer09]

Where's the blooming' APEX guv'nor? I can hear some of you thinking. "I'll strangle me bloody wallaby if you don't show the ship soon, cobber" wrote one Australian reader -which is a bit extreme if you ask me.
I write things in chronological order so we we get to Rotterdam in a couple of days you'll get 12 days of her. Even though I am not  a "give me X or give me death" kinda guy at this time I do like the brand (with some peeves you'll hear about in time) and until the Apex the Silhouette was my favorite ship design of all the ships at sea. You'll hear plenty of good about the Apex from me. The bad and the ugly won't be far behind of course.

Meantime we have been In Europe for just 3 hours...

 

Tonight we dine in a 400 year old restaurant...

Norris

[Bimmer09]

With some time still to kill before our 2.30 hotel return we strolled the few hundred yards to the Netherlands Opera and Ballet where we had primo tickets for tomorrow night's Opera Rusalka by Anton Dvorak with some good singers that we know from German opera houses.

 

 

I loved the houseboat moored in front of it

 

 

 

 

A nice building by the bridge on the way to the hotel

[CruzinNoony]

Here it is!  A special day- June 21!!   My calendar has been marked for the start of your review today!!  I can already tell this will be a fun read!  Meredith

[Ciaranaman]

First-timer, here (for your review, that is!).   Love love love it!  Can't wait to read more 😊

Bernadette

 

[TeaBag]

Love hearing from you again, Norris, and enjoying your Irish sense of humour.  I was raised in Enniskillen.  We haven't sailed any of the Edge class ships yet but have the Edge booked from Honolulu to Vancouver next year.  I will enjoy your account of Apex.

[Bimmer09]

Back to the hotel . We have been in the city for 4 hours now and are yet to be run over by a bicycle. They help make the back streets and canals so quiet. So pleasant to walk through on a warm summer's day with a gentle breeze and the birdsong.

 

We ask B. Spice if the room is ready...

"Not yet- my supervisor is checking it out right now to make sure it is perfect. You can sit on the sofa in the lobby and I'll come let you know when he's done"

We sat until 3. Meantime not a word from her and she'd left for the day.

 

I went to the nice young man who took her place and as he booked us in I vented on the poor fellow like he had poked a wasp's nest. I let him know it wasn't him I was angry with and gave him a nice tip when he brought our bag up to our room a few minutes later.There was of course no supervisor checking our room.

 

We took the carpeted tunnel, where by the way Viking cruises greet passengers just arrived for one of their cruises from Amsterdam. There's an elevator at each end.

 

Our room. There was a 46 inch TV at the foot of the bed, not in shot

 

 

A work desk

 

 

There was a built-in wardrobe with good quality hangers (out of shot) on the way to the bathroom. Fluffy robes and slippers awaiting.

The bathroom had a heated floor and a large shower enclosure with good pressure and heat control. Nice.

 

 

Now that we have a room at 3 pm and a dinner booked at 8 we can safely allow ourselves a two hour nap, a shower and freshen up to reduce the jet-lag somewhat. We are walking to dinner using google maps. 

Norris

[Barwick Cruiser]

Also following along…love your writing style and enjoy the accompanying pics! Looks like a great itinerary and I’m curious to see what you do in each port. 

[clanger]

4 hours ago, silkismom said:

Had to jump in "Times they are a changing" PP&M.

We are so upset  😂 you beat us to it! So looking forward to reading another great Norris review 😊 

[Octavias]

Lovely review!  Another newcomer to cruising happily following along to live vicariously. 

[CruzeQueen2]

Count me in! Thanks for taking us along - ALL the way and AWA-AY WE GO!  I've read other reports written by you, Norris and I also appreciate your style.

Looking forward to all of it!

 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by CruzeQueen2
adding info

[mchell810]

So excited to see another GSJ had begun!  It was on my calendar and I’ve been checking for days — and I wasn’t the only one 😀.  

[Kauai Kid]

8 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

How this thing works...

 

It's not a live review. It's over and done and we're home. 

I write everyday until the end.

I welcome comments and questions. They help keep the thing on Page 1 where it's easier to find.

Feel free to follow to get updated.

If you like a photo right click on it and you see the Flickr original. Another right click can magnify it so you can see the detail.

I write in blue so it's easier to find my place when scrolling. This has caused at least one host to fall upon the fainting couch with an attack of "the vapors". I yield no quarter.

I look forward to friends old and new saying "hi." If it's followed by "can I get you a Guinness?" then we are friends for life.

Welcome all!

Norris

Glad you’re back. I’m following along.

Thanks, Norris

[theopup]

Following along too

[Lastdance]

Now I understand; you enjoy the trip, but wait until you arrive home to add in all the humor, making sure you have plenty of “think time!”  All of your photos help to put everything in order, so the great stories frame them.  Excellent!  Vacations seem to go by way to fast, except for our last one that was over 30 days.

 

Thanks for the humor!

Edited June 21, 2023 by Lastdance

[PrincessDano]

Following along, nice to see another GSJ to read!  By the way, can I get you a Guinness 🍺

 

Diane

[wendyam76]

Norris and Carol; thank you so much for this! I always love reading your reports. We are on a Baltics sailing on Apex soon - we were lucky enough to be one of the first to sail on her in July 2021 so very excited to be back unmasked this time! 
Wendy 

[Mark_T]

Happy to be along for the ride...

