Most Tauck guests have a night or two in Amsterdam around their cruise. Tauck’s small, all-inclusive riverboats, the ms Grace, ms Joy, ms Savor, ms Inspire and ms Treasures, often begin or end their Rhine and Dutch itineraries here, so there is usually time to enjoy the city before you board or after you step off. Below you can follow the Tauck fleet live, check the 2026 and 2027 docking dates and find the exact quay your ship uses. Sailing the Rhine? Low water can change itineraries at short notice, so check our live Rhine water level tracker before you travel.
On those days Amsterdam is yours. We arrange a private guide, and a driver or boat where needed, around what interests you: the canals, the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, or a day out to Keukenhof in spring, the Zaanse Schans windmills or Haarlem. No coach, no fixed group. Tauck guests are used to everything being taken care of to a high standard, and a private guide keeps the day ashore at that level rather than dropping to a shared coach. On our driving tours your own car and driver come too, while the shorter city tours are on foot or by boat, with your guide alongside all the way. We plan the day around your ship’s schedule and always have you back well before all aboard. Tell us your dates.
Not sure which Tauck 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.
Tauck ships draw about 1.97 m, deeper than most river ships. That means the ship needs roughly 2.07 m of water to keep clearance under the keel.
The shallowest point we track on the Rhine today is Kaub at 1.16 m, measured 25 September 2026, 00:00 (Europe/Amsterdam). That is not enough for a 1.97 m ship at that point.
See live water depths at every Rhine gauge or check the Danube.
Tauck and the ship's captain decide whether a ship sails, not this page. This is water level information we receive from the official gauge services (PEGELONLINE, Rijkswaterstaat, BAFU), converted into navigable depth. A ship also changes its own draught by taking on or releasing ballast, and at high water the limit is bridge clearance rather than depth. Always check with your cruise line.
If your itinerary includes an Amsterdam port call during the cruise itself, we can arrange a private excursion for that day too. Your guide meets you at the gangway and has you back on time.
The schedule below is filtered from the central river cruise calendar and updates automatically.
Tauck ships berth centrally in Amsterdam. These are the quays used for Tauck 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 harbour · 15 min taxi or ship shuttle
A working harbour about 4 kilometres west of the centre, used when the central berths are full. Nothing lies in walking distance, so plan on a ship shuttle, a 15 minute taxi, or a private pickup right at the gangway.
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.
Tauck does something no other line on this list does. The Inspiration Class ships, ms Joy, ms Savor, ms Inspire and ms Grace, carry 130 guests in hulls originally built for 190, with roughly fifty crew looking after them. That single decision explains most of what Tauck guests notice: more space, smaller excursion groups, and a Tauck Director who actually knows your name by day two.
Amsterdam usually appears at the end rather than the beginning. Heart of Belgium and Holland runs Brussels to Amsterdam over eight days on ms Grace or ms Inspire, and the December Yuletide Spirit sailing does the same. The Romantic Rhine connects Amsterdam and Basel in both directions, and Castles on the Rhine, the Tauck Bridges family riverboat adventure, runs the Rhine in summer with a backpack posted to every child before departure.
Tauck’s inclusions are close to total. All shore excursions are covered, and gratuities for ship staff, local guides, drivers, the Tauck Director and the Cruise Director are all in the fare. Transfers between the pre-stay hotel and the ship are included as well. Tauck Exclusives are the signature: a private dinner at the Mauritshuis, in the company of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, is not something anybody else can sell you.
Which means the honest answer is that Tauck guests rarely need an alternative to Tauck. What they need is the days on either side. The night before the Director takes over, the afternoon after the ship lets go, the extra day added because the flights worked out that way. That is the gap, and it is where a private guide earns their keep on a Tauck trip.
Group sightseeing
Your private day with us
Tell us how you like to spend a day, and we will build your Amsterdam days around it. Plan your private day
Tauck’s own sightseeing is well run and genuinely inclusive, but it still moves as a group and to a set clock. On a private day, the itinerary bends to you.
Your guide plans the day with you, not for you. Spend the morning with the Dutch Masters and the afternoon in the Jordaan, stop for lunch where it looks good, and change the plan halfway if the sun comes out. The pace is yours, and so are the questions.
Tauck guests are used to a high standard on board, and a guide of your own keeps the day ashore at that level. Because Tauck itineraries so often start or finish in Amsterdam, most of our Tauck work is a full day either side of the sailing, so there is time to do things properly.
Sailing with Tauck? Get in touch and we will shape the day around what interests you.
Travelling with Tauck? Alongside your tours, we can arrange a private Schiphol airport transfer or a chauffeur between the airport, your hotel and your Tauck riverboat, timed around your embarkation and disembarkation. Book a private Schiphol 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:
Tauck’s riverboats berth centrally, most often at the Passenger Terminal, along De Ruijterkade behind Central Station, at Coenhaven or Westerdoksdijk, a short walk or transfer from the old town. Your exact berth is shown in the schedule above.
Your Tauck fare covers the ship and its own guided sightseeing, not a guide who works only for you. Most guests book us for the extra days in Amsterdam around the cruise, and for the days they would rather spend entirely on their own terms.
You will see the ms Grace, ms Joy, ms Savor, ms Inspire, ms Treasures and ms Esprit here. 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.
The sooner the better for spring and peak dates, but we can often arrange a private guide at shorter notice too.