Tulip season a fine time to take a river cruise
AmaWaterways offers affordable spring excursion through Holland and Belgium
One of my favourite river cruise itineraries is one that most people don’t know exists.
Everyone knows about the grand voyages that travel from Amsterdam to Budapest, and to be sure, they’re wonderful.
But not to be overlooked are the spring Tulip Time cruises that set sail from Amsterdam and traverse the heart of the Netherlands and Belgium in search of the region’s most iconic flower.
Nearly every river cruise line offers these Tulip Time voyages, but AmaWaterways (cruise. center/AMA) offers a particularly great one. Their ships are classy and beautifully designed, but won’t set you back as much as the all-inclusive lines. Service is topnotch, and the food is universally well done, relying on local ingredients and specialties whenever possible. And I really like that their ships offer complimentary on-board bicycles for guests to use ashore, which really comes in handy on this itinerary.
Cruising round-trip from Amsterdam (where you’ll definitely want to spend a few days pre- and-post-cruise), AmaWaterways’ weeklong Tulip Time cruises only operate during March and April, to coincide with the tulip season in the Netherlands. Because of that, you’ll get to visit attractions such as the massive Keukenhof Gardens near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport that are only open for a handful of weeks out of the year.
So why do you want to go see a bunch of flowers? Because they’re absolutely amazing — and this is coming from someone that has never had much of an affinity for them. Tulip season in the Netherlands is a big deal, and the flowers that crop up around the city, at Keukenhof and elsewhere, are a sight to behold.
Besides the tulips, there are plenty of other reasons to enjoy this springtime itinerary. In nearly every port of call, AmaWaterways offers guests a choice of excursions.
In Arnhem, for example, guests can visit the moving Arnhem Bridge and Airborne Museum, the Kroller Muller Museum, or go on a guided tour of the city by bicycle. In Amsterdam, guests can visit the Keukenhof Gardens, take a ride through the city’s famous canals by boat, or walk through the Jordaan district, known for its markets, art studios and, of course, the historic Anne Frank House at Prinsengracht.
If you’ve never river-cruised before, this is a great itinerary for first-timers. The itinerary isn’t too demanding, and almost all of the ports of call are well-suited for walking, cycling and sightseeing.
These Tulip Time river cruises call on Amsterdam, Hoorn, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Antwerp, Ghent, Rotterdam, Schoonhoven, and the small village of Kinderdijk, famous for its iconic 18th-century windmills that were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Two of AmaWaterways’ newest ships sail this itinerary this year: the 164-guest AmaCerto and her sister, AmaPrima. Both of these ships are beautifully designed, and most of the staterooms on-board offer up Ama’s trademark “dual balcony” feature that includes both a traditional French balcony and a full, step-out balcony within the same room. But both ships still include more cost-effective “riverview” staterooms, along with some pretty luxe, top-of-the-line suites on Violin Deck that clock in at 300 square feet apiece.
Of course, AmaWaterways offers more than just these tuliptime cruises. The line has a whole host of European river cruises along the Danube, the Main, and the Rhine on-tap throughout the year, along with voyages through France and Portugal. The company also cruises the Mekong River between Cambodia and Vietnam and Myanmar’s Irrawaddy, both of which I highly recommend if you’re at all interested in seeing Asia by rivercruise. And they’re one of the only companies to offer cruisetours that explore Africa’s Chobe River.
When I took my first river cruise back in 2011, I had to spend a lot of time explaining to people exactly what it was. That’s no longer the case: River cruising is so popular right now that AmaWaterways took the unprecedented step of releasing its 2018 river cruise itineraries for booking at the end of last year. And that means many more options to try out this great way to travel.
Happy cruising.