Definitely not just for children - Really enjoyable and educational. It’s not solely for children. It is for all. The lady behind the desk was so pleasant and we went on the boat trip where the guide was knowledgeable and had a very good sense of humour. There’s an oil rig simulator where you complete tasks and the floors going up are educational. The top floor where the children can play was great as children honestly used loading a barge as play and took it seriously. Worth a visit for sure

Great museum for young kids - Great place to take your young kids. There is a play area at the top floor, which suits kids from 2 to 10. We ended up spending 4 hours with a lunch break roughly half way, absolutely recommendable.

Outstanding Interactive Museum - This museum is outstanding with both indoor and outdoor exhibits. Unfortunately the day we visited was windy and wet so we spent little time outdoors. It consists of two buildings about 200 yards apart with the dockside between holding all the floating displays. Depending on weather and time of year some of the floating exhibits are open to explore. On the upper floor of the secondary building you find a layout of the port and how it is being continually expanded. The lower floor has a workshop and a blacksmith shop. On arrival staff was welcoming and efficient. We paid 35 euros for two by Canadian CC without problem. We were given a ticket and a map and were told we would need the ticket to access some of the displays and activities. We were advised to start with the Offshore exhibit site. Here you enter an elevator and on exiting you find yourself on an oil rig platform at sea. There are many individual exhibits. You use your ticket to attempt some tasks like offloading supplies from a ship to the platform, giving landing instructions to a helicopter or being a drill operator. You are scored on your performance and can receive a record of your attempts as you leave. Leaving the platform you descend to the sea floor and discover how the platform is anchored and how the oil is transported. Outstanding! Another section of the building houses an extensive display of how the subway system was build. There are hundreds of incredible models of ships throughout the ages. If you were a true enthusiast and wanted to experience everything you would need several days. A wonderful place to visit as a family. A restaurant is available on site.

Great - Museum with the history of Dutch navigation with space for children to play, but with a lot of history to show. The boat trip costs 6 euros and is very good, while the museum ticket costs 17.50 euros.

Rich museum in terms of education and entertainment for kids - Surprisingly educational visit about the history of Rotterdam, and not only its maritime part. Also entertaining for young children. If you have time, you can easily spend a whole day there without dying of boredom. A bit pricey given that the content is not that costly to assemble or maintain, but I won’t complain.

Excellent opportunity - Very good welcome from reception staff who explained everything before we had paid. Modern well laid out exhibits and external floating boats etc are in good condition a help explain maritime history well. The internal representation of an oil rig particularly engaged the youngsters present. Tickets and harbour boat tour are excellent value

It’s fun but bit outdated - We liked the museum but it seems like it needs updating. I think for such a museum in Rotterdam which is so famous for its shipping industry it could have been more spectacular. Overall though it was a nice visit.

Expensive, boring and loveless - Inside it is a dragon of a museum conceived by people behind a desk. Zero inspiration, scale models and no people who make it alive, employment agency people who hang around the various exhibitions as attendants. The difference with outside areas manned by volunteers is enormous. Fantastic people who bring the story of the ships to life, real ships, cranes and experience. This museum suffers from the typical Dutch disease, highly paid management without understanding or passion for shipping who manage it from behind the window glass. And therefore outrageously expensive at 60eur for 2 adults and 2 children. Disappointing to learn that our family's ship is going to the scrap heap. The reason is obvious.

TERRIBLE ATTENDANCE - On 11/12, around 3:00 pm, we were on a Europamundo tour passing through Rotterdam. On the bus, our Guide gave two options, one to visit the Maritime Museum and the other to go to a shopping center, which is very close by. We were 3 couples, and we soon chose to visit the museum. Our guide mistakenly told us that the Museum was free. We entered the Museum and apparently some renovation was taking place, in addition we didn't know the Dutch language, and due to all this movement but without any commotion we went straight to the reception and headed to the museum's entrance area. There a helpful young man greeted us saying that we should buy tickets and guided us where we should go, walked us back down the ramp and indicated the ticket office on the left side of the Museum entrance. When I went to talk to the attendant about the tickets, she was very upset and very rude and asked me why we didn't stop at the entrance to say good morning and buy the tickets. I promptly apologized to the group, as after all we went straight through the entrance, and immediately tried to clarify the misunderstanding, as well as buy the tickets. Not happy with my apology, she asked me where “we had come from”, having never seen such rudeness, and continued attacking us with several other phrases of this nature without listening to our justifications. I apologized again and even to get out of the fight I asked if she could help us, and before I asked about the tickets she interrupted me saying sinisterly: “Why? Do you want to use the bathroom?” . Anyway, we were there to buy tickets, but after so many insults and rudeness even after my apologies, we chose not to stay at the museum. I put the date and time because if the establishment becomes aware of what happened, it would be important to reorient this employee, who clearly thinks that tourists only look for bathrooms, in addition we don't speak her language but we are graduates and postgraduates, we would like to visit the Museum but she made it impossible . No matter how different cultures are, a lack of education is a lack of education anywhere in the world. Even more so if we consider a person who serves the public and often foreigners. The behavior is simply absurd.

No credit card payments - Not able to purchase ticket on a credit card. Only Dutch debit cards accepted so not able to visit. A pity for non Dutch tourists!