Amsterdam & Antwerp Taster Cruise

I’ve never visited Amsterdam or Antwerp before so when I won a place on a weekend taster cruise with Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), I was really looking forward to joining my TC colleagues to learn all about both cities and what CMV had to offer. The cruise embarked from Tilbury in London. Living in Oxford, it was a quick and easy journey on the train and tube and by 2pm we were on-board MV Columbus sampling the refreshments in the sunshine! Columbus has been newly refurbished and has a modern, spacious feel. It’s a medium sized ship, so is relatively easy to navigate and has lots of well-appointed public areas including shopping galleries, cafes, pool decks with plenty of sunbeds for soaking up the rays and the beautiful atrium, where we enjoyed fabulous after-dinner dancing on our final evening. There are various entertainment venues on-board including a theatre, casino and Domes nightclub where you can party into the early hours, as well as a number of bars and restaurants. The food was really good and certainly on a par with the cuisine I have experienced on some of the larger cruise ships, such as P&O and Celebrity. My particular favourite was Fusion – an Indian speciality dining restaurant serving authentic Indian cuisine and I have to say, it has to be one of the best Indian meals I have had (and I’ve had a few!) We spent our 3 nights in an outside cabin with a large picture window, great for experiencing the views as you pull into all the wonderful ports on your journey. Cabins are spacious, clean and very comfortable, with plenty of storage space, tea and coffee making facilities and a TV (not that we had time to watch anything! Like most cruise ships, Columbus operates a cashless system on-board and all prices are in pound sterling. The cost of drinks is very reasonable with a beer costing approx. £4.50 and cocktails at around £3.85, so definitely cheaper than a night out in Oxford! Amsterdam and Antwerp are great stops for a weekend cruise as you dock right in the heart of the city with the main sights only a short stroll away. We had a coach tour of Amsterdam organised for us. However, I personally feel that the best way to explore is on foot either self-guided or as part of an organised walking tour, and twinned with a relaxing canal boat cruise. This will give you a great feel for the busy capital with its iconic canals, house boats, historic buildings and of course the odd bicycle or two! Antwerp is a beautiful city located on the River Scheldt and is famed for its diamonds, ancient Flemish architecture and a spectacular gothic cathedral. Of course, no trip to Belgium would be complete without sampling one of the things the country is most famous for – beer! We took part in a walking beer tour and had great fun. We sampled 3 of the local beers in 3 different cafes, one of which served a whopping 300 different beers! Be warned though some of the beers are quite strong, so you may need a snooze by the pool when you get back to the ship! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and CMV were fantastic hosts. I highly recommend a taster cruise to anyone who hasn’t cruised before to give you a feel for cruising, I don’t doubt that you will get the cruising bug and want to go again! It’s also a great idea for a group get together such as a hen or stag weekend. Columbus itself is targeted more towards the 50 plus market with most of its cruises being adults-only; however, this mini-cruise had a wide mix of ages and clientele. If you’d like to hear more about a cruise with Cruise & Maritime Voyages or any other cruise line, or if you are interested in visiting Amsterdam or Antwerp, then please do not hesitate to get in touch so I can tell you more.