Cruises From Amsterdam

Most Amsterdam departures leave from Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, which now calls itself Cruise Port Amsterdam. It sits on the IJ at Piet Heinkade 27, about a 15-minute walk east of Centraal, per the terminal. That keeps a city departure simple — train from Schiphol, walk to the ship.

The city wants fewer ships, though. Sea-cruise calls were capped at 100 a year from 2026, with one sea-cruise berth a day, per the city’s 2024 decision as reported by Maritime Executive. In January 2026 the city’s executive proposed ending sea cruises by 2035 rather than moving the terminal, per NL Times. The coalition agreement signed in June 2026 says it will close the PTA — with no date in the text. We found nothing that cancels a 2026 or 2027 departure.

Here for a port day, not a departure? That’s a different page: Amsterdam as a port of call covers the day ashore, and our Amsterdam shore excursions the tours. This guide is for sailing from here.

Two more traps. An IJmuiden information site says a second, smaller Felison terminal sits near the DFDS ferry terminal. Very few ships use it, per the same site — your documents should say which. MSC’s “Rotterdam (Amsterdam)” is neither. It’s Rotterdam, at Wilhelminakade 699.

Celebrity groups its Amsterdam sailings as Norwegian Fjords, Scandinavia, Iceland and Ireland, and the British Isles. The full port lists we could read are Viking’s and Regent’s. So the ten stops below come from those two itineraries — real voyages, not a pattern for every line.

Three have pages of their own: Flåm, Bergen and London (Tilbury). For the wider region, start with our Northern Europe cruise guide.

The terminal sets out the order on its own check-in page. You drop your bags first, under the “Luggage Drop-off” signs, where porters in yellow cardigans wait at the entrance. Label them at home — you won’t see them again until you’re on board. Then you show a passport or ID card, go through security with bags, jackets and metal on the belt, and finish at the Marechaussee’s border control.

The time you can check in varies by ship, per the terminal, so the time on your line’s documents is the one to keep. Cars can stop briefly in front of the main entrance to let you out. Anyone collecting you later should park in a garage and meet at the meeting point on the street corner in front. Disembarkation comes in phases, and the terminal won’t estimate a time.

Inside there’s a taxi rank out front and lockers — 24 hours, €4 small and €6 large, per Holland America. One warning: the terminal’s accessibility page still carries a tunnel closure that ended in 2022, so treat its taxi price guide as dated.

At IJmuiden, the Felison terminal publishes a cruise calendar and takes ships up to 295 m. Holland America says it takes parking reservations online and has no luggage storage at the pier. We didn’t find a check-in page from the operator, whose home page blocked our reader. Confirm with your line — the documents name the terminal, the time and the drop-off.

Q-Park sells Park+Cruise at its Oostenburg garage, €75 for up to 5 days, €105 (about US$120) for 7 and €120 (about US$135) for 8, per Q-Park. A seven-night cruise spans eight calendar days and Q-Park doesn’t say how it counts them, so budget €120 and ask when you book. It’s about a 20-minute walk from PTA. The city’s Garage Piet Hein sits right under the terminal, and the terminal’s parking page lists it from about €322 (about US$360) for two weeks booked ahead. Turn up without a booking and you pay by the hour — up to €53.40 (about US$60) a day, per an aggregator. For IJmuiden, book the terminal’s own parking on the Felison reservation site and confirm the price when you do.

Schiphol is the only airport the lines and the terminal point you to. What happens after you land depends entirely on which terminal you’re sailing from.

The night before, ranked: we’ve scored thirteen hotels for the night before an Amsterdam cruise, from the terminal’s own building to Schiphol and IJmuiden. None sells a ride to the ship or a park-and-cruise rate. Four worth knowing:

For a PTA sailing, sleep in the city and treat the last day as a free one. The big museums sell timed tickets. The Rijksmuseum asks every visitor to book a start time. The Anne Frank House sells online only, and every Tuesday at 10 am it releases the tickets for six weeks later — book before you fly, not on the day. GVB’s ferries across the IJ from behind Centraal are free.

For an IJmuiden sailing, the city is still the fun part, but the morning drive isn’t. Sleep on the coast, or leave the city early with your bags in the car. Our Amsterdam shore excursions cover the tours if you’d rather be shown around.