This morning, we were awaken by our phone alarm at 5:15 AM, the earliest wake up call yet. I had gotten up a little earlier before the call, and noticed that we were already passing by container cranes and other port equipment, already heading up the Rotte River to Rotterdam.
After showering and dressing, I headed down to get some breakfast from the International Cafe. We ate our usual yogurt parfaits instead of heading to the most likely crowded buffet. This was probably better for us anyway, we really did not need to eat as much as we would in the buffet. We added a croissant and blueberry pastry to the mix.
Heading Into Rotterdam
Quite a distance from the cruise terminal, we turned around and started backing up to the berth at the pier. We must have backed over a mile before we actually got to the cruise ship terminal near downtown Rotterdam. I guess they wanted the ship to be ready to go straight out when we left late this afternoon, turning it around in a section of converging channels that was wide enough to execute the turn around maneuver. There was not much other ship traffic in the morning, just a few barges heading up and down the river, so that probably had something to do with turning in the morning versus in the late afternoon, there is probably a lot more traffic on the river that would have to stop while we turned around.
It was obvious that the weather was not going to be good this morning. The Commodore had already let us know yesterday during the departure from Zeebrugge that we would have showers today in Rotterdam. In addition, the wind was predicted to be blowing about 25 mph, and it was already windy this morning, matching the forecast.
The ship was scheduled to be berthed by 7:00 AM, but we were just getting to the terminal a few minutes before 7:00 AM, so obviously, we were not likely to get off the ship before 7:30 AM. We hung around the cabin and took some photos of Rotterdam from our balcony. About 7:15 AM, we headed down to the departure point on Deck 6. We waited about 10 minutes before they started to let people off of the ship.
The original plan for today had been to either take the train to Amsterdam, or, to head to Lieden, which is the closest station to the Keukenhof Gardens Tulip Festival. With the marginal weather, we were not excited to do either, since both required us to be outside in the rain and wind. We opted to go to Keukenhof, it was closer and we knew we would not need to be there all day as compared to going to Amsterdam, and trying to see as much as possible there.
We headed to the Metro Station a couple of blocks walk from the Cruise Terminal, purchased our Metro Tickets from the machine, and headed to the Rotterdam Centraal Train Station, just a few minutes metro ride away. Luckily, the ticket machine took our credit card without incident since there were no manned ticket counters in that area of the station. We have been experiencing some credit card issues since the supposed “Chip and PIN” card we had specifically acquired for they trip was not working as described. Everywhere we have used it so far required us to sign for the purchase, never asking for our PIN number, as expected from a true chip and PIN card.
When we arrived at the train station, we tried to purchase tickets from the machines there. The train tickets are purchased through a separate ticketing system than those used on the metro. This time, the ticket machine would not take the credit card, nor would it accept our other credit card, giving us an error for both We think this was because neither was a true PIN card. This was very aggravating since we had done a lot of work to get the one specific card from the Andrews Federal Credit Union, after having read about them being true Chip and PIN cards on both the Rick Steve’s forums and other areas on the internet. Since there are no such terminals in the USA, they are all Chip and Signature (Except Target, they really do have chip and pin Target Red Cards for use in Target only), we had not been able to check them out.
We had to go and wait in the line to use a ticket agent inside the train station terminal. We purchased our tickets and I had to provide my passport as proof of identification since the purchase required a signature. We will be spending some time when we get home trying to understand what the real story is on the Andrews Federal Credit Union card.
With tickets in hand, we headed to our platform for our 32 minute train ride to Leiden. From there, we will purchase a combined bus and entry ticket for Keukenhof.
The train ride was uneventful, other than for the rainfall, which had started on our walk to the metro station earlier this morning. The countryside was really flat, and full of small drainage canals. There is a lot of farming done in this area.
We arrived in Leiden and went into the train terminal to look for the ticket office for the Keukenhof Gardens. We inquired about them at an information booth, and the lady there told us we needed to purchase them from the bookstore close by. Once again, the purchase required a signature, but went through.
