Danube Cruise Disappointment AMA Waterways

We were scheduled for a Danube River Cruise during the time of the initial flooding of the Danube. As we had purchased trip cancellation insurance, we decided to cancel our cruise for June 8th and reschedule at a time when the water levels were lower and the excursions that had been planned could take place. Our cruise line, AMA Waterways, did not cancel any of the cruises scheduled to leave at that time. However, and most importantly, the company DID NOT contact us to inform us of ANY changes they would be forced to make as a result of river / port conditions. In fact, we spent hours of time checking the Internet for information. We found that Passau (one of our stops) was completely under water. We found that some cruise lines made the effort to contact their clients (Viking and Uniworld to name two) but we received nothing from AMA Waterways. Three days before we were to depart for Prague to begin the first leg of our trip, we cancelled. This involved 16 people. We will reschedule this cruise which had been planned for 2 years. But we are clear that we will not be booking this cruise through AMA Waterways. We are currently looking to book for 2014.

Welcome to the boards!

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your experience with AMA. According to other posts on this forum, it was a very challenging time for the river cruiselines, and one that changed daily, if not hourly. You are very fortunate that you had the foresight to purchase the cancel for any reason coverage.

It seems as though other cruisers are not happy with the way that Viking handled the crisis either.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1864310

I am eager to hear reports from those returning from trips booked with other companies including AMA.

Good luck with planning your trip. Please let us know who you decide to rebook with and what the deciding factors are.

We were on Uniworld River Princess, Vienna to Amsterdam departing May 30. We got only as far as Melk and had to retreat to Krems to a commercial harbor. From there we did bus tours in the region (including Cesky Krumlov) for the next 3 days. They put on one or two tours per day and included for free the ones they would usually charge for. They did a good job coming up with places to go on the spur of the moment and kept us busy.

From there it was bus to Nuremburg, 2 days in a hotel, then bus to Strasbourg where we boarded the River Ambassador for the last part of the trip to Amsterdam.

They did the smart thing and opened the bar for the last 3 days on the Ambassador.

Our compensation was a 25% refund plus a $500 pp future cruise credit.

We were happy that we chose Uniworld, and also that we had as our CD Bart Roelofs. Anyone out there who has sailed with him will know that he is likely THE best CD out there. He handled a difficult situation calmly, expertly, and with great humor.

We were on Uniworld River Princess, Vienna to Amsterdam departing May 30. We got only as far as Melk and had to retreat to Krems to a commercial harbor. From there we did bus tours in the region (including Cesky Krumlov) for the next 3 days. They put on one or two tours per day and included for free the ones they would usually charge for. They did a good job coming up with places to go on the spur of the moment and kept us busy.

From there it was bus to Nuremburg, 2 days in a hotel, then bus to Strasbourg where we boarded the River Ambassador for the last part of the trip to Amsterdam.

They did the smart thing and opened the bar for the last 3 days on the Ambassador.

Our compensation was a 25% refund plus a $500 pp future cruise credit.

We were happy that we chose Uniworld, and also that we had as our CD Bart Roelofs. Anyone out there who has sailed with him will know that he is likely THE best CD out there. He handled a difficult situation calmly, expertly, and with great humor.

wcc19, thanks for sharing your trip.

Were you satisfied with the quality of the hotel in Nuremberg?

Did Uniworld pick up the cost of the meals? If so, was this at a particular restaurant or did they give you a per diem?

We were on AMA's Amacello sailing on the Rhine on May 29 from Basel to Amsterdam. We sailed from Basel to Breisach before the rivers were closed to traffic. I think that was the beginning of the rising rivers and river closures, so it was pretty much day by day for the next few days - always hoping the river and locks would open to traffic.

Certainly it was not what we all were hoping for, but for the most part, passengers made the best of it. We thought AMA did a terrific job under trying circumstances - the ship was a floating (docked) hotel, basically, and we still enjoyed most excursions by coach, although some were by necessity a bit longer than normal. On the last two days, we took a coach to a sister ship (empty now) docked in Frankfurt for the night, and then took another coach to a hotel in Amsterdam for the last night (with excursions along the way).

