Norwegian Cruise Lines markets IJmuiden as ‘Amsterdam (IJmuiden)’ but on the map only displays the name of the capital.
P&O Cruises is promoting IJmuiden on its website as ‘Amsterdam (From IJmuiden)’, Cunard does the same. Looking at websites of Cruise Lines, it’s easy to see that IJmuiden is now marketed as a port of Amsterdam. For example, the Italian port of Civitavecchia is marketed as Rome despite being an 80 km drive from the Italian capital to the port. This strategy is more often used in the cruise industry. The Guardian published a complaint from a passengers stating that P&O is still advertising packages including a stop in IJmuiden as having Amsterdam on its itinerary. According to some passengers, the cruise line forgot to inform its passengers about its move to IJmuiden. Prove that the tourists are still brought to Amsterdam can be read in complaints against P&O Cruises. Most of these passengers are immediately transferred to Amsterdam which is the main tourist attraction in the region. The alternative port of IJmuiden saw an increase in cruise ships passengers. IJmuiden now advertised as Amsterdam Costa marketing IJmuiden as ‘destination Amsterdam’ Since the introduction of the tax a total of 81 cruise arrivals originally planned to go to Amsterdam have canceled their arrival at the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (33 in 2019, 48 in 2020). The cruise line is now fully substituting Amsterdam with Rotterdam.
One of those cruise lines is MSC Cruises.
While some cruise lines are opting for IJmuiden, others are staying far away from the Dutch capital. One of those ports is the nearby located port of IJmuiden which can easily be reached with tour buses. Immediately, several cruise lines announced that they will not visit Amsterdam anymore and started to set sail to alternative ports. According to the CLIA, “cruise passengers visiting Amsterdam, who already pay a significant amount in port fees and other tariffs, will have to pay whilst other day tourists, who arrive in Amsterdam by train bus or car, would not have to pay a day tourist tax and do not also pay port or other fees”. The cruise tax has been opposed by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Check our daily crowd predictions for Amsterdam Cruise lines oppose ‘unfair’ cruise tax