Rederij P. Kooij canal boat tours — Local services in Amsterdam

Unfortunately we had a really bad experience with the captain of this cruise. What happened is still shocking to us. The cruise offered adult and child tickets; which we bought face to face at the boat itself. Upon getting on the boat, 10mins early, my 1 year old hurt herself so was crying. The captain came and told us to make sure she was quiet on the boat; we informed him of her injury and that the crying would be temporary. He didn't ask if she was ok. We start the cruise, it's a prerecorded guide playing on speaker, so cruise guests would chat in between. My 1 year old, sitting in her seat, and in the last 20mins of a 60mins cruise, would gleefully shout out BOAT or BIRD. At the end of the cruise, as we got out, the captain cruelly told me "don't you know what you did? I told you to keep your child quiet and she was not quiet. If I was you I would've asked me to stop the boat to let you out since you could not control your child." To which my response was, why do you allow children on your boat then? We bought the tickets in front of you, my child was happy throughout the boat ride, and she stayed in her seat enjoying the tour, so how dare you. You couldve easily said this was an adult only boat, but you advertise otherwise dont you? I got off the boat and gave feedback to the man who was standing at the pier asking people to take the tour. His response was "if the captain said that then your child was probably louder than she shouldve been". Such horrible people. I would never recommend this cruise to anyone. Already the fact that it was a recorded tour, where the sound was barely audiable, made it less interactive but to add this on top was...

Today, my 3-year-old daughter and I took a boat trip. Unfortunately, the captain was extremely unprofessional, rude, and displayed racist behavior. As we were disembarking, my daughter wanted to say goodbye from the stairs, but instead of speaking to her, the captain pushed her by placing his foot on her chest, claiming it was for her safety. I confronted him, asking why he did this when he could have simply told her to stop. He looked at me dismissively and waved us away.

We are from Canada, and although I had heard that some people in Europe can be racist towards those they derogatorily call "black head," I never imagined experiencing such behavior firsthand. My daughter was so shaken by the incident that she fell asleep for two hours shortly afterward.

To make matters worse, a white woman, whom I like to refer to as "yellow head," approached me and said the captain was right, mocking our situation. When I reported the incident to the office, they offered a bottle of water and a refund, but what I needed was an apology. I plan to report this to the police because no one should lay a hand on a child he even...

On Friday, July 26th, 2024, I had a disappointing experience with the captain — I believe his name was Sam. At the end of the tour, when we arrived at the checkpoint at around 17:20, my 5-year-old son asked to use the toilet. While I was with him in the restroom, I heard the captain speaking loudly to my wife. I couldn’t hear exactly what he said, but when I came back and thanked him for the tour, I found my wife visibly shaken.

She told me the captain had been extremely rude to her. He raised his voice and said, “We were on a tour for an hour, and you’re just deciding to use the toilet now?” She explained that it was our 5-year-old son who needed the restroom, but he showed no understanding or compassion.

My wife has high blood pressure, and the incident left her distressed and shaking until we got home. Thank you, Sam, for ruining what was supposed to be a special day — our first visit to Amsterdam. (For the record, the toilet stop took no more than...