CastleCritic

It certainly depends a lot on your carrier and where you are. I was surprised for example in Egypt how often I had service(it certainly wasnt all the time though), But in Serbia a few years ago it was basically a dead zone for at&t....then we got to Romania and everything worked even high in the mountains. It's definitely come a ways since I started cruising in 2019 but honestly I find that the cell signals are often better than whatever system the ships are using.(unlike at sea where everyone is using starlink it seems now).

AmaKristina for the Rhone and AmaDante relocating from Amsterdam for the Seine circa 2020. I remembered that photo from looking into where AMADante was in 2021 since I had a 2022 cruise on her. https://latteluxurynews.com/2020/11/24/amawaterways-bolsters-presence-in-france-for-2021/ AMAMagna made several of those trips from Romania to the Netherlands and back during fitting out since she cant be pushed down the Main like most ships. https://www.facebook.com/vahalishipyards/videos/transport-of-amamagna/2400482056632423/

I didnt, because I was trying to get over some issues from the night before and wanted to be ready for abu simbel. My Mother did go and thought it was stellar. And it was separate, I think it left from the ship about 5 well after we had gotten back from the felluca. I cant guarantee they wont use an earlier flight when you go but yeah...we didn't leave early.

Thats a big part of it. Im not an early riser so being able to get in and out in 15-30 minutes is key to that vs how long it takes at dinner. Yes its been buffet breakfast/lunch again for a few years on AMA. I took a cruise during the Covid recovery period, breakfast sucked when it was 100% waiter serviced, but in reality the only change was that he went to the buffet, not you. Nothing really changed as far as what was available, I think the bread display was still self service as I recall. Also keep in mind there is still always a component of to order eggs and sometimes other things that are waiter serviced even with the buffet. Same with lunch.

Vienna concert or Schonbrunn palace (this would have been the third excursion of the day not to be confused with any schedule that would have done it normally) were paid when I went in 2019. Other than that, Egypt has been the only other place Ive seen them on AMA. One for a "high tea" in Aswan (which they comped me for without even asking as a gold level loyalty member) and Abu SImbel where we literally had an Egyptair flight to get there and back).

AMA doesn't really go to Regensburg, only for cruises that start/end in Nuremberg which again..isn't many and she cant make it that far (and those cruises would then often continue down the Main for their second week)

AMAMagna does Vilshofen to Budapest (Girgiu). Ive seen her stop in the bend before Budapest that notamermaid listed above when viking ships were sailing past in low water but thats been about it. Her draft is about the same as the other AMA ships.

Yes, same person.

its almost certainly the cruise director, the only cases Ive seen when its not is when there are multiple extensions and he/she can only do one obviously. Ive always just paid the full amount including the extension before I got off the ship. Right off AMAs page for the amounts Ship’s Crew: The entire amount will be divided equally amongst all crew members. Recommendation: 125 Euros per 7-night cruise, per guest. (AmaMagna: 145 Euros per 7-night cruise, per guest) Cruise Manager: Your Cruise Manager is not part of the ship’s crew and is the AmaWaterways representative who also accompanies you on any pre- and/or post-cruise land packages you may have reserved. Recommendation: 30 Euros per 7-night cruise, per guest; 5 Euros for each additional day, per guest for pre- and post-cruise land packages.

AMA makes this very clear and easy. A day or so before the end of the cruise 2 envelopes and a piece of paper will appear on your bed. in it will be a suggested amount to give to a communal fund that will be distributed amongst the crew. The other amount will be for the cruise director alone. You can either put money in the envelopes and drop them at a box at the reception desk or have them charge it to your room/credit card and youre done. That doesnt mean you cant hand someone something extra but its not expected.

I will always recommend AMAWaterways as Ive used them exclusively (6 and counting cruises). But if you are expecting lobster or fancy seafood, Im not sure thats going to float your (river) boat. I have had duck and lamb but the seafood dishes are usually salmon or sea bass or something similar. Shrimp is usually some kind of appetizer, not a main. All the excursions on AMA are free (usually...there are occasionally exceptions but this is VERY rare, I think Ive paid for 2 at this point and one of them involved airline flights). Entertainment yes its going to be fairly low key, maybe a local entertainer if the ship is staying in port long enough but other than that probably just the ships resident piano player/violin player or similar. Group sizes, no more than 20 in my experience, usually a lot less.

