AMA or Avalon?

Ready to take our first river cruise. Our ocean cruising preference is Cunard. Have narrowed the field to AMA (Amastella) and Avalon (Imagery II), both traveling between Amsterdam and Zurich.

How to choose between these options? Any advice welcome. Thanks in advance.

My first reaction to the word "Cunard" was AMA. But I am not an ocean cruiser. Having seen both Avalon and AmaWaterways on the river I would say that from a first glance point of view you might feel more at home on the Amastella. But Avalon would also be nice. Have you had a look at cabin size? Would you rather go for a suite? Then compare those on both ships. Food from what I remember has been rated a little better on AMA. But that depends - apart from being subjective - very much on the chef on each ship. Have you had a look at the excursions? While very similar you might find details that appeal to you more with one over the other. Are all the port stops the same? They usuallly will be but, again, there could be small differences.

You could compare the reviews on Cruisecritic: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/styles/river-cruises/

Do both ships' cruises start on the same day, or is one better than the other for you as regards day of the week and (public) holidays in the destination?

A big difference between the two ships is their respective size: Amastella is 135m, Avalon Imagery II is 110m. To put this into perspective though you need to look at the crew/passengers ratio. The Avalon Imagery II has a slight advantage over the longer Amastella in low waters as she will have a lower draft. But this will only be of importance at very few days during the year so let this not be a deciding factor for you as such.

Please note that ocean cruising is very different from river cruising. As has been put blunty here on CC by past cruisers (in similar words) "they have nothing in common apart from a ship sailing on water". It might not be that brutal but I do recommend the stickies by our host jazzbeau on the top of the river cruising board's title page. There is great general info for those new to river cruising.

Have fun planning.

notamermaid

Ive been on both Ama and Avalon. Ama offers the Chefs table and the food and service is slightly better. That’s not to say that Avalon is not a good product. I suggested Avalon to my sister because I know what kind of food they like and they loved Avalon.

We have sailed with Avalon 4x and AMA 8x. Never looked back when we discovered AMA and for us, it is our favorite of the 4 lines we have cruised with. Overall a consistently excellent experience. We much prefer the food, included wines, staff and crew, wide choice of excursions, type and variety of evening entertainment, overall personality of the experience AMA creates. For us, AMA is ideal.