Review of AMASerena's "sort of" Danube cruise

[The Postman]

My wife and I just returned this past weekend from our AMASerena cruise which was supposed to sail from Vienna to Nuremburg on the Danube.  However, due to the low water situation, for which I don't blame AMA Waterways, our cruise wasn't exactly what was intended.  With that said, I do feel that AMA could have done a MUCH better job at communicating the changes and the impacts that such changes would have on our travel.  I also feel that better "substitute" planning and execution could have been achieved since most Cruise Critic members have been aware of the low water levels for several months!  You would think that an international corporation like AMA who specializes in river cruises could plan better and keep their customers informed and updated in a timely matter . . . but I truly feel they failed in this regard.

 

While thanks to Cruise Critic, for months we've had a good idea that our itinerary would be affected due to the low water, however AMA only notified us of "possible" changes about 2 weeks out.  At that time they indicated that we may have to take an option B route, which I completely understood and was fine with and therefore elected to not cancel.  They had promised that they would make their final decision no more than 4 days prior to sailing, and again, I was ok with that because no one can control the river levels.  However, it wasn't until about 12 hours before our international flight departure that we received an email indicating that the itinerary was changed once again and this time not in a way that I at all looked forward to.  But with this late notice, we couldn't very well make other independent arrangements at that point and AMA didn't offer to allow us to cancel.

 

In the end, what was supposed to be a 7-day cruise, became essentially a 4-day bus/land tour with a short 3-day cruise (followed by yet another 3 hr bus ridge to the Nuremburg Train Station).  Our first day we stayed moored in Vienna.  Our second day we again stayed moored in Vienna, while we were bussed 4 hours EACH way to Budapest for an approximately 45 min tour and 30 mins or so in a Christmas market.  (The sad thing was that they allowed more time for bathroom stops than the Christmas markets!)  Our third day we stayed moored in Vienna for the morning while they bussed us 1 1/2 - 2 hours EACH way to Bratislava for an approximately 1 hour tour.  Upon returning to our ship we FINALLY sailed . . . or sort of!  It was actually more of a joke than anything as we only went upriver for about 2-3 hours to Tulln to moor overnight.  There were no organized tours or anything provided in Tulln.  The real kicker was that overnight we RETURNED to Vienna.  (While I'm not sure, I think they just needed to temporarily move the ship out of Vienna for docking purposes). The fourth day we stayed moored in, you guessed it, Vienna!  Now while Vienna is truly a beautiful city, I certainly didn't expect to spend 4 days moored to the bank of the Danube!  

 

My main compliant with AMA was the overall lack of communication, including the short notice prior to departure of the 3rd major itinerary change and the lack of informing us of the LENGTHY bus trips necessary for the "short" visits in the destinations.  While I realize they were trying to do their best with substituting itineraries, I do feel they should have informed us earlier and potentially given us the opportunity to cancel considering the SIGNIFICANT changes that occurred.  We missed Regensburg and Nuremburg completely via the ship, so while marketed as a Christmas Market Cruise, the ship missed two of the largest markets entirely.  In the end, they just seemed unorganized as compared to my previous experience with Viking river and many brands of ocean going cruises.  To add insult to injury they dropped a group of us off at a Christmas Market on our last evening in Vienna, only to have that market close 2 minutes later.  We either had to wait there for the next 1 1/2 hour or walk the 1/2 mile to another Christmas Market where they had a planned pickup.

 

Once we FINALLY sailed, I felt they did an adequate job.  The ship was very nice and the included tours were OK, but never great.  The meals were good, but again not great (I realize that this is a personal preference).  The service, particularly for drink refills, etc. was very hit or miss, but mostly non-existent.  While there was one particularly good server (previously served with Princess), the others on average failed to meet the level that we have seen on other ships.  While I realize that the water level impacted a lot of this trip, AMA just didn't live up to our expectations even in areas that shouldn't have been impacted.

 

As the ship was unfortunately unable to make our original port of disembarkation (Nuremburg) by water, there were several fellow travelers that had actually had to leave the ship a day early in order to be bussed to their departure location.  While AMA did put them up in hotels, I felt really sorry for those individuals for having to miss their final night onboard.  It wasn't until the afternoon before that we learned we ourselves would be bussed to Nuremburg (3 hours away) the morning of departure.  While they had asked us each for our hotel information the week prior, for some reason or another they decided to simply drop us off at the train station instead of taking us directly to our hotels.  The final kicker was that in the end they couldn't park at the train station and dropped us off on the curb a couple blocks from the station, which required us to lug our own luggage over several major roads and rail tracks to the train station so that we could catch our own cab.  This was really disappointing as I feel they just dumped us on the side of the road when they could have ended things on a much nicer note if they would have simply taken the relatively small group of individuals directly to our hotels.  The customer service just wasn't what I expected and therefore an overall disappointment.

