Nobody could believe what a stunningly beautiful day it was, on May 10th 2017, for the christening of AMAKRISTINA, AmaWaterways' newest river cruise ship. After too many days of cold and grey weather, summer-like conditions had finally arrived in Europe, and in Lahnstein, a town with an idyllic view on the river [...]
On April 27th I embarked on a virtually empty cruise ship, surrounded by almost 1,000 Chinese staff. A special experience indeed. An empty ship... Before the first Chinese guests could embark, the ship had to sail all the way from Germany. That's a long journey of one and a half month. I [...]
Much to my own surprise I suddenly found myself excited about a cat café, in the middle of Tokyo. Our discovery tour of Tokyo was abruptly interrupted when my good friend Nobuko pointed at a fourth or fifth floor of a building. She said she wanted to visit the "MoCha Cat Café", [...]
Sometimes in life you meet somebody briefly, and you know it will be a friend forever. No need to see each other frequently; the friendship is there to stay. Our ship, the VOLENDAM, was only in Shanghai for two days. But after day one I already realized that my bond with Shanghai [...]
Do you think skyscrapers, and skyscrapers only, when one says "Hong Kong"? So did I. However, much to my surprise I saw an almost poetic entente between the dazzling concrete towers and a wide array of beautiful trees and city gardens. Do you think skyscrapers, and skyscrapers only, when one [...]
Probably it was the oldest cruise ship I have ever been on. The Swedish JUNO was built in 1874, and she is still operating on the route she was built for: the Göta Canal. The Göta Canal was one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in Sweden. The excavation [...]
What makes cruising so attractive? That is something I often have to write about, or to include in presentations. Different persons, different reasons, and there are many. However my main reason for being a cruise addict can be shown in these twelve pictures. And you'll understand. The above photo shows: Ship: OOSTERDAM, [...]
Are you interested in some of my photographic secrets? From last year's cruise with Holland America Line's KONINGSDAM I picked my ten favourite shots. And then I started to write down how I achieved the final results. The first picture of this blog post was taken in the early hours [...]
Visiting a ship under construction is always a moment of professional joy. On February 1, I was offered the opportunity to embark on MSC SEASIDE, the first of (at least) two nice-weather cruiseships for MSC Cruises. The group of media relations and travel agents from Belgium, Luxemburg and France, ready for the [...]
Have you seen my blogpost about the Amawaterways cruise on the river Seine? I have to confess something: three weeks before the cruise with "Ama" I did another cruise, on the same river, with the SEINE PRINCESS, from the French company CroisiEurope. Twice the same river, with less than a month in [...]
