Joe P wanted to do this Adventures by Disney Cruise that sail from Basel to Amsterdam, visiting Christmas Markets along the way. The cruise will end in Amsterdam on December 25, so we plan to catch a flight back to NJ on Christmas day. The time zone difference is such that we would arrive at Newark at about 1 pm, so technically we can spend Christmas in NJ also.
We don't know what else to do in this part of Europe around Christmas time - and the classical concert season seems to have come to a close by early December.
12/14/2025 Sunday. For several days before our departure, weather forecasts were predicting considerable snow on Sunday. It did snow rather heavily Saturday evening to Sunday about noon - I would guess 4" to 6". The sun then came out. The snow removal outfit showed up at around 2:30 pm, and the driveway was cleared by the time Uber showed up a little after 4 pm. This was the first major snowstorm we had, so I didn't know when the driveway would be clear, and was prepared to just dig out a narrow path on the driveway - that wasn't needed, at the end.
These photos were taken around 11 am on the day of our flight from Newark.
Calling an Uber turned out to be quite easy. With Costco's discounted gift card, the $10 per month Lyft credit often prove to be of no value. Today it would have save $3.
I expected with all the delays from yesterday to today, the airport would be crowded, that wasn't true. Luggage screening was a bit slow, but we got through in less than 10 minutes. The airport was quite busy, but the United Club (near Gate 74) was okay - we could find a place to sit and eat rather quickly.
As per my usual practice, I bought coach tickets for EWR-ZRH; AMS-EWR, and used miles to try to get upgraded. The AMS-EWR upgrade cleared soon after I bought the tickets - it will be on Christmas Day after all - but we were still on standby for EWR-ZRH today. And the plane looked pretty full in the Premium Economy section. Anne and I were at the top of the upgrade waitlist, but I still remember how I was skipped over the last time. Long story short, we got upgraded, adjacent seats for that matter.
At around 5:35 pm we were on the top of the waitlist for upgrade to Premium Economy.
Many flights were delayed today, but ours left on time. The 767-300ER we flew on was over 26 years ago, with a modern interior. The bathrooms were kept in good shape on this relatively short flight.
So a series of things went right for us. The one thing that didn't happen was my catching any asleep. I generally don't sleep well on planes, and today's flight took off at around 7 pm.
Accommodations. Overnight on UA134.
12/15/2025 Monday. The plane landed on time, but we didn't deplane until paramedics came on board for a child who fell ill during the flight. This part of Zurich airport felt new, and we had to take a shuttle train to get to the main station. Immigration was quick, but fingerprints and photos were taken. Some people got asked questions, we were just let through. Evidently Europe still doesn't require visas (or ETAs) for American visitors.
For transportation within Zurich (TIP/HINT), one can buy a 24-hour ZVV Pass, for a trip involving ZRH to town routing, the cost is slightly higher.
We got to the hotel around 10 am, and to our surprise, our upgraded room was already ready. We checked in, cleaned ourselves up a little, and then went to Oerlikon Station to meet up with a former ACCESS donor for lunch. The couple retired recently, the husband as a professor at ETH Zurich, the wife from industry. They have lived in Zurich for the last 30 years, and shared some Switzerland-specific information with us.
I used "upgraded nights" to get this suite at Renaissance Tower Zurich.
After lunch we went to Hbf to look at their Christmas Market. Zurich Hbf is a huge station, with 26 tracks (per web search, although the highest track number is 44). The many stalls set up for the market were mostly food and craft. As we would observe today and Tuesday, the food is from many different countries.
After resting in the hotel for a while, we went back to town to visit the "Singing Christmas Tree." We came back to the hotel early enough (around 6:30 pm) to grab the snack offered at the Sky Lounge as tonight's dinner.
The Christmas Market at Zurich Hbf. Photo posted on website zuerich.com.
Streamers hanging over this Zurich Street (Bahnhofstrasse).
The Singing Christmas Tree invites children's choirs from different cities for an early evening concert. Tonight's ensemble is from Zentralschulhaus Volketswil.
