We boarded the AmaSonata on April 1 for the Tulip Time Cruise. This was only our second river cruise, the first being on Uniworld's River Beatrice in 2012, so we had something to compare to. But we have also done approx. two dozen ocean cruises, which are a quite different experience. We appreciated at quiet and relaxed atmosphere of the river ship.

We were met at Schiphol Airport by an Ama representative for our transfer to the ship. Even though our flight was late and it took for ever for our bags to come down the chute, the representative was outside arrivals at 5:20 pm waiting with a big smile. In no time we were on our way to the ship in a large coach, even though there were only 4 of us. We checked in immediately and were taken straight to our room along with our luggage. After a quick review of the features of the cabin, we started to settle in.

We were in Cabin 228, which has a single French balcony only (Category C).. I knew right away we had made a mistake. The room is very cramped, especially the shower in the bathroom. We were comparing it to the more spacious room we had on River Beatrice (actually they called it a Suite) and thus were a bit disappointed. I had seen a picture of the bathroom in the brochure and had expectations of it being quite spacious, but this is not the bathroom we had. The cabin is near the stern, but was very quiet. This really was our only disappointment the whole cruise, except for a poor excursion to Brussels. Read more