| On the 29th April 2011, my friend Fay and I were on Vision of the Seas heading towards Amsterdam for an overnight stay and passed what we found out later was Ryndam en route from Cherbourg to Zeebrugge. It was extremely cold and windy with a lot of sea spray. |
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| Our arrival time was 3pm on the 30th, and as we ambled towards the city we passed Marco Polo stuck in the Amsterdam Marine Terminal, bum flashing at us. It was the first time I'd seen her since Cruise & Maritime Voyages had taken over the charter in 2010. Further along was Rochdale One, a static vessel, but had begun life in 1977 as Aywasowski for the Soviet government. She is only small, 7,600grt and was sold in 1997 where she became Carina for Phoenix Reisen. Three years later she became Primexpress Island and operated from Cyprus before being arrested due to unpaid bills. She now operated as an accommdation ship for students. In 2011 she was sold, disappearing from her berth sometime after that and finally ended up at Aliaga, Turkey, at the end of July 2013 to be broken up. |
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| We knew definitely the ship looming over the buildings of Amsterdam was AIDAsol. This is the second vessel in the Mark II Sphinx fleet, coming at it 71,000grt so bigger than Diva, Luna and Bella and set sail on her maiden voyage from Kiel on the 9th April 2011. Like us, she was an overnighter during Queens Day, a Dutch national holiday, and would be sailing the following day. |
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| We went off the ship later for photos of the AIDA and our gorgeous Vision, crossing the bridge. Despite the sun and warmth it was very windy and sadly a river boat ruined the chance of the perfect shot of the AIDA's mouth near Vision's Ducky bum! |
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| To see photos of AIDAsol sailing the following day, click here. The review of my cruise can be found here. |
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