Amsterdam is a nice, clean city of more than 700,000 inhabitants. We enjoyed the visit immensely and I suggest that if time will allow, arrive sufficiently early to take advantage of what the city can offer for a few days.
We had made a prior arrangement with another couple to hire a van with driver for a 4-hour tour. (Eurolimo B.V. Tel: 020-631-1063 / Fax:020-631-5794).
We saw most of the city highlights as well as a short ride to a lakeside resort named Volendam. The latter was a very touristy place, but quaint and pleasant to visit nevertheless.
The driver, a fellow named Martin, did a very fine job of showing off his city. This was a first-rate experience. I would recommend this service. It cost us $105 per couple including a generous tip.
We have traveled extensively in Europe over the years. Amsterdam in the summertime in our opinion is one of the finest destination cities one can choose. It would be a shame to fly in and fly out just to connect with the cruise ship because we feel that Amsterdam has more to offer than any other city on this itinerary.
The Ship:
Throughout the cruise, the seas were pretty good. Regardless of the sea conditions however, the ship rode the water absolutely without peer. Except for an occasional bump here and there, in particular inbound to Poland when the seas were high and our speed slow, there was never any sense of motion. This doesn't mean it can't happen, but it didn't happen on 14 days of our cruise. We saw one person wearing a transderm patch. We heard nobody complaining about seasickness.
Sleeping at night, whether at the dock in St. Petersburg or moving through whitecaps at 24 Kt., there was no detectable difference, at least not in our cabin. Just a faint hiss from the air conditioning system. Our cabin was located about two thirds of the way towards the stern, on a lower deck 2.
More than likely, a contributor to the smoothness were the GE gas turbine powerplants. These big "jet" engines drive generators that produce electricity. The electricity is fed into large electric motors that turn the two 21 ft. diameter propellers. Unlike other ships that have large reciprocating diesel engines, the gas turbines have no inherent vibration to be transferred to the vessel.
The only time any vibration is felt is briefly when the side thrusters are used, when either docking or pushing away from the pier. The Millennium, like many newer ships, do not require the use of tugs to aid in maneuvering.
The ship's tenders were never used. All ports at which we stopped had docking facilities.
The Cabin:
As is our custom, we had booked the lowest of the low inside cabin rates nine months previously, Category 12. We elected to "take whatever they want give us". We found out three weeks before sailing that we were given a 5-category upgrade to an outside cabin located amidships on Deck 2.
Deck 2 is good because any ship rides the water better lower down. Our cabin was also level with the dock and we were able to enjoy looking right in the eyes of all the crowds of people who came out to visit the Millenniumat every port we visited.
We established a friendship with a couple who had a mini-suite with a very large balcony located at the stern of the ship. It was really something. On the other hand, as a couple they paid $4000 more for this cruise than we did. It probably was worth having from their standpoint, but to us it meant we could go on still one more cruise in the future. We were happy with the savings.
Our cabin was quite nice, brand-new of course, and with a large, round picture window measuring perhaps a little larger than 1 meter in diameter. The cabin is 170 sq. ft. in area, a little bigger I think than comparably priced cabins on Princess and/or Royal Caribbean.
When we arrived, the beds were already assembled in the king arrangement we had requested. A personalized welcome message was waiting for us on the screen of the 17" TV and the ice bucket was full.
There is a combination safe, two 110V US-style electrical outlets and two 220V round-pin European-style outlets. I understand that the larger suites have a VCR for which videos can be borrowed. The suites also have an internet access jack, but I never found out how that works nor whether anyone ever used it.
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