 

While the cruise director, and the management of AMA, kept saying that "compensation" would be offered on several occasions, nothing has been provided to date.  Again, I feel that this is a true lack of communication.  While they had the opportunity to share the amount and type of "compensation" early on, they elected to withhold that information.  If it had been disclosed we would have been in a better position to know if we should have made alternative arrangements but it was not. Why did they feel it was necessary to keep that information hidden from us?  Personally, I feel they put the "compensation" carrot out there to keep us all onboard and to prevent an uprising of sorts with the MAJOR changes to our trip, which in some peoples cases had been planned for years!  I will wait to see what "compensation" will be offered, but having been off the ship for more than a week, we have still heard nothing.  Again, the failure in communication doesn't leave me with high hopes or a real desire to sail again with AMA.  Which means that if AMA does actually follow through with compensation, a partial "credit" toward a future cruise will be meaningless.  Just more disappointment.

 

Maybe it was just poor luck with the water levels, maybe it was the AMASerena cruise manager, maybe it was the lack of communication by corporate AMA, but overall I highly doubt that we will return to AMA, which makes me sad.  I had such high hopes and had heard great things.  I hope that others have a much better experience.  Happy and safe travels!

[dolllover]

Wow that does not sound like a fun trip at all! I feel for you. I would have been pissed not having much time to tour the sites. Hopefully Ama will come thru with fair compensation.

[Coral]

I am so sorry. I really think they either owe you your money back (which probably won't happen) or a free cruise. This trip sounds terrible. I have friends who recently got a 25% discount from Viking and they are not sure if they will use it. They feel the same way that you do.

[pully8]

Your experience sounds terrible, very long bus rides and the final drop off on the side of the road is well below what you would expect of a premium cruise line.

Curious when they told you about the modified cruise prior to departure, did they offer to allow you to cancel with a refund?

How many were on board? 

[The Postman]

While our AMA experience didn’t live up to my expectations, it was still a vacation and we enjoyed the Christmas markets we did get to see.  Also, the cruising that we were able to complete was still enjoyable so I didn’t mean to make it seam like a a complete waste/nightmare.  As my wife says, at least she didn’t have to cook or clean!

 

However, to answer your question, AMA never offered us a chance to cancel or rebook.  Had AMA offered that to us at the 2 week mark, we would have cancelled and possibly rented a car and did our own Christmas Market tour since we already had the week scheduled off.  But with this short of notice (the night before our flights), I didn’t feel that option was realistic considering the amount of planning one would need to make. With this late of notice, I would have elected to cancel or rebook for a different cruise at a later date because you pay a significant premium for the “cruise” aspect, and not a “bus” trip. Nevertheless, it’s all a moot point because we didn’t have any option unless we wanted to lose 100% of our money. So we went with the idea we’d make the best of it!

 

As to your other question, I don’t believe that the AMASerena was 100% full, but I think pretty close.  It seemed like AMA may have filled any cancellations with travel agents that sell AMA and other other company personnel as some kind of perk.  While not on our ship, I know the co-owners of the company and other AMA corporate staff were traveling on sister vessels. We just had several travel agents and others on ours.  

 

I just hope AMA learns from this experience and steps up to make things right.  We are fortunate to be able to travel somewhat frequently, but I know there were several on board that had planned and saved for years in order to take this trip. It is for them that I am truly disappointed. While I wish we could have cancelled entirely (to keep our options open), I would have likely rebooked with AMA for a future date as the water levels were beyond their control. However, I feel the almighty dollar kept AMA from offering that as an option and the “substitute” they arranged fell flat and wasn’t worth the money we paid.  After this experience, it would take a significant refund and a generous credit toward a future cruise for us to sail again with AMA.  But the lack of communication continues, as we still haven’t heard a thing, and I’m beginning to think we never will. 

[suspaul]

We're currently in Nuremberg on a DIY trip due to our cancelling an Avalon river cruise a week prior to our 12.3 departure.  Returning from a day train trip to Regensburg this afternoon, we saw a lot of luggage in the lobby tagged with AMA (Nh Collection/Nuremberg).

 

i'm sorry your travels were such a mess but glad that you did enjoy the Christmas markets over all.

[Lois R]

I am also really sorry to read this...…...and it sounds like a pretty awful experience to be honest with you.  They left you at the curb and you had drag your own luggage...….and going all those hours on the bus to have such a short amount of time to visit the actual place....yikes. 

