OUR TIME HAS ARRIVED - AMA Dolce - Rivers and Castles

I can't believe after 1 1/2 years of research and planning, our day has arrived. Leaving tomorrow, and flying in Paris. We are doing Ama's Rivers and Castles - Paris to Prague on the Ama Dolce. We are also adding a few days in Vienna on our own at the end. We will be gone for about 16 days.

We have been closely monitoring the low water levels, and it seems that our cruise route should not be affected. It does not seem as if AMA has had any cancellations at all, even on the Danube cruises. If possible, I may post a few "live from AMA Dolce", while we are traveling, but if not I plan to post a review upon our return.

Have a fabulous trip!

P.S. - I loved the Nordic Empress :D

Have a fabulous trip!

 

P.S. - I loved the Nordic Empress :D

Thanks Caviargal, I am so looking forward to this trip. This is our first river cruise so a little unsure of how we will like it. We feel as if any type of travel is fun, and is great to just get away. We love an adventure and to meet new people.

Yes, the Nordic Empress. . . quite a while ago. .Our very first cruise, when we fell in love with cruising. I still remember that top deck with the open bar/restaurant area that seemed so small and uncrowded. No such place on the big mega ships today.

Have a great trip!

jc

Safe journey!

I can't believe after 1 1/2 years of research and planning, our day has arrived. Leaving tomorrow, and flying in Paris. We are doing Ama's Rivers and Castles - Paris to Prague on the Ama Dolce. We are also adding a few days in Vienna on our own at the end. We will be gone for about 16 days.

 

We have been closely monitoring the low water levels, and it seems that our cruise route should not be affected. It does not seem as if AMA has had any cancellations at all, even on the Danube cruises. If possible, I may post a few "live from AMA Dolce", while we are traveling, but if not I plan to post a review upon our return.

We are experiencing the same excitement. We leave on the 5th for Prague for 3 days, then to the AmaSonata for the Romantic Danube cruise to Budapest! We booked this well over a year ago and thought the day would never come. Fingers crossed that the water levels cooperate.

Bon voyage!

Allyson

We are on the Ama Prima right now sailing from Bratislava to Budapest. Water levels under the keel as we approach Budapest may get down to app. 1 foot. Great cruise on a great ship, great staff and food and excursions . Temps are in the low to mid 90s.

Maybe my favorite itinerary! Have a wonderful time!!

FuelScience

Have a lovely time, IMO a great itinerary, indeed!

notamermaid

How was the cruise? I am planning to do the same trip about this time next year, and haven't been able to find reviews of the trip. It will be on the AMADante -- probably the first or third week in Sept. Paris to Prage or vice versa. I'd love to hear the details!

Good Luck! Looking forward to your live reports! I'm a newbie too to River cruises so I can't wait to hear what you think of it.:).

Enjoy your trip!

ETA: Facepalm, whoops, didn't check the date of when you posted this, thought it was new. I'll just look for your review.

I was on the AmaDolce for 2 weeks a couple of months ago and loved it!

How was the cruise? I am planning to do the same trip about this time next year, and haven't been able to find reviews of the trip. It will be on the AMADante -- probably the first or third week in Sept. Paris to Prage or vice versa. I'd love to hear the details!

Hello there, I had every intention of coming back and posting a review, but. . . first of all. . we saw and did so much in the two weeks of travel, that trying to put in all in one review was just too overwhelming. I also started a new job right after returning and just have not had much time to post about the trip.

I did respond to a few previous threads that had questions about river cruising, here is one in particular

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2260108

AMA was wonderful. Great service, great food. The Itinerary was amazing also. I'm just not sure river cruising is for me. I think I like spending a little more time in each city/destination. I felt very rushed through each town we stopped at along the rivers, with very little free time, before time to board the bus to return to the AmaDolce. (see thread above).

As I said in the previous thread that I copied the link above, I was not at all unhappy. Who could be unhappy traveling throughout Europe, with great service and great food. I feel so fortunate to have been able to take this trip.

I just think I personally would like to spend at least an entire day in one location. I loved the three days in Paris. AMA offered only one prepaid city tour that was very good, then we had the remaining three days on our own with the luxury of AMA taking care of hotel and luggage and transporting us to next location. Prague was a fairy tale city. Again, AMA had one prepaid city tour that was very good and we had the remainder of the two days on our own, and loved exploring on our own. So. . I think it is just me. After researching other itineraries as suggested in above linked thread, I do think there are other rivers cruises, where you are docked for the entire day at least one or two days.

My favorite days on the cruise itself, were the two afternoons after 1) touring Trier in the morning, then boarding the ship to float down the Mosel river with all the vineyards along the bank and 2) the day after touring Cochem/Koblenz in the morning and crusing down the Rhine seeing all the castles in the afternoon. Both days were beautiful sunny days. The rest of our trip turned cold, cloudy rainy - this could play a part in some of my review.

Our trip was amazing, you will have a great time. One bit of advice. . have your choices of your tours planned ahead of time before you board. The cruise director called for an meeting and also a requirement our turning in of our choices for all tours for the entire week while we were floating down the Mosel on a beautiful day. I did not want to be inside making these choices at that time, I wanted to be up on the upper deck, but it was my fault for not being better prepared and having made these decisions ahead of time.

One last note. . if you cruise in the direction from Luxembourg to Nuremberg, the upper deck will only be open on the first two days (mentioned above) the remainder of the cruise it is closed due to low bridges and locks.

Have a great trip. I did not mean to try to sound negative about the cruise, only wanted to prepare you for "what is".