Belgium Holland Tour Report

Question about the Heavens Hotel: you say there was no buffet for breakfast, but was there a breakfast available? If so, what was the breakfast offered?

Breakfast was definitely provided at Heavens Hotel, it just wasn't large nor a buffet as all other morning meals have been. They brought each table the same thing: a plate of breads and a plate of sliced luncheon -type meats and sliced cheese. Some of our tour mates asked about getting some eggs and they said ok & they made an omelette but we were so pressed for time that not everyone could wait for them to go make the eggs. I heard someone ask for yogurt and they received a bowl of it so I did the same. Just yogurt. Nothing else. It was just a far cry from the other breakfasts on the RS tours we've taken.

We took this otherwise wonderful tour in 2024, and had the "Heavens Hotel" equivalent experience in Delft (2 foot high saloon doors in front of the toilet otherwise in the middle of the room) which they've taken off the tour. So please make your dissatisfaction known in your review. (The only complaint I've had on our RS tours.)

I love the Canal Deluxe B&B- absolutely charming and on a canal. We had wood burning fireplaces, and wonderful afternoon sweet snacks.
We aren't tour folks either, because of the morning schedules. For me, there's a HUGE difference between being out of the hotel at 8-8:30am and 9:30am, which I much prefer . I'm not saying I would never do another tour, because we may do the week in Ireland, but I couldn't do more than one organized week. (We did enjoy the RS Switzerland tour, the pace was more relaxed, the morning departures later, and the dinners not so late.)
Love hearing the good and the bad, and I know, everyone is different .
Looking forward to the rest of your report. I hope you liked Haarlem as much as we did.

I really appreciate the details in your trip report. I was strongly considering this one for next year but have other plans now.

I just finished the RS 1-week Prague/Budapest tour, and I think it might be more what you would like from the comments you made. First, the hotels were both very nice! Breakfast was very good at both hotels. Each day didn’t begin until 9am, so there was never a rushed feeling other than our 1 bus day. Also, there were obviously other people there, but I never felt crowded & during the free time I mainly enjoyed just exploring vs. “go, going”. I followed the tour with time now in southern Italy. It’s just a 1.5 hour cheap flight from Budapest to Bari.

Thanks for the write up! We feel the same cons about organized tours, but it is nice to have a break from planning each day and figuring out logistics. Taking note of your Brugge hotel recommendation, my DH wants to get there.

Taking note of your Brugge hotel recommendation, my DH wants to get there.

Canal Deluxe is brilliant, just as Nuit Blanche and Hotel Bonifacius.

Amsterdam
We stayed at a wonderful Hotel called Dikker and Thijs in Amsterdam for our last 2 days of the RS tour. DH & I were a bit unsure what we'd think about the big city of Amsterdam but, to our delight, we were both very happy with the lovely town! Granted, we probably only got a very small sampling of such a big place but, to me, it didn't feel crowded. Yes, busy with tons of people but plenty of space & beauty in a way that I never felt the crush like in the smaller hamlets of Ghent and Brugge (the proper way to spell it, according to our guide, unlike in my previous post). The areas we were in felt very safe, clean, lovely & inviting. I walked alone several times & found it easy to navigate.

We had a canal tour in the morning after breakfast. It was delightful & a favorite memory. DH & I then took our free time to go get fresh stroopwafels from the famous Rudi's stand at the Albert Cuyp Market. We'd watched several videos & listened to podcasts about this market. RS tg gave us all transportation tix so we took the subway & arrived in mere minutes. If you're ever in Amsterdam, be sure to have Rudi's stroopwafels! The young men are adorable as they love talking to the crowds & basically perform their art for the many people waiting in line. The main seller looked like Benedict Cumberbatch! So much so that we actually wondered if it might be him. I've several photos & my entire family thinks it's at the very least his doppelganger.
We knew we'd return the next day so we opted to eat lunch & head back for an afternoon rest at the lovely hotel before our evening tour of the Anne Frank House. It was very puzzling to us why we had evening (7:45pm) tickets to this scheduled tour. We should have been told it wouldn't be in the day bc our original itinerary said it was during the day. Some tour members had to scramble with dinner reservations already made but needed to change.
Next day, the 2 museums we visited were so crowded. In the Rijksmuseum, the local guide was amazing but several of us got separated from our group. Not because we weren't paying attention, but because another tour group came through & completely cut 3 of us off from our RS people. DH & I never found them again. Being lost & suffocated by tour groups was a bit much for me. I was frustrated mainly because I just adored the museum guide & her information was helping me see the art in such a way I never had before. And now we couldn't find our group. Did they go up ? Down? Across ? We heard her through our headsets for a little while but then nothing. Then, poof. DH & I got separated! I almost panicked which isn't like me at all. I was just getting used to wearing glasses on this trip ( I'd never worn glasses before in my 50+ years of life). Plus, I wear hearing aids because I had sudden hearing loss in my early 50s. Add the oppressive crowd. It was like a convergence of all the senses became overwhelming to me & I just wanted to go in the corner to cry. Can't really believe I'm writing that on a public forum but it happened. Maybe sharing can help someone else. So, I stood against a wall & breathed. Called DH who had found our RS tour guide & they talked me to where they were. RS TG took us to the closest museum guide for our group (we'd been split into 2 smaller groups) but it wasn't the original lady we'd had to begin with. Upon entry into this new group, we were chastised by the new museum guide & sternly told to make sure we didn't get lost this time. Uh. What? Nope. Not staying in her group. So, we phoned RS tg to inform him we would be touring the museum on our own. We'd had enough of the crowds. So, we decided to go to the Albert Cuyp market again. It was a lovely afternoon of shopping before our scheduled time slot for the Van Gogh museum. We really enjoyed that experience ! Seeing the movie 'Loving Vincent' before we left USA was incredibly helpful in understanding the artist.