Accommodation: Renaissance Tower Zurich, 2 nights.
12/16/2025 Tuesday. We visited a few Christmas Markets today, as well as the two prominent churches in Zurich: the Grossmunster and the Fraumunster which sit across each other on Limmat.
We started with the one at the Opera House, which then led us to the two around Grossmunster. A visit to Grossmunster was followed by one to Fraumunster (the latter charge a 5 CHF per person admission). Turned out Fraumunster was closing soon after we got into the church - and just as things were getting interesting.
One of the Christmas Markets is at the Swiss National Museum, and one attraction is a "digital art show" based on the legend in Wagner's Ring operas. My fear that the tunes would be deconstructed did not happen, but that didn't the show any good.
Christmas Market by Zurich Opera House.
Inside the Grossmunster.
Nativity Scene inside the Grossmunster.
Inside of Fraumunster.
Chagall Stained Glass Windows at Fraumunster.
The Christmas Market at the National Museum was very crowded.
A shot of the Digital Art Show with a Wagner Ring theme.
12/17/2025 Wednesday. A leisurely day to travel to Basel from Zurich. We checked out of the hotel at about 11 am. When we got on the S-hahn for Zurich HB, sure enough there was a ticket inspector. We had tickets for local/long distance travel from Hardbrucke to Basel SBB, so there were no issues.
InterCity Express from Zurich to Basel.
We re-visited the Christmas Market at the train station as we were early for our train. The train ride was just under an hour, and there were few people on it. We noticed that the first class seats were 1-1 across, in 2nd class it was 2-2. A lot of room for first class passengers.
The hotel (Marriott Basel) is a short tram ride from Basel SBB. We got upgraded (only to a slightly better room). The receptionist came from Hong Kong about 10 years ago, so we conducted the process mostly in Cantonese.
It is a bit frustrating that every time I check in a Marriott property, the receptionist must re-enter a lot of information; in today's case, someone did just 2 days ago.
Joe P family took Jetblue to Paris, and then Air France to Basel. We met up and went to Munster, where they held a Christmas Market. There was a different feel to this market in Basel, the most obvious one being the food offerings were even more international than Zurich.
The first food stall we came to was selling smoked salmon (the the Nordic kind) and would take only cash. I spent the last 20 CHF bill for that, and went to an ATM to get another 200. Joe P bought different kinds of sausages which we had as dinner.
Joe P's family walking towards Munster, Basel.
Above the clock is a sundial.
Interior of Munster.
Inside Munster is a rather elaborate Nativity Scene (or rather, scenes).
Anne took this photo when she (and others) went back for a sing-along that evening.
Back at the hotel, Anne and I had some snacks at the Marriott Club, and we went to Joe P's room so I could babysit Harrison and CC while the rest went to a sing-along event at Munster. The two young kids fell asleep after a while. They were in a red-eye flight, after all.
Accommodation: Basel Marriott, 1 night.
12/18/2025 Thursday. Due to docking restrictions, we had to be bused to the next port of call, Breisach, Germany. That was going to be the afternoon, so we had some free time on our hands, including a trip to "downtown" Basel for a McDonald's lunch.
"Donut hole" in the convention center (Messe Basel New Hall).
Many bridges span the Rhine. This is the Mittlere Brucke.
Google identifies this as the Sevogel Fountain (Sevogelbrunnen), built in the 1400s.
We happened upon this rehearsal by young musicians inside the Martinskirche.
Many pharmaceutical companies have their offices (including headquarters) in Basel, these are the Roche Towers. Somewhat incongruent with the surroundings, I would say.
Basel Town Hall (Rathaus) as reflected in a nearby window with Christmas decorations.
A McRaclette being served in McDonald's Basel.
Selfie in front of the AmaLucia docked at Breisach, Germany.
Our ports of call for the trip.
Accommodation: AmaLucia along the Rhine, 7 nights. Docked at Breisach, Germany.
