Best canal boat tour advice?

[Marco]

I need to take an older relative on a canal boat tour, which one is the nicest? Does not need need to be smoker friendly

[matty223]

marco you live there must know someone with a boat,
but if not try the blue boat by the holland casino

[Marco]

marco you live there must know someone with a boat,
but if not try the blue boat by the holland casino

Well, I want the touristy experience, not a small boat We are gonna do the Canal boat, its ideal as she can't walk well.

[Willjay]

Marco, there is not a lot of difference in the "major tour boat co." but you being a transplant local will be able to narrate the tour for your friend and that will be special regardless of which boat you get on.

[Boner]

Just make sure they do a live commentary, the pre-recorded ones are trash.

[Marco]

Did the Canal Bus, was brilliant as you can get on and off at a number of stops and they different routes. No live commentary Boner, but it was quiet enough that one did not have to pay attention.

[cattales1960]

Did the Canal Bus, was brilliant as you can get on and off at a number of stops and they different routes. No live commentary Boner, but it was quiet enough that one did not have to pay attention.

Had you ever done one of the canal buses before? ALl my trips I have never done one of them but always wondered about them. Do they stop by major attractions?

[HasAnyoneSeenMyPipe]

Funnily enough I have never been on a canal trip, I really must change that.

[codejd]

Did the Canal Bus, was brilliant as you can get on and off at a number of stops and they different routes.

I thought this one looked cool; we were on the "other" one .

[Marco]

Did the Canal Bus, was brilliant as you can get on and off at a number of stops and they different routes. No live commentary Boner, but it was quiet enough that one did not have to pay attention.

Had you ever done one of the canal buses before? ALl my trips I have never done one of them but always wondered about them. Do they stop by major attractions?

Not sure if you mean real bus or not, but the Canal Bus is really a boat.

A bonus on this trip, went by the RLD and caught shezzuk1 blowing some guy for a dime back of rock.

[cattales1960]

Yes I was talking about the boat. I have done the regular buses manytimes along with the trams.
My only boat ride there was with voyagers.

[CannaSir]

Is it possible to go on a canal tour that allows toking?! I have absolutely zero interest in such a tour if i cant smoke but would love to go on a toking tour!?!

[SilentlyScreaming]

St Nick's always used to be cool with smoking/eating/drinking on board. The barge is open top, so you might want to roll beforehand.
http://www.amsterdamboatclub.com/index.html

Ah, they've been kicked out of Boom Chicago! I am out of touch...

[DanFromUk]

Found this information, I have been on this boat ride cannasir, I will never forget the fun we had that day.


http://amsterdamboatclub.com/rides.html
We have a new home! As of September, 2011, The St. Nicolaas Boat Club is now operating from Mike's Bike Tours, Kerkstraat 134, 1017 GP Amsterdam.

It's near the Leidseplein and Rijksmuseum. Here we are on google maps

Please do not call Mike's Bikes with any boat-related question. They are nice enough to let us use their place for free. We really do not want to piss them off (besides, they can't answer your boat-related question anyway). If your questions cannot be answered on this website, it cannot be answered (except by finding one of our captains on the canals or at Mike's Bikes when a boat is coming in or leaving). Sorry to be so difficult.

We at the St. Nicolaas Boat Club of Amsterdam love our boats and we love taking people out on our boats. Come for a ride anytime.

What: It's not a proper guided tour. So come to relax and have a good time. It's a better ride when you bring food and drinks and smokes. We don't sell anything. Our boats are open. Unless it's a heat wave in July, dress warmly! We usually won't go out if it's raining. But we usually have access to weather radar. So we can predict the short- term weather pretty well. Usually.

Where: Mike's Bike Tours of Amsterdam. Kerkstraat 134, 1017 GP Amsterdam. It's near the Leidseplein and Rijksmuseum. Here we are on google maps. (Please do not call Mike's Bikes with boat question)

When: We have no current departure information. Current departure information and the sign-up sheets, usually good for about a week in advance, are available. Weather permitting, we generally run a boat or two each afternoon. The boat rides usually last between 60 and 90 minutes.

How: If you would like to sign up for a boat, follow the instructions in our sign-up area.

Sorry, but you have to go to in person to see the boat schedule and sign up for a ride. Alas, there is no way to reserve boats online or via e-mail. It's just too complicated for us and takes us away from our boats and toward the realm of business.

This may not be the world's best system, we know. But it works well enough for us. And consider it from our perspective: We have no phone. We have no scheduling meetings. We're not getting rich. We're not professionals, and this isn't a tour-boat business. We're volunteers with two old boats trying to the motor running, the wood from rotting, at the rust from spreading. But please don't let this discourage you!

How much: Nothing. But we welcome donations.


P.s If ur a true smoker u can skin up in wind, rain, and many more elements

P.p.s I think Voyagers were doing a boat ride canal cruise from somewhere nr the cs.

[SilentlyScreaming]

A clever smoker would consider pre-rolling a few in the nearest dry without wind place they visited Wet thin rizla are a pain, especially if your whole pack gets it!

I can attest to the great times to be had on the old industrial barge.

See some pics below. Excuse extra text, just copied html from the Amsterdam posts and converted to bbcode...

In an attempt to not scare off my readers who don't particularly want to see baby posts all the time, I'll try to continue the posts from before. Here we are back in Amsterdam 2008 again, when Ira and I went over for my birthday. This is the first boat trip we went on with the not for profit St Nicholas boat club organization. We later went on an evening tour, to get a feel for the city from the waterways whilst it was dark.
We had a great captain who took us around, and unlike the large plexiglass covered tourist boats, we were able to fit into much narrower canals, take a peek in areas not normally toured around and even... well, you'll just have to wait until the next post for information on where we went that had us hitting the deck!



As ever, click the link below to see a lot more pictures - if I display them all on the front page, the site would take a long time for everyone to load up.

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Here we have a couple of shots of house boats, another form of accomodation Ira and I would like to try. However, Amsterdam and living next to the water might not be such a great idea with a brand new baby daughter, so we'll have to see...






Remember this last shot, we have another of this scene during night time, soon to be posted...

Here we have a continuation of the photos from our first of two St Nicholas boat club trips. As we approached this low bridge, we all assumed we were just going to use the area preceeding it as a turning circle. A few eyebrows were raised as we carried on in a straight line, not seeming to slow down at all...


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As you may have guessed, we simpl went under the bridge, ducking our heads instinctively. Returning via the same route, we went on to see a large faux-ship wreck building that houses a museum, and what was apparently a very famous Chinese restaurant.

This is the last of the afternoon boat trip photos, taken as we entered one of the red light districts. Obviously taking shots here can lead to security guys attempting to politely remind you that the canal is deep and dirty, and your camera wouldn't last long it, so once I realised we weren't just skirting the edges of the area, I put the camera away.



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I think this is one of Ira's favourites - the name of the bar has it all

ok, sorry. I'm just attempting to clear down all the draft posts/bookmarked links that have been hanging around on various PCs...

The first three are some shots we took during the nocturnal boat trip we took. Remember I asked you to remember one photo from the daytime journey? No? Go back and read <a href="http://chrismerriman.com/amsterdam-2008 ... >Amsterdam 2008 Photos #6</a> and you'll find the one I mean.


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Oh OK, some of you won't bother, so here is the daytime shot taken from a similar location as the second shot above.





Here we have an unrelated shot, but the idea of a lawned van made me giggle, and my thanks to Ira for noticing it in the first place