Day 1: Cologne/Düsseldorf
For this itinerary, passengers typically board in Cologne, Germany. But our particular sailing departed from nearby Düsseldorf instead.
KidTripster Tip: If arriving by air for an itinerary departing from Germany, you can fly into either Cologne or Düsseldorf. The airports are close – about 40 minutes apart.
A few days prior to our sailing we received a detailed information packet with luggage tags, and helpful tips for packing, boarding, and much more.
Boarding starts in the afternoon. We were eager to get our vacation started and were among the first to board at 3:00. As guests enter the ship, they’re handed a red rose. The rose is a prominently emblazoned on the exterior of each A-ROSA ship. Be sure to hang onto your rose until you get to your cabin, there’s a vase on the vanity.
Our cabin wasn’t quite ready so we used our time to explore the ship. The doors to SPA-ROSA were open. Although the spa is small, it offers a decent menu of services including massages, facials, and manicures. This is a good time to make your spa appointments before everything gets booked up.Â
The whirlpool and expansive Finnish sauna are located next to the spa. These spaces are open to all guests during the cruise. However, as we later learned, this is a clothing-optional space.
We had a chance to peek inside the Kids Club. The SENA has a designated space for kids and teens ages 4-15. During the sailing the kids club offers supervised childcare from 10-12:30pm, 4:30-6:30pm, and 8-10pm. If your kids need to stretch their legs, the space is available for use outside of the designated childcare hours. The Kids Club has scheduled activities offered throughout the week including things like pizza baking, a talent show, and a ship tour.Â
Exploring the ship was fun, but we were most excited to check out our cabins. Our family of four had connecting balcony cabins on deck 3.
The cabins felt spacious and comfortable due to the elegant, but simple design. Each cabin had a large bed, plus a couch. The bathrooms were relatively large for a cruise ship. The ample closet space allowed us to fully unpack for our weeklong sailing. We stowed our empty suitcases under the bed. A fun feature of each room is a small vase to hold the rose given to guests on arrival.
KidTripster Tip: Prefer to bunk together? Book early to get one of the unique family cabins. The A-ROSA SENA offers family cabins that sleep up to five people. The cabins include bunk beds and a sitting area. There are just 12 of these cabins available. They’re located on Deck 1 next to the Kids Club.
The only mandatory event on embarkation day is a safety briefing, held in the lounge. A-ROSA is a German cruise line. German and English are spoken on board. The safety briefing was presented in both languages prior to sailing at 6pm.
After completing the safety briefing, we watched as the ship left port, then headed to dinner. All meals are served buffet style, at set times depending on the day. Dinner on the first evening was served from 7-8:30pm, with a happy hour snack offered in the lounge from 4-5pm.Â
There’s a designated space in the buffet that serves kid friendly foods. On the first night, the main dish for kids was baked chicken wings with French fries, and donuts for dessert.
[ Related: Finally, A Family-Friendly River Cruise ]
Nestled inside the dining space is the SENA Grill. This is a reservations-only restaurant serving a prix fixe menu with a special dish offered each evening.
KidTripster Tip: For a nominal fee, you can reserve the same table for each meal in the dining room. This saves the hassle of finding an open table, and ensures you have space for your whole party.
After dinner, guests headed from the restaurant to the lounge for a welcome party which included a greeting from the officers.
Keep reading: click the #3 button below to read about our first port of call: Amsterdam.
