Most AmaWaterways guests have a night or two in Amsterdam around their cruise. Ships such as AmaVenita, AmaViola and AmaSerena often begin or end their Rhine and Tulip Time itineraries here, so there is usually time to see the city properly before you sail or after you step off. Below you can follow the Ama fleet live, check the 2026 and 2027 docking dates and find the exact quay your ship uses.
We turn those days into a private tour shaped entirely around you: the canals, the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, or a day out to Keukenhof in tulip season and the Zaanse Schans windmills. Your own guide, your own pace, no coach and no fixed group.
Back on board with time to spare, guaranteed. Tulip Time days run long and the roads out to the bulb fields get busy, so we build the return leg into the plan rather than hoping. Send us your sailing and we will work to it.
We know the Ama fleet and the tulip season. AmaViola, AmaVenita, AmaSerena and the rest are familiar faces on these quays, and spring here is our busiest time of year, so we know exactly how early to leave. 4.9 stars from thousands of reviews.
Sailing the Rhine? Low water can change or cancel itineraries at short notice. See our live Rhine water level tracker before you travel.
Not sure which AmaWaterways ship or sailing is yours? Find my river cruise matches your line and dates to the ship, its Amsterdam berth and how long you are alongside.
If Amsterdam is a mid-cruise call rather than your embarkation port, we plan the day around the hours your ship is alongside.
Every AmaWaterways call below is pulled live from our Amsterdam river cruise calendar, so it stays current without anyone retyping it.
Spring melt can push the Rhine high as well as low, so if you are on an AmaWaterways Tulip Time sailing it is worth a look at today’s Rhine water levels before you set off.
AmaWaterways ships berth centrally in Amsterdam. These are the quays used for AmaWaterways calls, each with a map so you know exactly where to meet:
Piet Heinkade, city centre · 20 min walk to Centraal
Right on the IJ waterfront in the city centre, a 10 minute walk or one tram stop from Central Station. LP is your berth number, and “via Muziekgebouw” or “via Vriesseveem” simply tells you which walkway leads to your gangway.
Behind Central Station, west side · 5 min walk to Centraal
Behind Amsterdam Central Station, on the west side, so you are inside the station within 5 minutes of stepping ashore. The Dam, the canal ring and the Jordaan are all within an easy and very pleasant walk.
Western IJ waterfront · 12 min walk to Centraal.
On the western IJ bank, a 12 minute walk from Central Station. The berth borders the Jordaan, which puts the Noordermarkt, the Nine Streets and the Anne Frank House all within a 20 minute stroll of your gangway.
Behind Central Station, east side · 8 min walk to Centraal
Just east of Central Station, 10 minutes on foot from the main station hall. NEMO Science Museum, the OBA library and the Maritime Museum are close by, around Oosterdok, and the old centre starts a 10 minute walk away.
Official embarkation on an AmaWaterways ship is 3pm, though you can drop luggage aboard earlier and go back out. On the last day the rule is 9am for checking out of your stateroom, with a little flexibility to linger in the lounge afterwards. Arrival day is therefore a whole free morning and early afternoon, not the scrap of time people assume when they book.
Tulip Time, the seven night round trip, is worth reading properly. The ship comes back to Amsterdam on day seven and stays for day eight, so guests get an evening and a morning in the city at the close of the cruise rather than a rushed dash to Schiphol. Best of Holland and Belgium follows the same shape. On the Rhine, Enchanting Rhine and Rhine and Moselle Delights both finish here coming up from Basel, which is the reverse of what most people picture.
Ama’s ships sit between 140 and 162 guests, with AmaSofia joining in 2026 and AmaFiora due in 2027. Watch for late deployment swaps; the line moved AmaStella’s 2026 sailings across to AmaLea partway through the season, so the hull on your ticket is worth double checking against the schedule above.
Ama was the first river line to carry a whole fleet of complimentary bicycles, and it still leans hard on hikes, bike convoys and its long standing gentle, regular and active walking paces. If you already ride and hike with the ship, the gap is rarely another guided walk. It is the museum booking, the small studio, the countryside village nobody else on board is going to, or a day at a pace your grandchildren can manage, since Ama takes guests from age four but runs no children’s programme.
AmaWaterways already does more than most lines ashore: bike tours, hiking groups, small-group options. The gap is not effort, it is choice, because you still move on the ship’s schedule with the ship’s group.
Ama’s Tulip Time sailings push a lot of guests into Amsterdam in a narrow spring window, exactly when Keukenhof and the bulb fields are at their busiest. Going privately, with a guide who knows what time to arrive and which entrance to use, is the difference between a lovely morning and an hour in a queue.
We work around the berth rather than a printed programme, whether you are at the Passenger Terminal, along De Ruijterkade or at Westerdoksdijk, and we adjust if your ship’s timings move.
Sailing Tulip Time or the Rhine with Ama? Get in touch and we will plan your days ashore properly.
Header photo: AmaViola by Wolfgang Fricke (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Travelling with AmaWaterways? Alongside your tours, we can arrange a private Schiphol airport transfer or a chauffeur between the airport, your hotel and your AmaWaterways ship, timed around your embarkation and disembarkation. Book a private transfer.
We look after guests from every river and ocean line calling in the Netherlands. Pick your cruise line to see the tours, berths and docking details that apply to your ship:
Ama ships berth centrally, most often at the Passenger Terminal, along De Ruijterkade or at Westerdoksdijk, all a short walk or transfer from the old town. Your exact berth is shown in the schedule above.
Yes, and it is our most requested Ama day in spring. We time the visit to avoid the worst of the crowds and can combine the gardens with the bulb fields, the countryside or the windmills.
AmaViola, AmaVenita, AmaSerena, AmaStella, AmaSiena, AmaLucia, AmaSofia, AmaCerto and AmaPrima are all regulars. The schedule above shows which ship is in on which date.
Yes. Your private guide meets you at the gangway, the terminal or your hotel, and the whole day is built around your timing.
For Tulip Time, as early as you can, since spring is our busiest season. Outside those weeks we can often arrange a private guide at shorter notice.