Lovers Canal Cruises Reviews 

If I could, I would definitely rate this 0 stars...We booked two tickets for Saturday's light festival cruise. When we arrived (15 minutes early, as stated on the tickets), there was a ridiculously long line because the cruises were all overbooked. Many people were waiting from previous timeslots; despite having waited for two hours, they said they were not even halfway through the line.

It was raining heavily, and when we asked the staff, they said the boats were full and we would have to wait another 2 to 2.5 hours. We had already booked one of the last timeslots available (21.00). Due to the heavy rain and the extreme wait time, we and many other people, unfortunately, weren't able to enjoy the cruise we paid for due to failure of service by Lovers Canal Cruises. I can't help but feel like we were scammed. That almost ruined our Amsterdam trip...

✨ What an unforgettable evening! The Dinner Cruise in Amsterdam was simply magical — gliding through the illuminated canals, surrounded by the charm of the city’s historic architecture, while enjoying a delicious meal and excellent service. The gentle reflections of the lights on the water created a dreamlike atmosphere that made every moment feel special. A perfect blend of romance, elegance, and the timeless beauty of Amsterdam. Our friends from Colômbia, Ecuador, Panamá, Brazil and my Dutch husband have all a fantastic & vibrant evening ! 🇳🇱 🇧🇷 🇵🇦 🇪🇨 🇨🇴 🌷🚤💫 Thanks to the crew who made it happen with excellence: Rob, Karina, Norina and Anna! It was our second time that we bring people from abroad to have this tasting experience! We are very satisfied again!!
Thanks, L O V E R S canal cruises

The canal ride I can't really rate badly as it was gorgeous and there's not much to say about it other than that.

We went to check out the canal rides on 16/10 around 11.30am/midday ISH and there was a young man and young lady on the counter. As we approached, my partner said "it's our last day here, going home this evening" etc etc basically just looking for ideas of different rides and times and the lady that we were talking to was lovely and helpful but after my partner said that, the man responded with a "yeah we're happy for that". Which honestly put us off entirely. We didn't have any issues our entire stay in Amsterdam until that rude comment. We weren't even being served by him so it wasn't necessary to even talk honestly. And considering he works at a tourist attraction? And wants the tourists to leave? Obviously it's done now and we're home but that's tainted my view on this company for the canal rides and will definitely be going elsewhere next time we visit. Very disappointing. I've passed on my thoughts and feelings to friends and family visiting soon and unfortunately have told them to just go elsewhere as it was a big disappointment. Amazing what one stupid comment to do ey

If I could give it less I would .. not a good experience got put next to another couple it was awkward would rather had got the next one than be next to another couple when asked as there was tables free got told no.. please dont go

⚠️ Warning: Avoid this company at all costs!
I had a terrible experience with Lovers Canal Cruises in Amsterdam on Monday, August 25th, 2025. I booked two tickets online but only received one by email. At the counter, the man in charge refused to help, offered no solution, and behaved arrogantly and coldly. I even had to call a police officer to intervene, but he still insisted that I should have “paid on site instead of online.” In the end, after all this unnecessary stress, it turned out that the ticket I received was indeed valid for two people. My entire experience was ruined by such unprofessional and unacceptable behavior. I strongly advise against choosing this company.

Arrived at a booth near Leidersplane and had just missed a boat, young man at the booth said come back in an hour, there would be another. We did, arrived 10 minutes early and booked our tickets. We were not disappointed. Captain Louie was brilliant, he was friendly, chatty and informative. He allowed us to listen to the audio tour, and would update wirh some other information. He made the trip!!! Yes, they are one of the cheaper companies, so if you want to spend over €20 a person, you go do that elsewhere!! At €17.50 each, my husband and I throughly enjoyed it, and found the information and history of Amsterdam very interesting!

Forced to give a one star, faced a very rude staff who talked rude to us while using the pay n use toilet in the cofee shop .Why would we jump line to to save a couple of euros when we can buy 3 cruise tickets! No wonder the ratings are so poor.
That is not 'NORMAL' behaviour while serving customets girl!.

I am so glad we got to see the most beautiful canals of Amsterdam from the water. You get to see and learn about the architecture and the history of the city. Our captain was fun and friendly, making some extra comments on top of the audio guide for a more personal experience.

