Amawaterways
Amawaterways
3.5
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Family-owned and operated for more than 22 years, AmaWaterways is a luxury river cruise line offering unforgettable experiences with 29 custom-designed ships sailing iconic rivers throughout Europe, Vietnam, Cambodia, Africa, Egypt, and, starting in 2025, Colombia. Co-founded by pioneering river cruise executives Rudi Schreiner, Kristin Karst and Jimmy Murphy, AmaWaterways is committed to its reputation of welcoming guests with a warm and inviting crew and creating immersive, truly authentic cultural experiences for active travelers of all ages. AmaWaterways leads the river cruise industry in innovation, highlighted by the launch of the revolutionary AmaMagna, and through its sustainable ship design, wide variety of small group shore excursions featuring biking and hiking options, and award-winning, locally sourced cuisine paired with fine wines from the world’s most acclaimed wine regions.
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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scvrose
Fiddletown, CA1,305 contributions
Oct 2024 • Family
My wife and I took the Medieval Treasures cruise on the AmaCerto for our 25th anniversary. We have cruised on other lines, and this was our first on AMA. Friends talk highly of AMA, upper scale, great food, dress codes, etc. I didn't find anything to qualify that opinion. I must say first that the staff and director were awesome!
This particular cruise goes through around 60 locks, so it seems to be always in locks and often bumping around in the middle of the night. The ships like other lines park outside of the city, so going off on your own is not feasible. But I understand why.
We took extra nice clothes for the dinners and captain dinner. However, few did likewise. Shorts, flip-flops, sweats, etc. were the norm. The captains dinner was a joke, a small hand selected number of people in a side room.
My biggest disappointment was the food. Not imaginative, small selection, boring, bland, bread and pastries stale, and always the same each day. The chef's table was the best meal of the trip. We travel and eat and drink around the world (60 countries) and this was simply not good food. The best food we had was at the Hilton in Prague on the post tour. I found the food on other cruise lines we took much better.
Not sure we would spend the extra money again for another AMA cruise where we could get a better experience for significantly less money with someone else.
This particular cruise goes through around 60 locks, so it seems to be always in locks and often bumping around in the middle of the night. The ships like other lines park outside of the city, so going off on your own is not feasible. But I understand why.
We took extra nice clothes for the dinners and captain dinner. However, few did likewise. Shorts, flip-flops, sweats, etc. were the norm. The captains dinner was a joke, a small hand selected number of people in a side room.
My biggest disappointment was the food. Not imaginative, small selection, boring, bland, bread and pastries stale, and always the same each day. The chef's table was the best meal of the trip. We travel and eat and drink around the world (60 countries) and this was simply not good food. The best food we had was at the Hilton in Prague on the post tour. I found the food on other cruise lines we took much better.
Not sure we would spend the extra money again for another AMA cruise where we could get a better experience for significantly less money with someone else.
Written November 16, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello, on behalf of the entire AmaWaterways family, we are sorry for the experience you had during your journey. We take pride in our work and want to take care of all of our guests while they are with us.
Your feedback helps us enhance our experience for the future and that’s exactly what we plan to do. Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your recent experience. Please feel free to contact customerrelations@amawaterways.com to share more of your experience with us.
We sincerely hope we can make things right and welcome you back on board in the future.
Written November 19, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Michael K
Baltimore, MD37 contributions
Dec 2023 • Couples
We were not pleased with our time on the AmaWaterways AmaBella. The first night on board my wife ordered salmon and the waiter picked a fight with her, strongly
suggesting that the sea bream
was better. She wanted the salmon but the waiter was not deterred.
The hotel manager and maitre d’ could tell I was angry but I refused to talk to them. After dinner, I went to the cruise manager - who was absolutely wonderful- and told him what happened. He agreed that it was an unfortunate incident and clearly my wife was entitled to order what she wanted.
We were disappointed in the decor. The restaurant was decorated with fabrics that were ugly. The ship was lit too darkly. The Viking and Uniworld river boats were far brighter. On top of that, several times we returned from excursions during winter with gray skies and snow and the draperies in the restaurant were closed when there was sunshine. We walked out and went to the lounge. Everyday when that happened we were told that it was company policy.
I had spinal surgery. Given the state of my back, we signed up for “ gentle “ walking tours but almost all were too energetic. I could not keep up and I was not alone.
We had a 9:30 AM flight on Lufthansa from Munich to London but we had to leave from the ship at 4:30 AM. The minivan took less than an hour to arrive at the Munich airport. That was crazy.
Having said that, the crew from top to bottom were wonderful. The food was only OK.
suggesting that the sea bream
was better. She wanted the salmon but the waiter was not deterred.
The hotel manager and maitre d’ could tell I was angry but I refused to talk to them. After dinner, I went to the cruise manager - who was absolutely wonderful- and told him what happened. He agreed that it was an unfortunate incident and clearly my wife was entitled to order what she wanted.
