Amsterdam, Netherlands: Life at Sea Begins.

MS Prinsendam

We are back from our holidays at last and I know that I need to catch up on my blogs - I am waaay behind....  At the moment I'm going to concentrate on what is currently going on.  At some stage I will catch up with the holiday.

It's been a hectic 3 days, unpacking and getting things done.  Apart from sorting out the caravan and putting it in storage, we have cleaned Betty's (Paul's mum) fish tank.  The fish are happy now too with plenty of fleas to soothe their shattered nerves.

Our cabin

Paul's leave is at an end and it's time to get back to work.  During our holiday Paul learnt that he had been assigned to the Prinsendam rather than going back to the Maasdam. 

We had a fairly late night last night, re-packing clothes for the next few weeks of our lives at sea and were up early.  Fortunately we didn't have to fly out to meet up with the Prinsendam.  She was in Amsterdam.  We drove Betty's car to Paul's sister in Zoetemeer where we picked up her son (Paul's nephew, Dani) and carried on to Amsterdam's cruise ship terminal.  The car needed a good run to get its battery charged.  Dani then drove the car back to Betty's place where his mum would meet up with him a bit later.

At security Paul discovered that I was not on any list to board the ship and he was adamant that he would not go to sea without me.  He ended up going to the ship to try and sort things out and I had to wait in the terminal.  Eventually security called and said I could go through.  Not a problem.  Only I took a wrong turn and instead of heading onto the ship - I headed into the huge terminal which was the disembarking guest terminal.  I wasn't allowed back up via the exit point so I had to walk all the way back to security in the embarkation terminal and have my luggage checked again before trying to find the gangway.  By this time Paul was getting worried and called me to find out where I was.  I explained what had happened.  Anyway, before I got lost again one of the ship's security staff found me and took me to the ship's gangway.  Paul was quite relieved.  

After going through what seemed like a maze of passages, we arrived at our cabin where Paul had to leave me in order to start work - he had to have a hand-over with his counterpart.  

So, I've been unpacking and finding my way around the cabin.  It is quite a different layout compared to the cabin on the Maasdam.  This time the cabin (although still on deck 10) is directly below the Bridge.  And has a window looking out onto a forward facing balcony.  Fortunately the balcony is only accessible to crew so we won't have guests trying to peer in through the window!  I had been looking forward to having a bath but unfortunately the bath has been replaced with a shower since Paul was last on the Prinsendam.

After lifeboat drill the Prinsendam set sail, heading towards Vlissingen, 

Paul is happy to be back with the Prinsendam as it will be the last time she will be sailing with her over the coming weeks and months.  The Prinsendam has been sold and will be going to new owners (Phoenix Reisen, a German Company) in July 2019.  She is one of the smallest in Holland America Line's fleet and will be sadly missed.  Guests and staff are very fond of her.  

By way of a bit of history, the Prinsendam:  She was launched by the Royal Viking Line in 1988 with the name of "Royal Viking Sun".  Between 1994 and 1998 she was operated by the Cunard Line before being transferred to Seabourn Cruise Line in 1999 and re-named "Seabourn Sun".  In 2002 the ship was transferred to  Holland America Line and re-named the "Prinsendam".

The Prinsendam's itinerary for this cruise is as follows:

Date / Time                 Port
16 Sep                         Departing Amsterdam, Holland   

17 Sep 08:00 - 15:00     Vlissingen, Holland   

17 Sep 20:00 - 17 Sep Antwerp, Belgium   

19 Sep 18:00 - 19 Sep Rouen, France   

22 Sep 08:00 - 18:00    La Rochelle, France   

23 Sep 08:00 - 23 Sep   Bordeaux, France   

26 Sep 08:00 - 18:00     Lisbon, Portugal   

27 Sep 13:00 - 18:00     Gibraltar, UK   

28 Sep 08:00 - 17:00     Cartagena, Spain   

30 Sep                         Arriving in Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy  

A Wander Around Amsterdam

Paul and I were up at a reasonable hour and after checking out of the hotel we put our luggage back in the car but make sure that it couldn't be seen and then took the ferry across the canal to get into central Amsterdam.  

We walked along the streets, ending up at the red light district - the first time for me.  Paul pointed out glass doors behind which ladies of the night sold "their wares".  In fact there were a couple of women sitting at the doors waiting for customers, or maybe it was just part and parcel of the touristy look.  Either way I stand to be corrected.  

We eventually found the Erotica Museum.  It was quite small although it was consisted of 5 floors.  We weren't terribly impressed by it, possibly a bit disappointed to say the least with pictures and drawings and little else.  


