I was stationed in Germany twice while serving in the Army Nurse Corps. Since retiring, and starting to dabble in genealogy as a hobby, I learned my maternal great-grandfather emigrated from a small town near Bernkastel-Kues (on the Moselle) in Germany. Having taken an AMA cruise on the Danube that we enjoyed, my husband agreed to this itinerary as a way to visit both my ancestor's homeland and the area of Germany I had lived in. I had already explored most of the ports we were stopping in, but was eager to show them to DH. I found it frustrating to have to do everything through a travel agent rather than having access to the company's booking platform directly, but that is the only thing I would change if I could.

The AMA Lucia is one of the newer ships in the AMA fleet and was very similar to the AMA Stella, so it felt quite familiar. The furnishings are nice and comfortable so no complaints about ship at all. The housekeeper was very accommodating in changing our duvet to a sheet and blanket after the first night, but I wish that could have been requested in advance. We had no option in the hotel we stayed in the night before boarding and spent a miserable night sweating under the duvet, so was not eager to repeat the experience. At least the bed was more comfortable on the AMA Lucia.

The Captain, crew, hotel manager and cruise director were all very good at their jobs and friendly. You really felt like they knew all the passengers by the end of the cruise. Plus you knew many of your fellow passengers quite well by the end of the journey, too. I think some of the local tour guides were better than others, though. Our cruise director, Ionella from Romania, was quite helpful to me on several occasions: she arranged a taxi driver to take us to my great-grandfather's birthplace when we were docked near (but not at) Bernkastel. She kept an eye out for me when our tour guide (the regular walkers were combined with the gentle walkers for the first half of the tour) left me in the dust after twisting my knee stepping onto a moving platform to board a gondola over the Rhine). I could not walk any longer, even with the gentle walkers now in a separate group with a new guide. Ionela was the one who found a spot for me to rest and then checked on us each time we moved to a new rest stop on the way to the bus meeting point. Finally, when our flight from Basel to London was cancelled at 12 hours before boarding and the airline rebooked us to fly out of Zurich direct to our home airport, she efficiently arranged a taxi for us (it was a 75-90 minute trip) and advised us to make a claim on our travel insurance for reimbursement. It ended up being a blessing in disguise and my claim was approved within 48 hours of uploading my receipts. Read more