AMA Captivating Rhine - Amtersdam-Basel?

Has anybody done this cruise?

Your thoughts on the cruise?

When did you go?

Did you do the pre & post cruise stays?

I have only done one AMA cruise (Colors of Provence) with pre & post stays. AMA offered tours you paid for in each of the cities besides their 1/2 city tours..

Do they offered paid tours in the pre & post stays? If so, which tours?

We did this itinerary on AMA in September 2013 (but it was called 'Enchanting Rhine') [and we also did their Lyon to Arles itinerary in September 2015 ('Provence and Spain')]. We really loved both trips and consider AMA our river cruise line of choice. [We're doing their 'Discover Africa' safari cruise this August]

I assume when you mention 'paid tours' you are referring to the pre- and post- extensions, because on both our AMA cruises every tour option during the cruise was included in the fare [even tours that are extra-cost on some other lines].

We didn't do the pre-cruise extension for Amsterdam because that city is so easy to DIY, and because so many cruises begin or stop there that it didn't seem like a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity [and indeed we have been back].

But we felt that Switzerland might be more challenging -- especially since we don't speak German and Switzerland is less English-friendly that most of Europe -- so we did the AMA post-cruise extension. We felt it was worth it, and would probably do it again that way even though we are now more experienced travelers.

There have probably been some changes in this itinerary since we took it, but here is the list from our cruise:

• arrival in Amsterdam -- because we had the post-cruise extension AMA picked us up at the airport and brought us to the ship [this was before we started flying in early] -- we had the afternoon free so we visited the Rjiksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum [we had brought tickets to both online] -- after dinner we did a DIY tour of the Red Light District

• Amsterdam -- included canal cruise and panoramic tour of Dam Square, Royal Palace, Dam Rak, Rembrandt Windmill, and walking tour of Begijnhof), then rejoined the ship in Wiljk bij Duurstede and sailed all afternoon

• Cologne -- included walking tour and Cathedral visit [note: little was open because it was Sunday] -- the other choice was a bike tour

• Koblenz -- after dinner walking tour with Cruise Director

• Rudesheim -- in the morning we had the picturesque sail through the Rhine Gorge -- in the afternoon there was a choice of wine tasting [which we enjoyed], gondola ride, or bike tour -- then after dinner choice of visit fo Siegfried's Mechanical Musical Cabinet Museum [which we enjoyed] or Rudesheimer Coffee

• Speyer -- choice of Speyer walking tour, Heidelberg excursion [which we enjoyed] or bike tour with brewery -- note that we had plenty of time to explore Speyer on our own after the Heidelberg trip

• Strasbourg -- city tour with visit timed to see the Astronomical Clock in the Cathedral [which we enjoyed]; optional bus back to ship for lunch -- we stayed in town and had lunch on our own -- afternoon choice of canal cruise [which we would have enjoyed had it not been 90+ degrees!] or bike tour

• Breisach -- choice of Colmar & Riquewihr [which we enjoyed] or Breisach & Freiburg or bike tour with wine tasting -- we had time to see Breisach on our own after the Colmar/Riquewihr trip

• Basel -- I think the non-extension passengers went straight to the airport -- we had a walking tour of Basel in the morning, lunch on our own, then the transfer to Lucerne with a stop at the famous (and lovely) Lion Monument

• Lucerne -- the first day we had an included walking tour of the old town -- there was an optional afternoon tour to Mt. Pilatus but we did this on our own with a combination ticket from the railway station (we felt we had more flexibility to enjoy the mountain as much/little as we wanted, but the folks on the included tour enjoyed better weather on that particular day)

• The second day in Lucerne included a lake cruise and visit to Brunnen as part of the transfer to Zurich

• Zurich -- included walking tour of old town -- optional afternoon tour to the Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhine (worth it)

• last day -- included transfer to the airport (the guide accompanied us right to the check-in line, which was welcome in a crowded airport)

So there were only two optional tours on the Swiss extension and both were interesting. You can do Mt. Pilatus on your own very easily, but the Rhine Falls tour would be difficult to arrange. I will also note that our AMA Cruise Director from the ship was also our CD on the post-extension -- this was really great because it gave us a sense of continuity. The CD was surprised that almost the entire ship had signed up for the post-extension, so that was also nice that we already knew many people -- that would be an argument for taking the pre-extension too because you would already know some people when you board the ship.

During the cruise there will be 'limited edition' tour options -- check the AMA website after you are booked and sign up for those you want. There is no extra cost, but the numbers are limited so they can fill up. They didn't have this back in 2013, but in 2015 we were able to go to a boulangerie after dinner and 'help' them bake bread -- that was a hoot!

We loved this cruise, and it is what got us really hooked on visiting Europe every way we can [we have since done another river cruise, land trips with rental cars, and ocean cruises in the Med and to the Norwegian Fjords]. It's a great itinerary, and you already know that AMA is a great river cruise line.

For more detail (and photos) of our AMA Rhine cruise, see my blog:

AmaCello Rhine 8-2013

https://jazzbeauxrhinerivercruise2013.wordpress.com

Thank you for the detailed review. I will save it.

I was looking at August or Oct 2019 for this cruise, Oct is about $700 cheaper so have to decide.

My cabin mate has not been to Amsterdam so thought going pre cruise is a great way to see the city. They have the Enchanting Rhine with pre cruise, no Amsterdam stay, the reverse of the Captivating Rhine.

My first AMA cruise was on the AmaCello for the Colors of Provence in 2017. I saved the reviews to give me ideas. I took the pre cruise Paris and post cruise Barcelona. AMA had free 1/2 day city tour in each city plus offered paid optional tours in each city which I took.

I have the AmaStella booked for Tulip Time April 2019 with a different cabin mate.

Ocean cruises and river cruises have only one thing in common: the hotel floats on water. The ocean cruise you describe will have thousands of passengers; a river cruise only 130-190. On Princess there is constant nickel-and-diming; on a river cruise most things are included in the fare. Even if you take the ship excursions on an ocean cruise you aren't likely to see the same people again (because there are se many); on a river cruise you get to know your fellow passengers. On an ocean cruise there is a big theater with Vegas-type entertainment and lots of other activities during the day and evening; on a river cruise it's all about the ports -- entertainment is usually an amateurish piano player and occasional folkloric groups group onboard, while enrichment is the daily lecture by the Cruise Director about what's coming up. No casinos on river ships.

As to cost, even though river cruises are inclusive the small size of the ships means the fixed costs can only be divided by a small number of passengers -- so net cost per day is going to be higher.

But there are (at least) two reasons why people have been flocking to river cruises: ocean cruises can't dock at inland river ports [compare an excursion from LeHavre to Paris for the day with being docked near the Eiffel Tower]; and all those differences I described above add up to a different but equally appealing type of travel. As I said, we enjoy many types of travel: each is different, but each is appealing in its own way.

For more information, look at the Stickies at the top of this forum -- they have lots of information about river cruising in general, how to compare the different river cruise lines, and the different itineraries.

Thank you for the information.

I did Tulip Time on AMAStella in 2016 and it was fabulous:D