We were disappointed in the decor. The restaurant was decorated with fabrics that were ugly. The ship was lit too darkly. The Viking and Uniworld river boats were far brighter. On top of that, several times we returned from excursions during winter with gray skies and snow and the draperies in the restaurant were closed when there was sunshine. We walked out and went to the lounge. Everyday when that happened we were told that it was company policy.
I had spinal surgery. Given the state of my back, we signed up for “ gentle “ walking tours but almost all were too energetic. I could not keep up and I was not alone.
We had a 9:30 AM flight on Lufthansa from Munich to London but we had to leave from the ship at 4:30 AM. The minivan took less than an hour to arrive at the Munich airport. That was crazy.
Having said that, the crew from top to bottom were wonderful. The food was only OK.
Written January 16, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Unikuorn
Arizona88 contributions
Oct 2024 • Couples
For our first river cruise, we chose AMA only knowing that we didn’t want to experience other cruise lines that we’d heard firsthand experiences about. Our cruise included pre and post cruise nights in Budapest (Marriott) and Prague (Art Deco) , and we used AMA’s air booking service, which put us on flights with UA and Lufthansa. Our cabin on the AMAViola was well appointed and well maintained, with a nicely fixtured, small bathroom, and a usable balcony with seating. Food was well-prepared and service was attentive and well done. The included excursions generally provided gentle, standard, and active options, with time afterwards to go off on your own. A few optional excursions required an add’l fee, which we didn’t partake in.
Overall, it was a high quality experience, mostly US and English-speaking, friendly, well-behaved guests. Our favorite days were the days off ship, where we could independently immerse ourselves in Prague and Budapest. The on-ship days felt more scheduled and regimented, with too-short visits in Linz and Vienna. Positively, a Danube river cruise allows you to briefly see and very lightly experience many ports in a short time. We recommend AMA, and we’re glad we tried it, but have no plans to river cruise again based on our travel style.
Overall, it was a high quality experience, mostly US and English-speaking, friendly, well-behaved guests. Our favorite days were the days off ship, where we could independently immerse ourselves in Prague and Budapest. The on-ship days felt more scheduled and regimented, with too-short visits in Linz and Vienna. Positively, a Danube river cruise allows you to briefly see and very lightly experience many ports in a short time. We recommend AMA, and we’re glad we tried it, but have no plans to river cruise again based on our travel style.
Written November 25, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Greetings from AmaWaterways,
Thank you for sharing your river cruise experience with us! It is great to know that our team was welcoming and helpful during your stay on board our AmaViola river cruise ship. We are delighted you had a memorable time on board. It is always our goal to make each guest feel special and a part of our AmaWaterways family. Thank you again for your feedback, and we hope to welcome you back on board for your next river cruise!
Written November 26, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Yankee-Views
Las Cruces, NM294 contributions
Aug 2024 • Couples
We took an Ama trip to Portugal, including both the pre- and post-trips. A couple on a six-hour bus trip from Madrid to Portugal coughed (unmasked and unapologetic) during the entire transfer and ultimately ended up spreading Covid to nearly everyone on the trip. The problem was with the "cruise manager," Marcia, who began spreading false information to any passenger who would listen. Marcia felt the need to inappropriately place blame as to who actually brought Covid onboard without verifying ANY of the facts surrounding the situation. She approached my spouse twice to repeat and spread her lies! Extremely unprofessional and completely unacceptable. During the last two days of the trip, some passengers who believed Marcia's lies started calling other passengers horrible names, shouting at them, and repeating the same lies being spread by Marcia. After returning home, we wrote to the co-owners of Ama to let them know about the situation, and immediately cancelled an Ama trip we had booked with friends for South America. Our travel buddies also cancelled their reservation. Apparently, the Ama co-owners realized the liability and seriousness of the situation, and the deposits paid by both us and our travel buddies were refunded! Since 2013, we have traveled with several riverboat cruise lines, and have never had such an unprofessional cruise manager. We cannot recommend Ama to anyone and will not even consider using them again. Remember, it is your money, your experience, and your memorable vacation... I suggest you find a better riverboat cruise company with which to do business.
Written November 30, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear guest, Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re truly sorry to hear about your experience and regret that it fell short of your expectations. Please know we take your concerns seriously and are reviewing the situation to ensure better experiences for our guests. If you’d like to provide additional details, we welcome you to contact us directly. Please feel free to contact customerrelations@amawaterways.com to share more of your experience with us. We sincerely hope we can make things right and welcome you back on board in the future.
Written December 2, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Jeffrey C
San Francisco, CA3 contributions
Mar 2024 • Couples
AmaWaterways promised us a luxury Riverboat, had to switch boats at the last minute, and rebooked us in a far inferior riverboat experience for a luxury price. We asked them to treat us fairly based on the caliber of lodging. They refused.
Holes in walls. Dying plants. Cheap textiles and fabrics. Cuisine that was marginal. For several dinners, we opted for cheese and crackers.
Holes in walls. Dying plants. Cheap textiles and fabrics. Cuisine that was marginal. For several dinners, we opted for cheese and crackers.