AMA offered a 100% future cruise credit (not sure if that was the case for all sailings that week or not), so that certainly took the edge off the disappointment to a degree. Even without that, I'd say everyone made the best of it - we got to see most of what was planned, had some great meals and good wine, and enjoyed the company of other passengers - only thing missing was the actual enjoyment of cruising down the river. A handful of passengers opted to end the trip right before the transfer to Frankfurt, making their way to Amsterdam to finish out their vacation.

We've already booked a 2014 cruise on AMA (which will be our 4th sailing on AMA).

Oysterdam:

In Nuremburg, they had to split the passenger complement into two hotels due to the shortage of rooms at that time. Our hotel was away from the center in a business district - it was good, not great. The other hotel was closer to the big parade grounds but unfortunately for them there were 80,000 people at the Nuremburg rock festival right across the street, so a lot did not get much sleep.

For all lunches off the boat they gave us a cash allowance, either 15 or 20 euros depending on the place, to spend as we wished. We could normally only spend half that for lunch. Dinners were arranged in a restaurant with everyone together with a fixed menu, all beer and wine included of course.

Sound like the did a good job in difficult times, well done to these cruise companies, perhaps Viking should read how to do it and win customers, rather than p..s them off

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Keith

To the OP:

- You have the foresight to buy travel protection and therefore lost no money. I am not clear what the issue is but the fact that this was your one and only post leaves me to believe there may be another reason for it.

- If you took the time to read how some of the other lines handled this you might have a different view of things. AMA handled it much better than most.

- Being your first river cruise, it is apparent that you do not understand how quickly things can change on the rivers, making changes necessary. We have been through it and understand it and though no one wants a bus tour when they book a river cruise, AMA offered a generous IMO and IME option.

I have to speak highly for AMA Waterways as well. We were on the AmaPrima that sailed from Vilshofen toward Budapest on May 29. While we had rain for much of the cruise, we were one day ahead of the floods for the first few days. We visited Passau on May 30th and the following day, Passau was flooded, we arrived in Linz and after a rainy morning walking tour, we took a seven hour tour to Salzburg. When we returned to the ship it had been moved to a safe harbor in the industrial area of Linz. They had actually tried to move further along the Danube, but after passing the first lock they were turned back as the locks further ahead had been closed due to the rising waters. We were given very honest updates on a daily basis. While docked in our safe harbor in Linz, we used the AmaPrima as our floating hotel. We were bused the next day to Melk and Krem for a full day tour of both cities. We were lucky to have pleasant weather and instead of sailing between Melk and Krem, we were given a lunch at a local restaurant (OK, not 5 stars, but acceptable) and then driven to Krem (Durstein) for our afternoon tour. Along the way we watched the emergency teams building flood barriers for the upcoming flood waters. They even included a wine tasting that had been previously scheduled for that evening on our itinerary. We eventually were bused back to our floating hotel in Linz harbor. We had another meeting that night before dinner. Free Drinks were offered! We knew this couldn't be good news. We were told that we were staying for another two nights in Linz harbor. After that we were being bused to Budapest and making a stop in Vienna along the way. While it wasn't announced it turned out they were trying to get us a hotel in Vienna for one night, but no rooms were available. By this time all the rivers in the area had been closed and everyone was scrambling for any available room.

The next day we also found out that Melk and Krem were now both flooded. So having an extra day sitting in Linz harbor they came up with an afternoon tour for a organ concert and cathedral tour. They had also planned visiting another town, but by the time our organ concert was over, the roads were flooded getting to that other town.

The following morning we were up early and left our home away from home in the Linz harbor and the AmaPrima for our bus trip to Budapest with a stop in Vienna. We had a bus tour as well as a short walking tour in Vienna and time for lunch. They gave us 20 Euros each for our lunch in Vienna. That evening we arrived into Budapest. We were put up for our last two nights in the Hilton in the Castle District. The following day we had our walking and bus tour that were scheduled for Budapest.

