A bottle of Champagne and lots of sunshine for AMAKRISTINA
By Mike|2017-05-12T11:02:38+00:00May 12th, 2017|Green|
Nobody could believe what a stunningly beautiful day it was, on May 10th 2017, for the christening of AMAKRISTINA, AmaWaterways' newest river cruise ship. After too many days of cold and grey weather, summer-like conditions had finally arrived in Europe, and in Lahnstein, a town with an idyllic view on the river [...]
The first Chinese cruise ship, all to myself
By Mike|2017-05-11T09:39:32+00:00May 11th, 2017|Blue|
On April 27th I embarked on a virtually empty cruise ship, surrounded by almost 1,000 Chinese staff. A special experience indeed. An empty ship... Before the first Chinese guests could embark, the ship had to sail all the way from Germany. That's a long journey of one and a half month. I [...]
Quality time with cats, in Tokyo
By Mike|2017-04-18T17:05:03+00:00April 18th, 2017|Green|
Much to my own surprise I suddenly found myself excited about a cat café, in the middle of Tokyo. Our discovery tour of Tokyo was abruptly interrupted when my good friend Nobuko pointed at a fourth or fifth floor of a building. She said she wanted to visit the "MoCha Cat Café", [...]
Ten reasons why I fell in love with Shanghai
By Mike|2017-04-04T08:12:04+00:00April 4th, 2017|Green|
Sometimes in life you meet somebody briefly, and you know it will be a friend forever. No need to see each other frequently; the friendship is there to stay. Our ship, the VOLENDAM, was only in Shanghai for two days. But after day one I already realized that my bond with Shanghai [...]
Hong Kong, surprisingly green
By Mike|2017-03-30T03:21:30+00:00March 30th, 2017|Green|
Do you think skyscrapers, and skyscrapers only, when one says "Hong Kong"? So did I. However, much to my surprise I saw an almost poetic entente between the dazzling concrete towers and a wide array of beautiful trees and city gardens. Do you think skyscrapers, and skyscrapers only, when one [...]
Cruising in the heart of Sweden on a historic Göta Canal boat
By Mike|2017-03-22T19:17:16+00:00March 22nd, 2017|Green|
Probably it was the oldest cruise ship I have ever been on. The Swedish JUNO was built in 1874, and she is still operating on the route she was built for: the Göta Canal. The Göta Canal was one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in Sweden. The excavation [...]
Why cruising? Look at these pictures!
By Mike|2017-03-09T09:53:17+00:00March 9th, 2017|Green|
What makes cruising so attractive? That is something I often have to write about, or to include in presentations. Different persons, different reasons, and there are many. However my main reason for being a cruise addict can be shown in these twelve pictures. And you'll understand. The above photo shows: Ship: OOSTERDAM, [...]
A cruise with KONINGSDAM: my favourite pictures explained
By Mike|2017-02-22T09:23:03+00:00February 22nd, 2017|Green|
Are you interested in some of my photographic secrets? From last year's cruise with Holland America Line's KONINGSDAM I picked my ten favourite shots. And then I started to write down how I achieved the final results. The first picture of this blog post was taken in the early hours [...]
300 days to finish MSC SEASIDE
By Mike|2017-02-04T12:46:08+00:00February 4th, 2017|Blue|
Visiting a ship under construction is always a moment of professional joy. On February 1, I was offered the opportunity to embark on MSC SEASIDE, the first of (at least) two nice-weather cruiseships for MSC Cruises. The group of media relations and travel agents from Belgium, Luxemburg and France, ready for the [...]
A different Seine experience with CroisiEurope
By Mike|2016-12-26T17:41:02+00:00December 26th, 2016|Green|
Have you seen my blogpost about the Amawaterways cruise on the river Seine? I have to confess something: three weeks before the cruise with "Ama" I did another cruise, on the same river, with the SEINE PRINCESS, from the French company CroisiEurope. Twice the same river, with less than a month in [...]