Protesters Prevent Cruise Ships from Reaching Amsterdam
by Dori Saltzman
Jewel of the Seas was one of two ships impacted by protesters. Photo: Royal Caribbean International
Travel advisors booking clients on ships that depart or end in Amsterdam may have one more thing to warn their clients about – protesters preventing or delaying ships from getting into the Dutch capital.
As reported by the Maritime Executive, Dutch environmental protesters have already struck twice. The first time, on Aug. 10, the environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion prevented Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas from docking at the port by blocking locks the ship needed to pass through. The ship was forced to backtrack and disembark guests at the smaller port of Ijmuiden about 25 miles away from Amsterdam.
Guests scheduled to embark the same day in Amsterdam had to make the same journey to get to the ship in Ijmuiden. Royal Caribbean and the Amsterdam Port Authority provided the transfers both ways.
The following day, Aug. 11, protesters returned and again blocked the lock, this time delaying Seven Seas Mariner by about three hours.
While police did not stop the protest in the first case, they did force them to stop in the second, allowing Seven Seas Mariner to continue on to Amsterdam.
There have been no further protests but the next ocean going cruise ship is not due into Amsterdam until tomorrow, Aug. 16. Serenade of the Seas is scheduled to stop in Amsterdam on Aug. 19 and Jewel of the Seas is due back to the port on Aug. 22.
The protests come a little one month after the City of Amsterdam announced it will cap cruise ship visits to just 100 per year starting in 2026, and will end all ocean-going cruise visits by 2035.