Written May 12, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Patricia v
1 contribution
Jun 2024 • Friends
I cruised the Danube with a large group of friends on the Amalea boat from AmaWaterways from June 1 to 7. We were unlucky in time because it coincided with the rains and floods that were in the area in those days. Obviously the company was not responsible for that but it was responsible for its mismanagement to solve contingencies. Also the lack of information: they announced the changes of plans at the last minute. And above all, that at the end of the cruise we were eliminated a night and a day on the boat as well as a guided tour of Budapest. All this was paid in advance and we have not received any compensation in return. We are very upset with the treatment received.
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Written June 26, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
CJTravelerTexas
Texas9,287 contributions
Sep 2024 • Couples
Over the years my wife and I have taken river cruises with AmaWaterways on several occasions: the AmaLegro on the Seine in May 2014; AmaSonata on the Danube in May 2016; and the AmaKristina on the Rhine in November 2017. Our most recent cruise was on the AmaCello in September 2024 on the Rhône and Saône. During our four cruises, we have found that AmaWaterways consistently provides a quality travel experience: the food is delicious and attractively presented; the Cruise Manager and members of the staff are friendly, attentive, and service oriented; the itinerary is carefully planned and caters to a variety of interests; and the ship and cabins are clean and well-maintained. The AmaCello is one of AmaWaterways’ oldest ships – built in 2008 – but that is not evident by appearance and functionality. I would certainly book another cruise with AmaWaterways.
Written September 29, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear valued guest,
On behalf of all of us at AmaWaterways, thank you so much for leaving such a wonderful review! We each take pride in our pursuits to provide an unforgettable experience for all our guests. It's heartwarming to learn of you and you wife's loyalty and support of AmaWaterways. You may be happy to know that each year during the winter dry dock period, our European ships undergo an annual rejuvenation where everything from interior carpets to fresh coats of paint, to new fabrics and more are touched up or replaced to ensure every stateroom and welcoming public area is in perfect “ship-shape” condition prior to the start of their spring sailing season.
We look forward to welcoming you back again soon!
Warm regards,
AmaWaterways
Written October 7, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Tom P
8 contributions
Dec 2022 • Couples
My wife and I took an iconic Christmas Markets River Cruise with AmaWaterways on the ship Amalea from Dec 11 to Dec 18 starting from Nuremberg and ending in Budapest. We must say that it is a wonderful experience, the entire staff was exceptionally professional, caring and warm. The service was outstanding. Especially, the hotel Manager Jerry and the cruise Director Miriam went beyond our expectations to provide the best level of service and hospitality. Not to mention the Executive Chef and the entire kitchen staff made a special effort to provide us with some delicious Asian dishes that we crater for. All in all, we are completely satisfied and we will definitely come back to another Amawaterways River cruise tour.
Written December 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
suekershaw1
Kessingland, United Kingdom18 contributions
Aug 2023 • Solo
AMA Waterways,
This was my first river cruise flying into Munich and after the most beautiful week on the Danube river, I fly home from Budapest.
The ship was AmaSonata but I renamed it the smiley ship, the entire staff were amazing, with Marcelo, Jerry, Syaifuddan,Khit, Kha, always smiling, greeting and so inventive to my questions and needs, Peter and the Piano, all week playing melodies fitting for the guests or the country we were in.
The entertainment was tasteful, eg the singers and dancers that entertain us, first class, the last night, Marcelo did a music quiz and we all song along too ! such fun.
I read my holiday book, in the quietness of the stylish lounge or the sun decks.
It was extremely hot the week I was abroad the smiley ship, maybe a little more shade would be my only minor grumble.
The food was so yummy and beautiful, all the waiters explaining all the ingredients etc.
I booked this river purely due to the escorted bike tours or you could cycle on shore freely by yourself.
The bikes were great and water bottles were supplied, the smiley ship were professional down to minutest detail.
By lucky chance I attend the Mozart and Strauss concert amazing
Well done Amawaterways you were all amazing, first class.
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Written September 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stephen C
Suffolk, UK43 contributions
Sep 2023 • Couples
Called UK number to obtain a brochure, not very convincing message taken. No brochure arrived. Then completed an on line request for a cost for a river cruise in Asia. Submission was acknowledged and promised that a specialist would be in touch. 4 days on, no contact, no brochure. The competitors have been much more accommodating and will likely get the booking.
Written September 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Would like to know where/what river you were on. Thanks.
Written June 21, 2024
We were in Southwestern France in the Dordogne region.
Written December 7, 2024
Hello: We are considering taking a river cruise from Lumbourg and returning to Nuremberg. What are the largest international airports close by, and what are the options to get to the cruise port.
Written August 7, 2023
I would call AMAWaterways customer service and they can give you all this information.
AmaWaterways is a fabulous all-inclusive company. They do this itinerary.
Toll Free: 1-800-626-0126
We book direct and use Jonathan Castruita as our travel consultant. He is wonderful.
Written August 8, 2023
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*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.