All Ama cruisers!!! Share expierences and ideas

[Host Jazzbeau]

@notamermaid posted this link in another thread, which I thought would be relevant here too as it explains AMA's policies about refunds, taking care of crew and employees, and hopes for resumption of sailing:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/europe-could-be-cruising-july-us-big-unknown-amawaterways-schreiner

 

[JohninAult]

June cruises canceled.


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[vacation baby]

Just checked on Ama web site.  All cruises are cancelled through July 31, 2020!

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 4/7/2020 at 4:14 PM, JohninAult said:

June cruises canceled.

 

59 minutes ago, vacation baby said:

Just checked on Ama web site.  All cruises are cancelled through July 31, 2020!

 

So they seem to be cancelling a month at a time.  It probably takes them a month to work through the paperwork.

[AF-1]

I plan on waiting until later this year to book my cruise for next year.  Until AMA gets the go ahead to sail with regular service; I will wait.  Have a good day

[VirginiaTraveler]

2 hours ago, AF-1 said:

I plan on waiting until later this year to book my cruise for next year.  Until AMA gets the go ahead to sail with regular service; I will wait.  Have a good day

I'm waiting, too!

 

[notamermaid]

So AmaWaterways will resume 1 August, which means the maiden voyage of the AmaSiena needs to be postponed, too. Currently on the website I see her scheduled to do cruises in August and the christening ceremony is supposed to take place in August (according to an older press release). It appears the AmaSiena was successfully shipped from Serbia to Germany and I presume she is now being outfitted in the Netherlands. But it is mid-May and she is not signalling yet. It is still a good two months to go and I am confident she will be ready in time. Will keep a look out on marinetraffic and Binnenschifferforum. The guys on that German website are great at ship spotting.

 

notamermaid

 

[CaroleLee]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:39 AM, notamermaid said:

So AmaWaterways will resume 1 August, which means the maiden voyage of the AmaSiena needs to be postponed, too. Currently on the website I see her scheduled to do cruises in August and the christening ceremony is supposed to take place in August (according to an older press release). It appears the AmaSiena was successfully shipped from Serbia to Germany and I presume she is now being outfitted in the Netherlands. But it is mid-May and she is not signalling yet. It is still a good two months to go and I am confident she will be ready in time. Will keep a look out on marinetraffic and Binnenschifferforum. The guys on that German website are great at ship spotting.

 

notamermaid

 

Any idea about the AMALUCIA? Planning on Rhine cruise on this new build

Carole

 

[MrsP_29]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:39 AM, notamermaid said:

So AmaWaterways will resume 1 August, which means the maiden voyage of the AmaSiena needs to be postponed, too. Currently on the website I see her scheduled to do cruises in August and the christening ceremony is supposed to take place in August (according to an older press release). It appears the AmaSiena was successfully shipped from Serbia to Germany and I presume she is now being outfitted in the Netherlands. But it is mid-May and she is not signalling yet. It is still a good two months to go and I am confident she will be ready in time. Will keep a look out on marinetraffic and Binnenschifferforum. The guys on that German website are great at ship spotting.

 

notamermaid

 

 

I am still optimistic about sailing on the AmaSiena in late October. She would have had about 12 trips under her belt, time for the little kinks to be worked out. So maybe she'll have a little less experience, I'm okay with that. I'm sure the trip will be every bit as memorable as I hope.

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, CaroleLee said:

Any idea about the AMALUCIA? Planning on Rhine cruise on this new build

Carole

 

The Amalucia is only due next year, isn't she? Assuming she will be another contract for the Vahali shipyards, Twitter posts are a good thing to look at. Vahali regularly posts photographs of ships on the slipway and on "sea trials" or of the transit to the Netherlands.

 

notamermaid

 

[AF-1]

Has anyone noticed if AMA has jacked up their prices for next year?  My May cruise cancelled and I took the 115% FCC.  When I look at doing a May 2021 cruise the price for the cruise eats up all of the extra FCC.  So did I really get any benefit with FCC?

[suspaul]

40 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

Has anyone noticed if AMA has jacked up their prices for next year?  My May cruise cancelled and I took the 115% FCC.  When I look at doing a May 2021 cruise the price for the cruise eats up all of the extra FCC.  So did I really get any benefit with FCC?

 I’d say yes, you did get benefit from the 115% FCC, at least you have the extra $ to rebook a cruise next year.  Even if it means using the extra 15% to cover the rise in costs you’ll still be able to book.  With the losses the cruise industry is taking this year it’s no wonder that prices will increase and probably will be knocking some of us out of being able to cruise.  Just my opinion. 

[mdroho34]

We were to cruise in September on Magna and rebooked for August 2021 at a fairly good discount to what we were paying this year. If we booked for September 2021 it would have been slightly higher. 2021 is booking up quickly so I was surprised to find even August on sale. 