 

Did some injudicious scrolling and mistook the hotel photos for cabin photos and was very impressed, for a few minutes at least 🙂

[bunnyette]

A Norris review!  Hooray

[pretty princess]

Welcome Back Norris and Carol.  Looking forward to reading along. Thankyou for all your time put into this review. Looking forward to your wonderful photos!

[perfect match]

I’m here, Norris! With Guinness ready and waiting for you! 🍺🍺🍺

I’m excited to be following along with you and Carol on your latest adventure! Yes, I have been stalking the Celebrity board waiting for you to get back and start writing. 😎

 

 

[LC1950]

G'day Norris.

 

Earlier today I heard a call from that tiny voice in my intestines urging me to get myself over to the Celebrity board today because it might be possible that a new chapter in the Gentlemen's Seafaring Journal just might be available.  And yep, it was!  Never ignore your intestinal little voice cruisers!

 

Thank you Norris mate.  Enjoying it so far and I look forward to the continuing saga. 

[Bimmer09]

5 hours ago, perfect match said:

I’m here, Norris! With Guinness ready and waiting for you! 🍺🍺🍺

I’m excited to be following along with you and Carol on your latest adventure! Yes, I have been stalking the Celebrity board waiting for you to get back and start writing. 😎

 

 

Nancy, welcome! You have known the cyber me for all of my reviews so I feel that I can trust you with a little secret ("loose lips sink ships")- I took a nap after yesterday's lunch...and slept for 14 hours! Girl.....don't breathe a word!

Anonymous

[bobmacliberty]

We've been loyal to Royal but are ready to "upgrade" to Celebrity.  You, good sir, will be my first X review!  You are setting the bar high.  To ease our transition, we're looking at Edge class, so this review is perfect timing.

[Bimmer09]

                                         The Five Flies 

I know from experience that some restaurants can guarantee (at least) 5 flies hovering over your plate as you eat but this isn't one of them.It was Rick Steves recommendation and Carol has a Master's Degree in Rick Steves Studies which has served her well in the modern world-a lot more than my Degree in Mesopotamian sheep grazing. That hasn't opened many doors for me, just like the algebra, trigonometry and Latin I took in high school.

Before we left Chicago we had our hotel, museum entrances, tram transport including a free canal cruise, opera tickets and a reservation in the 5 Flies for our first dinner of the vacation.

We used Google maps on my iPhone (Carol can tell you which model as I apparently got it wrong-but it's one that fits on my belt and not so large it sticks up out of my back pocket)

We arrived 5 minutes late after trying to figure out why location services had us walking up the middle of the Singel canal, on the water!

The exterior

 

It's 5, 400 year old houses linked together in a warren of rooms. I asked for a particular room. A sign on the black door asks you to enter through the alley...

 

We stepped back in time. Just ahead of us were 5 gentlemen, one of whom  had eaten here before and wanted to share the experience. Alas, the waiter couldn't seat them as a group as they didn't have a reservation. They left and four of the friends put that black trashcan in the photo above over their friend's head like a dunce's cap. All good fun. We did have our reservation and the pics online did it justice...

We had a table for two by a window onto the street

 

I love movies set in Medieval times-all that M'lady, Sir Knight, serving wenches, toothless hags and Kings eating whole chickens before a roaring fire. No I wouldn't want o have been born back then- the bathrooms were a joke compared to today and the hairdressers had no finesse- just stick a bowl on the customer's head and hack it with a knife. No fades, no layering, buzz-cuts out of the question. Strewth! and Gadzooks!

Before the food I'll show you some of the other parts of the  restaurant

 

 

 

 

The waiter's station

 

 

Here's some food

My Dutch shrimp cocktail. The shrimp were tiny and not the giants I am used to-even smaller than cruise ship prawn cocktails. Tasted a bit of the "bottom of the harbor" which oysters remind me of. It had orange segments which helped with my vitamin C intake.

 

Carol's Herring tartare was brought to the table by Rafael our waiter. Raised eyebrows from me.

Carol gave me a forkful and it was pretty edible. She loved it and kudos to her for bravely ordering it. 

 

The salt and pepper and the table candle

 

My beef tenderloin with roast potato and kohlrabi

 

Carol's fish of the day- pan-seared North Sea perch of the gods, with white asparagus, a bed of mashed potato, fennel and fresh garden peas. A superb dish!

 

OMG! My dessert. Arretjes cake with orange ganache and caramel icing 

 

and Carol's pretty plate with Advocaat panna cotta (the clog), ice cream, stroopwaffle and a chocolate fly.

 

Yowsa! In celebratory vacation mood I enjoyed a glass of whiskey from my homeland- Jameson's. In Northern Ireland I've heard that parents have to assign their male children by age 3 to a particular brand. My parents chose wisely. My eternal thanks.

 

A splendid dinner !

https://www.vijffvlieghen.nl/en/

 

Norris

Edited June 22, 2023 by Bimmer09
spelling

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

We've been loyal to Royal but are ready to "upgrade" to Celebrity.  You, good sir, will be my first X review!  You are setting the bar high.  To ease our transition, we're looking at Edge class, so this review is perfect timing.

Bob your timing is perfect as I have plenty of Edge Class ship to show in the days and weeks ahead. I can't wait to show you the Apex-but of course I will as I am a slave to chronology...

Norris