With tickets in hand, we headed outside to the bus loading area, and saw our bus number on the electronic display. For some reason, we were thinking the schedule was for the arrival of the bus, there were about 15 different bus pick up spots in a large parking area. Luckily, we happened to notice our bus at the most distant pick up zone, and headed over to get on. Had we not noticed, we would have missed it since we were not looking for a bus that far away, and expecting it to be arriving, not already there.
The bus only had about 10 passengers on it, and was a direct but to the gardens, about 25 minutes away. Thinking the gardens would not be very attended due to the weather, cold, rainy and windy, we were quite surprised when we arrived and saw all of the tour groups already there, mostly Asian tours.
Keukenhof Gardens
We used the bathroom facilities and headed into the gardens with the crowds of other tourists. I guess it is a well attended event in any weather since it is only open for two months of the year, closing at the end of May.
Most of the crowds headed to the right, so we opted to go left to try and avoid them. It was starting to clear some, and the rain had become more intermittent. Without sunshine, we knew the pictures would not be as colorful, but the gardens were really beautiful, full of mostly tulips of every size, shape and color. There were also a lot of other types of flowers intermixed in the gardens.
Keukenhof Gardens
For a brief period, the sun came out and we were able to get some more colorful photos. It was short lived, and the rain returned. It was raining harder than before, and was also either hailing, or some very large freezing rain pellets were falling with the rain.
Luckily, we were well dressed for the rain, although it was raining harder than we wanted, and we were getting damp through our rain gear. There were some gift shops and an inside area full of growing orchids that offered some respite from the rain.
Windmill in Keukenhof Gardens
We were contemplating leaving when the rain finally quit, and we once again had some sunshine. We continued our walk through the gardens, there are many acres of walkways with various flower beds lining sidewalks and walking paths. We ended up at an old windmill that was being used as an observation point for tourists to see the beds of tulips growing out in the open fields.
Tulip Fields Seen From The Windmill Platform
We waited in line and went up the treacherous stairs to the top of the windmill. It was rotating fairly fast with the strong winds we were having, but the drive shaft was not hooked to anything, it was just freewheeling for an attraction. The views were nice, but it was very crowded on the platform. Once again, we had some sunshine, and took some more colorful photos.
Keukenhof Gardens
After we left the windmill, we decided to explore more of the gardens before leaving since it was actually getting sunnier. We headed back to the entrance area we had bypassed initially, and once again, ran into a mass of people. We had hoped that the crowds would disperse because of the weather, and because of the usually short time tour groups usually spend in one location. We were wrong.
Keukenhof Gardens
It actually was much more crowded now than it had been before. There was even one group that was entirely made up of folks in wheelchairs, there must have been over 40 in the group. Although the sun had appeared, the wind had also picked up, and it was cold out in any open areas.
We had seen enough and were ready to head back to Lieden. We had about 15 minutes to wait before the next scheduled bus departure, and were glad when the heated bus showed up about 10 minutes early. We boarded and were glad to get out of the cold wind.
We got back to the Lieden train station bus drop off area and headed to the local Aldi store across the street to purchase some of the caramel stroopwafel cookies that are a specialty of the Netherlands. I had gotten some when I was in Amsterdam several years ago, and they were great. We picked up a couple of packs and then headed to the train station and out to the platform to board our train. We had just a few minutes wait, which was extended a bit since the arriving train was a few minuted behind schedule. It was more crowded than on the morning train, and a lot of the passengers seemed to have colds, sneezing and coughing. We felt that we were getting exposed to a lot of potential for getting sick, both from all of the people we have been around on the port days, the people on the trains today, and from the cold and rainy weather.
