Should I change flight through Schiphol Airport.

For peace of mind, I would contact the cruise line to alter your travel arrangements to what you need.

It seems like most problems at Schiphol have to do with lines going through security. You would already be airside if that makes a difference.

If you're flying out of MSP then Paris could be your only other option for a one-connection ticket. And I'd take AMS over CGD all day long.

I connected through AMS last month and was worried about the same issue due to all the bad articles I was reading about long lines there. My flight included a 3-hour layover there. The longest thing in my experience was walking from one end of the terminal to the other, which seemed to take forever. The immigration line was very long, but they had at least ten agents working, and it in fact took less than 20 minutes. Walking from my arrival gate to my departure gate took longer than that.

Not arguing for or against your choice, but reporting my actual experience arriving at AMS on June 9, 8:30 a m. Carry on bags. Smooth sailing and literally zero line at immigration. Time from landing to Amsterdam Centraal train station was an hour and 15 minutes. YMMV. Will report on return experience later in June, not holding my breath we will get that lucky again.

If you're insisting on flying to Basel your options will be limitied as has been mentioned.

But, Basel has a very small airport and the easiest way to get to Basel is usually to fly to Zürich or Frankfurt and take the train the last bit. That will give you a lot more options.

If you booked this all on 1 ticket, you will remain airside and the only thing you have to do is go thru passport control. At the passport control for transit passengers there is a fast lane for passengers of flights that will leave shortly. So even if your incoming flight is late, you can still make your connecting flight. If you want peace of mind, you can of course arrange to leave a day earlier, but I see no reason to avoid Schiphol as a transit passenger.

If all goes well you should have no problem. My preference is to arrive the day before the ‘ship sails.’ Many things could happen that impact flights - weather delays, cancellations, getting bumped, mechanical delays, etc. Naturally it’s a balance between time, expense, comfort level…!

Have a great cruise.

“ There is no security check at AMS for transit passengers.”
Please be aware that whether or not transit passengers need to go thru security at Schiphol depends on where you’ve arrived from. If the country you arrived from is not on the safe list (i.e. if their security checks aren’t up to standard) you will need to go thru security again at Schiphol. The USA, all European countries and various other countries are on the safe list, but not all countries are.
In this case the OP doesn’t have to go thru security at Schiphol, but this isn’t a general rule that applies to all transit passengers.

Thanks everyone for your input. I haven't decided yet what we should do.

Schipol is an okay airport to have a long layover in, as there are lots of services to spend your time on. 2.5 hours is a plenty long enough layover, unless your inbound flight is seriously delayed, you should be fine. But like others said, if you fly through Frankfurt, you’d have more options.

Side note, I once missed boarding of a rhine river cruise because of major flight issues, was able to catch it on its next port of call. So not all lost.