Best canal cruise in A’dam?

There really is no easy answer to this question. It depends on what “best” means to you. The canal cruises all pretty much follow the same route. The difference between the canal cruises lies in the type of boat (big/small, open/closed) and the commentary (live/recorded). On a rainy day, a closed boat would obviously be best. On a nice sunny day, you would probably prefer an open boat. The Those Dam Boat Guys are often recommended because of their small open boats and live commentary. However they do allow people to bring their own drinks (including alcohol) and allow people to smoke cannabis on their boats. That may be considered “best” by some, but not by all.
And then there are also canal cruises that include cheese, wine or pizza. However the food on these cruises is never really good, so very few people would think of these types of cruises as “best”.
In the end, the best canal cruise might be the one that leaves from a location close to where you are at the moment you want to take a canal cruise.

Dutch_Traveler presented the main issue...it depends what you want. I think the biggest point is that there are the large boats and then smaller, more persona boats. Among the large boats, I doubt there is much difference, decently priced, I would pick by departure time and my schedule, day time to see stuff, night time for ambience.

Among the smaller boats, your expectations and the style of the tour matter more, from "Those Dam Boat Guys" that are a bit irreverent, to more educational tours, to a private boat for two serving drinks and up to a full meal.

The only thing I draw a line at is I won't go in the rain.

We are going to Amsterdam next month and are doing a canal cruise with Those Dam Boat Guys. They get good reviews.

What time does it get dark in Amsterdam in September? We are also trying to pick a canal cruise and choose the best time. We are thinking early evening might be nice.

We chose Stromma. It was recommended by our B&B host, it was hop on hop off (we chose to stay on the entire 1.5 hr tour), partially open boat. We prefer protection from the Sun so it met our needs. They provide an audioguide. The stop we chose was by the Rijksmuseum which was walking distance from our accommodation in the Museumplein. We were there in September 2019. The weather was lovely and it was a great introduction to our fabulous visit. I recall the tickets were less than €17 per pp. https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/things-to-do/activities-and-excursions/overview/stromma

“What time does it get dark in Amsterdam in September?”

@klsmith - You can go to www.sunrisesunset.com to get times for your trip. Be sure to tick the box for Civil Twilight.

For Sept 15 here are the times:

Twi: 6:40am
Sunrise: 7:14am
Sunset: 7:57pm
Twi: 8:32pm

Hi there,

I just had to respond to this--we had a wonderful cruise with Leemstar and cannot recommend them more highly. We were greeted by a handsome Arnaut, a 30ish fellow who spoke perfect English, who offered a soft, very clean blanket, and champagne. Good start!

First of all, he was INTELLIGENT! He was an educated, articulate person who offered insight, context and actual material (beautiful coffee table books!) to introduce such a complex and beautiful area. Arnaut, was recommended by my SIL. She accompanied her 80 yo mother to Amsterdam, who required physical assistance (wheelchair) and she was accommodated perfectly. Now that's not to say that this is a geriatric tour--our boat consisted of my husband & me (50s) and three gals in their 20s who were clearly smitten with Arnaut ;)

This was thankfully no party barge, but we had every opportunity to enjoy wine (ours or provided by them) and relax. Here is the link: don't hesitate, it was perfect! Just email and ask for Arnaut, super easy.

https://leemstar.nl/our-online-available-shared-cruises/

HAVE A GREAT TIME!

We stayed in Jordaan neighborhood because the Anne Frank house was on our must-do list. Those Dam Boat Guys had their dock just a short walk from the Anne Frank house, so we booked with them. It was nice to only have a few people on the boat, and be able to ask questions of our guide, bring drinks and smoking on, etc. We bought drinks at the "Those Dam Boat Guys" office and they packed us a nice cooler, too! The humor and language is maybe not for all (for us it was great). They did ask if anyone was not smoking, and seated them at the front of the boat, though since no one was smoking cigarettes, just MJ, we wouldn't have cared anyway (although everywhere in Europe, someone is smoking a cigarette next to you, it seems!). It was a nice small boat, only 7 people plus the guide, a beautiful day, and although maybe pricier than some, it was more fun I think than being on a larger boat full of people.