A question on AMA?

We have cruised three River cruises. The last two with Uniworld Castles on the Rhine. Our first cruise was the Danube on AMA and we were very disappointed in the food. Vowed we would never take another A MA cruise. We loved Uniworld especially the all inclusive aspect. Now that we have cruised most itineraries we were interested in the 11 day Paris to Normandy with AMA but apprehensive about whether the food experience on AMA has improved! Need some reviews. Thx.. :)

You might also consider the Scenic 10 day Paris->Paris Gems of the Seine, which includes Normandy and the Somme.

I'm sorry I can't answer your direct question regarding AMA, but we have been happy with all facets of our Scenic experience.

We have been on 9 river cruises, 5 with AMA. Food on our AMA cruises has generally been very good. We were not thrilled with the food on AmaBella (just off a run of APT charter so not sure if that was a difference) or AmaReina (another APT boat and the last cruise of the year).

AmaDante and AmaCerto were wonderful, AmaDagio was good to very good.

Honestly, we are hoping that the food on our upcoming Uniworld cruise measures up to what we have come to expect from AMA.

As for the "all inclusive" aspect, we have already identified 3 excursions on our upcoming Rhone cruise with Uniworld that were included with AMA. I now take the all inclusive label with a grain of salt.

We have been on 9 river cruises, 5 with AMA. Food on our AMA cruises has generally been very good. We were not thrilled with the food on AmaBella (just off a run of APT charter so not sure if that was a difference) or AmaReina (another APT boat and the last cruise of the year).

 

AmaDante and AmaCerto were wonderful, AmaDagio was good to very good.

 

Honestly, we are hoping that the food on our upcoming Uniworld cruise measures up to what we have come to expect from AMA.

 

As for the "all inclusive" aspect, we have already identified 3 excursions on our upcoming Rhone cruise with Uniworld that were included with AMA. I now take the all inclusive label with a grain of salt.

I have always said that the only true all-inclusive lines are Tauck and Scenic.

For what it's worth, my wife found the food aboard the Uniworld Danube cruise (Belgrade to Vienna) less than exhilarating. This after she gave rave reviews to our food on the Normandy cruise.

Uniworld (and I assume most other lines) tries to feature local cuisine, and honestly the food of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary are not commonly thought of as the finest in the world (though personally I love Hungarian cuisine). So your Danube AMA experience may reflect more regional influence than that of the cruise line.

We're sure looking forward to our southern France Uniworld cruise this summer, when we'll get more of the Mediterranean French flavors. :)

The food on our AMA cruise from Amsterdam to Basel was excellent. The breads and pastries were the best on any cruise, there was always sufficient selection that we found something that appealed, and the food was delivered promptly and hot and was tasty. DW was only disappointed that we didn't have more German dishes, but I was very happy with the "continental" cuisine. We are really looking forward to our upcoming AMA cruise from Lyon to Arles, whether it reflects Lyonnaise and Provencal cuisine or the same continental style as before.

I have done two APT (AMA run/crewed) ships in Germany, food quite good several years ago, appalling 2 years ago. I have also done one APT (probably also AMA run) cruise in France, and I enjoyed it very much, and the food was great. 4 cruises with Uniworld, admittedly in France, food amazing on each cruise. Two of these was the Normandy run, and that was the best food.

For me, cabins on Uniworld universally too close for me, but their food and staff is so good that we actually opt for Uniworld.

Enjoy your trip!

I could not stand a 118-121 sq ft cabin for a week, no matter how wonderful everything else was.

I could not stand a 118-121 sq ft cabin for a week, no matter how wonderful everything else was.

I'm not sure if you are speaking about Uniworld, but since that was the line the previous poster mentioned, the smallest cabins are on the River Ambassador and River Baroness at 128 sq feet. Category 1 cabins on the River Royale are 140 sq feet. The minimum cabin size on the rest of the fleet is 151 sq feet, with the newer boats around 162 sq feet. Still smaller than some of the standard cabins on other lines, but not 118 sq feet.

I'm sure we'll find our 151 sq feet aquarium cabin a tight fit. I figured we'd start at the bottom and then base future cruises on how we manage with this one!

Uniworld's older vessels are 128 sq ft. Croisi has even smaller cabins. Yikes - cannot imagine!

151 would be workable but we have never had less than 170 sq ft. That works for us but I would not want a smaller cabin.

I am not a foodie but I also thought the food on my AMA cruise was substandard. I ended up eating salads and desserts (which were fantastic) for most of the cruise. I also did not care much for the wines they served.

We did our very first river cruise in May 2014 on the AMA Prima (Budapest to Prague) and thought the food and everything else about AMA was terrific (and I'm a picky eater). We cruise with them again in Sept. on the Douro.

Thx. I appreciate all the responses..

I thought the food on our AMA Sonata Prague to Budapest was very good. We were served regional dishes and good choices. I did not hear anyone complain about the food. However, I am certainly not a "foodie" and when someone else plans, prepares and serves a meal, I'm a happy camper!

I do consider myself a foodie and tasty, high quality food, well prepared, is a must have for me. Ditto good wines.

I appreciated how AMA modified dishes to my request and their artisinal cheese board was a highlight of lunch and dinner for me personally. The local wines served were much nicer than the liters of mediocre "house" wine we had on another line. And on that line we were cut off when the entree was served. :cool:

I can only attest to my recent experience with AMA (end of Apr). I am well travelled, a good cook, and have an excellent ability to critique gourmet food.

Food is my dept, red wine my spouses. He drinks only imported wine (except for our fantastic Niagara fine wines). He found the local wine served to be very very good. My palette for wines has long vacated me :confused::confused: sniff sniff (I used to love white wine), but I did try a glass each night and liked them all but one Austrian wine. His critique at end of cruise was "those were great wines"!

I found the food delicious, menu listed a varied selection, along with the standard daily offerings. The food was hot, well plated. It looked, and tasted fresh. Served with a smile and professional efficiency. Bakery items were lovely. Fruit fresh. Overall dining experience was good. Not rushed, linens white, table well set.

One must always factor in the number of pax to be fed, by the limited number of culinary crew. Quite amazing to pull off this feat by so few. And lastly, food is certainly subject.:D