While we did have a shorter time in Vienna and missed Bratislava completely, AmaWaterways did the best they could to keep our vacation moving along. A week after returning home we received notification from our travel agent that AmaWaterways were offering us a 57% future cruise credit for the four days our ship didn't sail.

After all of this I would find it hard saying that AmaWaterways didn't do an outstanding job. We have already booked a AmaWaterways cruise for next May and can sincerely recommend AmaWaterways to everyone.

Steve

PS I wanted to explain the 57% future cruise credit. Basically whatever you spent on the cruise portion of our AmaPrima cruise, 57% of that amount will be able to be used on ANY future AmaWaterways cruise that sails through December 2016.

My husband & I are traveling on the AMALyra in late August. This will be our first river cruise and only our 2nd trip to Europe. Our first being in 1999. So needless to say we are very excited and have great expectations for our AMA river cruise.

When I first heard of the river flooding, DH & I discussed what we would do if in the event of the river closing. We decided that we would go anyway and ENJOY whatever lies ahead.

We have purchased insurance and if they cancel our cruise (highly unlikely in August since the flooding will be gone) we will go to Prague and enjoy ourselves and travel by train to see other cities. Once our 10 days is up we will return home with wonderful memories. How can I know this when I haven't gone yet? Because I firmly believe that when life hands you lemons you make lemonade.

DH & I hate bus travel, hate, hate , hate it! That said, we knew when we signed up for a river cruise that bus travel is part of it and we'd have to suck it up. Our vacation could possibly become a bus tour. We wouldn't be surprised because we have done our homework and realize that river levels change all the time.

Being a educated consumer is part of life. I for one am impressed by the stories told by AMA passengers during what had to be a very stressful & trying time for the staff of the ships.

Just my 2 cents.

Sounds to me like AMA did a good job, at least the best they could, dealing with a very difficult situation. Weather, floods, tornados (here in Oklahoma) happen. We are cruising on AMA in Nov. I doubt there will be a risk of flooding at that time, but if something happens, we would deal with it.

I hate bus trips too, and I think had my husband and I been on one of the river trips affected by the floods, we would have just gotten on a train and gone somewhere else.

I hate bus trips too, and I think had my husband and I been on one of the river trips affected by the floods, we would have just gotten on a train and gone somewhere else.

That would be our choice as well.

We sailed with AMA in November of 2011 when there was an issue with high water. Our excellent Captain was able to navigate us without issue and we saw the boats of other companies parked and empty. The only change made was for the day we were scheduled to cruise the Rhine Gorge. Our boat could not make the trip so AMA chartered a brand new day boat for just their passengers - the capacity was 600. They stocked it with food and drinks and everyone was able to enjoy the day as planned and with style.

I guess first time posters are not allowed to comment on problems or some cheerleaders will chastise them.

I don't think this is an attack by cheerleaders but more putting things in perspective. AMA is a very reputable company and operating under difficult times. They did not cause the flooding and are only trying to deal with it. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. I agree that there should have been some communication from AMA but we don't know all of the circumstances.

I guess first time posters are not allowed to comment on problems or some cheerleaders will chastise them.

There is a major trend of first time posters who come on to bash their cruise line. Many times they obviously haven't done any homework on CC. In this case, there seems to be a lack of perspective which might have been gained from reading CC. So yes, I guess first time posters are not allowed to be over-the-top negative because they haven't earned any credibility here yet.

There is a major trend of first time posters who come on to bash their cruise line. Many times they obviously haven't done any homework on CC. In this case, there seems to be a lack of perspective which might have been gained from reading CC. So yes, I guess first time posters are not allowed to be over-the-top negative because they haven't earned any credibility here yet.

That's a pretty harsh statement. I don't think there is a trend in first time posters being negative. What probably happens is that people make note of first time posters posting a negative post. With that said, I don't see anything wrong with the OP stating his experience.

