Amsterdam With Azamara, AFAR

Posted onAuthorChris Owen

Stopping in Amsterdam for two full days with Azamara Club Cruises brought me back to a city one might visit a hundred times and still not see everything. Still, from previous trips we have learned that exploring with a plan in mind helps get the most out of a destination. Beginning with personal recommendations from the Shore Explorations desk on Azamara Quest and using destination-specific recommendations from the AFAR-charged Azamara smartphone app, we covered on our first day more than I would have ever dreamed possible.

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The Azamara app, powered by a rich library of AFAR-sourced destination information, getting started was as easy as turning on data roaming on my phone briefly to let it know were we were then turning it off again. Tagged with our GPS location, the app highlighted areas and points of interest within walking distance of our location. Already exploring the app while on Azamara Quest, using their snappy-fast Internet connection (I found the optimum places for that on the ship, details later), I had already tagged places we wanted to see. Mostly museum district attractions, we chose to save those for day two, instead exploring the iconic areas of Amsterdam including the red light district and more on day one.

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Another helpful resource is the interactive map on Amsterdam.info which allows us to select what we want to see then populate a map with tags for those places.  Here is one tagged for museums only that provides good illustration why a full day is easily not enough to see them all

 

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We’re here for two days, you see, thanks to destination-focused Azamara Club Cruises who does an outstanding job of identifying ports where a late if not overnight stay is appropriate.   In a way, one might aptly describe the Azamara experience as a cruisetour of sorts, with the land portion that normally appears on the front and back end divided among the stops along the way.   Yes, I like that description. Accurate.

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Interestingly, the AFAR recommendations turned out to be nearly exactly the same place we were led to by another Azamara Quest passenger who was quite familiar with the area. Let’s take a look in the first of a number of posts about this truly unique destination.  I’ll be back with details on how we went about getting to that part of town, what we did while there and more.  It’s the ”and more” part that I think is the most interesting part.

Just joining us?  Catch up here, a number of ways:

Complete Journal– From pre-cruise planning to after sailing reflection and every step in between, right here, updated daily as we sail in our Engaging Azamara Summer Baltics Cruise Journal

Individual Day Posts During Sailing– day by day, in the order written

 

Pinterest Photo Boards – one for each port and more

Flickr Photo Albums- all our photos for each place, free to use- check back frequently; we are adding more photos throughout the journey.

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