More next post

I'm really sorry about your stressful experience. I can relate. I am glad you got to visit Belgium and Holland and I look forward to the rest of your trip report. I'm headed to Amsterdam tomorrow.

Hi Mitzi,
Thanks for this honest report. Don’t feel bad on also sharing what you didn’t like. Telling what you honestly feel is always good.
I checked the itinerary for the tour and I agree with you that the Rotterdam - Keukenhof - Hoorn day is too much. It doesn’t make sense to arrive in Hoorn late in the day with no time to sightsee and leave again early the next morning.
I see that in the months when the Keukenhof isn’t open, the RS tour visits the Flower Auction in Aalsmeer instead. The Flower Auction is an early morning event, which leaves plenty of time to visit Hoorn. In that case, the Hoorn stop does make sense.

Thanks for the very good trip report. I agree, it's better if you mention things you don't like, particularly a routing or a hotel. I believe RS does listen to customers. I hope you put your thoughts in your evaluations!

I appreciate your taking the time to write this up and post! Now bookmark it so you can find it later when you want to relive the fun parts of your trip, lol!!

@Pam
Your tips and information about this tour were wonderful! Thank you so very much! I forgot to mention in the Ghent portion of the report how very meaningful the AR experience was at the Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo Cathedral. If it weren't for Pam, I never would have considered this as something in which we would be interested. But, it was actually pivotal in helping us understand, and have brought to life for us, the story and history behind Jan Van eyck's masterpiece! I highly recommend the AR experience! Worth way more than the inexpensive price we were charged.

Don’t feel bad on also sharing what you didn’t like. Telling what you
honestly feel is always good.

I agree. I appreciate a review/report with the likes and warts as long as you explain why for both.

Reading your opinion about rushed breakfasts and talkative tour guide made me realize that it will be impossible for any tour to make everyone happy. We've only done one so far and I wished we'd have gotten an earlier start everyday. Our bus left at 8:30 most mornings which left me impatient. I am a morning person and I was often up and out the door exploring before coming back for breakfast and then pacing as I waited for 8:30.

As for tour guides, I wrote in my tour review that the WOW moment was the tour guide giving us a lesson every day on the bus rides. I likely would have been disappointed without my history or culture lesson.

@Pam Your tips and information about this tour were wonderful! Thank you so very much! I forgot to mention in the Ghent portion of the report how very meaningful the AR experience was at the Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo Cathedral. If it weren't for Pam, I never would have considered this as something in which we would be interested. But, it was actually pivotal in helping us understand, and have brought to life for us, the story and history behind Jan Van eyck's masterpiece! I highly recommend the AR experience! Worth way more than the inexpensive price we were charged.

I agree 100%. I enjoyed it too, and so much more because of the AR experience and what I learned there.

Awwww, you guys..... You both know I loved that AR experience and it was also pivotal to me for learning more about Jan Van Eyck, his brother and the altarpiece. I'd seen the altarpiece before and the AR was still really informative. I was unsure about it because I'd done a VR in Paris one time and had to snatch the glasses off when they perched on top of a roof (fear of heights!). I liked this one much better as they didn't need to add some kind of "thrill" to keep you interested!

Thank you to everyone that took the time to read about our experiences!

Thanks for taking the time to write this and including what you liked and didn’t. Sometimes we learn more from what people didn’t like than what was a “wow”. The mention about Best of Switzerland being more relaxed is timely for us as we’re currently in Lucerne about to start the tour tomorrow evening. We just finished My Way France, our 3rd My Way Tour, and find we really like that way of touring even though the planning takes more work.

Thanks for the honest report! We are all different and react differently. But continual praise for everything isn’t helpful (not that I am considering taking a tour), so I liked what did and didn’t work for you. And YES to Pam’s explanation of the AR part of the Ghent Alterpiece tour. Both my daughter and I really loved that.

I meant to add this link to the continued RS Belgium/Holland report.
Whoever was following has probably found it by now but here 'ya go:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/haarlem-experience-closing-thoughts-on-our-rs-b-h-tour

~Mitzi