Rederij Lovers

The watercolors cruise is quite entertaining and covers the canals as well as the exhibition of the light festival.
Although we had booked our ticket online in advance, we spent 30 min waiting in line for the boat to pick us up. Also, there was some entertainment program for the people waiting in line: a DJ was blasting music into our ears and trying to get people to dance. We were quite annoyed by that, but the following tour made us forget about these horrible minutes quite quickly.

Jährlich zur Adventszeit findet bis Mitte Januar das Amsterdam Light Festival statt. Diverse Künstler stellen «leuchtende Kunst» aus, die an, neben und über den Grachten präsentiert werden. Es gibt eine Walking Route, die einen Teil der Werke abdeckt.
Eine Alternative ist eine Bootsfahrt, die ca. 1 Stunde dauert. Wir haben die Lovers Reederei gewählt, die direkt vor unserem Hotel an der Leidsekade einen Standpunkt hat. Die Fahrt war durchaus interessant, es wurde auf niederländisch und englisch kommentiert. Bei normalen Tagesfahrten kann man aus diversen Sprachen auswählen, ähnlich wie bei den Hop-​on-​hop-​off-​Bussen, natürlich auch deutsch.

For 12 or 15 euros, I got my money’s worth. That’s all that matters. The boat is comfortable enough for one hour. The tour is scenic and informative. I suggest the evening tour, makes for a gorgeous view.
If you walk towards the restaurants, bars and shops… There are a lot of places that sell tour tickets, buy it there and show up at the dock. I came five minutes prior and was towards the end of the line but I still got on because others had to buy tickets.
It was interesting to see the house boats also with people enjoying dinner. It’s something different to tourists but to them, it’s their everyday life.
You can also set the tour to your preferred language so if you are not very comfortable in English or Dutch, no fears.

Beware if it is a busy day, you will spend most of your time waiting to get on a boat. We spent 30 minutes waiting to buy a ticket, then waited another 40 to get on a boat. Rather, we waited 40 minutes to realize we would not get on and should go to a different stop. Once we were on the boat, it was fine but we repeated the disaster when we hopped off, we were never able to «hop» back on. Even though they said they had 5 boats running, we waited 20 – 30 minutes to see a (totally full) boat.
This was on a random Tuesday, so I don’t know why it was so packed. But, all in all, an incredibly disappointing experience.

This is a nice way to start off your tour of Amsterdam, and you will gain a nice overview of the city. The hop on and off feature of this cruise is a nice feature. However, I do wish that there was just a bit more information given on the tour, but then, I have always been a sucker for history.

we booked a package through viator and once we got to the ticket counter to ask where to board, we were told to cross the bridge and walk up a block. then the boat left that dock and went to the exact dock we just walked from…
as for the actual tour, i didn’t feel like it was anything special. we had to listen to a recording and it rotated in 4 different languages. because of this, things were a bit confusing as far as timing of «look to your left, look right, you’ll see this ahead, etc» and it felt underwhelming. also, at one point we docked in a random place for five minutes without any recorded explanation or an explanation from our captain. in fact, the captain didn’t talk the entire time. before we boarded, he was drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette and then when we left, he was silent. and the recording suggested we tip our captain at the end… very weird.
I would definitely do the canal tour again but not with this company. two stars are simply because the boat didn’t sink even though it sounded like it might and it was pretty clean.

Apparently, this place does not accept the e-​tickets in e format. You need to print your e ticket prior to coming here. They let us email our e ticket to them so they could print it, but they printed the email and not the PDF ticket in the email and got mad at us when I sighed. They then demanded we board the boat furthest away despite one boarding in front of us.
I should say, using an e ticket cost me an extra 30 minutes waiting for them to print it the first time, and made me miss the tour I came early for.
Regarding the tour itself, they oversold tickets so the boat was cramped. It was also dirty and you could not see well out of the windows so the sights were difficult to see and photograph. The back end of the boat was open space, but so packed that my photos are filled with other tourists.
I regret not demanding a refund at the ticket window or choosing a different company. Poor service, very unorganized, and uncared for equipment made this a regrettable experience.

The canal cruises really offer you the chance to see Amsterdam from a totally different angle. No damn bikes zipping by you like gnats. No tourists (like me!) walking around aimlessly with their maps and guidebooks out and not watching where they’re going. If you get lucky, you’ll get on the boat with other respectful and responsible tourists and the trip will be well worth it. However, the cruise will quickly loose a star for each obnoxious camera toting bozo who runs up and down the aisle trying to snap that «perfect» vacation photo or for each crazy tourist giving a loud verbal play by play of their land leg Amsterdam adventures from the days before as we turn every corner on our cruise. If your cruise is nice and calm it’s a wonderful enhancement to your Amsterdam visit. I got lucky and I hope you will too.

This tour was going so well until we left the dock.
Picture this: not all the seats were full, it was nice and quiet, and we’re about to pull away. Then the captain gets called back to the dock to let on a group of schoolchildren. Not a small group, mind you. But literally 30 screaming, high energy, buzzkilling children.
So there goes any chance of a peaceful boat tour. For a company named «Lovers», that was probably the best way to make people never want to have kids.
For the rest of the hour, we had to deal with children screaming, jumping up and down on seats, sitting in the aisle, and overall being annoying. Couldn’t even hear the captain explain what we were looking at because of those damn kids.
We paid for this experience.
I’m sure not all canal tours are like this, but I’m more than willing to give them a bad review based on this experience.
By the way, if you buy tickets from an outside vendor (mostly souvenir shops), you can get 10% off.

With a few hours to spare before catching my train back to Cologne at the end of great weekend in Amsterdam, I decided to take to the water and see the city from the canals. Having put friends on their train to the airport this was the nearest company offering the service. The boat was clean and so long as your sitting inside there is a commentary but that is where the service stopped. Sitting on the outside deck to be able to take photos you couldn’t hear the commentary, sitting inside it was very difficult to take phots due to people and the arrangements of the windows. It would have also been good if there were food and drinks available on board.

A lovely way to see the city. I don’t think a trip to Amsterdam is complete without it.
We bought our tickets across from Centraal Station, where the cashier was friendly and helpful. The boat was docked just a short walk away, surprisingly chic with its animal-​print upholstery. Our captain looked like she was about 14, but she showed complete confidence as she took us from the waterfront through a series of canals.
The tour narration is recorded, and in several languages. It was 14 euros per person, which I think was a good value for an interesting and romantic hour of discovery.

Spending a day or more in the beautiful city of Amsterdam?
Lovers Rederij is a great way to discover more about the history and architecture of this characteristic city.
At Centraal Station you can board one of the many boats, that will give you a nice tour through the canals of the city. I love these tours, hearing the stories of the past, and get a good view of the city without having to walk through the crowds of tourists and Amsterdamers.
I took this tour a few times and every time again I hear and see new things about the capital city of Holland. Make sure you bring a good camera to take as many pictures as you can, Amsterdam my friend is gorgeous!