River Cruise Planning

Track your ship, check the Rhine and Danube water levels, and see which ships are in Amsterdam on your dates. Arriving by sea? The Dutch port calendar is here too.

Tools for river and ocean cruise passengers

Whether you are still choosing a sailing or already packed, these pages answer the questions our guests ask most. Where your ship is and where it berths in Amsterdam, which ships are in port on your dates, and whether the Rhine and Danube are carrying enough water to sail.

A river cruise runs to its own logic. The ship decides where you are and when, the river decides whether it can get there at all, and Amsterdam decides which of its six quays you tie up at. None of that is in your hands, but all of it is knowable, and knowing it early is the difference between an easy day ashore and a scramble.

Illustration of a river cruise ship on the water in front of the Amsterdam skyline with a location pin above it

Where do I find my river cruise ship?

Every river cruise vessel broadcasts its position over AIS, the same system commercial shipping uses. Our tracker shows where your ship is now, when that position was sent, and which Amsterdam berth she is heading for. That last part catches people out: there are six river cruise quays here and ships are moved between them at short notice, so the berth in your documents is not always where you step ashore. If someone is meeting you, check it the night before.

Find My Ship

Which ships come to Amsterdam, and when?

Amsterdam and Zaandam see a river cruise ship on most days of the season, and on a peak day there can be a dozen alongside. The calendar lists them by date and by ship, so you can see how busy the city will be before you commit to a sailing, match your dates to friends on another vessel, or check whether your ship turns around here and gives you a full extra day.

View Calendar

What about ocean cruises?

Not everyone arrives by river. If your ship calls at Amsterdam, Rotterdam or IJmuiden, the ocean calendar carries the schedule for those ports, ship by ship and date by date. It tells you how many other ships are in on your date, which decides the queues and where the coaches park, and which port you are actually in, because IJmuiden and Rotterdam are a drive from Amsterdam rather than a walk.

View Cruise Calendar

A group of people walk toward the main entrance of the Rijksmuseum, a large historic brick building in Amsterdam, on a clear day.

How do we spend the day ashore?

The ship excursion puts you on a coach with forty other people, on a timetable built around the slowest of them. We build the day around your own arrival and all aboard times instead: a car, a driver, and a guide who is yours alone. That might be the Rijksmuseum before the queues, the windmills at Zaanse Schans, or Delft and the Hague if you have seen Amsterdam before. If the water changes your plans, we rebuild the day overnight.

View Shore Excursions

Will there be enough water?

Low water is the one thing that genuinely disrupts a river cruise, and it is seasonal rather than random: the Rhine runs high in spring on Alpine snowmelt and falls through late summer and autumn. We read five official gauges every morning, from Basel through Maxau and Kaub to Cologne and Lobith, and convert each into the depth of water in the channel so they compare on one scale. Kaub is the classic bottleneck and the reading to watch.

View Rhine Levels

And on the Danube?

The Danube behaves differently. Most of its length is held at a steady level by a staircase of locks and dams, so low water is rarely a problem there. It is the few free flowing reaches that rise and fall with the weather, and that is where our six gauges sit: Pfelling in Bavaria, Kienstock and Wildungsmauer in Austria, then Budapest, Mohacs and Giurgiu further down. Pfelling is usually the first to cause trouble.

View Danube Levels

River cruise planning: FAQ

Will low water cancel my river cruise?

Rarely outright. Lines adapt instead: they lighten the ship, swap guests to a sister vessel beyond the shallow stretch, or run a section by coach so you still see the highlights. Full cancellations are the exception. Check the readings for your stretch and confirm the plan with your cruise line.

Which quay in Amsterdam will my ship use?

There are six river cruise quays and allocation can change close to the date, so the berth in your cruise documents is not always the one you get. Our tracker shows the berth your ship is actually heading for.

How long do I get ashore in Amsterdam?

Usually between six and ten hours, but it varies by line and by whether Amsterdam is a turnaround port for your sailing. Your daily programme is the authority. Tell us your arrival and all aboard times and we will build the day to fit them.

Can I book a private tour instead of the ship excursion?

Yes, and most of our cruise guests do. There is no obligation to take the ship excursion. We time the day around your ship own schedule and get you back well before all aboard.

My ship is not showing on the tracker. What now?

The tracker shows the last AIS signal received. If a ship has gone quiet, usually in a lock, under cover, or with the transponder off in port, you see her last known position and the time it was sent. We do not guess.

What if my itinerary changes at short notice?

It happens, and water levels are usually the reason. If you find yourself with an unexpected day or night in Amsterdam, tell us and we will build something for it, often at a day notice.

Do you sell river cruises?

No. We are an Amsterdam private tour company. We are not a cruise line and we do not sell cruise tickets. We look after the days around them.