Springtime in The Netherlands and Belgium

Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime.

Fly from the UK, and on arrival in Amsterdam, be transferred to your river ship. Perhaps grab a map to explore this carefree, cosmopolitan city. This evening, meet your Cruise Director and fellow passengers at a Welcome Reception.

Enjoy a relaxing morning cruising along over the IJmeer and Markermeer. After lunch, arrive in Hoorn where you will join a walking tour through the iconic sights. Discover its splendid horn-shaped harbour, which is how it earned its name.

Rotterdam is a city that's a long way removed from most people's stereotypical notion of the Netherlands. There are few, if any, canals to be found here nor are there any quaint windmills. There is, however, a thriving modern city which is one of the busiest ports in the entire world.

Enjoy a guided exploration The Hague and see the Dutch Parliament building and the Peace Palace. After your morning activity, there will be free time to head off and explore Rotterdam on your own.

Visit the World Heritage-listed Kinderdijk, known for having the country's greatest concentration of 18th-century windmills. Your ship will then set sail for Willemstad, where you’ll have free time to explore.

Today cruise into the Zeeland region.

Insider Experience - Delta Works

Visit the Delta Works, one of the world’s most complex modern engineering projects. Learn about the series of flood protection systems that took more than 30 years to complete. Consisting of 13 sections, the Delta Works form the largest flood protection system on the planet and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Enjoy a guided discovery of Ghent, including a canal cruise. Alternatively, you may wish to join an optional excursion to soak up the historic wonders of Bruges. Here, see the “Grote Markt”, or market square. Dating back to 958 AD, this was a place for the common people to sell their produce and is now the beating heart of Bruges. Continue to The Belfry, an 83-metre-high medieval bell tower in the centre of the city. Originally built in the 13th century, the bell tower has been rebuilt many times due to fires and adapted to the changing needs of the people in the town.

Enhance Your Journey - Bruges

Join an excursion to soak up the historic wonders of Bruges, including the Markt Plaza and medieval bell tower.

Today, visit the Memorial Museum Passchendaele. This museum is devoted to the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, where almost 500,000 men were killed in just 100 days. After your visit, you will head to the Tyne Cot Cemetery – the largest Commonwealth War Graves site in the world – and the Polygon Wood battlefield.

Explore Antwerp, Belgium's second city. Known for its diamond cutting industry, fashion and the many great artists that lived in its vicinity, Antwerp is a city focused on art and culture.

Arrive in Antwerp and enjoy a walking tour. See the market in the Grand Square, the Steen Castle visit the Cathedral of Our Lady. The afternoon is at your leisure to further explore. You may like to join a culinary walk to sample Belgium’s renowned waffles and chocolate, and taste for yourself why they’re considered the world’s finest.

Enhance Your Journey – Culinary Walking Tour

Join a culinary walk to sample Belgium’s renowned waffles and chocolate, and taste for yourself why they’re considered the world’s finest.

Explore Antwerp, Belgium's second city. Known for its diamond cutting industry, fashion and the many great artists that lived in its vicinity, Antwerp is a city focused on art and culture.

Enjoy a day at leisure to explore Antwerp at your leisure. Alternatively, you may like to join a full day optional tour visiting the Battlefields of Fromelles.

Enhance Your Journey – WWI Battlefields

Join a full-day tour, visiting the Battlefields of Fromelles. The Pheasant Wood Cemetery is the first new war cemetery to be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 50 years and was opened in 2010. The cemetery contains a total of 250 Australian and British soldiers, who lost their lives in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles on the 19th and 20th July 1916. You will also travel to the Flanders Fields Museum, where you will learn about World War I in the West Flanders region. The museum building was mostly destroyed during the war but was reconstructed afterwards.

