Guides · Amsterdam

Guides to the days on either side of a sailing

Longer pieces on the shore days themselves. Each one takes a single day apart, says what is fixed and what still has slack in it, and ends with the questions that day tends to raise.

4 in this issue

The night before embarkation in Amsterdam: a couple's plan from the airport to the shipTwo people land in Amsterdam the day before a sailing with roughly fourteen usable hours in front of them and one printed number waiting at the end. This guide walks the whole of that day in order, from the moment the wheels touch down to the moment the cases go out of the room, and puts the booked hour where it earns its place.2026-08-30
Cruise luggage, hotel rooms and a booked hour: the logistics for twoCruise passengers travel with more luggage than anybody else who stays one night in a hotel, and that single fact shapes every booking made around a sailing. This guide is about the cases: where they go, what they do to a room, and how the two of you keep them from deciding the evening.2026-07-25
After weeks on the water: a first night back on land in AmsterdamA voyage ends early in the morning, quickly, and with a great deal of other people around. What follows is a day nobody plans and an evening that turns out to be the quietest of the whole trip. This guide is about that evening and about the state two people are actually in when they reach it.2026-06-27
Why the session takes place at your hotel and never on boardThe question arrives in one form or another most weeks: the ship is alongside in the city, the cabin is perfectly private, so why does a booking have to happen in a hotel room instead. The answer is short, it does not change for a longer booking, and planning around it is easier than most couples expect.2026-05-30