I have been with AMA once and it was wonderful but this sounds like they really, REALLY dropped the ball and I agree with one of the previous posters, I would be pretty PO'd too

[Coral]

They would probably gain a lot of "good publicity" if they had given people the opportunity to cancel and get their money back at the last minute. I know it would cost money $$$ initially them but stories like these do not make the cruise line look good, even though it is due to "an act of God".

 

 

[pully8]

For many months this severe event of low water has been known.

Those of us impacted have been watching, researching and seeking the best current information available.

Communication and dissemination of information has been a major problem.

This has resulted in people feeling frustrated, annoyed and in some cases amused by the scripted responses, delivered by front line staff, directed by the decision makers.

Most understand river levels can impact cruises, and people have been reporting how these events are being managed.

There are clearly problems that need to be addressed.

 

 

 

  

 

[gmaonboard4]

We had same experience on Nov. 9th Danube trip.  If they had been honest with us upfront, we would have cancelled.  We just heard from them this week.  They offered us $780.00 each on a $5000.00 trip.  This was our third AMA cruise and sadly will probably be our last.  My travel agent is in talks with them about the meager compensation.  On top of all the mess of no communication, we had approx. 40 drunken travel agents who were loud and rude.  The cruise manager was a total pig who refused to be of any help on any matter.  And yes, he has been reported to corporate.  Below is my journal of trip.

 

Budapest----straight to hotel, then river dinner. Just circled around two bridges. Food was inedible.

3 hour bus trip to Bratislava. No problems except we had to catch bus back to Vienna.

Bus tour of Vienna. We had free time, but everything was closed as it was Sunday. Took uber back to boat.

Durnstein---walking tour then back to boat to go to Melk. Took bus to Abbey, but it was dark so unable to see much.

Passau---walking tour, but it was dark, so didn't see much. Also raining so dangerous on cobblestones.

Took bus to Regensberg.

Regensberg--walking tour with small amount of free time. Back to boat.

Took bus to Nuremberg. Bus tour the to hotel for horrible buffet dinner at hotel. (unbelievable)

Had to meet driver for airport at 4:30am. We were given a sack breakfast that had broken eggs and leaky yogurt. 
had to throw away at airport.

all together, we had two tours in the dark and rain. One where everything was closed and a lot of time on buses.
We also had approx. 40-50 rowdy, drunken travel agents who ruined almost every evening on board. We could not sit
in lounge to listen to the limited entertainment as they were so loud and rude. Cruise Manager refused to do anything 
about it.

I am embarrassed that I encouraged two friends to take this trip and had to apologize over and over again.

 

 

I

 

 

[pully8]

sounds very unpleasant and can understand why you voiced concerns.

[plimouth pilgrims]

We Did the Danube AmaCerto cruise on the 10th of Nov. and thought It worked out well for us. I booked with free air and tried to extend a day in Budapest but was told that I would loose the free air, So we were very happy to go to the Hotel at 1:00pm and then learn it was a block away from the Christmas market where we spent hours. We would have missed it if we had sailed. The bus rides to Bratislava and them Vienna were long but we had great guides along the way and the cruise director came along and swapped busses to stay in touch with everyone.

Once we were sailing the cruise went great. Sailing on the Danube was wonderful. Later my wife felt a little ill and the cruise director called a Doctor in Linz who prescribed medication. The cruise director rode a bike to the Pharmacy to bring back the medication which helped out.  She began to feel better right away and was again enjoying the cruise.

 

Nuremberg was hit and miss. We were bused to a hotel after our tour but gave us more time to see the city and shopping.

The dinner Ama planned for us started out terrible. We inherited some  other cruise director and he was a dope. He told one of our dining companions he could only have one coke until we spoke up and said if we were on the ship you wouldn't say that. After that thing changed but most people left by then. If I'd have known we would have had dinner on uour own.

We thought the cruise went ok, there were some low point including the water but last week. I received an email from my travel agent. Ama as an act of goodwill had given us a 45% refund for a future cruise.  We are very happy with this. It was totally unexpected.

 

[nyfeds]

My husband and I experienced very high water levels while taking our AMA Douro River cruise a few years ago.  Our vessel could not get through the locks as the water raged.  We found our Cruise Director, Raquel, to be outstanding in keeping us advised, several times a day of the status of cruising versus bus trips.  AMA was accommodating beyond words.  While we did not have the river cruise we had hoped for, AMA came through for us in every way possible and I sing their praises. Everyone "went with the flow" and we had a great time!  AMA handled everything with grace and excellence. We are taking our next AMA river cruise in April - Tulip Time.  Our 3rd AMA river cruise! Can't wait!

Edited December 13, 2018 by nyfeds