We took our first river cruise on the AmaDolce Bordeaux cruise. I should have checked the amount of cruising because there was very little scenic cruising on this route. To me, this river cruise is just assisted living on a ship. Your meals are prepared for you at specific times and you go on excursions on large buses. We're not quite at that age, yet. If you like river cruises, then I would recommend not upgrading unless you have a daily scenic cruise. Otherwise, you're paying for balconies and doors to use while you're sitting at the dock, sometimes with other ships attached to your ship. Not really worth the extra money. Plus, and this applies to all Amawaterways ships, DO NOT get a room on the same level with the Chef's Restaurant. Rowdy and inebriated folks will come down the hallway at all hours and will wake you up if you choose to retire after 10PM. We need to age 10 more years until river cruising would be worthwhile. We should have just gotten a hotel in Bordeaux; taken some private chateau tours and then sat at a wine bar every day to try all the different wines. Then, go to a wine shop, order and ship. A local Bordeaux river cruise would have been better. Read Less

This is our second AMAWaterWays cruise and we were again rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable river cruise. The Amadolce cabin was spotless and in excellent condition as were the public areas. The crew with Captain Danny and Cruise Director Helene was one of the best we've experienced in over 30 years of ocean and river cruising. They were friendly, attentive, responsive and prompt. The tours were great and well paced and gave an insightful education on French wines. The food and wine selection onboard was very competitive with some of the best local restaurants in the Bordeaux region. The wait staff was fun, friendly, responsive and made us feel that the Amadolce was our river home for the week. Housekeeping was impeccable and Georgina, our stewardess, was a delight with her engaging personality and warm greeting in addition to the care she gave our cabin. My wife had a post-operation medical problem toward the end of our cruise and the staff was on top of the medical situation instantly, brought a doctor on board and helped us get treatment that she needed. The Purser, Captain and Cruise Director all demonstrated concern, empathy and acted to help ease my wife's issues. We were very grateful. Read Less

My husband and I took this cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest. It was our first river cruise and we really enjoyed it! The service was great throughout the boat, the staff was friendly and very interested in your comfort and enjoyment. Ama spends a lot of effort on small touches that add value to your experience, late night food after a concert in Vienna, fresh towels and a drink when you return from an excursion...and many more. Our cabin was well appointed, cozy, but comfortable with plenty of room for things. The make up of the passengers was older, 60 and up. In each case there was a variety of activities including hiking and bike riding in addition to the shore excursions. There were also several groups on each excursion, designed for those who need more time and those who wanted to move right along. Definitely something for everyone! Shore excursions were well organized, although it would be nice to have a bit more time on your own...tough to do with so much to cover in each location. (Moving groups of people is always a challenge, so many folks on their own planet, so be patient. Not a fault of the company, just the nature of dealing with people in general). Our local guides were very good in most cases. Our full day guide to Salzburg, Gabor was especially good, well organized, patient, told the good stories, and gave you lots of information, but didn't feel the need to talk constantly. Food and presentation of the food was excellent and the local dishes which changed with our location were great! We especially enjoyed Violeta and Marc as our servers! We came home with a few souvenir pounds extra! Dragon, our cruise director was charming....great personality and very interested in making your stay a memorable. While we had 3-4 days of rain or part rain, the highlight had to be Budapest. We just had no idea how beautiful it was. And the evening cruise with all of the city lights (and a lovely night) was really a great finale for the trip. I can't imagine going the other direction (ending in Nuremberg). The length of the cruise 8 days...was just the right amount for us. Read Less

My husband and I did the Danube River Cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg. Wonderful food, service and staff on the ship were outstanding. You didn't need to ask for anything; everything was well organized. The ship and cabin were clean; the cabin a good size and a great bathroom. Christan our cruise director payed attention to every detail. The tours were so organized and wonderful local guides, clean buses, and efficient. We couldn't have asked for anything more than AMA Waterways offered. Read Less

We decided to book the AmaWaterways's "Europe's Rivers & Castles" trip as it combined 2 nights in Prague, 7 nights on the Main and Rhine rivers and ending with 3 nights in Paris. I had visited Europe on business before I retired but my spouse had never been to Europe. The overall trip exceeded our expectations in almost every catagory. AmaWaterways led by Cruise Manager, Reka Piros, did an outstanding job throughout the trip and into Paris. The daily AMA Newspaper provided everything from the weather report to that day's scheduled tours as well as optional tours. They even had a daily USA newsletter. Our hotel in Prague was the upscale Inter-continental. It was located so we could walk for dinner at a local restaurant or shop and we did both. The City Tour of the Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge are musts to see. We took a tour bus up and walked back down. The local tour guides and the neat headsets and small groups worked very well. From Prague we took a nice tour bus to Nuremberg for a city tour and arrived at the ship late afternoon. Our luggage was handled efficiently and we began our first night at the Chef's Table Restaurant where we met other travelers who we visited with throughout the cruise. Everyone has one night at that private Restaurant and then they eat in the main Restaurant each night. Right away on our first full day arriving Bamberg, Germany we enjoyed the incredible breakfast and did so every day usually sitting in the same area alone or with other passengers we met and visited with. The menu of all of the meals included optional items and the service was consistently very good. We enjoyed the scheduled tours most days but also took the optional Rothenburg Tour and enjoyed it a lot. We took numerous photos each day and more when we reached the Rhine and all of the wonderful castles and towns we passed by. Our Cruise Manager, Reka Piros, provided periodic talks about what to see and why and was always accessible at her desk near the reception area. While some passengers took advantage of the free bikes on the ship for local tours we stayed with the bus tours since they had local guides and we could go at an easier pace in small groups. The tour of the Reichsburg Castle in scenic Cochem was very well done with the interesting local Tour guide "Margarete" leading us. The shuttle bus made it easy on the legs as it is located above the city. The pace of our daily schedule was up to us as there were many options available and we took advantage of them. As our river cruise was nearing the end of its schedule I was curious as to how they would handle the process of our leaving the ship and moving our luggage to Paris for the final three nights there. It was done most efficiently. Some 104 of us were going to take a high speed train to Paris after the Luxembourg tour. The process they used not only verified that our luggage would go to our hotel (which it did) but that we would not have to worry about getting on and off the train as it was all well coordinated. Our stay was at the Pullman Montparnasse Hotel; the room was comfortable on the 18th floor. We loaded our Paris visit with both scheduled tours as well as some optional tours and it was worth it. The weather turned rainy for part of our Paris time but we expected it and dressed appropriately. On our last night we took a cab to the Louvre Museum for a small group tour and then a cab back to the hotel. The final morning Ama was there to insure we and our luggage made the trip to the airport and check in. From start to finish we loved the trip. Read Less