Amsterdam to slash cruise ship visits by half

[voyageur9]

Amsterdam joins other cities including Venice and Key West who want far fewer cruise ship passengers who mostly spend  less than other visitors while imposing significant burdens.

 

Amsterdam plans to slash cruise ship visits from 190 annually to fewer than 100. Use of shore-side power to curb pollution will be imposed.

 

Seems cruise ship hordes are increasingly unwelcome in desirable destinations. Smaller ships that overnight may be more welcome.

[AKJonesy]

I think we will see this more and more.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

They have been talking about this for years.

As well as moving the Cruise ship terminal. In Amsterdam.

[jennjess]

Just read an article about this in the Dutch news, 2 days ago.  They will from now only allow 1 ship in port at a time.  From 2026 only 100 ships a year, it's now 190, which is fewer than the 246 previously.

The cruise terminal will have to close eventually due to plans to build a bridge in the vicinity.  They do have plans to have a terminal further outside the city.

[Ride-The-Waves]

HAL already uses Ijmuiden as an alternative to Amsterdam.

[Infi]

I've never sailed from Ijmuiden, only from Amsterdam. Are there multiple berths/terminals there? I'm wondering how this additional capacity from Amsterdam may be absorbed.

[terrydtx]

Does this include river cruises too? One ship a day would kill the River cruise business.

[terrydtx]

6 hours ago, Infi said:

I've never sailed from Ijmuiden, only from Amsterdam. Are there multiple berths/terminals there? I'm wondering how this additional capacity from Amsterdam may be absorbed.

Many cruise ships have already moved to Rotterdam for departures and returns. Our Celebrity Apex cruise moved to a Rotterdam departure from Amsterdam last September.

Edited Sunday at 08:56 PM by terrydtx

[Roz]

@terrydtx, avid river cruiser here.  I read an article saying Amsterdam's goal is to cut river cruise stops in half by a certain date (can't remember the date).  This is unfortunate, IMO, as so many Rhine River and Dutch & Belgian Waterways cruises start in Amsterdam.  I've done 4 of them, and usually fly in 3 days ahead.  I book a hotel, take tours, eat in restaurants, visit museums, use shuttles, etc.  And most river cruises that start or end in Amsterdam usually do an overnight.  

 

The tourism problems Amsterdam is experiencing seem to be more a function of young men from England and Germany going berserk in the Red Light District, including public intoxication and urination.  This is not typical behavior of river cruisers (thank God!).

[ontheweb]

20 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Does this include river cruises too? One ship a day would kill the River cruise business.

Yes, we took our first river cruise earlier this year, and it started and ended in Amsterdam. At one point, we opened our curtain to take in the view. And what we saw was a cabin in another river cruise ship. 🤦‍♂️ Twice we had to go through another ship when returning to our ship.

[ECCruise]

58 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, we took our first river cruise earlier this year, and it started and ended in Amsterdam. At one point, we opened our curtain to take in the view. And what we saw was a cabin in another river cruise ship. 🤦‍♂️ Twice we had to go through another ship when returning to our ship.

That is normal for cruise ships at many if not most stops.  In fact, there are times that you need to walk through 2 boats returning to your own. 

[Roz]

It's called "rafting" in the river cruise business, and is very common. Keep your clothes on, or your curtains shut. 😉

[Infi]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Many cruise ships have already moved to Rotterdam for departures and returns. Our Celebrity Apex cruise moved to a Rotterdam departure from Amsterdam last September.

 

Noted. I wonder if Rotterdam can support the additional influx, as it seems to me that there is only the one (established) cruise terminal in the heart of the city. There are other terminals for ferries and certainly plenty of cargo docks, but they are much further down the river Maas, similar to Ijmuiden and Amsterdam. 

[TRLD]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:57 PM, AKJonesy said:

I think we will see this more and more.  

Ports have figured out that cruise ships bring a lot of bodies, but a relatively small amount of money compared to overnight tourists.

 

A ship originating or ending its cruise in a port is much more valuable then one making a day port stop. 

 

As demonstrated with Dublin last year freight also generates more money than passenger cruise ships, so any use or conversion of freight locations will require surplus capacity.

 

Cruiselines have been successful pushing the limits on ship visits and passengers. Will ge interesting to see if they start being proactive with ports to limit passenger visits of keep pushing until the cities push back and enforce their own limits.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, ECCruise said:

That is normal for cruise ships at many if not most stops.  In fact, there are times that you need to walk through 2 boats returning to your own. 

I guess we theoretically knew that, but it still surprised us when we opened the curtain. Actually, we did not expect the big window as we booked late and the lowest category, but found out when we boarded that we had been upgraded. (IIRC, the ship's capacity was 164 and there were just under 100 onboard. I'm guessing we were not the only ones upgraded.

 

One time coming back, there were 3 or 4 ships side by side, and as we walked across the pier, we could not find ours. Then we started back at the beginning, and realized our ship was behind the first one.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, Roz said:

It's called "rafting" in the river cruise business, and is very common. Keep your clothes on, or your curtains shut. 😉

We immediately shut the curtain. And we did have clothes on.

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

I guess we theoretically knew that, but it still surprised us when we opened the curtain. Actually, we did not expect the big window as we booked late and the lowest category, but found out when we boarded that we had been upgraded. (IIRC, the ship's capacity was 164 and there were just under 100 onboard. I'm guessing we were not the only ones upgraded.

 

One time coming back, there were 3 or 4 ships side by side, and as we walked across the pier, we could not find ours. Then we started back at the beginning, and realized our ship was behind the first one.

Yes, all that can be a bit of a surprise since it is so different from ocean cruising.

But it sounds like you had a nice upgrade!

[ontheweb]

Just now, ECCruise said:

Yes, all that can be a bit of a surprise since it is so different from ocean cruising.

But it sounds like you had a nice upgrade!

Yes, it was. 😊 When getting our cruise cards, I said the cabin # to make it easier to be found, and then heard those wonderful words, "You have been upgraded.". (And it is unlike a ocean cruise where the cruise line's idea of an upgraded cabin may very well be different than your idea of what constitutes an upgrade.

[ECCruise]

As much as Amsterdam's decision will likely affect us some time in the future (either ocean or river cruise) with less choices, we can sympathize.  Living in a city that is steadily being destroyed by over-tourism (and continues to push and add more constantly) I think what Amsterdam is seeking--a balance--makes sense for both their residents (and the 20 million visitors who would still be able to visit).

[Catlover54]

17 hours ago, Roz said:

@terrydtx, avid river cruiser here.  I read an article saying Amsterdam's goal is to cut river cruise stops in half by a certain date (can't remember the date).  This is unfortunate, IMO, as so many Rhine River and Dutch & Belgian Waterways cruises start in Amsterdam.  I've done 4 of them, and usually fly in 3 days ahead.  I book a hotel, take tours, eat in restaurants, visit museums, use shuttles, etc.  And most river cruises that start or end in Amsterdam usually do an overnight.  

 

The tourism problems Amsterdam is experiencing seem to be more a function of young men from England and Germany going berserk in the Red Light District, including public intoxication and urination.  This is not typical behavior of river cruisers (thank God!).

 

Both of our recent private guides in Amsterdam also said the young British (first place ) and Germans (second place) are the biggest "going berserk"  problem in Amsterdam, rather than the cruises full of old people.

But of course it is likely easier for some to blame mostly North American cruisers, rather than fellow Europeans.

If cruises out of the Amsterdam area are more limited, and less cruisers come, then the Dutch who will lose money will be local guides, local drivers, and local restaurants and hotels where cruisers go if they come to tour a few days pre-cruise or stay extra days post-cruise.  But I suppose there aren't enough of them to matter politically,  and/or someone has done the math on this (e.g., less cruisers  may make way for more British/German drinkers and the bars may then have upticks in visits if some cruisers are gone and more hotel rooms from the pre and post cruise become available). 

 

We enjoyed embarking  in and visiting the sites in Rotterdam (prices for nice hotels are a lot lower there too ), but getting there from the airport by car (for those of us who cannot handle luggage on trains) is more expensive than getting to sites in Amsterdam (I've been to Amsterdam many times, but there is always more to see and do, especially with a slow pace that we like).

One of our private pre-cruise tours was of the countryside outside Amsterdam, by car with a guide,  and some of those areas can also be reached if on rents a car  if later cruising out of Rotterdam. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Menocchio]

Well, it’s not just the wilding Brits and Germans in the red light district. I understand places like the Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum are becoming much harder to visit. Amsterdam has reached a saturation point of tourists. And cruises deliver a very large number of tourists.

[VMax1700]

3 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

But of course it is likely easier for some to blame mostly North American cruisers, rather than fellow Europeans.

Of course there are no European cruise lines affected by this change of policy, only ships with North American cruisers!🙄  I suppose that is why Key West has voted against cruise ships so as to keep the  rampaging British and European youths away?

 

 

[Roz]

I've been to the Rijksmuseum twice in the last 2 years, and can't say that it was any more crowded than other art museums I've visited.  The Anne Frank House has always been hard to visit because of its size.  

 

@ECCruise, I live in Nashville (another city overwhelmed by tourists), so I try to be cognizant of that when I'm visiting popular tourist spots.  The foul mouthed and vomiting bachelorettes are the worst, so I sympathize with Amsterdam residents.  

 

@Catlover54, because a lot of river cruises start or end in Amsterdam, they provision there, which is another group of companies and workers who would lose business.  When I was there last year, the driver who picked me up at Schiphol told me the river cruise lines keep him in business.  Politicians rarely think of all the ramifications to their decisions.  

 

Some of your photos remind me of Giethoorn, a small town I visited on a day trip out of Amsterdam.

[Dutchman48]

On 6/30/2024 at 7:52 AM, Infi said:

I've never sailed from Ijmuiden, only from Amsterdam. Are there multiple berths/terminals there? I'm wondering how this additional capacity from Amsterdam may be absorbed.

Just finished a couple of back-to-back cruises of Norway's Fjords on the Rotterdam sailing from Rotterdam. Got the impression the city of Rotterdam welcomed the cruise ships, also

found getting to Rotterdam after flying into Amsterdam was not a problem. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Menocchio said:

Well, it’s not just the wilding Brits and Germans in the red light district. I understand places like the Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum are becoming much harder to visit. Amsterdam has reached a saturation point of tourists. And cruises deliver a very large number of tourists.

When we were in Amsterdam last summer as cruise passengers, we went to a museum near the Rijksmuseum. And then DW checked at the Rijksmuseum and learned although we could not get in then, we could buy tickets that were good the following half hour as timed tickets were still available for that time slot. So, I guess they were not overrun. And I always thought museums wanted people to visit them and enjoy them.