This post is mainly for those of you who are contemplating booking a world cruise or segment on the good ship Amsterdam in the future. As most of you will recall I took a week cruise with my Robin to Alaska and coincidentally we were on the Amsterdam. It enabled me to become acquainted with the ship, service, food, etc. I was very disappointed in the service and crew but very happy with the cabin and food. I was assured that the service by the crew of the world cruise would be wonderful. THEY WERE RIGHT! My what service. My cabin steward, Jessie, is great, personable and always there. On the other cruise I never even saw the steward except once at 12:00 pm to reconfigure the bed to what was ordered. My first request for this to be done was at 2:00 pm. Again the bed wasn’t right but Jessie had it corrected within the half hour. He is leaving funny towel animals for me just as if I was a kid.

Food, oh what dinners we are having in the dining room. Try Filet mignon, Alaska king crab legs, and MAINE lobster tail. Those were my choices of entrees the first three days. How can they keep this up? I’m still struggling to remember our waiter’s name but I will in time have his name etched in my brain. He is a marvel. The service is spectacular and this is welcomed after the very poor service on our Alaska cruise. After the first day I didn’t have to remind him of petite portions or decaf espresso with a lemon twist. Magically everything is exactly what I requested that very first day.

Check-in was a breeze. No long lines and everything was complete in 15 minutes or less. And, to my delight, the photo of my boarding is great. I look so cute and I have never taken a good boarding picture ever ever ever.!

I used Cruise Specialists (hereafter referred to as CSI) as my agent. To my delight my travel agent was one of the persons sent to assist in the final stages. It was wonderful to see Shannon in person. We had a great party and dinner and since I was seated at the head table I was able to meet the President and his wife. Our two fearless leaders, Tom and Ellen, were also on hand to greet us. I haven’t had enough contact with Tom yet to give you a feel for his personality but Ellen is a fun loving ready for anything type of person. Last night she was wearing an elegant outfit that was black and the same color as Doc Severinson’s suit (shocking coral) and she managed to get a photo of the two of them on stage. My kind of girl.

CSI was responsible for our travel arrangements to a shopping center and transfer from the hotel to the ship. Both endeavors went perfectly. Kudos to CSI and my agent, Shannon.