Amawaterways Xmas Cruise Prague, Vienna, Budapest
 

Any comments, suggestions, or helpful suggestions on Amawaterways or the river cruise during Xmas?

I took the "Prague" to Budapest on AMA last September.

Frankly, I was very disappointed.

The cruise actually starts in Germany, on the Danube.

Rather than pay their land tour, I found a nice 4* in the Malapensa neighborhood in Prague, close to public transportation; and hired a car to take me to Vilshofen Germany.

If you haven't seen Munich, it's much closer to the Danube than Prague is.

The cruise ship is rather small, with one corridor and 3 levels of rooms. There is a lounge in the back and a lounge in the front. Food was good, but alcohol expensive except free wine at dinner.

AMA "parks" the boat in the boonies, and you have to hike to town or call a cab. In Vienna, we were parked about 1+ miles from the nearest tram, and actually outside of Vienna.

Alternatives were to pay for tour or you're on your own, at most locations.

Cruise Director left much to be desired. It was either the Hungarian accent and/or she didn't explain things very well. I left her no tip, which is a separate tip from the rest of the crew.

AMA cruises in tandem with another ship. When you dock, you go through the other ship to land. Saves them money on parking fees, I guess.

Caveat emptor.

I went on this cruise in 2008. My husband and I had a much different experience than Rastaguy. Prague is not on the Danube, but this is clearly stated in the itinerary. With the exception of Nuremberg and Vienna, the ship docked in convenient locations. The majority of tours were included in the price of the cruise. Our cruise director was very personable, well organized, and did an excellent job. In particular, there was a strike at the Budapest airport. The cruise director worked extremely hard to check for flight cancellations and to get people to the airport as early as possible to make their flights.

The ship itself was less than a year old at the time. The rooms were well-appointed. Food was very good. The staff did a great job. The layout of the ship was typical of other river cruise lines.

I don't think that is unusual for cruise ships, both river and ocean, to charge high prices for alcohol. It is also very common for the river ships to travel in tandem. We recently completed a river cruise with one of the other well-known river cruise lines. They also traveled in tandem with one of their other ships.

Based on our experience in 2008, we would certainly recommend AMA. River cruises like every other style of travel do not necessarily suit every personality. We like many different types of travel—independent, tours, cruises.

takemealong - you got lucky.

I went 6 months ago and virtually nothing in the way of tours was "free".

Cruise Director was totally unorganized.

I can't complain about the food, but the overall experience left me cold.

thank you both...i have read more comments positive than negative on other travel sites, but thank you both for taking the time to reply. i think a lot has to do with expectations and doing the homework before as well as being somewhat traveled. of course everyone has their own travel style. many thanks to you both!