We had a wonderful stay at Richard and Birgit's houseboat! Our kids loved the novel experience of living like a local, and Richard was an excellent and responsive host. I would highly recommend this space for families, but there is a steep ladder that you have to climb to get in/out, so it might be harder for families with really young children or babies.
About the host:
We could tell that Richard takes pride in this property. He met us the first evening we were there and explained how to work things and set up a new TV for us. He has made a manual that stays in the houseboat that also explains everything and includes some local tips. There are a couple of new appliances that have been updated in the houseboat that are not in the manual, but overall it was very helpful. Richard was very polite and patient when interacting with us. When we had questions during our stay, or messages were responded to that same day.
About the space:
In general, we thought the houseboat Saturnus has more space that what it looks like from the pictures. One bedroom is toward the front of the houseboat. There is a bed on the floor, and a loft with another bed. The lower space is mostly filled by the bed, but there is room to walk around it on all sides. The loft is mostly filled by a smaller bed. There are two portholes in the loft, which are at about street level. There are no curtains on these portholes, so you can see the person sleeping in the loft if you are looking closely from the street. Next down the hall is a relatively large bathroom, with full bathtub and separate shower. Next is the 2nd bedroom, which is mostly filled with the bed but with space to walk around all sides of it. There is no storage space in the bedrooms, but there are closets/cabinets in the hallway to put your things if needed. All of the appliances in the kitchen that we used worked well. There is a kitchen table large enough for 4-5 people to sit and eat comfortably. The living room has a large couch, with cable television. We didn't watch a lot of TV, but it seemed like many of the channels are in English, with Dutch subtitles. The wifi was fast enough to stream video. Although there are not many windows, there are skylights which let in a lot of natural light during the day. The houseboat has radiant heating through the floor, which is nice on a cold morning. However, it can take longer to heat up the space. I believe the water heating system is linked with the floor heating. You have to leave the vent fan running in the bathroom, or else the heating system may shut off. A couple times we found we did not have cold water and had to restart the system, and there are instructions in the manual on how to do so. We found the houseboat to be VERY QUIET and it is insulated well from noise in the houseboat rooms, as well as from sounds on the street. The owner has split the houseboat into two halves, one of which is the Saturnus, and the other is another rental property. There was a family staying in the other half, but we never heard them.
About the neighborhood:
We felt like the location of the houseboat could not have been better. The houseboat is about 200 meters walk from the Nieuwmarkt subway stop, which is one stop from Centraal Station. There are lifts at this subway stop. The houseboat is in a residential neighborhood, on the Oudeschans canal. The neighborhood is very quiet and felt very safe. At the same time, it is only a few minutes from areas that are more lively, easily walkable. There is a bench on the sidewalk above the houseboat on which people will often sit and look at the canal while they talk or smoke, but when this happened they were quiet and it was not a problem. There is a bar/cafe on the canal about 50 meters from the houseboat that has a good beer selection. Wednesday and Thursday nights we did not hear anything from them. Friday night it was more busy/noisy, and you could hear people talking, laughing, shouting when outside the houseboat. Inside the houseboat you could occasionally hear this from the front bedroom, but not from the other bedroom. Not sure if this could be a bigger problem during the summer when more people are sitting outside. Early in the morning and during the night you will sometimes hear a duck quacking very loud right outside the houseboat. Our kids loved it.
We would highly recommend this space to anyone, and will stay here again if we come back to Amsterdam!