Not trying to increase the Riesling sales 🙂 In fact I think friends of my Mother are over doing a cruise right now (just not sure where). But the thought did occur to me, and after nearly 2 years of sweating geo-political impacts on my January Cairo trip I know thats not fun to worry about something messing with plans.

Pretty much there isn't one. Most lines have enough ships that when the water gets low they just have two meet on either side of the problem area and swap passengers and carry on. And even the point that happens differs by cruise line and even by the crews involved. It's (almost) never that the entire river is too shallow just certain points. I wasn't here in 2018 when things were really bad, but even then my impression is that the ships mostly were just used as moored hotels and the passengers just changed ships when needed, with few cancellations. We're a long long way from that at the moment. However considering we are talking about low water at the time of the year where a lot of times high water/floods are the real concern..later this year may be really ugly I fear.

Likely very minimal impact...ok somewhat minimal In the case laid out above you will pack your stuff before you leave for excursions in Passau and then when you are done with the Passau excursion you will board a bus for Regensburg where you will meet a different ship where your bags will already be in your room (or will be shortly delivered if they were on the same bus you were) and then the cruise will proceed. From there there should be no water issues all the way to Amsterdam but there is a slight chance of it happening again once you get through the Main(which is very much water level controlled) and hit the Rhine Gorge (though at this point that looks unlikely based on what notamermaid is posting). On some lines your cabin staff and waiter may go with you as well when the ship changes. so..the pain of having to pack and unpack again and a few lost hours is the main impact.

Im VERY keen to see what they quote me for that trip, but I still have nearly a year before I can ask for that info 🙂 They quoted me $4500 for that for Cairo which we ended up not doing (I booked it myself in premium economy using British airways because that somehow was cheaper than doing it on the AA site).

Yes I realize that depending where you live the answers really change, if you are in NYC, Atlanta or Chicago etc you have a LOT better options than I do. Essentially for me, there is one flight a day from Heathrow, Frankfurt, or CDG that I can connect to and not end up going through another US city before I get home, and all of those arrive (and likely leave Europe) in about a 2-3 hour period needing an early connection. Ive never found that cruise company fares were better than what I can book myself, I just checked yesterday for an ocean cruise and it was the same (in fact they didnt use American which produced both the best schedule and price for me). And yes I will generally take a cheaper option when offered, to a point, I value realistic itineraries over just getting off for the least $$$ (I was offered a 45 minute connection once in Philadelphia...didnt take that).

very unique ideas, but I dunno about having the "lecture hall" also lead into the main restaurant.

Without knowing a lot more about the from:to that may not be fair to them. You work with when the airlines fly. And yeah Ive been on a LOT Of 4:30 AMA transfers to the airport...and I usually book my own airfare always seems to be that 6:30am flight that connects when I need it to in London. The times I have had AMA book the airfare Ive made them look again a few times if I didnt like the flights offered, they never tried to force me to take the first thing they found "take it or leave it".

looks like good weather so far and great views, hope the rest of the cruise goes well.

It’s an interesting concept but having the scenery changing constantly could be distracting for the training/meeting. Then getting to cologne and having a “group night team building” might work for some groups though.

The Pullman is sitting on top of the cdg tgv station and a station on the airports own trains. No shuttle needed just take the elevator down and get on the train to your terminal

as CDNpolar said, SA is considered a suite and they will do your laundry. Its also a very nice room...can confirm.

I suspect they hit enough people who don’t realize that a 6pm flight leaving east coast us gets to Europe 6am the next day, not the same one that they decided to make the change. the seine is cool, ama docks in Lehavre (same area but on a lock controlled harbor not out on the tidal basin) and I did the Normandy excursion instead of honfleur but that’s a very. Nice area.

My experience is a bit mixed, and keep in mind that some of it was ABSOLUTELY during the recovery phases of covid. Generally...river cruises are so short that you don't really have the time to catch anything going around and manifest symptoms, unless its something like Norovirus or yes some of the covid variants. When you start adding in the post extensions with a lot more bus time is where those timeframes start to line up. I absolutely woke up the last day of a 7+4 cruise and extension in France with what I was pretty sure was covid (it wasn't...this was when you had to test to get on a plane to the US, and my mother caught it from me and also tested negative on return), but you could absolutely hear people start to catch it as the days went on. I caught something pretty good on a similar trip to Romania that didn't manifest until the day after I got back. My most recent cruise was in Egypt in January and no nothing was going around on that one it seems. Id say my rate of catching something that manifested right at or after the end of the trip with cruises river and ocean is about 50%. Doesn't stop me from going.