I had expected myself to wake up early and explore before heading to the cruise terminal, but I was up later than expected – to the point I actually saw the Holland American Line ship sail past my hotel room.
I did manage to eat breakfast at the hotel in the morning and take some pictures from the top floor of the hotel. There was an interesting bee-like insect. I also took a picture of the stingray sculpture they had hanging in the atrium.
I dragged my bags to the bus stop (about half a kilometer away) and took the bus 48 to the Amsterdam Centraal train station. I probably should have taken the tram the rest of the way, but the weather was nice and walking gave me an opportunity to take pictures of the ship. That walk was more like a mile and required going up a ramp over a bridge.
I also took some pictures of the Viking river cruise ship so I could show people how ugly they look.
I arrived at the cruise terminal at my embarkation window (around 11:30 AM) and because I had the hotel print off my luggage tag I was able to easily drop off my bag.
I completed the health questionnaire in the Celebrity app earlier and was honest (I have a cough, and have had it for months).
It felt weird not to have paper copies of my cruise confirmation (there is a bar code in the app now) in my hands. I was directed upstairs where I waited to be checked in. They basically just scanned my passport. After that I went through security – fairly easily as I didn’t need to take out the laptops and tablet from my bag.
I waited briefly upstairs until they checked my boarding pass once again and I was now able to not only walk onto the ship, but also go to my cabin. This was excellent because usually you are walking around with your carry-on bags for hours waiting until the cabins are ready.
I walked to the cabin and took videos and pictures of the cabin. I had to play with the infinite veranda. It was the best feature of the cabin. There was one up/down button that opened or closed the blinds fully – and it made the room dark. There was also another up/down button that opened the top window, but you needed to keep it held down until it was fully opened or closed. I was a bit disappointed in this behavior as it was a bit annoying to stand there until it was fully opened.
I found a couple of bonuses in my cabin – a bottle of champagne (which was unnecessary since I had a beverage package) and a coupon for a martini flight tasting (which although is more alcohol it is entertaining). I also got some coupons for completing my training with Celebrity.
I started to walk around the ship, not only to find alcohol and food, but to find a location to mount my GoPro to capture the departure from Amsterdam.
I took the lifts (elevators) which were very nice, quiet and quick up to deck 14.
I walked through the Solarium which was in the middle of the ship like all the other ships (except for the Quantum ships where it is at the front).
I took a picture of the Magic Carpet which is a piece of the ship that overhangs the rest of the ship on the starboard side, can actually rise up to the 16th level for dinner service, is typically on the 14th deck with a bar and during tendering operations it is actually on deck 2 and you walk through it to enter and exit the ship. I have to assume it is the tendering process that made it safety orange.
I made it to the buffet where they even had a chocolate fountain set up. Lunch was good, but not as good as the Odyssey of the Seas (it was a special Inaugural Event, so I wasn’t expecting to see lobster and filet mignon here today).
I got some beef, French fries, potato salad and pasta salad.
I also snagged a couple of pieces of pepperoni pizza.
I walked around and took some more pictures of Amsterdam and of the ship.
The hot tubs were designed to look like drink glasses.
I took some more photos while exploring the ship and got a nice photo of the train station.
Finally it was time for sailaway. I had mounted my GoPro, but the suction cup didn’t work well on the glass, so I failed to capture much of the departure. I did take photos and use my DJI Osmo Pocket 2 to record some video.
I got a picture of the fancy restaurant that used to be an offshore (illegal) TV station. It’s a bit weird for someone who has actually eaten on offshore platforms to think of it as a fine dining experience.
I took a picture of the hotel I stayed at… although the side towards the canal says “moxy”
I took some more pictures and one of the more interesting things I saw was the highway going under the canal…
The departure from Amsterdam took about 2 hours and the ship needed to go through a lock at the end of the canal.
I had dinner at the Cosmopolitan main dining room tonight. I went to my favorites for the starters – French Onion soup and escargot. I tried the Turkey for the main and it wasn’t spectacular.
For dessert I had the sacher torte and the peanut butter ice cream. The peanut butter ice cream was a highlight for sure.
I managed to take a nice picture of the sunset. Sunsets always seem better at sea.
I had a few drinks at the club before calling it a night.