AIDA Metropolises 2016

On 5 March 2016 we set off with AIDA again. This time we didn't have a long journey to the ship – we only had to get to Hamburg. We combined this starting point with a long-overdue breakfast at Katharina's. Breakfast was super delicious, and Luna was happy too. 3 hours later, after a great morning, we reached the terminal. The new terminal in Steinwerder is on the north side of the Elbe, but easy to reach by car (thanks to Katharina).

Check-in has changed since the end of 2015. The boarding card is now waiting at the cabin door rather than being handed out at check-in. For first access to the ship you need the paper boarding card, which every guest receives in advance with their travel documents. On this trip we had booked cabin 9114 with a balcony – for the first time no stairs to climb to get to dinner.

The ship was fully booked, which we noticed at the safety drill.

At 6 p.m. sharp AIDAmar cast off, heading for England. Traditionally we had our cocktail in the evening. We spent the next day at sea. For this sea day we had booked ourselves into the spa and so spent a very relaxing day looking forward to London.

Southampton greeted us with pure sunshine. We had booked the excursion to London through AIDA. After a face check we left the ship for the buses. After a journey of almost 4 hours (lots of traffic jams) we reached London, still in great weather.

The Tower of London is a special destination, if only because of the Crown Jewels. Because of the longer journey and the London traffic, we unfortunately only had 1.5 hours in the Tower, and then it was already time to head back to AIDA.

This tour wasn't worth the effort at all – the distance from Southampton to London is simply too far.

The evening passed quietly and pleasantly.

On Tuesday morning we reached Le Havre. Because of all the distances, we hadn't booked an AIDA excursion here but did everything on our own. Right at the exit of the cruise terminal we could buy tickets for the shuttle bus for 4 euros per person. This bus ran every 20 minutes from the ship to the centre and on to the shopping mall.

A short ride through town, and at the second stop we already reached the Docks shopping mall.

After a short time we took the bus back to the ship. For us the visit to the Docks wasn't worth it. In the evening there was the AIDA show "Sissi" – a wonderful performance, presented with lots of humour.

In a somewhat stronger wind, we reached the port of Zeebrugge the next morning. Here a visit to Bruges was on our programme. AIDA offered a shuttle service for 20 euros per person, and we took advantage of it.

We walked right across the city past many sights.

Of course the typical Belgian waffles have to be tried too.

We had a lot of fun in Bruges.

The highlight of our trip was the next morning: the passage from the North Sea to Amsterdam. The canal is quite narrow for such a big ship. In glorious sunshine we reached Amsterdam.

We went through the Asian quarter on to the cannabis quarter. Interesting shop window displays. A little snack in between – a low-calorie waffle.

A hefty price of 7 euros for a waffle.

Right next to the Old Church is the red-light district, but don't worry, women can walk through it without any problems. In the afternoon we took a canal tour.

Price for this 1.5-hour tour: 10.50 euros per person.

In the evening on AIDAmar there was the show "Kauri" – in our opinion one of the best shows at AIDA.

And a week simply passes too quickly.

After a relaxing sea day, we safely reached the port of Hamburg again on Saturday morning.