Shimza & Co,
chauffeured.
Afro house on the shipyard, Saturday night. Afro house in the shipyard hall, on the night the whole city is out. The NDSM programme pulls a crowd that arrives later and stays longer than most, and the hall handles it better than anywhere else in Noord.
Saturday 24 October, at the NDSM Loods.
Arena night. The largest room in the country is in use, the warehouses in Noord are full, and every road out of Zuidoost is busy at the same minute.
Afro house in the shipyard hall, on the night the whole city is out. The NDSM programme pulls a crowd that arrives later and stays longer than most, and the hall handles it better than anywhere else in Noord.
The water is the thing to plan around. The ferry that runs in daylight is not a serious option at four in the morning in October, and it never takes cars.
The Coentunnel or IJtunnel and the Klaprozenweg: ten to fifteen minutes from the centre. The car comes onto the werf, which on a cold Saturday night is the difference between a two-minute walk and a fifteen-minute one.
The quay is exposed, the wind comes straight off the IJ, and the last ferries are long gone. Your chauffeur is parked near the hall, and you walk from the door to the car rather than from the door to a queue.
NDSM-werf, Amsterdam-Noord.
The NDSM shipyard is across the IJ in Noord. By car it is the Coentunnel or the IJtunnel and then the Klaprozenweg — ten to fifteen minutes from the centre at night. The ferry that everyone talks about runs to a timetable and does not take cars.
The car comes onto the werf itself and stops on the quay near the hall. It is open ground and it is cold by the water in October; the walk is short but there is no shelter on it.
The NDSM shipyard is across the IJ in Noord. By car it is the Coentunnel or the IJtunnel and then the Klaprozenweg — ten to fifteen minutes from the centre at night. The ferry that everyone talks about runs to a timetable and does not take cars. Your chauffeur checks the roads before setting off rather than when he arrives, and the price is fixed when you book, whatever the traffic does.
The car comes onto the werf itself and stops on the quay near the hall. It is open ground and it is cold by the water in October; the walk is short but there is no shelter on it.
Yes, and on this night it is the sensible way to do it. The quay is exposed, the wind comes straight off the IJ, and the last ferries are long gone. Your chauffeur is parked near the hall, and you walk from the door to the car rather than from the door to a queue. Book the return at the same time as the outward ride, or keep one car and chauffeur for the whole night by the hour, from €65 an hour in Business Class with a two-hour minimum.
Schiphol to any address in Amsterdam is a fixed €90 in Business Class, €125 in the seven-seat Van Class and €140 in First Class — taxes included, per car, with the flight tracked and a chauffeur waiting inside the arrivals hall. Going back to Schiphol the fixed prices are €80, €85 and €90.
The Van Class takes up to seven passengers and seven bags in one car, with captain chairs and walk-in headroom. For a larger party dispatch stages several cars to arrive together at NDSM Loods, with one contact for the whole group rather than a separate booking per car.
Message dispatch on WhatsApp and the pickup time moves. It is one number, answered around the clock in English, and once a chauffeur is assigned you have his line too. There is no surge pricing at four in the morning — the fare was agreed when you booked.