OMG ADVENTURE: Part 3

This will be Part 3 of our 53-day around the world trip, which I named Our Monumental Global Adventure, or OMGA.  My final circumnavigation will be called OMEGA, Our Memorably Extraordinary Global Adventure.  No plans for this final journey yet.  I'll also work on that acronym.

I left you yesterday in Copenhagen.  The next stop was Amsterdam, for the first of three back-to-back cruises.  We boarded the Tauck Esprit for a tulip river cruise to Brussels.  Forbes lists their best European River Cruises:

• Best Overall: Viking, Viking Egdir
• Best High-End: Uniworld, S.S. La Venezia
• Best For Families: A-Rosa, A-Rosa Sena
• Best For Couples: Scenic, Scenic Azure
• Best For History Lovers: Tauck River Cruising, MS Sapphire
• Best Value: Emerald Cruises, Emerald Luna
• Best For Foodies: Riverside Luxury Cruises,Riverside Ravel
• Best For Active Travelers: AmaWaterways, AmaMagna

Certainly looks like they went out of their way to name all the active companies in this business.  

For the record, our next river cruise will be with Viking, on a Christmas cruise towards the end of this year.  To get to Amsterdam:

• The cost of flying west from Honolulu on Business class to Amsterdam costs around $6000.
• The cost of flying east from Honolulu on Business class to Amsterdam costs around $2500, but takes two overnight flights.  I hate them.
• A first class flight from Honolulu to Amsterdam would cost around $6000/person, plus those two overnights.

• 
  We can instead take a 35-day Norwegian cruise at a cost of $6000/person, including all the food, and drinks we would want, plus free internet.  This is mostly a re-positioning combination, so the price is extremely attractive at $171/person/day. There will be the added cost of flying from Honolulu to Seattle, then London to Amsterdam, but the business class total for both will be less than $1000...and no overnight flights.
• Thus, we chose to take the cruise option.  Slightly more expensive, but more than a month of a free vacation with everything paid.  I am retired, so time is irrelevant.
• The Norwegian Encore made its debut in 2019 and carries 4000 passengers.

After the Christmas cruise, we will fly home west from Budapest.  Leaving early in the morning, with plane changes in Zurich and Seattle, we can return home that same night.

However, there is an interesting return option.  We can fly from Budapest to Hamburg, and on January 7, 2025, board Cunard's newest, the Queen Anne, which will begin her maiden around the world cruise on that date, cruising west, and actually arrive in Honolulu on February 9, 34 days later, about the same period as our Norwegian Encore cruise.  The two cruise costs would be about equivalent.  However, I doubt if we'll be so adventurous.

Tauck is a high-end European river cruise company.  Everything they do is first-class.  We found the entire trip to be outstanding.  

• The room is rather large, with French windows, meaning you can slide them open, but there is no veranda.  The whole journey was too cold to use them anyway.
• Alcoholic drinks are available from wake up to sleep.
• Cuisine is superior and staff excellent.
• The second day, the ship was still in Amsterdam, so we took their Riksmuseum tour.  
• As would be expected, my Blue-Bar Pigeon greeted us.

• 
  This is their national museum dedicated to Dutch arts and history, with a million objects from 200 to 2000, but only 8,000 on display at one time.
• Founded in 1798.
• A special hall was created for Rembrandt's Night Watch (right).

• Had to take this photo of asparaguses, for it still was too early for them on the ship.

• A canal boat cruise was one facet of the tour, and I was perfectly positioned to take that view of 7 bridges.

• Tomahawk pork for dinner.

• I carry a pedometer, and try to get up to 5000 steps/day, which is almost two miles.

The highlight of the entire 53-day OMGA was the third day, a tour of The Tulip Garden of the World, Keukenhof.  A few photos.

After a two-hour rest on the Esprit, we boarded a bus to take us to Noordeinde Palace, workplace of King Wilem Alexander and Queen Maxima, for a gala dinner.  Next door is a private Mauritshuis Museum, where we went to view various artworks, including Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Loved the Brussels tour, home of the European Union.

And the Atomium, the centerpiece of the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.

The next World Expo was held in Seattle in 1962.  I went to that one, and, every five years, most of them since then.  The next will be 2025 in Osaka, which will be the focus of our global journey in May of that year, after that Christmas cruise later this year.  There is a 72-day cruise on Oceania from Tokyo to Honolulu that is available after the Expo.

From Brussels, we flew to Barcelona to catch the Regent Seven Seas Voyager.  Return tomorrow for part 4 of OMGA.

Some good news.  Across the board, Wall Street notched record closes today:

• S&P 500 gained 62 points to 5,309.
• Nasdaq Composite up 233 to 16,744.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 358 to 39,911.

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