Amsterdam to close cruise ship terminal to restrict tourists

Centre-right party D66 said that cruises are not compatible with the city’s sustainability ambitions.

The party said its proposal to shut Amsterdam’s cruise ship terminal east of its main railway station was adopted by a large majority of the city’s council on Thursday.

D66 runs the city with social democrats PvdA and GroenLinks environmentalist. The social liberal political party also said that the passage of cruise ships was also not compatible with plans for a new bridge between the city’s historic southern district and the Noord district, the focus of recent development projects.

Lines which could be affected by the decision to ban cruise ships arriving in the city centre include Holland America Line, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, P&O Cruises, Fred Olsen, Carnival and Cunard among others.

The move to close Amsterdam’s cruise terminal comes after the city launched a ‘Stay Away’ campaign in March in a bid to deter people intending to visit and engage in rowdy behaviour.

The online campaign urged British men aged between 18-35 to consider holding their bachelor parties elsewhere and "warned of the consequences of antisocial behaviour and excessive drug and alcohol abuse.”

Meanwhile Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille’s biggest cruise port, launched a petition in July 2022 to prohibit the most polluting ships from stopping over.