Day 28 - Wednesday May 17, 2017 - Amsterdam

Time to pack up today as we’re on this evening’s ferry to Newcastle. As we’re not in any rush, it’s a slow start to the day and after we’ve had breakfast and cleaned up and packed the bags, we go out for a walk. We head south, past the Heineken Experience. We had the ‘Carlsberg Experience’ in Copenhagen so opt to give Heineken a miss.

South is an area known as De Pijp; we walk a few blocks to reach the Albert Cuyp market,  to be found (where else) but Albert Cuypstraat. It’s open every day – several blocks of stalls selling fish, vegetables, fruit, cheese, etc. – and the usual selection of t-shirts, clothes, bric-a-brac and other stuff you don’t need. We wander for a while, eventually stopping at ‘da koffie salon’ for coffee. We meander our way back to the apartment, finish packing the bags and sit for a while before leaving.

We walk over to Leidseplein and catch the tram up to Centraal Station. After a bit of searching – and a certain amount of kerfuffle – we find the left luggage lockers and put the bags in a locker. The lockers only take cards, no cash, and only cards with a pin. It takes us several goes to get it right but we get there eventually.

The old first class waiting room at Amsterdam Centraal, upstairs on platform 2, is now (and probably has been for a long time) a ‘grand cafe’ so we head up there for lunch. A gracious old railway space, we sit and have lunch and a beer, while the resident cockatoo squawks every now and again, though he is eventually overcome with lethargy and sits there quietly. We finish lunch but it’s still too early for the bus to the ferry so we find a spot in the station lobby to sit and while away the time. It’s fairly hot outside today so not a day for wandering around too energetically. Eventually, we go and collect the bags and wander off across the street in search of the ferry company provided bus to the ferry terminal.

The bus pick up is supposed to be outside the Victoria Hotel so we head in that direction. There’s a group of ‘lads’ standing there, as well as an older couple, all of whom look like ferry candidates. Eventually the bus arrives but stops somewhat short of where we’re standing, at which point a bunch more passengers appear. Many of the passengers have no luggage but those of us who do have to stow it in the hold on our own; as usual, there’s a scrum of people, some going one direction to stow their luggage and others going the other direction to get on the bus, all clutching and/or waving their confirmations. The bus driver is pretty useless at imposing any organisation on this chaos so, having stowed our bags, we get back in the get-on-board scrum. At this point, we’re behind the chap who has the confirmation for the nine ‘lads’ so when the driver asks if we’re part of the nine, we just say no and get on board anyway. Eventually, everyone’s on … so we sit there a while until the driver closes the door … and then we sit a bit longer until he finally decides to leave. It takes a while to get out of Amsterdam because of the traffic and the seemingly endless procession of stop lights. Eventually we’re in the suburbs and on our way to IJmuiden. I’ve no idea what the speed limit is but the driver takes absolutely no chances that he might possibly exceed it. At one point, an elderly couple on their bikes holds up the traffic as no one can get past them on the one-lane-in-each-direction road until the oncoming traffic clears. Even then, the driver very cautiously and slowly pulls round them. After what seems like an eternity, we finally make it to the ferry port.

We check in then have fun with immigration, who want to know where we (or more particularly Anne-Margaret with the Australian passport) came from and how. Where did we come from? We finally remember it was Copenhagen, by train. Hmm, where did you enter Schengen? Helsinki. When? Did they stamp your passport? All this time he’s been rifling through the pages of the passport. Finally, he finds a Helsinki stamp from May 4, so we’re good to go.

Boarding is on level 7 and our cabin is on level 11. An elevator finally arrives and we cram in with three ladies ahead of us – not a time for being too polite. Needless to say, the elevator goes down and not up; eventually, after a stop at level 7 we make it up to level 11 and find our cabin.

It’s a four berth cabin and what we booked is a ‘2 lower beds’ cabin so hopefully nobody is going to turn up and try to claim the upper two beds. It’s fairly basic (should have got the premium cabin) but will do the job. There is only one power point and, for some unknown reason, it’s a two prong American style plug. Not a problem for us as Japan uses the same style but I’ve no idea what the Dutch or the Brits do to charge their phones etc.

We go off and try to find the Sky Bar at the back of the ship on level 12, which it turns out can only be accessed by going out on deck and then climbing up the staircase. After a drink up there, we head back down as it’s hot and humid outside. The Columbus Bar on level 9 has some comfy seats so we sit there with a drink as the ship prepares to (and eventually) departs. Our dinner reservation is for 8.15 so we go back to the cabin for a while.

We duly turn up for our 8.15 reservation at the 7 Seas Buffet. They’re just finishing getting ready for the next shift so it’s a few minutes wait. Fewer people and more organised than the last ferry from Helsinki, it’s much less of a scrum and generally more pleasant. There’s a pretty good choice of food, including some very good ‘brussel cabbage’ for those that like them – certainly, the smallest brussel sprouts I think I’ve ever seen. The only disappointment was dessert – a selection of very uninteresting looking cake, jelly and cheesecake so we made do with the soft serve ice cream. After eating too much, we retired to the cabin for the night.