[JohninAult]

We were supposed to leave this week for our Rhine River cruise.  Just checked in to rebooking for next May and the agent said the price is the same. We may upgrade to better cabins to use the extra credit.

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Has anyone noticed if AMA has jacked up their prices for next year?  My May cruise cancelled and I took the 115% FCC.  When I look at doing a May 2021 cruise the price for the cruise eats up all of the extra FCC.  So did I really get any benefit with FCC?

 

Only a few cruise lines have offered to allow rebooking the 'same' cruise next year with price protection; most are offering 100+% FCC to cover price inflation and give you more flexibility.  The price protection offers always create a lot of confusion and complaints over the definition of 'same.'  I have seen FCC offers that run from 110% to 125% [and I have seen some that are just 100% and too bad].  On ocean cruise lines, having some FCC left over is helpful because you can buy shore excursions or a beverage package – on river cruises it would be a waste because so many things are already included.  So covering the cost of your next-year cruise seems fair.

[AF-1]

Thanks everyone for your feedback and input.  

[kayakcove]

Considering ‘Gems of Southeast Europe’ in August 2021 with the four-day land extension in Romania. Anyone have any feedback on this itinerary?  Would be our second cruise on AMA, did Mekong with 8-day land extension in late February really enjoyed the staff and found the itinerary enlightening.  One possible concern is condition of AmaBella, review from last fall indicated furnishings were getting a bit worn.  Timewise now seems like an opportunity to refresh some things except for the cost vs. current lack of income.

[vacation baby]

Just checked Ama web site....they are now cancelled through Aug. 31, 2020.  We were scheduled to cruise Aug. 17, but we already cancelled.  We are looking at August of next year.  

[kayakcove]

I was looking at the new Egypt land/cruise for fall of 2021 and realized it was good value compared to Uniworld and Viking. Others obviously thought the same this morning when I tried to book a Cat C for October 1 and found that Category was booked from September 17 up to November 26. The SB and SA were also booked October into mid-November.  There was a Cat C on September 10 the initial sailing of the new boat and crew.

My answer was to go back to where I was initially looking and booked ‘Gems of SE Europe’ for August 29, 2021.

[notamermaid]

On 5/22/2020 at 9:07 PM, CaroleLee said:

Any idea about the AMALUCIA? Planning on Rhine cruise on this new build

Carole

 

The ship spotters on Binnenschifferforum have posted photos of her on the Danube, being transported by the Vigilia: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?100765-Amalucia-KFGS-Kasko&p=400409#post400409

That means she should be in the Netherlands for outfitting by now. Hopefully things can go ahead as planned.

 

notamermaid

 

[CaroleLee]

20 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The ship spotters on Binnenschifferforum have posted photos of her on the Danube, being transported by the Vigilia: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?100765-Amalucia-KFGS-Kasko&p=400409#post400409

That means she should be in the Netherlands for outfitting by now. Hopefully things can go ahead as planned.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you for the update. Hopefully next July we will be on board to celebrate my husband's big birthday.

Stay safe & healthy

Carole

[SCHappilyRetired]

We have our cruise on AMLucia September 2021.  Holding our  breath!  

[MrsP_29]

On 5/13/2020 at 8:39 AM, notamermaid said:

So AmaWaterways will resume 1 August, which means the maiden voyage of the AmaSiena needs to be postponed, too. Currently on the website I see her scheduled to do cruises in August and the christening ceremony is supposed to take place in August (according to an older press release). It appears the AmaSiena was successfully shipped from Serbia to Germany and I presume she is now being outfitted in the Netherlands. But it is mid-May and she is not signalling yet. It is still a good two months to go and I am confident she will be ready in time. Will keep a look out on marinetraffic and Binnenschifferforum. The guys on that German website are great at ship spotting.

 

notamermaid

 

Any updates info on AmaSiena? I don't read German so I wouldn't know where to click.

[notamermaid]

7 minutes ago, Annie11455 said:

Any updates info on AmaSiena? I don't read German so I wouldn't know where to click.

The link I posted is part of the area on that forum which lists Kaskotransporte - that means transporting a ship - in this case just the hull of the Amasiena for example. Normally some months later, after outfitting and registering (the paperwork) a ship appears in their database with info on the ship like tonnage and size, flag, etc. The Amasiena does not have a thread yet, it would be here at the top of the alphabetical list if I am not mistaken: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/forumdisplay.php?1060-A/page9

 

When I looked on a couple of other websites last week I did not see any news either. Perhaps try Facebook, or even a call to AmaWaterways?

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

Still no AIS signal for the AmaSiena.

 

The German online TA is now selling the AmaStella for winter cruises (starting November 2020) including Christmas.

 

I haven´t followed it but obviously the AmaViola which was offered for cruises out of Passau never made it or was withdrawn soon. It´s not offered anymore.

 

steamboats