Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Norwegian Fjords on the msKoningsdam

Last week, my wife Cathy and I had the privilege of sailing to the Norwegian Fjords on the beautiful new msKoningsdam.  It was a wonderful trip!  Check out the pictures!

We started with 2 nights in Amsterdam, always a fun city!  Cathy visited museums while I explored.  We want through town as locals, having rented a bicycle for the day.  It was fun, but you have to be careful, the Dutch take their bike riding seriously!  We enjoyed some of the local cheese and rode into a park and along side the canals.  It was great!  Of course Amsterdam does have it's interesting side, with the Red Light district and "coffee shops".  We didn't partake of those, but it was fun to watch what was going on!

We then boarded the Koningsdam.  Due to high winds, the ship could not get into Amsterdam, so we road about an hour to Rotterdam to embark on the ship.  The ship is beautiful, with a modern high tech theater, great entertainment venues highlighted by the popular B.B. Kings Blues Club, and many great food venues including the Dutch Cafe, Dive Inn, Pinnacle Grill and more.  I had never sailed on Holland America before, and really enjoyed it.  The crowd was older, which meant many of the venues were quieter at night than I am accustomed to on other ships.

As you can see from the pictures, the Fjords are beautiful.  Pretty much the way you would picture it, with snow capped mountain tops.   This is not a difficult itinerary.  There is not a lot of walking.  In fact, someone with little mobility could even stay on board the ship and enjoy the beauty.   One can certainly hike and be more active, but it is not a necessity.  If you enjoy picturesque landscapes, this is an ideal itinerary.  A special shout out to Vacation.com and Holland America Line for hosting us onboard this wonderful trip.