Cruise departing Amsterdam route and locks?

[Trish Traveler]

First time cruising out of Amsterdam soon on the HAL Rotterdam, and it looks like it could be interesting/scenic.  Can you tell me when you leave Amsterdam, headed for Norway, do you go west to the sea, and do you go through locks?  How long does it take to get to the open ocean?  I want to make sure to enjoy the views and possibly sunset, which should be around 8pm.

[Ashland]

 

 

[gumshoe958]

4 hours ago, Trish Traveler said:

First time cruising out of Amsterdam soon on the HAL Rotterdam, and it looks like it could be interesting/scenic.  Can you tell me when you leave Amsterdam, headed for Norway, do you go west to the sea, and do you go through locks?  How long does it take to get to the open ocean?  I want to make sure to enjoy the views and possibly sunset, which should be around 8pm.

Yes and yes.

 

It takes between two and three hours to get to the locks at IJmuiden, depending on whether the ship has to turn around after leaving the terminal (some turn around in the morning as they arrive, others in the evening as they leave).

[Trish Traveler]

Thanks to both of you for quick response and great info!  Now, I'm really excited for Sailaway. I will make sure we are on deck for the canal transit/locks and eat later in the MDR or in the buffet.

[MeHeartCruising]

42 minutes ago, Trish Traveler said:

Thanks to both of you for quick response and great info!  Now, I'm really excited for Sailaway. I will make sure we are on deck for the canal transit/locks and eat later in the MDR or in the buffet.

 

I enjoyed the departure from Amsterdam out to the locks quite a lot.  It was interesting landscape/buildings to see and there were lots of boats to watch come and go around you.  Also some windmills.  And then the approach to the locks was fun to see thru the entire process.  I stayed up top and went from side to side to front throughout the journey.   Enjoy your cruise!

[Dutch Cruise Lady]

I did this two weeks ago with the Holland America Rotterdam ship. It takes 2 hours through the North Sea canal and approx 1 hour in the locks of IJmuiden. The sun deck was an excellent place to see everything on land. At our Sail away a big festival was going on at the Hem-area, really funny to see all those people dancing and waving. Do not stay inside, the sail away from Amsterdam is lovely.

[maren91]

Hi! Just did this, super neat! It felt like you could just hop over the rail and be on land, that's how close we were on the Prima.

 

 

 

 

[CCJack]

Our departure from Amsterdam was delayed several hours ( 4+) as the lock traffic controllers sometimes hold the big ships at their pier to allow other traffic to go through the lock first.   With an at Sea day the next day for most cruises heading North, it is not a big deal as they know the ship can make up the time.   However, that put is at the lock after dark, which was unfortunate as I am really interested in locks and how they work.

 

On our Danube river cruise we went through more than 20 locks some with very large vertical displacements ! 

[Trish Traveler]

OP Here.  Thank you all for your great advice. 👍 We thoroughly enjoyed our sailaway from Amsterdam on the HAL Rotterdam on September 9!!  Seeing Amsterdam from that vantage point was amazing, as well as all the small towns and rural areas along the way.  It was fun to see locals waving and cheering as we passed by.  We spent our time in various locations on the ship for viewing (forward, aft, Promenade Deck) including our balcony, and just ate at the casual venues rather than the MDR.  It took about two hours to reach the locks at IJmuiden, which was so cool to experience for the first time on a cruise ship!  An although the sun was in our eyes facing forward, it did eventually treat us to a beautiful sunset.  I definitely recommend viewing as much of this as you can.

I plan on submitting a complete review of this cruise, but it is taking a while to compile, so I just wanted to at least come back to this post to update 😊

From the Promenade Deck, the 2 photos below:

 

Aft View leaving the lock below: