This was our second cruise with AMA and the brand new sparkling AMALea was pure delight! We arrived in Amsterdam on Friday, 4/27, which is “King’s Day” - the Netherlands national holiday - think Mardi Gras combined with St. Patty’s Day except all in orange! The city center is shut down to all vehicular traffic so cab could only get us 1/2 mile from our hotel -with lots of baggage we had to roll over cobblestones! Our hotel, The Banks Mansion Hotel took us to our rooms right away and was a fantastic boutique hotel that felt very cozy and homey - highly recommended.

Embarking for the cruise could not have been easier - cab pulls up to dock, bags disappear and your standing beneath a crystal chandelier with champagne in hand. This was the final week of the Tulip cruises and the flowers were going to be at their height of beauty. The cabin was spacious and modern with a full and French balcony. There is plenty of storage - more than we needed - and we always overpack! There’s a mini iPad that controls the lights and temperature for the cabin and a huge Mac monitor for tv, movies, music, info & navigation. The bathroom design was so beautiful! The dual headed shower was large with gorgeous tile inlay and again, plenty of storage beneath sink. We were in cabin #309 and never heard a sound from anywhere outside our room. “Anja” was our cabin attendant and she was awesome!

From our previous cruise with AMA, (Paris to Normandy), we knew the food, excursions and service would be five star - except I would add at least one more star for our cruise director, “Sonja” on AMALea. I think she’s actually Super Woman just hiding her cape under that blazer! Each daily excursion was interesting and well executed - but getting 150 passengers off and back on the ship in a timely matter cannot be easy! Throughout the week we visited Hoorn, Middleberg, Antwerp, Bruge, Kinderkork, the Kukenhoff Gardens then back to Amsterdam. Read more