Arriving in Amsterdam for River Cruise

We prefer to stay in the Central Canal Ring area at Hotel l’Ambassade on the Herengracht Canal. Scenic and convenient, a restored series of merchant homes.

The last 2 times I've been to Amsterdam I stayed in the Museum district but that might be further south than you want to be.

I'll add that you will want to get tickets ahead of time for the Anne Frank Huis and if you are interested, for the Van Gogh Museum. The Van Gogh does not even have an onsite ticket office any more so everything has to be done online. If you want to go to the Rijksmuseum, download the app at home but probably no need to buy tickets until a day or two out.

Depending on when "mid-May" is for you, Keukenhof, the tulip garden, is open until May 12.

Thank you for the recommendations. I've been reading that the canal (central) ring is most likely the best place to stay?

We stayed at the doubletree. Its a short walking distance to the river cruise port and walking distance to the central railway station. Its so easy to take the train from the airport to amsterdam centraal station and walk to the hotel. From the front of the station you can take trams to the museum and Walk to the jordaan neighborhood and the anne frank house. If you want to visit kekuenhof, you take the train back the airport and outside the airport to the right is the bus to keukenhof.
We have also stayed on a houseboat in the jordaan neighborhood. If you dont like the doubletree, find a hotel in the jordaan neighborhood.
Take a boat tour with “those dam boat guys”. Worth the extra money for their live commentary tour instead of the canned audio tours on those glass covered boats.
We took a “free” (tip based) walking tour with sandemanns, but there are other walking tour companies. And we took a walking tour of the red light district with the non profit PIC.
Here is my trip report on our pre-cruise visit to amsterdam

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/amsterdam-trip-report-ten-days-in-april-2022

thank you for the recommendation. However, did you find the Double tree to be noisy being so close to the train station?

Yes, ramirezjma, staying in Central Canal Ring area is recommended. You will be well located for visiting Amsterdam's sites and there are many restaurants and shops( Nine Streets) in the area. We did not find it noisy but chose a room in the hotel’s rear to be safe.

It might be helpful to look up, ahead of time, the port where your river cruise docks. Amsterdam has a lot of waterways (obviously). Google Maps may show your terminus.