Canal Ride in Amsterdam

[ambergolden]

We want to go on a canal ride in Amsterdam. The ride is at 8pm for 90 minutes. Our ship sails at 11pm. Will we have enough time to get back to the ship by 10:30p? Thanks for any info you can give me.

[The_Big_M]

I wouldn't risk it. The times are not accurate and our experience was boats come irregularly, and queues can often be long.

 

To answer the question specifically - if your cruise returned at 9:30 you would have sufficient time to get to the dock and back onboard. The issue is your river cruise may well be late and you will then be stressed in the queue, waste your money and/or be stressed on the cruise itself.

 

I'd also say at night it's less appealing as you can't see the sights as well.

[dogs4fun]

We want to go on a canal ride in Amsterdam. The ride is at 8pm for 90 minutes. Our ship sails at 11pm. Will we have enough time to get back to the ship by 10:30p? Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

We participated in the night cruise this past May. We really enjoyed ourselves. Have done the day cruises ... different experience altogether. By night, all the bridges are lighted ... kinda romantic ambience. Previous poster is correct in that you cannot see the sights very well, so if you are hoping to sightsee, I would forget it.

We caught our cruise in the area in front of Centraal Station. I think you would have no problem in making it back to the ship by 10:30. Even if the cruise is a little late in returning, you should get back to the ship easily by 10:30. The IJ is less than 5 minutes from Centraal Station using tram #26.

[LHT28]

If the canal tour ends at the tourist building by Centraal station

you have plenty of time to get back to the ship even slow walkers can do it in less than 20 min

Some canal boats end near the PTA so a 2 min walk ...ask first

[rkacruiser]

I would not recommend this. You are cutting your time too close.

 

Not being familiar with Amsterdam, I found it to be a difficult city in which to navigate. Indeed, Tram #26 will get you to the passenger ship terminal. But, exactly where to get Tram #26 could be a problem. There are many tram routes that converge into the Central Station area and at night when it is dark, it can be confusing. We booked a Canal Dinner Cruise which we enjoyed greatly, but getting back to the dock, it was dark. A taxi was waiting when we got up to the street and we opted for that mode of transportation back to our hotel rather than to try to find the tram.

[Hlitner]

Not sure why you are picking a 9pm ride. There are many canal boats running from multiple places all over town, and you can simply walk up to any of the piers and buy a ticket. The boats run all day long...so why don't you just take an earlier boat.

 

That being said, we would probably have no problem taking an 8pm boat that returns at 9:30. This gives you an hour to get to the port and you can certainly grab a taxi from nearly anywhere in the city and be at the port in a few minutes. But DW and I are somewhat adventurous and have often cut things a bit close when taking cruises.

 

Hank

[ambergolden]

Thank you for all the information you gave me. We are going in December and they are having the Festival of Lights for the Christmas holidays. This includes a walking tour and canal rides with various light displays. Has anyone ever been in Amsterdam at Christmas and seen the Festival of Lights?

[Hlitner]

Thank you for all the information you gave me. We are going in December and they are having the Festival of Lights for the Christmas holidays. This includes a walking tour and canal rides with various light displays. Has anyone ever been in Amsterdam at Christmas and seen the Festival of Lights?

 

Ahhh, so now your post makes a lot of sense. We would want to do it too! So, how much of gambler are you? :D And if by chance you would miss your ship can you catch-up the next day (we call this "Plan B")?

 

I am not being flippant but we have often taken some risks when doing our own trips and will often factor-in a "Plan B" if we plan on cutting things a bit close.

 

Hank

[John Bull]

I don't see a problem with the window that you have.

 

Just add my name to Hank's posts. ;)

 

JB :)