ROYAL CROWN – A CROWNING GLORY

The Royal Crown, one of the smallest river boats in Europe and definitely a ‘Jewel in the Crown’ in my eyes as I experienced this last week when I was luckily enough to experience her first hand.

This was my first river cruise and although when I am selling a river cruise I  have an good idea what to expect, this small but perfectly formed river boat exceeded all my expectations. Well she has been referred to as the ‘Orient Express on Water’ by previous guests so I had an idea she was going to be something special and she didn’t disappoint .

On arrival last Thursday afternoon in Amsterdam myself and my colleague Hannah were greeted by a young gentleman, who, once had taken our luggage directed us on board to where we were introduced to the owners of The Royal Crown and all their staff. Once all the introductions were done we were then shown to our cabin, and with only 45 suites on board it literally took a minute before we reached it. The Royal Crown Is an all suite ship, starting with Deluxe Suites at 145 square foot, to Premium Suites and then The Royal Suites at a mere 200 square foot on two decks. Deluxe and Premium suites have portholes while the Royal Suites have full picture windows. Cabins feel really spacious and are very well equipped as you can see from my photos. I cant fault the quality of bed linen, pillows or the little luxury toiletries in the bathroom but if I was going to be picky it would be to have larger fluffy bath towels. They were a tad too small for my liking . Well I did say I was being picky.

After a change of shoes we went to explore and as soon as we reached the spacious lounge area we were asked whether we would like a cup of tea (even my favourite Earl Grey was on board) or a Gin and Tonic. Due to too many Gin & Tonics the night before I settled for a cup of tea and had a chat to the staff. On a boat this size its nice to get to know the staff and although most of them were fairly new to the Royal Crown it certainly didn’t reflect on the service and attention to detail they gave.

After a game of chess on the Sun Deck it was time to change for the Gala Dinner, a six course feast of fine cuisine, as you can see from my pictures the food really did taste as good as it looked. There was a choice of two meals for every course , normally a meat and fish dish, and vegetarians were also well catered for.

Evenings on the Royal Crown are very relaxed with a musician playing many a fine tune and lots of dancing if you prefer to do that also.  I even had a little go myself. Of course a few guests left the boat after dinner to have a nice stroll into town too which allows you to walk off the many calories consumed.  It was lovely watching the sunset as we left Amsterdam for our destination Hoorn, 35 kilometres north and with a population of 71,000 Hoorne was an array of little villages and canals. After another sumptuous buffet breakfast we left Hoorn by coach to travel on one of the Royal Crown’s excursions to the Zuiderzee Museum.

Zuiderzee museum focuses on a story of how people used to live in the early 19oo’s, an open air museum that allows you to explore the village with its houses and shops exactly as it was all those years ago. Although a museum the stories of village life are brought to life by re enactments of people of all ages if=n traditional dress going about their daily chores as they would have done years ago. It was a fascinating experience being surrounded by craftspeople in the Marker harbour making nets, producing  ropes at the rope-maker’s workplace, giving the housemaid a hand, or entering into a conversation with the ‘inhabitants’ from the former island of Urk, well that’s if you speak Dutch of course.

Finally the day was done and it was time to take the twenty minute journey back to the Royal Crown where a buffet lunch awaited. The sun was shining so we had the choice of relaxing on the sun deck or walking into Hoorn . Although Hoorn was very pretty for me  relaxing on the Sun Deck in the sunshine on the waters edge watching the world go by with A Gin & Tonic in hand before we set sail again back to Amsterdam was just perfect.

If I had to sum up my time on the Royal Crown, I would say it was faultless, I was not only impressed with the service on board but I fell in love with the ambience of the ship. An elegant vessel combining the nostalgic charm of the 1930’s would be a perfect assumption for this little beauty. I would heartily recommend her.

Please do call me on 08004086114 if you have any questions at all about The Royal Crown and I will happily answer them. I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy sailing 🙂 Holly x