AMA River Cruise or Crystal Cruise
 

My husband and I are in our young 50's and we planning our 30th anniversery trip for summer 2010. We narrowed it down to an AMA riverboat cruise through the Danube, from Budapest to Prague, or a Crystal Cruise from Stockholm to Demark. We have been to Europe but not to any of the places each of these trips visit. I know we are comparing two very different cruise experiences and that is why we are having a hard time deciding. Have read reviews on both, but don't know anyone personally who has traveled on either of these lines. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm new at this. It wasn't posted in Europe, but in United States.

I see you flagged your thread 'Greece'. Hopefully folks who have been on Danube cruises or to Scandinavia will open your thread anyway. You could e-mail katie at [email protected] and ask her to fix the thread tag.

You also might want to check out/post on the Cruise forum

mas56, you are comparing apples and oranges. You have to decide what is more important to you, the destination (ie, ports) or the type of transport. A small river cruise ship has different ammenities to a large cruise ship. I have been on large cruise ships and I've been on expedition ships, both are entirely different.

I am not too familiar with AMA, I have heard of them, but I don't know anybody who has travelled with them. I have family friends who are loyal to Crystal, Crystal cruises are some of the most luxurious available. Year after year, they travel on cruises, Windstar, Cunard, etc. and sooner or later they always return to Crystal. They rave about the service, food, ammenties, etc. Crystal is their favourite. Unfortunatley, they haven't been on any river cruises or I'd ask them for some information on AMA.

I think you should look at www.cruisecritic.com. Not sure if there is alot of information on AMA but there is alot of information on Crystal ships on that site. If you'd like more information about the different types of cruises (ie, AMA vs Crystal, river cruises vs large cruises) I would post a thread in the cruise forum of Fodors.

Thanks. I posted a thread on the cruise forum and hopefully I'll get some more responses.

I too have been comparing European river cruises for 2010, and am finding it difficult to narrow my shortlist down to less than 4 or 5. I've never heard of Crystal but if they are ultra-luxury as has been described, they are probably not what I want. Uniworld is another I would put in that category. I guess for me the destinations are the thing, rather than the trappings. And I found some encouragement from a friend who went on one of the more budget options and rated it as more than luxurious enough. I've heard of AMA but don't know a lot about them. My shortlist is Avalon, APT, Evergreen, Scenic and Viking, and the final decision will probably be determined by what special offers are around when I'm ready to book. (For example, at present some are throwing in free airfares to Europe).

We did a Christmas markets cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest (with 2 days prior to the cruise in Prague) with AMA in December 2009. This was our first river cruise. We've done several ocean and/or Med cruises on big ships (RCCL and Holland America). In our opinion (and we have no other river cruise companies to compare them with), AMA exceeded our expectations (food, accomodations, staff-especially our cruise director, itinerary, etc.). We are wishing that we had planned another Christmas markets cruise with AMA this year. Sadly, we stayed home this winter. We are hoping to do another river cruise with AMA in 2010.

takemealong, thanks for the helpful information about AMA. They are one of the ones we are considering. twoflower, in my research I read negative reviews about Viking river cruises. Why are you not considering Uniworld?

River cruises take you to small towns as well as cities and dock in town. They usually have around 14 passengers. I love Scandinavia but a Crystal cruise would be a big cruise ship experience, more passengers and less convenient docking locations which I wouldn't like..many do enjoy them and you need to decide which type of experience you'd prefer.

typo:that number should be 140 passengers not 14.