AmaWaterways October 2023

Group River Cruise: 7 nights Paris & Normandy in AmaLyra

I found the Ama crew to be outstanding, very attentive to everyone’s needs and definitely provided excellent service. I had 49 passengers on board so we were a little less than half of the ship. My group participants kept commenting to me throughout the trip how wonderful the staff was and how they were spot on with everything. And I had some very well traveled and higher level clients on this group with me too.

I found the food to be the same great quality it has always been. When I sailed last year on the Danube, I was a little concerned with some of the food and some of that was due to changes during and after covid. But I found this cruise to be back to the pre-pandemic quality of food. Dining room staff were sharp and remembered many things for our guests during the week. The Chef’s Table was excellent as well and the staff serving that dinner was very good. They are all done as sit down, served meals. There was a table every evening with bread and cheeses that everyone could help themselves to, but there were not any other “food counters” on our sailing. Meals are served at scheduled times, but there was one evening that we were visiting with a couple from our group and we were 45 minutes late to dinner (we knew we were going to be late). There was absolutely no issue and they were very flexible, and even though we arrived late we were not hurried. We were one of the last ones in the dining room, but they did not pressure us to leave at all.

Regarding the comments about being regimented and scheduled, yes a river cruise is scheduled and that is the same on every river cruise. But the flexibility about being on a river cruise over a bus tour, is that you aren’t changing accommodations throughout and you can choose to get off the ship, explore on your own, or partake in the provided shore excursions. Are there guests that are older and move slower? Yes. But again that is part of the demographics of river cruises. I did not feel anyone on our ship was not able to partake in everything. Again, that could vary by who is actually on a particular sailing.

I do agree somewhat regarding onboard credit. That is a bit of a mixed piece as there is not a lot of things to spend your money on. I found the gift shop to have a good variety of items available to purchase, but the client was correct that they do not sell sundries. The things you can use your OBC for is drinks, massage, hair salon, and shopping. Several of my clients had massages during the cruise and said they were great.

Attire on the ship did seem to be a bit more relaxed than on previous sailings I have been on, but I did not find anyone that was showing up to dinner in shorts and flip flops or anything like that. The world in general has become more casual and this is carrying over to hotels, cruise ships and many places. It may not be as relaxed on Tauck or Scenic.

My group had nothing but compliments and positive comments about Ama – great food, great service, great entertainment, great and knowledgeable guides (did not have any issues with language barriers and after all, you are in France). Most of my group said they wanted to do another river cruise in the future.

If you want “luxury” in a river cruise, you should be taking Tauck or Scenic. But my opinion is that Ama is right there under the luxury products and continues to be as good as it always had been. You should continue to sell AmaWaterways with confidence.

I hope my input is helpful. If you want to talk more details with me about my experience, please reach out directly and I am happy to tell you more.

-Doug