Day 7 Amsterdam/Cruise

Well, we woke up to our last day in Amsterdam. We actually like Amsterdam. There is a lot going on and it's really fun just to walk around the canals. It's really beautiful, especially in the evening when the bridges are sparkling with little lights. It's kinda cool! Of course there are lots of crazy things happening as well, but we are old, so we don't really partake in the activities for the young.- I goofed around too much in the morning checking emails and ran us a bit late. Not that we had to be anywhere at a certain time, but at 11:50 the hotel folks were at our door wondering if we "needed help with anything". A very polite way of saying "get the heck out". Guy ran up to get me a coffee latte and we quickly ate our left over Nutella donuts from yesterday. They were better cold! We have mixed emotions about the W hotel in Amsterdam. We'd stay there again and the staff was super nice, it was just very hipster and the rooms were a bit interesting. Overall, it was great, just different.

We caught a cab to the cruise terminal and the taxi driver made a wrong turn and couldn't get us as close as we could have been, but it was fine and we only had to pull our bags over cobblestones for a short distance. No worries. We got to bypass the line when we reached check-in because we have Concierge level "status". That saved us quite a bit of time. Getting onto the ship we did a little self-guided tour after we saw the staterooms weren't quite ready yet. The ship is the nicest one we've been on so far. All the past ships we've been on have been nothing special. We've never been concerned about the ship, just the stops it is making. However, this time the boat is an upgrade for us. We sat outsize in the hazy sun and there was a cool breeze out. Not quite enough to get us to go in, tho. You can easily spot the people with jet lag as they are sleeping in the pool chairs (that was us last time we took a cruise from Amsterdam, so we feel their pain). You can also tell it is going to be a cold cruise as they have blankets set out for people to cover up with.  Ha ha.

Ding Dong...Announcement: Staterooms are ready! So we went down and checked out or cabin. It is smaller than our last room, but the bathroom is pretty good size and so long as it has a balcony I'm happy. I was just worried I wouldn't have enough room to unpack all of our stuff and there was certainly not enough room to have two giant suitcases open. Itching to sanitize the room, I could not as our suitcases have not arrived yet - so I couldn't get to my Lysol can and tub of wipes. We have a Russian family next door. Their little one was out on the balcony pretty much screaming. We could see at least 4 people through the frosted glass and we think we've counted a fifth. I'm going to strangle Guy after 12 days in this tiny space, so I can't image two other adults and a small child in there with me. Where are they putting their bags and where are they sleeping? Yikers. While we were waiting for our bags we decided to hit the buffet line and grabbed some lunch. It was pretty good. I did eat some bread pudding that was pretty fabulous. Simple, but tasty. We then walked around and checked out the spa and fitness room, the Library, and pretty much every single floor. At 4:30 we had the safety drill and we of course had to go to that. Close to the end of the drill you could see a man trying to leave early. But the ship employee wouldn't let him. He made him come back inside but the passenger wouldn't sit back down. Hey, no one wants to do this, especially when you've done it several times on other cruises, but if there really was an emergency you are going to be glad you know where to go! When it was over, the front rows got to go first and the back was the last to leave, but of course the feisty passenger was standing in the back and should have been last, but he just walked out. So 700 other people were following the rules, but there is always that ONE GUY.  Well, guess what, that ONE GUY is our Russian neighbor next door! Can you believe it? We had a good laugh about it...a screaming child and an non-compliant old guy right next door...AND they are smoking on their balcony which is against the rules. Trifecta.

After the drill we went back to our room and our bags were there! Woo Hoo! So I cracked out the Lysol and Lysol wipes and started with the bathroom working my way out to the balcony. Not a surface went unsprayed. All handles, gadgets, drawers (inside and out), hangers, remote control, you name it and it got a bath. Now I'm not a freak like this in hotels, but I also don't want any part of the norovirus that is so common on cruise ships and what if the people that walked out only 4 hours earlier had it? You KNOW it's still fresh on all the surfaces. So, I strapped on my battle gear and went to war. Well, about half way in, our cabin steward wanted to come in and show us a few things. Guy said it would have been hilarious if I'd had gloves and a mask on. But I told him I didn't like germs and was cleaning the room..."no offense" I said. He acted like he understood...but you know. It was awkward. He asked what we needed and I told him that I was going to put all the "fancy germ infested pillows" under the bed (ok...I was thinking germ infested but didn't really say that out loud) and I didn't want him to put them back out each day. Also, I asked for a sheet for the sofa so we felt comfy setting on something clean. He said no problem. I told him he didn't need to change it, but leave it as is each day. He said "I won't do anything until you tell me to". I like him. :)

Guy stayed out on the balcony as I fumigated and asked a few times if I needed to come out for fresh air. It was pretty stinky. But I was nearly done and after my cleaning job (my mom would have been so proud) I changed and went upstairs for a run outside on the running track and to clear my lungs out. Luckily the early birds would be getting ready for dinner and there wasn't much of a crowd on that deck. I set my GPS to track my mileage, but the ship had started moving as well. Boy did I run FAST.  I could hardly hear my GPS lady telling me how far I had gone, but when I heard her say 6 miles I pulled out my phone to see how long I had been running. It had been about 40 minutes, so I'm figuring more like 4 miles. I laughed tho...my best pace EVER! Guy was just below me in a covered area out of the breeze. After my run I went down and we sat and watched the boat pulling out of the canal it was in, which took sometime. We did have to go through a lock and Guy wanted to watch that process, so I went upstairs and took a shower to get ready for dinner. It was nearly 8:30 before we made it to the dining room, but they had a nice table for two along the rail and our server, Ilyana, was super great. Our food was very nice and there was plenty. Of course you could have anything you wanted, but I wasn't starving and didn't get any extras.

After dinner we walked around the ship just a bit more and I chatted with Oleysa and Sydne via What's App. Sydne made it to Berlin and her hostel is MUCH nicer than the one she just left in Amsterdam. However, she said they are still living like animals tho...because they have no hair products. I'm still laughing about that. Oleysa wanted to see pictures of the ship, so I started taking some. Thanks for the reminder because I wouldn't have had many photos for the blog today!

So on that note, I think we've pretty much covered today's adventure. Tomorrow is a day at sea AND we gain an hour as we head away from Amsterdam. Woot Woot. We get another hour of sleep! Good thing...it's already midnight!