We pre-booked a 2.00pm Lovers cruise which we intended to board on the canal in front of the Rijks Museum. The season is spring/summer. The temperature was about 20deg. On arrival, we were informed that there was to be no 2.00pm cruise and we would have to wait for the 2.30pm cruise. I asked if a refund could be claimed and was told "No". We boarded the 2.30pm boat and all looked good. It was not a busy day and there were only about 6 other people looking to board. Then we were told to disembark because we were to cruise on another boat with a large group which might spill over to 2 boats. Great (groan), the boat was going to be full.
Anyway, about the cruise itself. The boat was covered with a perspex top and solid framework. This was not too hot under the sun, but our position up the front precluded the possibility of taking any decent photos and limited what you could see. Commentary through supplied ear phones was pretty poor and intermittent and often, during an important piece of information about a particular building or landmark, the captain would come on the PA to point out that feature. Listening to both the captain and the ear phone commentary meant that you basically heard neither. I'm sure the captain meant well but we would have been better off if he stayed quiet. Overall, I feel that this cruise was a waste of 35EUR for 2 of us. I would recommend, if you wish to do a canal cruise, choose an open boat with no cover and enjoy the sun and better view.

Extremely Disappointing and Unprofessional Experience

We had a terrible experience with this cruise company. We arrived in plenty of time for the 17:00 cruise we had booked the day before, but due to an unorganized and massive queue of tourists, we missed our scheduled boat through no fault of our own.

When we approached the next boat, just minutes later, an employee told us we had to rebook our tickets at the desk upstairs. Once there, the staff member at the desk was rude and dismissive, insisting we had to pay an extra 5 euros to rebook — despite the delay being caused by their poor crowd management.

We politely explained the situation, but instead of showing any understanding, she became increasingly unfriendly. She said she would ask her colleague, and when she did, he shockingly referred to us as “stupido” in Dutch — an absolutely unacceptable and insulting comment.

This kind of treatment is embarrassing, unprofessional, and completely ruined what should have been a pleasant experience. I would not recommend this company to anyone expecting even the most basic level of customer service and respect.

P.S. captain of the boat was nice and funny tho

Took one hour cruise. Audio guide was not working. We had a cruise 5 years ago with a different company where the operator gave us explanatoins of what we were seeing and was very friendly. Will definitely not take any cruises with the larger boats as it is just so impersonal.. The route that the boat took was quite boring as compared to the previous cruise

We asked for and were sold open boat but it clearly wasn’t as it had a roof! When I queried with the man on the boat he was very quick to say I could get my money back if I did not want to do the trip! On the trip, he took us through a bridge where he scraped all the walls as we went through, with no warning! An accident waiting to happen! He clearly went through the wrong part of the bridge!

We were under the impression that this tour was not closed in. It was and so was everyone on the boat. Packed like sardines we had poor audio, very dirty windows and not much fun. Everyone around us, very disappointed and you couldn't even see the top of the beautiful buildings. I do not recommend this tour at all.

1 star given as I would of got off after 5 minutes if I could have done.
Loud 80's poor quality sound system blaring out, pizza cold and tasteless.
Shared table (luckily with two lovely young girls who equally were really disappointed)
Boat so steamed- up nothing could be seen, wiping windows didn't help, guides commentary was inaudible and what we did make out from the din was just lame.
Wine or beer was not flowing, we had 3 small glasses max of Luke warm white wine - just don't bother it's cheap for a reason.

So unorganised company. Customers should wait for about one hour in very cold weather outside, however we bought our tickets 2 days before online. Different time slots were mixed together in line and every thing very chaotic.

We booked on line for the light festival trip and were told to arrive 15 minutes early for our 7.15 trip, which we did there was an enormous queue . There was no real order to figure out if we were in line for the right boat that was setting off at 7.15. So we just we in line with the masses. The queue meandered back and for and took us One hour before we reached the cafe where we could get a drink to take on board . We followed those in from of us, no one checked our tickets and we got on. Despite so many people the boat was not filled. you could view from the side windows but not really clearly the top windows needed to be cleaned to see the view of the light installations from above. So you can't view much. The boat trip we paid for was 1.5 hours we were back at the dock within an hour with no explanation. Probably as there was such a queue of people waiting. The captain was entertaining at least, Really a rip off!

