New York to Amsterdam
This cruise is the second segment of our No-fly Vacation in Paris. The first segment was to drive from our home in California to New York. We left our car with my brother in New Jersey, and boarded the Holland-American Line's Prinsendam at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We were looking forward to spending the next twenty days crossing the Atlantic in luxury.
The Cruise
We sailed out of New York Harbor along Long Island to Edgartown on the Island of Martha's Vineyard. Rough seas here convinced us to stay on board. This decision was vindicated when a wave smashed the windshield of a tender. Some passengers on another tender sustained minor injuries transferring from tender to ship. Fortunately the rest of the cruise was smooth sailing
Next we had a succession of Portuguese ports: The Azores, Lisbon, and Porto. Then a stop in north western corner of Spain, A Coruña in Galicia. Crossing the By of Biscay, we stopped overnight in Bordeaux, France. That gave us a chance to revisit St-Émilion, one of our favorites.
Brittany and Normandy were next, with calls in Brest, St-Malo and Cherbourg. We had a day in Bruges, Belgium reached from its port of ZeeBrugge. Early on the morning of June 6th, we entered the locks at IJmuiden to traverse the North Sea Canal, inland to Amsterdam.
Once tied up at the Amsterdam Cruise Port, we gathered up our belongings, bid good-bye to our floating hotel, and rolled our suitcases about 1,000 yards to the train station. We waited for a little while, then boarded the Thalys high-speed train for our two hour trip to Paris.
![]() Amsterdam Cruise Port |
![]() The road to the station |
Amsterdam Central Station |
![]() Thalys train |
![]() First class car |
Paris, Gare du Nord |
The Prinsendam
This was our second cruise on M/S Prinsendam. In 2008 she had taken us to Norway, Iceland and Greenland. At less than 38,000 tons, she is the smallest ship in the Holland-America fleet, and specializes in unusual itineraries. She has a devoted following of passengers who keep coming back cruise after cruise. Her nickname is "The Elegant Explorer." We had timed our trip so that we could sail on our favorite ship once more. Marie especially likes the library on the Prinsendam.
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