pbeach Posted June 25, 2013 #1 Share Posted June 25, 2013 We are on the Budapest to Amsterdam itinerary which embarked June 19. The ship was up river of the, still inoperable, Altenworth lock docked in Durnstein. We had done our own pre cruise beginning June 15 staying at the Kempinski. We were following the flooding situation via AMA's website, Cruise Critic and other sites. We received word June 18 that AMA would put us in the hotel Mercure Buda for two nights, start the itinerary on the 19 with city tours then bus us to the ship with a tour of Bratislava along the way. Since we had already toured Budapest I emailed Mark Peters at AMA who had sent us the email regarding the change and asked if AMA would consider transferring us directly to the ship skipping Budapest and Bratislava. Due to the time difference, I did not get a response prior to transferring to the Mercure. The Mercure was not at all to our liking, especially after the Kempinski, but was apparently the best AMA could pull off given the short notice and all cruise ships stuck in Budapest. We let the cruise manager, Nickola, know of our request to corporate and gave him a copy of the email. Just prior to dinner, he let us know that he had received permission to transfer my wife and I the next morning. He did "warn" us that we would be the only passengers but the crew would ensure our comfort, just no tours etc.. We had no problem with that! After dinner Nickola made an announcement that any who wanted to do the same could let him know and he would arrange a bus. 40 of the 164 passengers elected to go. As a result, we got to spend 2 extra days in the beautiful Wachau region. The others joined us the evening of the 23rd and after a bus ride to Vienna and back on the 24th, the ship continued on with the original itinerary. We are currently docked in Regensberg. AMA has indicated that some sort of restitution will be forthcoming to each passenger depending upon how much their trip ended up being affected. So far, we are very satisfied with AMA's efforts at service recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobalink Posted June 25, 2013 #2 Share Posted June 25, 2013 pbeach, THANKS for the update. Sounds like AMA is dealing with the situation to your satisfaction. Will look forward to more updates! Would love to hear first-hand about the ports and how much has been affected due to the flooding. There has been some conflicting reports here on CC about that. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbeach Posted June 25, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted June 25, 2013 So far we toured Durnstein, Melk, Passau and Regensberg which were hit hard. The residents are amazingly resilient and have practically everything up and running that we tourists see. My condolences and congratulations go out to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrobichaux Posted June 25, 2013 #4 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Thank for your very informative posts. We will be boarding the AmaPrima in Amsterdam on July 3rd, so your updates are especially appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RachelG Posted June 25, 2013 #5 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Good job making lemonade out of lemons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLRDUKS Posted June 25, 2013 #6 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Glad you are enjoying the AMA Prima. After keeping up with all the challenges, issues and headaches that the millennium floods have caused, I am thankful that our May 3-22, 2013 cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest on the AMA Prima went as scheduled with no problems. I distinctly remember our tour of Passau and the flood levels on the town hall. Our guide kept talking about the 2002 flood and how bad that was. And the 2002 flood was a meter or so less than the highest flood from 1501. Only now to see the “Great Flood of 2013” was another several feet above that. Unbelievable. What a great crew on the ship. Who is your cruise director? If it is Dejan, please tell him Mike & JJ Magee say hello!! Have a great time and enjoy your trip!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobalink Posted June 25, 2013 #7 Share Posted June 25, 2013 So far we toured Durnstein, Melk, Passau and Regensberg which were hit hard. The residents are amazingly resilient and have practically everything up and running that we tourists see. My condolences and congratulations go out to them. Good to get this update on the ports you have visited thus far. I know the residents have worked very hard in the clean-up efforts. Thanks again for sharing. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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