Set out on a guided tour of Maastricht, the birthplace of the modern European Union. Developed as a Roman settlement around 50BC, it is a city of many personalities having undergone a number of identity changes throughout its history. Admire the beautiful Basilica of Our Lady, one of the oldest remaining religious buildings in the city, see traces of the Middle Ages in the city walls, stroll along the city’s iconic cobblestone roads, and enjoy the welcoming feel of what is today an energetic university city.

Enjoy a guided tour of the fortified city of Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands. Situated close to the German border in the east of the country, Nijmegen celebrated its 2,000 birthday in 2005. Nijmegen’s fame stretched to new corners when legendary America singer Nina Simone bought a home there in 1988, staying until 1990. Admire the city’s many beautiful historic buildings and landmarks, and do your best to visit one of the city’s many bars to soak up a slice of authentic Dutch frivolity.

In Arnhem visit the Airborne Museum, viewing a depiction of the Battle of Arnhem in which the Allied Forces attempted to form a bridgehead on the northern banks of the Rhine River in September 1944.

Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime.

Board a glass-top boat and glide through Amsterdam’s maze of waterways with a local guide, before enjoying some free time to explore this lively city.

Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime.

With the afternoon at leisure, you may wish to join an optional tour to the quaint fishing village of Volendam and nearby Edam, known for its cheese. Tonight, sit down to the Captain’s Farewell Dinner.

Insider Experience – Keukenhof Gardens

Visit Keukenhof Gardens, encompassing more than 70 acres of renowned gardens and parklands. Relish the chance to admire the spectacular display of bulb flowers in bloom, including colourful tulips.

Amsterdam combines the unrivaled beauty of the 17th-century Golden Age city center with plenty of museums and art of the highest order, not to mention a remarkably laid-back atmosphere. It all comes together to make this one of the world's most appealing and offbeat metropolises in the world. Built on a latticework of concentric canals like an aquatic rainbow, Amsterdam is known as the City of Canals—but it's no Venice, content to live on moonlight serenades and former glory. Quite the contrary: on nearly every street here you'll find old and new side by side—quiet corners where time seems to be holding its breath next to streets like neon-lit Kalverstraat, and Red Light ladies strutting by the city's oldest church. Indeed, Amsterdam has as many lovely facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters. It's certainly a metropolis, but a rather small and very accessible one. Locals tend to refer to it as a big village, albeit one that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a major world destination. There are scores of concerts every day, numerous museums, summertime festivals, and, of course, a legendary year-round party scene. It's pretty much impossible to resist Amsterdam's charms. With 7,000 registered monuments, most of which began as the residences and warehouses of humble merchants, set on 160 man-made canals, and traversed by 1,500 or so bridges, Amsterdam has the largest historical inner city in Europe. Its famous circle of waterways, the grachtengordel, was a 17th-century urban expansion plan for the rich and is a lasting testament to the city’s Golden Age. This town is endearing because of its kinder, gentler nature—but a reputation for championing sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll does not alone account for Amsterdam's being one of the most popular destinations in Europe: consider that within a single square mile the city harbors some of the greatest achievements in Western art, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. Not to mention that this is one of Europe's great walking cities, with so many of its treasures in the untouted details: tiny alleyways barely visible on the map, hidden garden courtyards, shop windows, floating houseboats, hidden hofjes(courtyards with almshouses), sudden vistas of church spires, and gabled roofs that look like so many unframed paintings. And don’t forget that the joy lies in details: elaborate gables and witty gable stones denoting the trade of a previous owner. Keep in mind that those XXX symbols you see all over town are not a mark of the city's triple-X reputation. They're part of Amsterdam's official coat of arms—three St. Andrew's crosses, believed to represent the three dangers that have traditionally plagued the city: flood, fire, and pestilence. The coat's motto ("Valiant, determined, compassionate") was introduced in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina in remembrance of the 1941 February Strike in Amsterdam—the first time in Europe that non-Jewish people protested against the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime.

Say farewell today, disembark your ship and be transferred to the airport for your return flight to the UK.