Jane had asked Cecilia, our cabin steward, if they could have a look at the air-con yesterday, as the room was too warm for a lady of a certain age. I can report that it’s fixed because it was freezing overnight and I was fully wrapped up in the duvet when I woke this morning.
I’m really enjoying being in a Britannia cabin on this cruise, yes the stateroom is slightly smaller than the PG stateroom and you don’t get free bottled water delivered every day, but I do have a shower that comes up past my chest and as Jane has discovered, after many years of cruising with Cunard, room service will happily deliver a jug of iced water for your fridge.
Amsterdam was grey this morning, which is a shame as it was so nice yesterday, so after a nice shower we headed down to the MDR for another excellent breakfast, remembering to speak more slowly when placing my order this time meant I received exactly what I asked for today. Some ladies on a table next to us got a little panicky upon hearing a “man overboard” announcement over the Tannoy, until Jane explained it was an exercise.
After breakfast we ended back in the cabin to let the rain slacken off before heading into Amsterdam, typically I’d forgotten anything waterproof to wear, but not to worry I’m a northerner and not made of sugar. It was quite a trek to Central Station where we picked up a couple of GVB travel cards. €18 well spent. There were throngs of people by the station, all out for a bit of a jog, the Dam tot Damloop 10 mile run, rather them than me, but it looks like they had the perfect weather for it.
We had no real plan for our day, I’ve spent lots of time in Amsterdam and have been every where I want to go, but Jane fancied a look at the Rijksmeuseum, so we hopped on a tram for a couple of stops getting off at the flower market to mooch through there and then walk up from there to the museum. We joined the queue when we got there and a very helpful American explained that we actually needed to login to their website and book a timeslot. Well needless to say I couldn’t be bothered with all that, I’ve seen the Night’s Watch already and Jane didn’t feel like she was missing out so we decided to head nearer to town and grab some lunch.
I fancied some street food, the Dutch don’t really have much of a cuisine outside pancakes, but I really like their street food, especially things like frikandel speciaal and frites with frites saus. Or shoarma, which isn’t really Dutch but evokes many memories of my wilder youth in Roermond and Eindhoven. So we walked for quite a while looking for somewhere with seating, ending up at the Chippy King a not so salubrious fast food joint, but which served excellent frites, and frikandel speciaal, it was a first for Jane and she seemed to like it as I had to fight her for the frites.
Once eaten we headed back to the ship for a bit of a rest, watch the end of the Singapore GP and catch the end of afternoon tea in the Lido. We thought we might catch the Afternoon Trivia in the Golden Lion, but we were a little too slow but we did end up on the Future Cruise Sales office where I managed to to get my Forces benefit added to our upcoming cruise to the Greek Islands, that saved me remembering to do it when we get home.
We thought it would be prudent to pop into the Commodore Club early as it’s the Gala night tonight and people will be out and about in their finery while I’m still wandering around in shorts. Jane is in an experimental mood today, and started off with a Citrus Cooler, a nice long drink followed by a Cool as a Cucumber, a more sophisticated drink served in a martini glass, me I went non-alcoholic with a couple of Atlantic Mist’s, they are no longer on the mocktail menu, but they will make it and a Sea Breeze on request.
There were only six of us at dinner, and even that was too much to have a decent conversation when your table is three tables for two pushed together. It was the Black and White themed Gala night and the dress code was very well adhered to with only one chap that I saw in a light suit and no real monstrosities. It was a typical Gala dinner of Chateau Briand, which was perfectly cooked and a very nice rose pavlova for dessert.