Amsterdam’s red light district and a river cruise conference…

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was off to a river cruise conference in Amsterdam and staying on a cruise ship on the river overnight to get a taste of what it was like, this is the story.

I flew in from Liverpool to meet up with the others at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport, it takes an hour, for anyone who has not been there before it is huge, I was glad we were being picked up for our private transfer as I am sure it would have been so easy to get lost, there is everything on sale there in case you have forgotten to bring anything with you, actually it would have been quite easy to get into the centre of Amsterdam by train as its less that 8 euros and the train station is just by the Doubletree Amsterdam central which is the hotel we were staying in for the first night.
It is a good choice as hotels go as it is 10 minutes walk to the center of town, it also has a huge rooftop bar looking across the city rooftops, a nice touch was getting hot chocolate cookies in a little bag handed to us as we were checking in and this made us realise it was time to hit the town and have a look around.
The rooms by the way were lovely, quite large and had massive big windows to look at the views, the town one side and the river on the other.

We decided to head out and find somewhere to eat, we found somewhere fairly easy after nipping through town and dodging the trams and the thousands of bicycles all tied up for the night, god knows how you tell which is your own. I was gutted at this time as my phone had stopped working and it seemed to be the charger was broken so I had hoped to take lots of photos but that sadly didn’t happen. Anyway after we had been fed and watered we decided to go and have a look at the canals and the famous red light district, it was something of a must do but was horrible seeing all of those young girls parading in the windows in very little with people (mostly men) bargaining for their “wares”. then one of the boy’s told us there was also parts of the town that had blue lights, of course curiosity got the better of us and the difference here was we actually looked as we walked past but the boys kind of hesitated to make eye contact as they were the lady boys, all stunning of course but sadly tucked away and by that i mean down the side streets!! Amsterdam was very busy but it was a Friday evening.

After that we thought we would walk back to the hotel via a local bar, the one thing that struck me is that they are quite small and always busy, we managed though. so back to the hotel ready for our adventure to the conference the next day.

After a lovely leisurely breakfast which had everything we could want we decided to walk to the hotel the conference was in (Movenpick ) which is next door to the cruise terminal so if you were staying there the night before you are 2 minutes from your ship, it took about 10 minutes or so to do the walk so if you were flying in and got the train into Amsterdam it is easy to walk it even with a suitcase. We gave our names in and went for coffee before joining the conference, we were spoken to by the heads of some of the big river cruise companies out there and we found out lots of thing and we didn’t lose interest as it was all relaxed with lots of laughs, the speakers were all good even when the projector decided it was not going to show the correct photos, they kept their cool and before we knew it we broke for lunch, in the afternoon we got to talk to all of the sponsors about their cruise ships and we saw that there was quite a big difference between companies, they were all lovely though and i would not turn my nose up at any of them. at the end of the session we walked the 5 minutes around the corner to board our ship for the evening and get changed ready for the awards, some of our group was on the Riviera Emily Bronte and myself Susan and Emily were on the Croisi Europe Symphonie, our ship was really nice, it was bright and light and had  lovely lounge area. the cabins were not huge but big enough with the TV dropping from the ceiling at the touch of a button, the bathroom has a shower and also nice toiletries in there, there was also a hairdryer under the sink,there was a good amount of wardrobe space and a vanity unit plus plugs as well, there were also plugs at the side of the bed at head level so you could plug your phone in and have it within reach.

So off we went back for the awards and our very own Jill Johnson won a special recognition award, she loves her river cruises does Jill, we were all buzzing about this.

So by this time it was 7.30 and time for dinner, we were sat with another couple who had also come along to find out more and they were good company at the table. The other 2/3 of the team were sending us photos of what they were eating and we did the same as we had different to them, the service was just great and hardly noticeable and Claire one of the guests on our table was gluten free as it makes her ill so every time they had a dish taken away the waiter would leave the new cutlery crossed so that the next dish with the gluten free serving would go to the correct guest without having to ask, a nice little touch i thought. The food was really nice and the beef was cooked to perfection, the salmon was fresh and the dessert was light considering it was a chocolate “emotion” oh and i forgot to mention that the wine flowed, all in all it was flawless.

So what to do next, Croisi Europe had set up the evening for us with drinks and even a late night disco that went on till 3am. The others messaged us and said to come and look at their ship ( Emily Bronte) so we thought why not, we all piled on and had a look round Peter and Eamons cabin and it was totally different from ours as they had a french balcony and even a nespresso coffee machine and a kettle, i think Riviera are the only ones that do. We stayed for an hour or 2 and then walked back to our ship which was next door.

The next morning due to it being a very compact day we found ourselves having breakfast at 7am, then we had a tour of the ships that were docked, apart from the one we were on and the Emily Bronte there was also the Scenic Jasper and the Amadeus silver 111. The top deck is all kitted out for taking in the scenery with tables and chairs and loungers, there is usually a pool and a jacuzzi, some of them even have an infinity pool. they have suites and balconies on some of these ships and windows that drop down so you can lean out if you just want to have a little nose, we learned all about the locks and the rivers they sail on and whats included, there is a difference between what you get with each company but its a lot, I was imagining myself staying onboard for the next week but sadly after exploring in the wind it was time to head home after a most enjoyable journey. check in was a doddle and before we knew it we were on the plane heading home to Liverpool looking at the most gorgeous sunset.

I am going on one myself next year i have decided so will be telling you all about that, this time i will be taking an extra charger.