Quilting through the Springtime Gardens of Holland and Belgium

Meet Mandy Shaw and your Arena Travel Tour Manager at London Heathrow airport for your flight to Amsterdam. Transfer to MS Arena for dinner and 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 Amsterdam for dinner and cruise to Kinderdijk overnight. Kinderdijk is best known for its 19 beautifully preserved windmills, dating back to the 1500s.

This morning we’ll enjoy our first workshop with Mandy. For any non-crafters an optional excursion to the Kinderdijk windmills is available. The excursion visits the Museum Windmill Nederwaard, to meet the miller and discover all about mill life and the Museum Windmill Blokweer, to learn about the impressive mechanism of a mill and Kinderdijk’s heritage.

During lunch we sail onward to Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland with a rich history and culture. The medieval city centre is home to over 950 monuments. After lunch we’ll have some free time to explore the city, or you can join an optional excursion to Appletern Gardens. Appeltern Gardens is home to 200 model gardens bursting with colour and inspiration A walk through this 23-hectare park is an experience for all the senses and there is a 90-minute guided tour of the gardens included.

During dinner we sail to Antwerp, arriving early morning. Antwerp is renowned for its skilled diamond cutters and cherished artist Peter Paul Rubens.

Our included excursion this morning is to Floralia, the spring flower show held in the grounds of Château de Grand Bigard, where we'll wander among more than a million bulbs. Special attention goes to the tulips, with almost 400 varieties, but hyacinths and daffodils are also well represented.

We return to the ship for lunch and our second workshop with Mandy. 

Some free time in Antwerp this morning, before sailing to Rotterdam this afternoon. If you prefer, an optional excursion to the National Botanic Gardens of Belgium is available. This is one of the largest botanic gardens in the world, with endless promenades that travel through beautiful collections of medicinal and herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees and conifers. There's also the Plant Palace, an enormous glasshouse with more than 10,00 plant species from around the world.

After lunch onboard we’ll enjoy our third workshop with Mandy, as we sail to Amsterdam.

A full day excursion to Keukenhof Gardens. In 1949 a group of 20 leading flower bulb growers and exporters came up with a plan to use the Keukenhof estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs. The park opened its gates to the public in 1950 and was an instant success, with 236,000 visitors in the first year alone. 2022 will be the 73rd edition of Keukenhof. During the past 72 years Keukenhof has developed into a world-famous attraction where there are over seven million bulbs on show. We’ll follow the pathways surrounding shimmering lakes, ancient trees and wonderful works of art, browse the pavilions, navigate our way through the hedge maze and enjoy the entertainment taking place throughout the day. This evening we enjoy our final dinner onboard the ship and sail overnight to Amsterdam.

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