The city/port of AMSterdam can only be approached via 2 ways-west or east, (canal-cruise ist mostly used for the numerous 1 hr ''cruises'' in flat-bottomed glassed touristy boats-there are hundreds of departures daily all year), and most likely yours is from the east-germany?-and will then berth at somewhere east of Central Station. There is also a huge Cruiseliner terminal (only used by those big sea-going vessels), around 1 km east of CS-tram stop 26 nearby (this is the most overloaded line of all GVB and due for big expansion/extension).
GVB offers 1 hr tickets for 3 € (this means you can cram in as much as you can manage of GVB-only blue/white metro/tram/bus-time of ''check in'' counts only-can end trip after the 1 hr. limit and ditto for 24 hrs and 48/72 etc. NO MORE cash taken-only cards for payment (trams have conductors sitting in a booth at the back). Daytickets must be bought advance.
HTM has 1 hr tickets and daytickets (NOT for 24 hrs)-same principle. Drivers only sell singles, no more cash taken.
Yes, being Dutch I am most aware that there is -in touristy fora and also here- a long standing warning that we Dutch dont take the usual cred-cds you Brits like to use-this is NOT the case for payments on bus/tram. Most of these new machines work also with contactless payments, but this may for now be only for Dutch cards, I think. Others need to use the old-style PIN. In that respect its thus more advanced and customer-friendly as what London buses can do. You still get an actual ticket with any payment. By GVB you still also need to checkin+out (touch in oyster language) with every trip made with it.
