How long for customs

The above response has been reported.

A minute or so for Customs, just walk through “Nothing to Declare” Passport control will be longer.

To post a helpful response, if you are arriving from the US/Canada, or a non-Schengen country, you will need to go through immigration and have your passport checked. That time can vary, at Schiphol, it has taken me from 15minutes to almost an hour. It all depends on how many planes landed at that time. Of course, most times, the planes from North America land early (Jet Stream helps) so your time out the door may not be long after your estimated arrival time.

Of course, if you check bags, a bit of a delay waiting for those, then Customs is just walking out a green door if you have nothing to declare (which 99% of the time you do not). If there is something you need to declare, then you need to head over to the red customs desk and talk to them.

Canal cruises in Amsterdam don’t need to be booked in advance. There are dozens of canal cruise operators in Amsterdam. A lot of them dock near the central train station. Once you’ve arrived in Amsterdam, drop your luggage at the hotel, walk over to the area where the cruises leave, see which cruise you like the look of, buy a ticket and off you!
Apart from flexibility in terms of time, the weather is another good reason to not book a canal cruise in advance. Some boats are (semi-)open, others are fully enclosed. There’s nothing better than sitting on an open boat when the weather is nice and sunny. Our weather is very unpredictable, so you won’t know whether or not it’s nice and sunny until you get here. It could also be raining heavily, in which case I wouldn’t go on a canal cruise at all. You won’t be able to see much of the city, if there’s rain pouring down the windows.

Thank you for the help. We don't have checked bags and nothing to declare. Hoping as you say, we will get it a bit early and beat the crowds. I have planned for an hour just to be safe. Hopefully, the weather in late April will hold out for us.

I haven't been to Amsterdam lately, but you need to understand that landing with a non-EU passport in a Schengen-Zone airport is kind of like arriving in the US with a non-US passport. You get extra scrutiny, and the line marked "Non-EU" or "All Other Passports" is always the longest and slowest moving.

To be honest, it also has a number of first-time travelers, who aren't ready for typical, perfectly reasonable interview questions like "How many days will you be in ...... ?" or "May I see your return air ticket?" or "Where are you staying?" This also slows things down.

In some countries, even non-EU visitors SOMETIMES have automated, non-human inspection, with a "Biometric Passport" (symbol on your US passport exterior?) at a mechanical gate that takes your picture (another problem with new travelers) and compares it to the passport picture. In that case, your passport doesn't even get stamped.

You can check the projected business of Schiphol on their webpage - click "arrivals" tab and enter your flight information. Info is available about two weeks ahead, but I'd check the day before you leave too. https://www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

I have waited 5 minutes at passport control on arrival and also over an hour. It takes about 20 minutes by train from airport to Centraal station. I don't advise taking your carry on bags on the canal cruise (some of them are rather cozy seating), so factor in time to go to your hotel and drop off your bags and then time to get back to the cruise. FWIW I did a canal cruise in the late afternoon on my arrival day to AMS and jet lag reallllly kicked in and I pretty much dozed through the whole thing.

“ I have planned for an hour just to be safe.”

An hour for what? To get thru passport control? Or to get thru passport control and into the city? The last few times I’ve arrived at Schiphol in the morning (2 times last year) the wait for non-EU passport holders was 60 minutes. And this was in September and October. At the end of April the airport will be even busier.

We are planning a canal cruise in the afternoon after we land at Schiphol airport. How long do you think it will get through customs?

The better question would be something like this:

We arrive at AMS , from (USA?) at ( Insert time) and plan to take a canal boat cruise at ( insert time) . Is this a reasonable time frame?

A question I have is what are you planning to do with your bags? Do the canal boats have room for them?

As for the jet stream getting you in early, all the other planes from N America will also get there 'early', so you cannot count on 'beating the rush'.

I once has a flight arrive almost an hour early due to tailwinds, but upon landing there was no gate available so we sat for 45 minutes on a remote taxiway. Landing early does not always mean getting off the plane early.

We have carry on only and plan to drop the bags at our AirBnB. I know how long to get to the city and our cruise is booked. I flew into Schiphol in 2022 and there were massive staffing shortages. I am a planner and like to give myself plenty of time. If staffing is still an issue I just wanted to be prepared. Thank you for the business link to Schipol. That will be a useful tool and I’ll definitely check it out.