Floriade and the Delights of the Dutch Waterways Cross Stitch Cruise

Meet Jane and Bill at London Heathrow airport for your flight to Amsterdam. Transfer to MPS Calypso for dinner and overnight.

Our included excursion this morning is the Museum Van Loon, a magnificent private residence built in 1672. The first resident was the painter Ferdinand Bol, a pupil of Rembrandt. The interior of the house still evokes the splendour of the 17th century. In 1602 Willem van Loon co-founded the Dutch East-India Company and since 1973, the family has opened their home and garden to the public so you can get a glimpse of the life of the family in one of the finest canal houses in the city.  On display we’ll see a large collection of paintings, fine furniture, precious silver and porcelain from different centuries. Behind the house is a beautiful garden, laid out in formal style.

We return to ship for lunch onboard. This afternoon, as we cruise onwards to Hoorn, we’ll enjoy our first workshop with Jane. 

Later this afternoon we arrive into the atmospheric city of Hoorn and have free time to explore this wonderful little city full of history and interesting architecture.

As we cruise and arrive in the unique town of Den Helder we’ll enjoy our second workshop with Jane.

After lunch, there is an opportunity to join our optional excursion to the Medemblik Bakery, a quaint two-story museum where you’ll see how traditional Dutch specialities are made, including ‘gevulde koek’, which is an almond paste cookie and ‘speculaas’ which are delicious gingerbread cookies.

We return to the ship in Den Helder for a relaxing evening on board as we cruise towards Harlingen.

Our included excursion this morning is to De Orchideeën Hoeve. Admire thousands of butterflies in the butterfly garden, discover beautiful orchids, see the fairy-tale sea of flowers and explore secret jungle paths.

We return to the ship at lunchtime and sail onwards to Kampen whilst enjoying our third workshop with Jane.

Our included excursion this morning is to Het Loo Palace, a Dutch Baroque palace built for William, Prince of Orange and later King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Members of the House of Oranje-Nassau lived and worked at Het Loo Palace for more than 300 years. It’s rich and generous past is still to admire here.

We return to the ship at lunchtime and sail onwards to Lelystad as we enjoy our final workshop with Jane. This evening there’s time to explore the lively little port of Lelystad as we are berthed here overnight.

Our included full day excursion is to the Floriade World Horticultural Expo. The theme ‘Growing Green Cities’ focuses on cities of the future. The expo will form the start of a new city district. Almost everything built for the exhibition will become part of the expo’s legacy; the structures will remain and become part of the community and the expo site will be developed as a Green City Arboretum. This arboretum will consist of a variety of trees, shrubs, perennials, creepers, hydrophytes and flower bulbs, all of which will contribute to a green, healthy and sustainable city. Around 3000 species have been selected that will contribute to the green city in terms of biodiversity, air purification, food production and climate management.  

We return to the ship in Lelystad and enjoy our last night on board as we sail onwards to Amsterdam.

Bid farewell to our captain and crew after breakfast and transfer to Amsterdam airport for our return flight to London Heathrow.