My experience on these boards is that there are some people who never want to hear anything negative regarding their favorite cruise line. Just because someone has had great experiences with a cruise line does not mean everyone has. I want to hear all sides so I can make an informed decision. Usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I'm just sayin' that there are people in this world who wallow in negativity.

So when someone joins CC and immediately posts a scathingly negative review, I get out my salt shaker.

When someone has been a member of this community for a while (note that I'm not in the 5,000+ club), and especially if they have experience on several cruises--then they have earned the credibility and I accept that their criticisms are reasonable.

OP here didn't take this cruise, hasn't ever posted on CC before (or since), and didn't give any background to show experience with other river cruises. So it's no surprise that the post didn't get the "love" s/he probably expected.

I'm just sayin' that there are people in this world who wallow in negativity.

 

So when someone joins CC and immediately posts a scathingly negative review, I get out my salt shaker.

 

When someone has been a member of this community for a while (note that I'm not in the 5,000+ club), and especially if they have experience on several cruises--then they have earned the credibility and I accept that their criticisms are reasonable.

 

OP here didn't take this cruise, hasn't ever posted on CC before (or since), and didn't give any background to show experience with other river cruises. So it's no surprise that the post didn't get the "love" s/he probably expected.

I would be as upset as they are. And they should be free to post their thoughts on this website, if it be their first post or 5,000th post. It doesn't sound like they are making anything up.

Their main issue is communication from AMA and I have no reason not to believe them. AMA should be communicating with their clients about the situation. Having dealt with AMA's lack of information on a previous experience with them - AMA does need to learn to communicate better.

Maybe due to natural disasters that people seek out what others are doing and come across this board. Nothing wrong with that.

And for those who said they shouldn't have researched better, how could they have expected this? Give this person a break. They had a trip of a lifetime scheduled and didn't want it compromised by going to a city that was under water or spend the trip on a bus. Not everyone gets to cruise 3x a year. They planned for this trip for 2 years.

I certainly understand their disappointment however, they did not suffer any financial loss, which IMO is a huge thing.

Having cruised the rivers and experienced how conditions can change on a dime, I can only imagine the scrambling all lines had to do to handle the constant changes and fallout from the flooding.

I remember leaving passengers behind in Regensburg a few years ago, with no notice to them at all, due to rapidly rising water levels and low bridges. Avalon handled that really well and most passengers were fine with it, but some were angry and apparently expected them to predict a situation that changed in a matter of hours. We had no idea what was going on as we were enjoying ourselves in town and only made it aboard because we walked my mom back so she could rest for a bit. About 30 passengers were left behind as there was no way to contact them. But the CD stayed behind and waited for every passenger and then took them by coach to a place where they could board.

Sometimes it is just not possible to make a statement about what the river will be like in three hours, let alone 3 days.

I certainly understand their disappointment however, they did not suffer any financial loss, which IMO is a huge thing.

 

They lost 2 years of planning and now they need to coordinate with 16 other people on another cruise. Who knows, maybe in the future, not all of the 16 will be able to go due to health reasons, etc... Prices may go up, etc...

Again, probably not a big deal to someone who can take 6 weeks of vacation per year, frequently goes to Europe or takes 3 cruises per year.

All they asked for was some honest communication. Not asking that much IMO. They could probably stomach losing the trip if they felt that they were treated honestly and respectfully.

I have been affected twice by high water. The first time we got stopped 3 bridges short of the Rhine. The company put us all on a day cruise on the Rhine so we would not miss the experience then put us up in hotels in Cologne and Amsterdam.

In 2010 we were stuck in Deggendorf for 2 days. We were taken to Straubing, a charming town, and saw the stained glass image of Moses by Durer in the cathedral. The next day we were taken to a charming open air museum.

As a result of the delay, we had to miss Rudesheim and Cologne. Some passengers complained, but what was the cruise line to do? There were people with air reservations, plus a boatload of passengers ready to embark on a certain date!

