Blue Boat Company — Attraction in Amsterdam

We chose to take this tour towards the end our trip as after so much cycling and walking, we were looking forward to a more relaxed way to see the city from the canals.

Unfortunately it was not as relaxed as we had hoped. We had already purchased advanced tickets and had them in digital QR code form on my phone. I thought this would have made things easier and more efficient to enter. We arrived 20 mins before our 2pm slot in plenty of time but were held up by a queue of other visitors without tickets all trying to negotiate to get on board the already full slot.

The young man at the ticket desk was polite but seemed unable to manage the queue and didn’t use his common sense to ask those without tickets to kindly step aside so he could first check in passengers with tickets waiting to board. I queried this with him but he insisted we still had to wait for him to print out our paper tickets rather than just scan and go.

On the dock there was no one checking tickets anyway and no one to direct us as to the right boat to board. I asked one worker aimlessly walking around at the opposite end and she pointed and told us to hurry as the captain was already beginning to pull away as we jumped in. All this delay meant we almost missed the boat and also missed the safety and audio instructions etc…

The cruise itself was nice with great sights but the seating booths are cramped and quite uncomfortable to share with other passengers, even just to turn around to see so you don’t catch everything. We tried to enjoy it but to be honest after 30 mins we couldn’t wait to get off and looking around, other passengers looked bored and uncomfortable too and falling asleep.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city and the captain did a great job but organising passengers to get tickets and board on time needs much more improvement from other crew members. I would prefer to pay more to go with a more modern and comfortable canal cruise boat...

We had a terrible experience, the cruises advertise that they are family friendly but they are clearly not as the staff seem annoyed if you get on with little kids. We went with my 3yo and my 10-month old baby. Mind you the company does give the option to for infant tickets (0-4 year olds) for free. So I was very confused when the captain asked over the microphone for silence when my 3yo was talking (he was over excited to be on a boat, he really loves all kinds of vehicles and wanted to get on a boat since we arrived on Amsterdam) and then again started shushing over the microphone when my baby cried a bit (which all babies do). We proceeded to try to keep both kids very quiet the rest of the trip, not feeling welcomed and feeling very uncomfortable to be there. But what really left a bitter taste on the whole experience was when we were getting off and the captain was saying goodbye to everyone. My 3yo again very excitedly said “bye bye” to the captain who proceeded to IGNORE him (yes and adult man ignored a 3 year old kid) and then made a comment in Dutch very clearly about my son that had everyone laughing, leading us to understand that he was making fun of a toddler. I had no words. If they do not want little kids on the boats then just don’t sell tickets for them and say that no kids under 5 years old are allowed. But if you allow them then you should treat them with respect, they are also people and no one has the right to treat...

I would give this company no stars ( if I could) as what you pay for is not what you get - false advertising. We added a cheese & wine extra to be told it only included one can of wine yet the web site states two cans and was also supposed to include crackers for the cheese but instead got nuts - I can’t put cheese on nuts !! We also added the snack box extra which clearly states beer or wine as a choice - but we were told and offered a soft drink only - because “ it had changed”. Staff were rude and not helpful when I queried what ( I thought ) I had paid for!! I had to query all three points infront of a full queue. At the end of our cruise I was asked to prove what I had expressed I had thought was part of the extras I had paid for . I was told the “extras” had been changed and it wasn’t their fault that I hadn’t got what I ordered. Totally unexpectable treatment of customers and very misleading info. So I wouldn’t recommend this company - go to one of the many other cruise companies and get exactly what’s stated. We spent over €100 with this company and came away feeling embarrassed, annoyed and upset at the way staff treated us pand not receiving what we expected to have. Very, very bad customer service. To ask a customer, after their cruise, to prove what they have paid for and asked for is disgraceful. I am...