Of course the first thing and something that we really wanted to be sure to do whilst visiting Amsterdam was a canal cruise - so I booked with Amsterdam Boat Trips for the day that we arrived. I figured we’d have enough time from our short flight (about 45 minutes) from London and checking into our hotel to be able to get to the boat cruise in time. But it would be a smidge tight if there were any delays with our flight, I’m glad it worked out and we ended up having to push our cruise to another time anyways (same day). I found the boat cruise experience with just a google search, and Amsterdam Boat Trips looked reputable from the google reviews, website & social handles so I booked a “Cozy and Fun Canal Tour” one of their tour packages and added on the drink option (beer, wine & soft drinks). The cost for 2 people was €58.03 / $64.70, €29.02 pp / $32.35 pp (including taxes & fees) and this is what’s included in the hour long cruise:

100% electrical boats with good view over the city and art works.
Experienced skipper as guide
Comfy cushioned seating
Drinks & snacks are available at reasonable prices (but we upgraded with our ticket cost to include drinks, although we did not how many drinks we would receive)

Their site which links to booking the cruise package is easy to use, straight forward and you can select from a variety of languages.

Some other highlights of the cruise advertised by the company:

Certified captains are also your enthusiastic guides along the way
100% electrical boats with good view over the city and art works!
We are child friendly so children of all ages are welcome
Pets are welcome
LGTBQ respect and equality is our life’s philosophy
Our aim for our guests is to meet as strangers, but leave as friends

On the day of, I actually received a text from one of their reps, Mara, saying that our scheduled boat was experiencing technical issues, so she presented other cruise times, and I was able to get a time just 10 minutes before our originally scheduled time. This was great because we could still cruise while the sun was setting. I appreciated that they reached out to me quickly and got to a resolution.

Although there are ALOT of canal cruise operators and boats all alongside the canal walls, we were able to find the right location thanks to the clear instructions from email communications, the address provided and specific details from Mara. This honestly was the perfect experience that Scott and I both needed to just unwind on the water and be able to see so many parts of Amsterdam right off the bat. It turned out that the cruise that we were on included cheese and drinks, so we got to choose either 3 beers/wine/soft drinks or 1 cocktail (and surprisingly for the size of the boat, they were pretty equipped enough to create a variety of cocktails). I loved being on the water and the group in the boat is an intimate amount of people, so it brings together all sorts of people and you get to know each other if you want to - there are also private tour options, which would be great for hen dos or stag parties, or for a larger family traveling together. This is also an easy activity to do if you are a solo traveler.

Our skipper and captain were super fun and nice, they dropped bits of history and facts here and there as we cruised along, and were good at reading the group for energy levels and adapting to the different types of people on board. We had a wonderful time, and I didn’t want the cruise to end! It was magical, and probably because of the time of day we were cruising at too made it extra special to be on the water. I would definitely recommend this cruise service or taking any canal cruise in general when visiting Amsterdam! If you want to see other types of canal cruises available, check out my KLOOK selects below:

Amsterdam Canal Cruise with Drinks and Snacks - Amsterdam Boat Trips