12/19/2025 Friday. Today was spent at Europa Park, located in Rust, Germany. When Walt Disney started the theme parks in US, he drew a lot of inspiration from what he saw in Europe (one prime example would be Cinderella's Castle). Similarly Europa Park would imitate some of what Disney did; one obvious example would be the EPCOT globe.
The park is about 40 minutes away by bus. We got there for "early admission" at 10 am, an hour ahead of general admission. One would think one would take advantage of the extra time to go on difficult-to-get-on rides, but many followed our adventure guides and walked to the other end of the park to look at the castle of the original owners, and have canapes and mulled wine. Ed and Edda, the Park's mascots, also came to meet us.
Anne and I are well past our thrill seeking days - if we ever had them - and we took the rest of the day in a leisurely manner. The only "thrill" ride was Moulin Rouge coasters which is basically a dark coaster ride (think Space Mountain). It's connection to Moulin Rouge escapes me. We also rode on the Europa Park Express (a monorail) and the "monorail" which took us around the park.
People from the boat had priority seats at the Ice Show. The rink is quite small, and the skaters put in a very athletic show. There may be a story associated with the show, but we didn't need it to enjoy the show.
Entering Europa Park.
Statue of Franz Mack, founder of Europa Park.
Home of the Mack Family.
Ed and Edda Euromaus.
View from Euro-Tower. In front of the globe is the "Can-Can Coaster" of Moulin Rouge.
Another view of park as seen from monorail.
A fountain show.
Ice Show.
Inside of a Nordic Church.
Onboard AmaLucia, in front of a prop.
We boarded our buses at 4 pm to return to the ship. After dinner we observed how the boat moved through a lock.
Boat docked at Strasbourg, France.
12/20/2025 Saturday. Today was spent at Strasbourg. The boat was docked quite a distance from town, and we had to walk quite a bit to get to town as buses are not allowed in town. Our first activity was a boat ride (on Batorama) around the river Ill, which surrounds the old town. Strasbourg was founded by the Romans 2000 years ago (I guess founding a town meant kicking out the existing inhabitants), and for the last couple of hundred years was under either French or German rule.
The boat ride lasted a bit over 1 hour. The river used to work as a sewer, a place of execution (some by drowning, some by decapitation), and home for a hospital where syphilis patients were sent to die; it's now lined by government and other expensive buildings. Strasbourg University has a student body of 55,000; the city's population is 300,000.
After lunch in town, we boarded the "Petit Train," (basically a car pulling several trailers behind it) and had a short tour of the city. Although the Disney Adventure Guides tried to undersell it by saying we would be seeing essentially the same sights from the river tour, but from land, I did find the narration provided some additional information.
The River Ill surrounds the Strasbourg old town before it empties into the Rhine. A Batorama cruise would go around the city on this river.
The European Parliament Building.
The Notre Dame Cathedral dominates the cityscape. The line to visit was very long, Anne and I eventually went in to visit (not the tower, which would have been an even longer wait).
Facade.
Inside. I don't recall seeing so many tapestries in other cathedrals I visited (except the Vatican).
This Astronomical Clock puts out a show every day (a purchased ticket is required). We didn't see it in action.
Pieta in St. Catherine Chapel.
Nativity scenes inside the Cathedral.
Lunch was at Aux Armes de Strasbourg (as far as I can reconstruct). I had the Schweine Haxe, which I remember from my visits to Germany.
A "random" building along the Ill river, as seen from the Petit Train.
National and University Library, Strasbourg.
St. Paul's Church.
We left Strasbourg just as people were streaming in for the evening's activities - it got really crowded. There was quite a bit of police presence.
Boat docked at Mannheim.
12/21/2025 Sunday. Heidelberg is about one hour away from Mannheim by bus. Last time we were in Heidelberg was in 2018 with a group from Brisbane. We took the funicular up but didn't have time to visit the castle. What looked like ruins from the outside was actually reasonably functional inside. The complex had 600 inhabitants at one time, it now belongs to the state of Baden-Gutenberg. Our local guide took us through some of the highlights of the place, including a wine barrel built in competition with Leipzig (?). Even though the town's lost, it's still quite sizeable at 50,000 gallons (size of two household swimming pools). It was filled twice.
