Rotterdam to Amsterdam?

I apologize in advance if this question has been asked and answered - I went back several pages and did not see a thread :)

We are on a TA cruise next April and will be in docked in Rotterdam from Noon to 8pm. We would love to take the train to Amsterdam and spend the afternoon there - will this be enough time to make the trip and have a decent amount of time to take a canal tour or something else fun? I'm DYING to see Amsterdam and would love to make this work!

Thanks!

It can be done, but if your ship offers a shuttle to Amsterdam (like Amsterdam for a day) better take that. Th ship will wait for you in case of late return due traffic problems.

You will need transportation from the cruiseterminal to and from Rotterdam Centraal, cab might be best in your case. Trains in general run often and most of the time on time. Right near Amsterdam you have a few options for a 1 hour canalboattour. Nicest way to have a quick look at the city.

In case you want to visit Anne Frankhuis absolutely make your reservations online, so you can skip the often long lines there.

Of course take some extra time to get back to your ship, you donot want to miss it.

Traininformation here: http://www.ns.nl/en/travellers/home

We are also in Rotterdam next spring and want to go to Amsterdam. We are art lovers so want to visit the Rikksmuseum and maybe take a canal cruise. The cruise line offers an Amsterdam on your own transportation, which takes 1:45 each way from the port to Amsterdam leaving us with 4.5 hours in Amsterdam. Is that enough time to do a canal cruise and tour the museum on our own? Would we have more time if we took the train on our own or would we be better to stick withe the cruise line's transportation? I'm not sure how far Rotterdam is from Amsterdam.

Yes you can "do" a canal cruise but you need time to get from there to the museum and unless you have pre-booked tickets you may have to stand in line for quite a while. To "do" the entire Rikksmuseum takes more time than you have. Otherwise it's just a run through.

We are also in Rotterdam next spring and want to go to Amsterdam. We are art lovers so want to visit the Rikksmuseum and maybe take a canal cruise. The cruise line offers an Amsterdam on your own transportation, which takes 1:45 each way from the port to Amsterdam leaving us with 4.5 hours in Amsterdam. Is that enough time to do a canal cruise and tour the museum on our own? Would we have more time if we took the train on our own or would we be better to stick withe the cruise line's transportation? I'm not sure how far Rotterdam is from Amsterdam.

It depends where the shuttle will drop you. If it is like in the past it often was at Museumplein, which - as the name says - it close to Rijksmusem and van Goghmuseum.

Regular canalcruises often leave near Centraal Station, but the scheduled Museumboats (kind of hop on/off) also leaves nearMuseumplein.

http://www.lovers.nl/en/tickets-and-prices/museum-line-en-rijksmuseum/

When travelling by train, you arrive at Centraal Station, which is o.k. for canalcruises. But to get to the Museums you need a tram or cab to get there.

Traveltime by train from Rotterdam CS to Amsterdam CS is just over 1 hour, plus of course the time to get from/to the station and to/from the museum.

As mentioned absolutely book your museum online to skip the lines!

After reading many threads and seeing your helpful posts Ine, I was hoping you would answer mine! Thanks for the info. As far as I can tell so far the cruise line is not offering a shuttle to Amsterdam. Our plan for now is to take the train which hopefully will get us into Amsterdam around 2:00 and do the hop on/hop off canal and tram tour. There is a stop right outside the train station. If we get on a 6pm train we should be back in plenty of time for our 8pm sail away right?

If Princess offers a shuttle as we get closer we will do that to be safe.

I think you better take a train back about 30 minutes earlier then 6pm. Just in case there is a delay and also you need time to get from the station back to the ship. That way it is almost for sure you will have no problems.

Be aware around it is rushhour, so trains can be rather full. You might have to stay instead of having a seat for part of the journey.

I think you better take a train back about 30 minutes earlier then 6pm. Just in case there is a delay and also you need time to get from the station back to the ship. That way it is almost for sure you will have no problems.

Be aware around it is rushhour, so trains can be rather full. You might have to stay instead of having a seat for part of the journey.

Great thanks for the advice!

If your shuttle drops you off near the Rijksmuseum, canal tours also leave from Stadhouderskade which is only a 10min walk away. I think the boats leave quarter past and quarter to the hour and take 75mins for the round trip.

Many thanks--this information is so helpful. I think we will stick with the Princess transfer since we won't save that much time if we take the train. A drop off near the museums will be perfect for us.

We are also in Rotterdam next spring and want to go to Amsterdam. We are art lovers so want to visit the Rikksmuseum and maybe take a canal cruise. The cruise line offers an Amsterdam on your own transportation, which takes 1:45 each way from the port to Amsterdam leaving us with 4.5 hours in Amsterdam. Is that enough time to do a canal cruise and tour the museum on our own? Would we have more time if we took the train on our own or would we be better to stick withe the cruise line's transportation? I'm not sure how far Rotterdam is from Amsterdam.

HRPro are you on the TA crossing out of Ft Lauderdale leaving 4/15?

HRPro are you on the TA crossing out of Ft Lauderdale leaving 4/15?

No, we're on the Royal--departing 4/25.

No, we're on the Royal--departing 4/25.

Ah. I saw that you mentioned that Princess was offering a Rotterdam to Amsterdam shuttle. I can't seem to find any info on excursions for our sailing yet. I wonder why yours are up and you leave later than we do. I guess I will give them a call.....

Ours aren't up yet either. I'm just making an assumption that transportation will be offered based on the excursions listed when you book the cruise. If you do a dummy booking for your cruise, you will see a tab for excursions listed which shows as one option Amsterdam on your own or at least this was listed under the port of Rotterdam for the 4/25 TA. Cost was $85pp.

No, we're on the Royal--departing 4/25.

We are also on Royal on 4/25 and will be doing Amsterdam on your own.We have done this in the past and it worked out quite well.

Ah. I saw that you mentioned that Princess was offering a Rotterdam to Amsterdam shuttle. I can't seem to find any info on excursions for our sailing yet. I wonder why yours are up and you leave later than we do. I guess I will give them a call.....

Go in a do a false booking and above the cabin options,it will list the usual excursions.