Springtime Gardens River Cruise EBU Congress
Join us for this celebration of colour as we experience one of the Netherlands most famed floral events on this very special EBU Congress River cruise. As we journey through Holland and Belgium, we will see the very best of springtime, but the focal point of the cruise will be the world’s ultimate flower show, the fabulous Floriade Expo which is only held every 10 years! Held in Almere, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, the theme will be ‘growing green cities’, and here we’ll be treated to a cornucopia of trees, shrubs, perennials, creepers and flower bulbs.
Your Tour Includes
- six-night full board cruise aboard MS Arena in your chosen cabin
- Welcome drink and Captain’s Gala Dinner
- Morning and afternoon tea/coffee and a late evening snack
- On board entertainment every evening
- Services of a Cruise Manager
- Spend six nights on board the recently renovated MS Arena
- Exclusively chartered ship for Congress guests
- Green and blue pointed event
- Fantastic full board package with tea/coffee and evening snack
- Enjoy the beauty of Floriade, a spectacular floral event which only takes place every 10 years
- Explore the iconic windmills of Kinderdijk
- Visit the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Meise) and the Plant Palace
- Good allocation of sole occupancy cabins with low single supplement
Itinerary
Please choose your preferred 7 day itinerary
Independent travel to Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands, and enjoy a relaxing evening onboard our ship. If you prefer, you can add travel from the UK to your cruise package, either by Eurostar or air.
After breakfast, we are taken by coach to the Floriade World Horticultural Expo in the town of Almere where you will have plenty of time to enjoy this horticultural delight. Floriade Expo 2022 will be an extraordinary expo. For six months the attention to the theme ‘Growing Green Cities’ will be focused on the cities of the future. Visitors will have a unique and meaningful experience: while visiting the expo they will be invited to ‘explore, touch and change’. This expo will also be the start of a new city district close to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Almost everything built here for the exhibition will become part of the legacy of Almere and the structures will remain and become part of the community. The expo site will be developed as a Green City Arboretum, serving as a model for green structure development in cities. This arboretum will consist of a variety of trees, shrubs, perennials, creepers, hydrophytes and flower bulbs, all of which contribute to a green, healthy and sustainable city. Around 3000 species have been selected that contribute to the green city in terms of biodiversity, air purification, food production and city climate management. We return to the ship in Amsterdam where we are berthed overnight.
We leave Amsterdam behind this morning and set sail for Kinderdijk, which is renowned for its 19 beautifully preserved windmills. Our included excursion visits one of the mills, where we learn about the lifestyle of a miller and the mechanism of a mill. We return to the ship where we set sail for Dordrecht, arriving around lunchtime. Dinner is served onboard this evening and we are berthed overnight in Dordrecht.
We set sail from Dordrecht this morning and enjoy a full day cruising before arriving in Antwerp this evening. Dinner is served onboard this evening and we are berthed overnight in Antwerp.
This morning’s included excursion takes you to the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Meise) and the Plant Palace. This is one of the largest botanic gardens in the world, which also boasts an enormous glasshouse filled with more than 10,000 plant species. We return to the ship for lunch and dinner on board and spend another evening berthed overnight in Antwerp.
Today is free to explore Antwerp at your leisure or you can stay on board and play Bridge. This evening we enjoy our final dinner onboard the ship and sail overnight to Amsterdam.
We bid farewell to our captain and crew after breakfast and disembark for our return journey back to the UK.
Included in our package
- six-night full board cruise aboard MS Arena in your chosen cabin
- Welcome drink and Captain’s Gala Dinner
- Morning and afternoon tea/coffee and a late evening snack
- On board entertainment every evening
- Services of a Cruise Manager
- Full day at Floriade - the worlds ultimate flower show that takes place every 10 years
- Visit to the windmills of Kinderdijk
- Half-day tour of the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Meise) and the Plant Palace
Please Note: The Bridge programme for this event is managed by the EBU, and participation needs to be booked separately. Please book via your EBU account, or call 01296 317203 to pay your Bridge fee and add participation in this Bridge programme to your package. Please click here to see the Bridge Programme for this cruise.
Accommodation
Our new 4-star ship has all the ingredients of an unforgettable river cruise; comfort, style and the crew’s unfaltering attention to detail is everything.
MS Arena is completely deserving of its place in our premier cruise collection! Whether you’re cruising the Dutch Waterways, the rivers Rhine, Moselle or Danube, all the way to the Black Sea, this elegant, 4-star ship promises everything you’d wish for – and more – making for an unforgettable river cruising experience.