View of town from Heidelberg Castle.
The River Neckar is a tributary of the Rhine.
Heidelberg Castle as seen from town.
From the outside it looked like a ruin.
Inside things are in good shape. Our local guide was dressed up as a philosopher.
This wine barrel holds about 50,000 gallons.
In the town square there is an ice skating rink. Joe's family took advantage of it.
Lunch was sausages bought at street stalls in the town square. Anne and I wandered around a bit after lunch, and had ice cream at 90 Hauptstrasse. We thought we could find spaghetti ice cream at that location, but it wasn't on offer.
An ice skating session is part of the cruise.
Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) is a staple offering at many Christmas Market food stalls.
Over River Neckar.
We couldn't find spaghetti ice cream on the menu, so settled for this instead. Schmelzpunkt Heidelberg.
Ama Waterways has this Chef's Table offering a tasting menu. Guests can sign up for one of the nights. It was an elegant meal that we all enjoyed.
The Chef's Table restaurant provides a more elegant setting.
Desserts being prepared.
12/22/2025 Monday. Today is my birthday. I am not one into celebrating birthdays, but it's still nice to have people (family and adventure guides) acknowledge the day - they even put streamers outside our cabin's door (by that count, 3 people are having birthdays today).
Streamers outside our cabin on my birthday.
Rudesheim is a small town of about 10,000 people (per Wikipedia), on the north bank of the Rhine. Our activities today were (1) Siegfried's Mechanical Clock Museum; and (2) A gondola ride. One could also do bike rides and enjoy Rudesheim's "best coffee in town." We didn't do the bikes or the coffee.
This contraption works. Siegfried's Mechanical Clock Museum.
A photo op with Santa Claus.
Gondola ride to the mountain top. About 700 feet in elevation.
Niederwald monument commemorating some victory. Anne is quite sure we have been here before.
Gluhwein (mulled wine) is offered in these town- and year-specific mugs. They sell for about 4 euros each.
Joe and Jess went off to a winery tour, this area is dotted with vineyards.
The boat set off at 3:45 pm for the trip to Cologne. Rudesheim is at "mile post" 526 (km, of course), the well-known/notorious rock Loreley is at 555. At a cruising speed of 20 km/hour, it would take about 1 1/2 hours to reach the rock. The boat arrived at Cologne at around midnight (or 1 am), so the trip wasn't that long. Perhaps that gave us a chance to see Lorelei? It was already very dark when we saw the rock - the channel at this point did look dangerous, especially for a long boat.
Gingerbread decoration.
On the sundeck waiting for Loreley.
It was quite dark when we came to the bend in the river.
We passed by Lorelei on a prior cruise (around 1991), I don't recall the passage to be risky. Perhaps it was in broad daylight, or perhaps boats were not as long as they are nowadays.
Boat docked at Cologne.
12/23/2025 Tuesday. We left the boat at 8:30 am to join a tour of Cologne. The guide pointed out some interesting facts about Cologne (which I will forget promptly, if not already). The city was damaged severely during WWII, and much of the rebuilding didn't try to follow the old architecture except in the "broadest terms" (the shape of roofs, for instance). The most prominent landmark of the city is the Cathedral, built to house the reliquary of the three kings (Magi). The cathedral has twin spires that are 157 meter tall (tallest in the world), and it's stained glass panels total 10,000 sq meters.
The Cathedral was completed in 1880, Sagrada Familia started in 1882 (and construction is still ongoing). The spires of the latter reach 172.5 meters.
The Cologne Cathedral's twin spires measure 157 meters tall.
Pieta.
There is 10,000 sq meters worth of stained glass in (on?) the building.
The reliquary is believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men. They were collected in the 12th Century.
Around town are several Christmas Markets, we bought a few trinkets, and a couple of food items. We caught the shuttle back to the boat and had a proper lunch in the dining room.
