It should come as no surprise that we love Ama Waterways – we’re biased cruise lovers with gigantic hearts! But as much as we know about river cruising, it’s always great when we get validation from other experts. One of those experts, writer Douglas Ward, just penned another edition of ‘The Berlitz guide to River Cruising in Europe’, and our friends at Ama Waterways found themselves drowning in praise. In fact, her ships outranked the competition in many of the most important categories:
- Accommodations
- Facilities
- Cuisine
- Hospitality
- Miscellaneous
“AmaWaterways spends considerably more on high-quality food ingredients, wine & hotel crew service training than any other river cruise company."
Where does Ama Waterways excel?
Itineraries
Shore Excursions
Staterooms
Dining
Experience
Itineraries
While there are a limited number of stops along the main European rivers, the Rhine and Danube – AMA has taken pains to have some points of difference. One example is Vilshofen, where they maintain their own Octoberfest pavilion to give guests that experience throughout the season. A substantive point of difference is that AMA stays late, as late as midnight in many of the European stops within the itinerary. That’s a major point of difference and allows the guest to dine ashore and really experience many of these unique cities.
Excursions
The biggest difference between AMA and other river cruise lines in this segment is that they offer a variety of different shore excursions beyond the standard city tour. Additionally, all of these tour options are included, there is no extra cost. Most tours are half day, any tour that is a full day also includes lunch. In addition to city tours, AMA offers bike tours and specialized culinary tours (depending on the voyage).
Standard City Tours also come in 4 different versions:
- Active Tours: Morning departures – these could well be a hike or other kind of active tour.
- Standard: Morning departures, independent guides and for the most part branded buses.
- Gentle Walker: Morning departure, similar tour but designed to move at a slower pace.
- Late Riser: An abbreviated city tour that allows for a later mid or late morning departure.
Staterooms
AMA offers a wide range of accommodations on each of its ships. AMA also offers triple occupancy and connecting cabins. Overall their cabin sizes compare very favorably, they claim at 30% larger than the industry average. French balcony ranges from 155-170 square feet, and on the AmaCello, AmaDante, AmaDolce, AmaLyra are significantly larger at up to 255 square feet. It is important to remember that the fleet is very young, averaging less that 5 years old. The ships are modern and contemporary while retaining a sense of individuality.
Dining
All river offerings struggle with very small galley spaces and as such generally offer a somewhat compressed menu. AMA prides itself on its culinary program which offer a number of notable points:
- Fresh: Frequent provisioning allows for an “all fresh” food policy.
- La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs: Ama is a member of this global gastronomy association.
- Chef’s Table: An included alternate dining program on every ship.
- Specialty Diets: Ama has a mission to accommodate gluten free and other specialty diets.
- Sip and Sail: This is a nightly open bar cocktail party.
Experience
AMA is somewhat unique in that it is truly a family owned business where those owners are involved all aspects of the business everyday – they are hands-on in every sense of the word.
- Spa: AMA offers a massage and hair service on all ships.
- Wellness Program: On board wellness programs that offer onboard yoga, Zumba & more.
- WiFi: AMA claims that they spend more money on WiFI than they do on fuel!
- Family Atmosphere: A unique family atmosphere not present on many river lines.
- Entertainment: AMA prides itself on providing quality, often local entertainment.
- Space to Guest: AMA is carrying about 25% less guests than other major river lines.
