November 7, 2025
We boarded AmaSiena the evening before and spent a relaxed first night tied up in the heart of Amsterdam. This morning the ship offered its included canal cruise excursion, and at 9:45 we simply walked off the gangway, crossed one small bridge, and stepped straight onto a private electric boat waiting for AmaSiena guests only. No buses, no tickets, no waiting in line — the easiest excursion ever.
The weather was a November miracle: bright sunshine, blue sky, almost no wind, and 10 °C. Our skipper was Steven, and our guide (the one speaking on the transcript) wasted no time — the second we left the harbor he had everyone laughing so hard the windows steamed up.
The solution: crack every little side window and leave his own door open. It worked in two minutes.
What we saw (and you can too – watch the 360 boat tour)
- Left the harbor, turned left toward the old town, and immediately passed the artificial island built in the late 19th century with Amsterdam Centraal Station on it.
- The guide pointed out the exact walking route from our dock to the Red Light District (under the railway tracks, left before the station).
- NEMO Science Museum on the right — nicknamed “the Titanic” because it looks like a sinking ship and opened in 1997, the same year as the movie.
- Learned Amsterdam has 160 separate canals totaling about 100 km (62 miles).
- The three original reasons for the canals: transportation of goods, drainage, and defense (the city used to be surrounded by a moat).
- Passed the “dancing houses” (the leaning ones) on the left — the guide spun the boat around so both sides could photograph them perfectly.
- Saw the former lock-keeper’s tiny black house and heard that the big sea locks at IJmuiden closed for the first time in 20 years only two years ago.
- Glided along the Herengracht (the “Gentlemen’s Canal”) lined with the richest 17th-century merchant houses — all built to strict width rules, but the wealthiest just bought two or three plots and built double- or triple-wide anyway.
- The famous Skinny Bridge (Magere Brug) — we got all three legends: the two skinny sisters, the kissing couples, and the “only two people could pass at once” version.
- Countless gables, hoist beams, and neck-gables; the guide explained that the little decorative lamps outside front doors were originally oil lamps so delivery men could find the right house at night.
- Houseboats everywhere — 2,500 of them, fully connected to utilities, costing roughly the same as a small apartment.
- Bicycle facts: 10–15,000 end up in the canals every year; having two bikes is normal because one is almost guaranteed to be stolen.
- Passed under countless low bridges, past the Anne Frank House area (quiet moment, no jokes), and through the beautiful UNESCO canal belt on a perfect golden-light morning.
We were back at AmaSiena by 11:15, just in time for a leisurely lunch in the main dining room. At 13:30 the captain announced we were casting off for Cologne. We ran to the Sun Deck with glasses of sparkling wine and watched Amsterdam’s skyline slowly disappear behind us as the ship turned south and entered the locks of the North Sea Canal.
Day 1 could not have started better: sunshine, laughter, history, and the most seamless excursion we’ve ever experienced. The Amsterdam canal cruise with AmaWaterways set the bar impossibly high for the rest of the week.
Next stop: Cologne and its unbelievable cathedral tomorrow morning. More daily updates from AmaSiena coming soon!
Watch and listen to the interesting canal tour and see what we saw. Check out the sites, the bridges, the buildings and learn a lot of interesting facts along the way.
There are two options:
The shorted/edited version with all the pertinent parts. The voice has been enhanced for better quality as I filmed much of this with my arm, camera and microphone outside the boat.
Yes my arm was numb by the end.
The long, unedited version. No music, voice fades in an out but you will see the entire journey (a little over an hour):
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