Simply enter your ship’s name, and we will fill in the rest: where she is on the Rhine or the Danube right now, when she will reach Amsterdam or Zaandam, which berth she will take, and how many hours you will really have ashore. Our docking calendar runs through into 2028, so you can check your berth long before the cruise line confirms it. This tool is free to use, whether you are sailing yourself or booking for a client.
Once you have found your cruise, check our live Rhine water level tracker, since low water can change or cancel itineraries at short notice.
We meet provide tours for travellers on these ships in Amsterdam every week. Each page covers what we can offer for that cruise line’s guests, how the timings work around the ship’s schedule, and what you can genuinely fit in the time you have.
Tours we can arrange for Viking guests, and how we time it around your ship.
Shore excursions
Private touring for guests sailing with AmaWaterways, planned around all aboard.
Shore excursions
Ideas for Avalon guests with a spare day at either end of the cruise.
Shore excursions
How can you fill the free time you have on an Emerald itinerary in Amsterdam.
Shore excursions
A private alternative to the standard coach tour provided with your booking.
Shore excursions
Touring for Amadeus guests, at your own pace rather than the group.
Shore excursions
Is your cruise line not on the list? Tell us your ship and dates and we can arrange something for you too.
There is no single river cruise terminal in Amsterdam. Ships are allocated a berth call by call, and the one you are given decides whether you step off into the city or need to catch a train or transfer on arrival. Enter your ship’s name above, and you will receive the quay she is scheduled to dock at on that date. Our calendar runs into 2028, giving far more notice than the week or so the port publishes.
Most river cruise berths lie on De Ruijterkade, the quay running along the back of Amsterdam Centraal, on either the west or the east side. From there, it is just a few minutes’ walk into the city. Westerdoksdijk is a little further along the same stretch of water and is still walkable; you just need to exit the station on the north side. The Passenger Terminal Amsterdam is on Piet Heinkade, which is further east of the station. This is currently the main dock for the large ocean-going ships, but it also takes some river cruise ships too.
When the central quays are full, ships are sent west to Coenhaven Westerhoofd or Minervahaven, or across to Tolhuis. These are working, industrial harbour locations rather than places to walk out of, so you will need to arrange a taxi or transfer. If your cruise documents give you a berth name and a pole number and nothing else, that is what it means, and it is worth knowing before the morning you arrive rather than on it.
Amsterdam is reducing the number of river cruise calls it accepts, so more ships are mooring at Zaandam, which is about twenty kilometres north, at Prins Hendrikkade, Burchtkade or the Bodecentrum. This is not a problem, as it is closer than it sounds. Trains run from Zaandam to Amsterdam Centraal every ten to fifteen minutes and take under half an hour, and Zaanse Schans, with its windmills, is on your doorstep rather than an hour away. Some ships moor at the Zaanse Schans jetties or at Noordeinde in Wormerveer instead.
Cruise lines usually confirm one to two days before arrival, which is why most of them tell you to check twenty-four hours ahead. The scheduled berth in our calendar is the planned one, and it is usually correct most of the time. If it changes, the live position above will show you where your ship has moved to.
Most river cruise guests spend a night or two ashore at one end of their itinerary, in Amsterdam or at whichever Dutch port the ship starts and finishes from, and that is where we come in. We can provide you with your own guide, touring at your own pace, showing you the things you actually want to see, rather than on a crowded coach, following a paddle and a numbered sticker.
We schedule your tour in reverse, taking into account when you need to be back on board so that you have a time buffer. We understand that nobody wants to be a quay runner.
Any tours you book with us will have your own guide, exploring at your own pace, and seeing the things you actually want to see.
Have a look
Windmills, Delft, Haarlem, the coast. These are all within easy reach of your ship.
Have a look
If you are on a budget, or like to mix with other people, we have walks, bike tours, and canal cruises in small groups, most of them take two to three hours.
Have a look
Tell us what you would like to do, and we will build a day around it.
Have a look
Most of our guests are with us the day or two before they board, or after they disembark, rather than in the few hours their ship is alongside. Tell us roughly when you are here and how many of you there are, and we will come back with a handful of options that fit. We run a wider range of tours than the ship does, so there is usually something worth doing that is not already on your itinerary.
We reply within 24 hours, usually sooner. No deposit is taken at this stage and nothing is booked until you are happy with the plan. We are not affiliated with any cruise line.
Here are three other things that are worth checking while you are planning your cruise.
A similar tool checking the level of the Danube, refreshed every day.
Open the page
We receive information from three different sources. A ship’s position comes from the signal the ship broadcasts, and we always show the time that the reading was taken rather than using old information for live tracking. The ship’s next call and the berth she is booked on come from our own docking calendar for Amsterdam and Zaandam, running through to 2028. The river figures come from the official Rhine and Danube gauges, published each morning.
Enter any one of these three things: the ship, the cruise line, or the date you are in the Netherlands, and we will put all of the information in one place, then match tours to the hours you actually have ashore. If the position is the only thing you need, Where is my river cruise ship will find that out for you.
Schedules change, and rivers move faster. Consider what you see here as a well-informed overall picture rather than an absolute promise, and confirm anything time-critical with your cruise line’s daily programme.
Enter the ship’s name above. The position comes from the signal the ship broadcasts, and we always show when that reading was taken rather than dressing an old fix up as live tracking. If the ship’s position is the only thing you require, use Where is my river cruise ship.
Yes. Every line we meet in Amsterdam has its own page, listed further down, covering how that line’s timings usually work, where its ships berth, and what tours we run for its guests. Once you have the ship name from your booking or your daily programme, come back here, and the live view will fill in the rest of the details.
The search shows you where she is now, and the docking calendar shows you where she is due next, so between the two you can see the shape of the coming days. A ship heading down the Rhine towards Amsterdam is a different picture from one still on the Danube. Our calendar runs into 2028, so a sailing months away may already have a date and berth against it.
It depends on whether your ship is staying overnight or turns around on the same day. Most itineraries give guests a night at one end, which is a full free day rather than just a few hours. Your daily programme gives the all aboard time, and that is the number everything else should be planned around. Tell us that time, and we will work plan around it.
Water levels are the single biggest reason a river cruise itinerary changes, so we track them daily on their own pages. Our Rhine water levels page covers the five points that matter most for cruising, from Basel down to Lobith, written in plain language rather than gauge numbers so you can see in seconds whether the river is comfortable or heading for trouble. The Danube water levels page does the same for the Danube. If low or high water is going to change your itinerary, that is where you will see it.
It depends entirely on the berth, which is why it is worth looking up. De Ruijterkade runs along the back of Amsterdam Centraal and is a walk of a few minutes with a suitcase. Westerdoksdijk is a little further along the same water. Coenhaven Westerhoofd and Minervahaven are working harbour berths out to the west, and you will need a taxi. Zaandam is a train ride of under half an hour. The section above sets out which is which.
That is the most common schedule for a river cruise, and it is the gap we are built for. Boarding is usually mid to late afternoon, so a morning arrival leaves you a full day with your luggage already dealt with. Tell us your ship and your dates, and we will put together something that fits the hours you actually have and gets you back well before all aboard.
Yes. You are free to make your own arrangements in port, and plenty of guests prefer a private guide to a group coach. When you take a tour with us, you are not a numbered sticker. The one rule that matters is that the ship will not wait, so we work backwards from your all aboard time and keep a buffer. As we can see her berth and her schedule, that buffer is based on where she actually is rather than a guess.
Yes. Advisors use this page to check where a client’s ship is and what the day ashore looks like before they pick up the phone. If you let us know that you are an advisor in the enquiry form, and add your company name, we will quote accordingly and keep you updated rather than work around you.
The Rhine, the Moselle and the Danube, and the river cruise lines that call at Amsterdam: Viking, AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways, Emerald Cruises, Uniworld, Scenic, Riviera Travel, Amadeus, APT, Viva Cruises, Saga, Tauck and Riverside. Ocean ships are not included. If your ship is missing, send us her name and we will look at including her.