After that we took a long walk through the streets of Amsterdam to the Rijksmuseum where we spent a good couple of hours or wandering through the different galleries looking at various forms of art, modern to classical, paintings to statues and more.  Some of the paintings were nice, some of them not so.  (It depends on people's personal taste so I have to take that into consideration - what we might not like someone else will love.)  We saw a few famous paintings including the Night Watch and a couple of other Rembrandt paintings.  There were pottery, pieces silverware and artifacts from different eras including furniture, clothing, weaponry and more.  

After walking for so long in the museum we felt a little bit "painted out" and also quite footsore.  It was time to head home.  Just outside the museum there was beautiful music being played, sounding as if it came from a church organ.  Instead it was a quintet group consisting of a tuba player, violinist and 2 piano accordionists.  The archway made for fantastic acoustics, transforming the sounds of the instruments into what sounded like a church organ.  It was quite amazing what the group could achieve with their instruments combined with the acoustic value of the archway they were playing in. Unfortunately my phone's video player couldn't capture the true sound of the music but here is an excerpt of what they were playing:

Our car seemed to be many miles away and our feet were not happy.  It was just tempting to catch either a bus or a tram back to Central Station (which is next to where the ferry crossing was, to our car) but we saw a bicycle taxi outside archway.  The chap was reading and obviously had nothing to do so we asked him to take us to Central Station. The ride in the taxi bicycle taxi was pure heaven for our poor feet but we were in for a very bumpy ride as our taxi cyclist negotiated bumpy cobblestones.

At Central Station we bought a sandwich then caught a ferry across to the other side of the canal and hit the road home to Paul's mum's place.

PHOTOGRAPHS

  

 

Doll's house

Perfectly made, but in miniature within the doll's house.

 

Library within the museum.

 

 
 

Amsterdam Body Painting Day

We were up bright and early and drove into Amsterdam and parked car at the Hilton Hotel.  Unfortunately we couldn't check in because it was too early.  So we ended up the hotel to storage our luggage until later on so at least that was out of sight and out of mind.

Paul and I then managed to find the venue where the body painting was getting to take place - at the NDSM.  Mehron kindly sponsored the body paints, having sponsored the body painting days for the past two years.  Unfortunately there were more models than artists so we had to wait.  Despite the wait, it was good to see familiar faces again.  

Eventually I got assigned to an artist but poor Paul had to wait quite a bit longer and in the end he started to paint himself.  Not long after he started he was assigned an artist.  In the end I ended up helping paint Paul, the artist working on the front and I ended up painting Paul's back in yellow that was being used by the artist.  After finishing painting Paul's front the artist was able to get to work painting the other side which I had prepped.  Just as well because the artist wouldn't have finished in time.  

The artist who worked on me painted my face and my front down to my legs but didn't continue.  Paul felt that I was unfinished so he ended up painting me while his artist worked on him.  Paul had to have a steady hand to that he wouldn't disturb his own artist.  What fun!

During the day there was music and entertainment, with acrobats using silk ropes to climb.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to watch but others did.  There were photographers and someone from the press (you can read the article and see the clip, however it is in Dutch:  News article and video.)  Lunch was served but Paul and I weren't hungry so we just continued with being painted.  

The chap who organised the body painting day unfortunately broke his leg last night so he couldn't attend the event.  He he had to have an operation to reset his legs and have a bit of metal work put in 😶.  He was missed because most attendees knew him and were looking forward to seeing him again.

At the end of the afternoon, after we cleaned up the mess and put away paints and brushes, it was time for some photographs on the steps within the building.  After the photographs we walked to the canal where we boarded two hired boats for a nice ride along the canals in Amsterdam.  The boat ride took us a good 2 hours and it was interesting seeing people's reactions as to how we looked.  We had a great time.  People waved at us, some took photographs and a there were only a few who looked at us disapprovingly but in all, it was a good atmosphere.  Once we were back on dry land we went to a venue that was used last year for the after-party.  There was music and entertainment as well as food for us.  Paul and I didn't stay long because the air turned chilly as soon as the sun set; so we put on our sarongs and made our way to our hotel just down the road.  

We must have looked quite quite a sight because of the way we looked, painted and wrapped up in sarongs!  In fact the woman at the hotel reception desk did a double-take when we checked in and got our room key.  

We retrieved our luggage and headed up to our room, looking forward to getting cleaned up.  We had to rub and scrub ourselves down (body buff gloves do the trick!) to get the paint off, Paul helping me and me helping him.  The paint black and turquoise are usually difficult colours to wash off but this time they came off very easily it was the yellow paint that was hard to get off this time.  After drying off we noticed Paul's skin still looked a bit yellow but it didn't matter.  We had to clean up the bathroom because it was a big mess - it looked as if the bathroom had been used for body painting or it had been painted by us but with a watery diluted paint.  We could have left it as is but I don't think we would have been popular with the cleaning staff!

Please note that some of the photographs have been taken by us, other were take by other people/photographers.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Painting session

Finished results, canal boat ride and party followed by cleanup time.

One of Holland America's ships in the background - MS Koningsdam.