Rotterdam Centraal Station
When we got back to the Rotterdam Centraal Station, we headed outside for some photos, and to see if there were any stores nearby. We did not spend much time outside, it was still windy and cold, and we needed to get back to the ship to do some laundry. We hoped that with our getting back early, we would avoid some of the laundry crowds.
The Regal Princess in Rotterdam
We headed back to the port on the metro, and then started our short walk from the metro station to the ship. The ship was parked right in front of a bridge that also had a sidewalk for pedestrians to cross over to the other side, so we walked partially up the bridge to take some photos of the ship. It was really windy on the bridge, probably because the ship was funneling the wind toward the bridge. We took some photos of the ship, but there was a fuel badge parked alongside the ship, so the pictures were not as good as we hoped.
We got back aboard, and headed to the buffet for a late lunch. After lunch we headed to the laundry do do a small load of shirts that needed to be partially dried in a dryer, and then hung in the room to dry the rest of the way. There were no available washers on our deck, so we headed downstairs. All of the laundromats on this ship are in the same location on all of the decks, and near to a staircase, so it was easy to check out availability on other decks. We found a washer on the floor below ours, and put in our clothes.
While we were waiting for the washer cycle, we headed to the Bellinis bar to have a beverage. When we returned, our machine was not quite finished, but we also saw there were no available dryers. Stephanie headed upstairs to check the other laundromats while I waited with the washer. She returned some minutes later, she had to go up one, then down two decks before finding an empty dryer one deck below our washer deck.
With the clothes set to dry, we headed back for our dryer round beverage at Crooners Bar. After one beverage there, we headed back to the laundromat to retrieve our partially dried clothes, then back to the room to hang them up to dry. We gathered up some warmer clothes and the camera gear to prepare for the ship’s departure from Rotterdam, and the roughly two hour ride back to the North Sea. We stopped off at Vines for a glass of wine, and started talking with a nice couple from Canada.
We were comparing travel experiences, when, by accident, I hit my wine glass with my hand while talking. Of course, they use really nice, but thin glass wine glasses for their red wine at this bar, and my glass broke on the bar when it fell over. Glass and wine went all over the bar top and into their ice supply bin. I was quite embarrassed, it had made quite a loud breaking noise, and a real mess. Some wine got on my shirt sleeves, and also on Stephanie’s white sweater. Mostly, it caused a big mess for the bar staff, they had to empty the large ice bin with a scoop, wipe it out, and replace the ice, about two five gallon buckets worth. Meanwhile, we were working on the clothes, especially Stephanie’s sweater sleeve. There was not a lot on it, but red wine on a white sweater in any volume is a mess. First we tried soda water, but it did not work well, most likely because it was from a soda gun and not a bottle. The couple from Canada we were talking with, suggested salt. We got some salt form the bar staff, and I headed to the room to try and clean it up better, and let the salt sit on the stain areas to absorb the wine.
Leaving Rotterdam
After that, I headed back to Vines to get Stephanie and we headed out to the stern of the ship to take pictures as we departed Rotterdam. The surrounding riverfront areas were scenic in the city, but a lot of the rive outside the city is lined with industrial port activities, container cranes, fuel tanks, and refineries.
Unusual Buildings On River Leaving Rotterdam
There were some other nice areas as we approached the coast and headed out into the North Sea, and some of the building we passed were quite amazing from an architectural perspective. The sun was nearing sunset, but it was already 8:45 PM and we had not eaten. We went to the buffet for dinner since it was already late. There was a lot of fried food tonight, onion rings, cheese balls, shrimp and small scallops. It was good, but fried food that late was really filling. We headed back to Crooners, trying to let our food digest. We were full, but also really tired, so after one refreshment, we called it a night and went back to the cabin around 10:30 PM.
Heading Into The North Sea
Tomorrow is a sea day as we head to our last port, and point of our disembarkation, Copenhagen. We will also have to pack, which is not fun. We will be doing the walk off disembarkation with our luggage, so at least we do not have to have it packed before we go to bed tomorrow night.