Cologne suffered extensive damage during WWII. Most of the rebuilding process recognized the old architecture in vague terms, such as the shapes of the roofs.
Tunnes and Schal are from the traditional puppet theater in Cologne.
At some point, all these different Christmas Markets blend into each other.
Different foods on offer at Christmas Markets.
Belgian waffles.
More potato pancakes.
The boat set sail for Amsterdam at 2 pm. We won't get there until 8 am Tuesday, so the sailing time would be around 18 hours.
Lounge on AmaLucia.
12/24/2025 Wednesday. One day doesn't even begin to cover what Amsterdam has to offer, but that's the time we had for the city. Since we had visited Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum before, we opted for the Rembrandt House. The 14 or so who chose this option were divided into two groups and the guide took us through the different levels of the rather large house. A few interesting facts about life during those days: many rooms double as bedrooms; beds were relatively short as people thought sleeping in a stretched pose was unhealthy; Rembrandt married a well-to-do woman who died quite young, he never remarried as that would mean returning her dowry; they had four children, three died as infants, and the fourth died young, that means Rembrandt buried all his children; Rembrandt had several students at any given time, in total he had about 50 students; the Rembrandt house doesn't have any of Rembrandt's paintings; Rembrandt had to declare bankruptcy, he spent much money in buying up collectibles (e.g., animal specimens); as His house was repossessed, there is a detailed inventory of everything in each of the rooms, the furnishings in the museum are based on those inventories.
Zuiderkerk (Southern Church) near the Rembrandt House. It's used as a public space now.
Inside Rembrandt House.
Where Rembrandt's apprentices worked.
About 400 years later, another wanna-be apprentice.
Unimaginable today, one of the reasons Rembrandt went bankrupt was his purchases of items of interest to him.
In front of the Rijksmuseum.
Joe P took CC and Harrison back to the boat for lunch, and Jess, Emmie and we had lunch at Cobra next to the Rijksmuseum. A 25 euro taxi ride got us to the Anne Frank House, where we spent about an hour going through the exhibits. No photography was allowed, but most of the exhibits are photographs and different documents (originals or copies). I didn't know how I would react, turned out it was mostly sadness that so many lives were cut short - over 100,000 Jews were sent to concentrations camps from the Netherlands. There is a version for younger tourists, which Emmie and Jess used. Overall, I thought the museum did a good job.
Westerkerk is still used for religious purposes.
Emmie in front of the Anne Frank house.
Two Lovers' boats were chartered for a canal cruise, which took us through different light installations, mostly along Herengracht. I was a bit disappointed at the experience. I learned a lot more on the regular cruises we took on our prior trip.
After dinner on board, it was time to pack for our departure tomorrow.
Dinner on Board on Christmas Eve.
Menu offering is typical for trip.
Boat docked at Amsterdam.
12/25/2025 Thursday. Today is Christmas Day. As I said to CC, who didn't like the idea of traveling on Christmas, we would end up spending Christmas in two countries.
Given our departure time of 9:15 am, it took a bit of convincing to have Disney arrange ground transport at 6:45 am. Schiphol is a large airport, and getting from point A to B can require quite a bit of walking. The Priority Pass lounge is Aspire (No. 41), and it was also the lounge for United Business customers. There was a rather long (and slow moving) waiting list, so I decided not to use it. (Others gave up much earlier, and we all ended up eating something at McDonald's.)
The flight departed about an hour late, but the blocked time and favorable wind conditions made the flight relatively short at 7:20 hours, so we landed on time. The boarding process was not so much chaotic as it was illogical. Anne and I left our seats in the gate area to pre-board, but then waited for 20 or so minutes standing in the "boarded" area before we could board.
Anne and I had Premium Economy seats, Joe P managed to find Business seats for his family. Both cabins were quite empty (PE was less than 1/2 full), while economy was packed.
We took two separate Ubers home. Joe P will be with us through the end of 2025. It's good to be able to spend time with family.
