You probably know this already, but I’m going to start with an important fact because it was relevant today. Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands and one of its most important seaports, lies six feet below sea level. Now, the only way a seaport can exist below sea level is with a lock to raise and lower ships on their way in and out. So Amsterdam has a lock, two of them actually, side by side.
Which brings me to the reason Amsterdam’s lock was relevant this morning. It seems that a small band of environmental protesters didn’t want the Serenade to dock in the city, so they chained themselves to the locks to prevent their operation. We actually got all the way up to the locks at 7:00 am before having to back up, turn around, and anchor offshore while the local authorities decided what to do.
Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a big deal. We’ve missed ports before for one reason or another, and we could easily go to Rotterdam or some other port that was more accommodating. The problem is that Amsterdam is a turnaround port for us, meaning that it marks the end of one of our seventeen shorter segments and the beginning of another. And that means that tomorrow morning we’re supposed to disgorge around 1200 of our passengers who are only onboard for this segment and get them to the airport so they can fly home. Meanwhile a similar number will be arriving in Amsterdam from wherever they call home and expecting to board the ship here for our next (and final) segment. Bottom line: docking anywhere other than Amsterdam creates a massive headache for Royal Caribbean and roughly 2400 outgoing and incoming passengers.
Around 3:30 this afternoon the captain announced that the protesters were removed and we were finally cleared to proceed in to Amsterdam, and after picking up the harbor pilot (always a requirement in any port), we passed through the locks at 6:00.
That, however, did not get us into Amsterdam. There was still a lengthy trip down the canal to negotiate, and by the time we reached the city and docked it was 8:20 pm. The ship was cleared by customs officials a little before 9:00, freeing passengers to go ashore, but it was just too close to my bedtime for me to venture out for a night on the town. Besides, we’re scheduled to take a canal tour early tomorrow morning, and Michele has museum tickets after that, so the prudent course for me was to call it a day and gear up for a big day in Amsterdam tomorrow. Michele did go out for a bit to take some photos though.
Be sure to check out my photos below. I think you’ll find the graffiti the protesters spray painted on the locks interesting. And watch for tomorrow’s blog post. Two days in Amsterdam would have been awesome, but one day will still be great, and I’ll be back to tell you all about it, so stay tuned.
This was the scene this morning at 7:00 as we pulled up to the lock. The protesters in yellow were chained to the lock, preventing it from happening opening.
The protesters were gone when we finally passed through the lock at 6:00 this evening, but they had left behind this spray painted graffiti. I believe “EAT THE RICH” says that their political agenda goes a good deal beyond keeping cruise ships out of Amsterdam, but I’ll let you form your own opinion.
We saw dozens of windmills on our way in to Amsterdam, some right next to the locks. The Netherlands has hundreds of windmills across the country and in the North Sea, and according to a report in Bloomberg these windmills kill 50,000 birds annually, which doesn’t seem to trouble these environmental extremists.
On to happier topics. After passing through the lock we sailed over a major highway. Pretty neat.
The kissing couple has been a thing in the Netherlands since the 1800s, and many visitors go home with little knickknack souvenirs of the couple. In 2017 a 30 foot tall version, appropriately titled, “Kissing Couple XXXL,” has graced the canal on the way in to Amsterdam. For perspective, look closely and you’ll see a man standing beside the sculpture.
The sun was setting as we finally pulled up to the pier in downtown Amsterdam.
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