We chose this cruise and company based on recommendations of friends and the iitinerary of the trip. The trip and experience were marvelous and i would highly reccommend it . The ship holds a maximum of 146 passengers, but only 104 passengersd were aboard for this cruise.The cabins, while small when compared to most ocean liners, were larger than many river cruises; quite adequate and well decorated. The beds were very comfortable and the cabin staff attentive to the nth degree, especially Georgiana. The bathrooms were quite roomy and well supplied with toiletries and the all important hair dryer for my wife. The in-cabin entertainment system was good, although to be honest we did not use it a great deal other than to watch some news, but they did have a large assortment of films and music available,. Wi-fi is gratis and to my surprise worked very well; much better than on larger ships. Food and dining were quite good overall. Breakfast was buffet style, but with a young lady making terrific omlets and eggs to order as well as the usual breakfast items and some less than usual items for most Americans.. Breads and pastries were excellent and required a bit of self control in order not to overdo it. The highlight for foodies was the special Chef's dinner to which all guests are entitled to attend. The menu is fixed for all seven nights and only 24 people are accommodated at a time. The items are all cooked in one location and served to each table as the food is ready. The service was superb and most of the items very good. The cod could have used a bit more seasoning.Wine, a nice selection of different reds and whites from the Bordeaux region as well as beer, are complimentary at all meals. Most entrees at the dinners were quite good, but the stand outs for me were the filet mignon and the prime rib.Each night there was always a Chef's Choice menu as well as several other items from which to choose.. If none of the menu choices for that day were appealing, one could always order a steak, salmon or chicken. One of the best ideas the line has instituted is to have a light lunch served buffet style in the lounge rather than the main dining room. Selections are limited, compared to the main dining room, but by no means lacking in many good choices. Salads and soups were always available as well as frog's legs and escargot at one of the lunches. Surprisingly I do not think they offered onion soup st any time. We did have some delicious deserts and the chocolate crepes were outstanding. The entertainment was limited as one would expect on a very small ship, but they did have a pianist who was quite good and brought aboard several entertainers; Frankly, I found this line offered better entertainment than most river cruises. The highlight of the cruise was an incredible staff-Kriss the cruise manager was unbelievable even getting up to see us off the boat at 4:15 am and providing us with a packed lunch. The front desk staffed by Ivan and Yasmina, during the day and a night attendant whose name I can't recall, were most helpful at all times and made us feel welcome and important addressing our every request with a smile. The bar staff and all of the waiters and waitresses were attentive, warm and friendly. The tours were excellent and our regular tour guide, Elisabeth, was beyond belief. She even managed to find us a local person on Bordeaux to take three of us on a special tour of the local synagogue. For the biking enthusiasts, they have quite a few bicycles and helmets and a bike tour led by Chris almost every day. We loved virtually all of the ports and excursions, but the highlight for us was St. Emilion. Not only a great wine producing regions with world famous wineries, but a delightful and charming village retaining much from the Middle Ages , including the catacombs and underground churches. I have no doubt we would go again and surely will consider another cruise with Ama Waterways Read Less

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary aboard the AmaSonata and the whole cruise couldn't have been better! The room was small but well appointed. Breakfast and lunch buffets were excellent and at dinner there were many options off the menu. I had told them prior to the cruise that I had an allergy to cheese, and all the waiters were aware of this and they accommodated me. For our anniversary night, we ate at the elegant Chef's Table, a separate small restaurant apart from the main dining room. It was elegant and they feted us with a cake and song. The off-ship tours were very well arranged. There was something for all ability levels. Whenever we had the option, we took one of the guided bicycle tours offered. This was one of the reasons why we chose AmaWaterways over others. It was a fairly small group of bicyclists, no more than 20 persons. The entire staff went out of their way to make you feel welcome. We especially enjoyed our cruise director Raul. There was entertainment both on and off ship, usually very high quality, especially the classical music concert offered in the evening in Vienna. Read Less

We were so impressed with the quality of service, dining and cabin accommodations on this trip. We decided this was the best way for us to see the best of Europe so we chose Ama for their cuisine and overall service recommendation. We were not disappointed. We started in Budapest, Hungary then sailed through Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and ended in the Netherlands with the final destination Amsterdam. What is so nice about river cruising is you unpack once and just enjoy when all your food, entertainment and hotel goes with you through Europe. We did have a pretty huge issue when we were on this journey. Another barge hit one of the locks and we had to stay longer than anticipated on the river. Then the European Union had a summit meeting in Bratislava and they closed the river for an additional 8 hours. All in all we were delayed 51 hours on our trip. The Ama captain, cruise director and entire staff were incredible in making this horrific delay palatable to us. The true value of a company is when unexpected issues happen and how they treat their customers. We were so happy to be on Ama with this unfortunate issue because they treated us with "world class service". They went over and above to bus us to our destinations and even giving us extra Euro's when we were unable to come back to the ship for lunch. I don't believe any other cruise line would have extended themselves to the level that Ama did. We had a trip of a lifetime even with the unfortunate situation. Our room was a French balcony and regular balcony room on the upper deck. It was so nice to have a lovely room with a bigger than average bathroom. We also liked having in room free wi-fi for e-mail and in room movies. The cuisine on the ship was excellent. I would compare it to the quality of the specialty restaurants on the nicer cruise ships. Everything was prepared to our liking with free flowing wine or beer at lunch and dinner. The nice part about river cruising is the entertainment is about 1 hr to 1 1/2 hours after dinner. It usually gave a local flare to the entertainment and it was quite varied from an acappella group, Hungarian folk dancers and even a rocking duo who sang contemporary songs. The bar stayed open for those individuals that wanted to continue to party after the rest of us went back to our rooms. The excursions were also included in the price of the cruise and they had very active bicycle tours, active walking or slower to regular walking tours. Each tour had a local tour guide that made the history come alive for us. Overall we loved our trip even with all the issues that had to be overcome and we hope to journey again very soon on another Ama waterways cruise. Read Less