Southampton to Amsterdam

September 15 – never say never, I always say. We swore we would NEVER cruise again with NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines) after our disastrous sailing in 2019, when we received an "upgrade" to an unacceptable cabin, which was eventually changed, and worse yet, had C's prescription meds stolen from their hiding place in our cabin. The final blow was the customer service we received after reporting the theft, being told to keep it quiet or the captain could throw us off the ship at the next port. Ultimately they did nothing for us, hence our vow. Forewarned is forearmed, readers. That being said, everyone has their price. And this time the price was right, a 92% discount on a 15 night Northern European cruise, including drink package, tips, internet and shipboard credit, some of which was refundable in cash. When I fessed up to the kids that we had broken our promise, they assured us that we were getting the better end 0f the deal on this cruise and that we should enjoy it to the max.

So off we went, Ubering to the port with guesthousemate, Rosemary, a solo traveller from California. We boarded NCL's Getaway, in the easiest process ever, as our loyalty points allowed us to do so several hours early.

C started his max level enjoyment.

With the bike trip behind us, we appreciated the downtime of the sea day plus the decision not to disembark at Hamburg as we had just spent two weeks in Germany and had previously visited Hamburg. I participated in a behind the scenes tour, which I've done in the past, but always find fascinating. This one included the back of the theatre, the kitchens

and my favourite, the laundry, where this machine dries and folds the sheets. These guys work hard as the laundry runs 24/7.

One of the benefits of this itinerary was the ability to geocache in six new countries and the first was the best, as it could be accomplished from the ship. As we entered the locks that would take us into Amsterdam, I checked my phone for available caches. Sure enough, there was one on the side of the lock that required a photo with the ferry terminal in the background. Voila:

Once docked, it was a reasonable walk into the centre of Amsterdam, where we booked a canal tour with Rosemary. It was explained that the covered boats had tours that are prerecorded and delivered through earbuds, and only the smaller, open air boats had a live guide. I commented on the increasingly greying skies, but we agreed a real guide would be a better experience. It was an excellent tour with an interesting and engaging guide, however the clouds caught up with us. Our clever captain/tour guide provided us with umbrellas parked under a bridge for the worst of it.