They lost 2 years of planning and now they need to coordinate with 16 other people on another cruise. Who knows, maybe in the future, not all of the 16 will be able to go due to health reasons, etc... Prices may go up, etc...

 

Again, probably not a big deal to someone who can take 6 weeks of vacation per year, frequently goes to Europe or takes 3 cruises per year.

 

All they asked for was some honest communication. Not asking that much IMO. They could probably stomach losing the trip if they felt that they were treated honestly and respectfully.

I understand the high river is not AMA's fault. How they respond to the situation is often how they are perceived. How a company handles themselves during crisis tells a lot about the company. Being silent is not the way to go. The OP was stressed. If AMA had communicated with them, these 16 people would be booking again with them.

I understand the high river is not AMA's fault. How they respond to the situation is often how they are perceived. How a company handles themselves during crisis tells a lot about the company. Being silent is not the way to go. The OP was stressed. If AMA had communicated with them, these 16 people would be booking again with them.

If the OP takes the time to read what actually happened with all of the lines, they would see that AMA responded better than most. That is according to those who actually cruised during this time, like NeedzaVacation below.

We were on AMALegro from Budapest to Amsterdam in August 2012 and we had the opposite issue from the current problem.. LOW water. There was a barge grounding that closed the Danube just past Vilshofen and we spent an extra unplanned day and a half there. We were not actually supposed to stop there, but AMA knew when we got to Passau that the river would be closed for a time (they did not know if it would be one or two days) so they moved from Passau early up to Vilshofen to get ahead of everyone docked at Passau to wait it out (showed great forward planning). This meant that we were the first ones to Vilhofen so we got a great docking spot and AMA did a great job of re-organizing the sightseeing trips for the next few days. The next morning since we are not bus people we had a great time just taking a couple of bikes out for the day and cycling upriver quite a way, finding a bar on the river (which was quiet since there was no traffic on it) and then cyclying back. It was a great day and everyone who went on the tours said it was great as well. At dinner we were told that the barge had been cleared and we would be able to continue up river at about 7:30 (they kept us all well informed) after all of the down river traffic came through. We then had a fantastic time on the upper deck watching the mass of boats come down, and then all of the river boats etc. that had come to Vilshofen (by the time we left the docks were 4 boats deep) jockey for a place in line to go upriver. It was an amazing feat of coordination to watch!

Since we were there first, we were first to go up the river followed by the AMACerto (who had also come early to Vilshofen). We had to go very very slow (and pull to the side when downriver traffic came by) as the water was still very low but we were able to proceed (we heard some Avalon and Viking ships could not actually proceed) because the AMA ships have a very low draft. The tour schedules and port stops were a little messed up after that for a few days becuase they had to make up time, but AMA did a great job of juggling and some of the optional tours became included tours to compensate etc. We only went on one of these (Rothenburg) and just stayed on the boat the rest of the time and enjoyed loads of great scenery and crossing the contential divide etc. When crossing the divide, since there were so few of us on the boat at the time (17 as most went to Salzburg) a lot of us just sat on the top deck in front of the wheelhouse (main deck was closed due to the low bridges) and had a great time as we went through the huge locks on the canal and under the low bridges on the canal. It was a hoot! It always looked like we would not make it under them, but always did! AMA made up the lost time by the time we got to the Rhine and everything went smoothly from there. We certainly had a great "lemonaid out of lemons" experience with AMA! AMA and the CD Kata did a great job with the unexpected schedule changes and I would be confident that they are probably handling the current situation the same way and would not have worried if we were on another cruise with them at this time.

However, we did also purchase "cancel for any reason insurance" (mainly to cover us if something unforseen happened between the time we booked and the actual crusie) when we booked and will always do that when booking a river cruise since rivers are fickle by nature and it is something I would recommend for all river cruise bookings.

We would not hesitate to book with them again as in our opinion they did a great job of handling the unexpected!:)