Need to Reserved Rotterdam to Kinderdijk water shuttle in advance?

We may have been on the same waterbus in 2024! I do remember how inefficient the ticket buying at the museum was, so that's a nice new feature if you can figure it out. All I remember is that was the 1 or 2 cold windy days we had in the Netherlands, while waiting for the waterbus. I remember thinking, I don't know if this next waterbus is ours, but I'm getting on it to get out of the wind! But once we got to Kinderdijk the weather was gorgeous! Enjoy!

Report back after your trip, if you can. Let us know about the new shuttle! Have fun!

I will be there maybe a week or so ahead of you (first week of April) and have a few days that would be an option for this trip. So I have also been holding off deciding and buying. I have the website saved for the combi ticket and just got back to checking after reading your question - only to see the I can (right now) buy the tickets separately but not the combi ticket. I feel sure the combi ticket was available earlier….. So, I am continuing to wait for now and can let you know what I end up doing, if that’s helpful.

Texas travel!om, any info would be appreciated, thanks!
Perhaps this is the first year for this new system?

standing by for update

I will share what I find out - although it will be a sample of just one. 🤣

one is w-a-y better than a sample of none

Following... would love to use this new water shuttle during our April RS tour...

Edited to Add: It appears that the combo tix are available and you are able to receive a -10% when purchasing online

The combination tickets seem to be available, but I can't get the system to work using my I-pad. I'll try a desk top computer .Anyone have a successful purchase?
EDIT:
Purchase completed using a desktop computer. There was no timed entry, tickets were sold for a specific date.

Thanks for reporting back that the combination tickets are available now. You mentioned it was not a timed entry. But did you have to commit to specific times for the boat in both directions? Our trip is in June, so we still have time to think about how much cycling we might want to do nearby

The combination tickets I just bought were specific to a date, but not a time. Neither the entry nor transportation tickets included a time.
Make sure you have the current summer water shuttle schedule.
I was able to purchase the tickets using a desk top computer, but couldn't on my I-Pad. I wonder if this is the first year of this new water shuttle system?
Enjoy this remarkable area!

@Pat; what do you mean when you wrote you couldn’t get the system to work on your IPad? Where in the process does it go wrong?
I just tried to do a dummy booking on both my IPhone and IPad and it works fine right up until I have to hit the pay button, which I didn’t click on because I actually don’t need the tickets.

Dutch traveler, I've often had this problem with my I-pad: the button to proceed to the next page just doesn't show up on my I-pad. Perhaps it's time to get a new one?!
Thanks for your help, as always!

Thank you for the clarification about times, Pat. Our trip is in June so we have time to decide.

Pat, I sometimes have that issue on my iPad (including tonight when I bought my tickets for tomorrow). I normally use my iPad in the horizontal position but if I change to vertical position, the magic “continue” line is there.

We’ll see how full the shuttle is. I had to buy the specific date, but not a time.

Texas travel mom, I will try the I pad in the vertical position. What a great suggestion, which never occurred to me.

Here’s my report from yesterday (Saturday, April 4):

I bought the combination ticket on Friday night. We are in Delft and don’t usually do early mornings. So we arrived at the water shuttle around noon for the 12:40 boat. It is the same location as the 20 water bus apparently, and the boat looks exactly the same. The waiting area was filling up by 12:30 when a boat arrived - and there was a lot of confusion, as this was not the direct boat. At 12:40, the water shuttle arrived and the crowd all made it on the boat, but not everyone had a seat. So some people were standing for the 30 minute ride. I could definitely see this could be an issue if it had been slightly busier. And there was no organized line, so boarding really wasn’t by who arrived first.

And there were definitely some people on board who had to buy a ticket on the spot on their phones because they made a mistake. But the guy looked at tickets as we boarded so I don’t know why that happened. And of course, no way to buy tickets except online.

The PDF of the ticket on my phone worked fine everywhere. Supposedly you can scan the QR code (like for entrance to the first windmill and the toilet at one location) but mine didn’t scan. Wasn’t an issue, though.

We decided to take the 4:45 return, in case the last boat had a long line. Same thing happened. A regular waterbus showed up a few minutes before the dedicated water shuttle. It looked different, though, so not much confusion. I think almost everyone had a seat, but it definitely was pretty full. Again - no line for boarding in order of arrival.

Conclusion: I saved some money on the combi ticket. I can definitely see that during busier times you could arrive close to departure time and not get on board. The boat said “capacity 130”, but that would be miserable, I think. It’s an interesting arrangement.

We arrived about the same time as a small Viking cruise. We just avoided them, though, so it wasn’t an issue. They only went as far as the first windmill and we took the included boat further, then walked back.

We had an absolutely marvelous day. We had thought we might go on Friday but I was feeling a little sick. So we postponed and the weather was wonderful. I can see that we could have used an extra hour, but loved it!

Texas travel Mom, thanks so much for the update, and the useful info. I'm so excited! Hope all your trip goes so well!

You, too, Pat! 2 more days!

Thanks TTM - glad you're feeling better. No queueing, eh?

Their website comments that you can bring bikes on board the Water bus. (I'd have to double check about the direct Shuttle.) But if the boat is that crowded, bikes don't seem very feasible.

Thanks, Nigel - it was short-lived, thank goodness.

Boarding was orderly, in that people weren’t elbowing and crowding. But definitely no organized line. It seemed to be kind of in order of where you ended up standing (or sitting - there were a few benches).

I confess I don’t know about bikes. I didn’t see any on the shuttle but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. Definitely saw strollers. And I for sure saw bikes on the regular waterbus ahead of us, though.