WARNING SCAM!!!! I would give 0 stars if I could. I bought tickets for the Light Tour as a birthday gift for my wife. On-site, everything was very chaotic. We asked 4 team members about our boat and were sent to Pier 2, then to Pier 1, back to Pier 2, and finally boarded the wrong boat at Pier 1. No one checked our tickets to ensure we were in the right place.

During the ride, we realized this was not the tour we had paid significantly MORE for. In the end, we spent an hour on a city tour in the dark where we could barely see anything—let alone any light installations. When we addressed the mistake, we were told to handle the refund ourselves and contact the online ticket vendor.

In short, Lovers Cruises didn’t take responsibility for the issue, leaving us to solve the problem on our own. That’s what they call service? No help, no understanding. NEVER AGAIN! In the end, we saw nothing, got no money back, and were left with nothing but frustration. Save your money for something worthwhile in Amsterdam—aside from Lovers Cruises, the city is fantastic. I hope my review spares other guests the same misery.

Awful experience. In July 2024 I booked six people on the Lovers Evening Dinner Canal Cruise schedule for Saturday November 30th. Total cost approx £420, through Viator. This was to be the highlight of our group visit to Amsterdam.
On the afternoon of Friday 29th November (the day before the scheduled dinner cruise) I received an email saying "Your tour operator had to cancel your booking." No reason was given. No apology was given, the word "sorry" did NOT appear in the email. No alternative cruise or date was offered. Our group was desperately disappointed. So my advice is DONT USE LOVERS CANAL CRUISES. There are other companies available, select one of those instead.

We ordered our tickets from Headout and I went there 4 hours earlier, showed our tickets and asked where we need to be and if there is anything else I need to do. They told me "nothing, just come 20 minutes in advance". Then we come again 20 minutes in advance as recommended and we are told that we paid for kids pizzas which is not written in the offer in headout. We were requested to pay 35 euros more and we were told that we were ordered margarita pizzas even though that neither me of my boyfriend eats that pizza.

About the experience: The pizza wasn't good it was almost tasteless, we weren't told that the drinks are free so we and a lot of the people on the boat didn't drink much, the "guide" was so muffled that it was almost 100% inaudible we understood only partial words / subjects. The waiters were acting more like bottle girls then actual restaurant waiters. At the end he said something in the effect that if you are not happy with the service you can just get high and relax which even though it was a joke it was super disrespectful because for example I am pregnant and there we also 3-5 kids on the boat.

Overall, it was super bad experience do not give them your money...

We recently had the most amazing experience of a 4 course canal river cruise woth Canal Lovers Cruises in it was truly a magical evening. From time of arrival, through boarding to when we finished, everything was executed with grace and professionalism leaving us with unforgettable memories.
The cruise began with a warm welcome from the friendly staff, who ensured that all guests were comfortable and well taken care of. As we set sail, the charming surroundings of the canal took my breath away. The scenery was simply stunning, with beautiful bridges, quaint buildings and many historical sites lining the waterway.
The first course was served shortly after departure we had the exquisite smoked salmon with roast potato salad, followed by green pea soup with asparagus (left us wanting more) and of course the bread rolls and be a celiac wasnt a problem to this amazing crew. Each bite was bursting with flavor and perfectly complemented by the picturesque views outside. The attentive waitstaff made sure our glasses were always filled with refreshing drinks as we enjoyed the first course, we were very partial to the rose.
As we continued our journey, the main course was served. It was a gastronomic delight, with a variety of options to cater to all tastes, we weren't disappointed with our choice of baked cod., it was cooked to perfection, with the freshest ingredients and exquisite presentation. The accompanying sides were equally delectable, making it a truly satisfying meal.
As the sun began to set, the atmosphere on the cruise took on relaxed feel. The final course, a delectable dessert of tiramisu of Dutch "stroopwafels" to which the staff organised a slightly different delicious gluten free version and it was the perfect ending to a wonderful evening. It was the sweetest way to end the night and left me wanting more.
Throughout the cruise, the staff was incredibly accommodating and went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a memorable experience, the catering staff should be highly commended nothing is a bother. The live commentary added to the ambiance and created a lovely background for conversation and relaxation.
Overall, the 4 course canal river cruise was a truly extraordinary experience. The food, the service, and the atmosphere all surpassed my expectations and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and unforgettable dining experience. We really wish to thank you for a truly magical evening.