Captiveguru

What about vegetarian options for dinner. I see they offer fish, foul, and beef at dinner.

There were vegetarian options at each meal.

AmaStella has a few booths right as you enter the dining room. Our party of 3 sat there for every meal and never had anyone even ask if they could join us!

I am not surprised. Unless I knew you were a party of three I would assume your fourth was not yet there. Same for a table of four. And only solos could join you.

Not sure how many solo travelers were on our recent cruise. My wife thinks there might have been two women, but after the first day they sat together for meals.

I meant to take photos of all of the menus for the week, but only took photos the first night. Fish, beef and vegetarian each night.

Note the "Always Available" items. If you did not like the night's menu you could always have steak, salmon, chicken, etc...

Looks like a lot of fish dishes. Is that because of what you ordered or is that what they serve most?

Yes, we prefer fish to beef. Very observant! As I recall there was fish and beef on every dinner menu.

I would love to see them!

Here you go...

I have tried the getting in the DR early strategy in the past. This had worked sometimes and caused major problems on a few others. Once I sat at an empty table for six and a group of passengers came up and said this was their table. The complained to the Maitre'd and he made me move. I was very angry so I just went up on the sundeck and skipped dinner. The hotel manager saw me up there and asked why I'm not at dinner. I told him the situation and he also became very upset. He asked me to come and sit at his table to the rest of the cruise.

Wow. I cannot imagine asking anyone to get out of a seat. And for an employee to enable such behavior is crazy.

One way to avoid the seating debacle is to have staff escort you to tables as they do on every other cruise line. It’s not difficult to manage.

This service was not available on our recent AmaWaterways cruise.

"The Douro River itself. Some of the most spectacular scenery we've experienced on any river (We've been on the Rhine, Danube, Main and Seine in Europe, and several in the States). We also loved the fact that the river is not a major thoroughfare and there is little industry along the route. It is not yet inundated with river cruise ships..."

We just completed our first European River Cruise (The Rhine on AmaStella from Basel to Amsterdam). We liked the experience, but frankly were disappointed over the amount of industry. The only good days (actually half-days), were the Rhine Gorge and the Amsterdam-Rhine canal.

The Douro sounds like a completely different experience. It is now on our list.

Many times I had to ask 5+ times if a seat was taken only to be rebuffed. When I did finally get a seat, many times I was ignored and treated as an outsider. Travelers today do not seem to be as friendly as in past years.

We did not have any problems joining another couple on our cruise. Never told by someone who was already sitting at a table that the empty seats were to be occupied by thier friends.

For the most part we were in the DR early enough to find an empty table and we had people join us. Those encounters were all very nice. You might consider that strategy; Be in the DR early. Chose your seat/ Let others join you. No chance of being rebuffed.

We did have one unsatisfying encounter early on. There are two tables on AmaStella in the very back of the DR. The tables have bench seating on one side and chairs on both ends. You could easily fit three people on the bench, but the table was set for four. Because of the length of the bench the couple "on the other end" were a bit far away and having a conversation with them was difficult.

We avoided those tables after that.

Did the couple always come in well after 7:00 PM? I would have been tempted to try again another night...

Captiveguru you rock! And that meal looks delish. Will definitely book early

I have more food photos from the MDR...

To add to notamermaid's excellent comments... It is also possible that the docking location may change.

Example: Last week we were supposed to dock in Mainz but, due to water levels, we docked in Speyer. No problem for those on AmaWaterways' tours. The busses came to where we were. And no problem for us because we were planning on taking the Speyer tour and did not have to get on a bus.

I have a question for all who have done river cruises. Do they offer waffles and or pancakes for breakfast; and for dinner do they offer any type of pasta with marinara sauce like the cruise lines do?

On our 2018 cruise on AmaStella there were pancakes and waffles for breakfast. I do not recall seeing pasta on the menu, but it might have been there.

From the responses so far it seems that our experience was the exception rather than the rule. We will be prepared to remain seated in the future.

Hopefully AmaWaterways will implement procedures to eliminate the problem.

We sailed from Basel to Amsterdam last week on AmaStella (arrived AMS on 8/27). The river was low, but we made it through. The captain told us that there was only a foot of clearance in a few areas. The low water did affect our docking locations, but all excursions occurred as planned. One morning the busses had to leave 30 minutes early due to the docking location.

For other Ama cruisers -- did you dine at the Chef's Table? How was the experience? I love that it is included in the fare.

Just got off AmaStella. The Chef's Table was the best meal of the cruise. Definitely a "Tasting Menu." Very creative, See the photos.

Tip: Be sure to review the itinerary as soon as you board and make your reservation ASAP. We did not do this and by the time I tried to make reservations there was only one night available. We had to skip a late afternoon excursion on our night.

We just completed our first river cruise. Basel to Amsterdam on AmaStella. We found the Open Seating concept quite workable and pleasant, until the last two nights. Most of the tables are 4-tops and we were able to sit with different couples each night.

On the next to last night we walked into the dining room just after 7:00 PM, spotted an open table and began to sit down when a fellow passenger rushed up and insisted that the table was "her's" because she had come early and left a sweater on one of the chairs. We avoid confrontation and decided to sit elsewhere.

On the last night we strolled in around 7:05 PM and decided to sit in a different area of the dining room. Again, an open table for four (this one next to the windows). We sat down but as we put our napkins on our laps one of the waiters came up and told us the table was reserved and we would have to move. He was quite insistent and not wanting to irritate the person who would be handling our food we once again moved. Reluctantly and only to the next table.

We of course wondered who on board was so important so we watched the table closely. The minutes went by and shortly after 8:00 PM the waiter began to clear and reset the table for breakfast (see the photo). The VIPs never showed!

We lodged our complaint with the hotel manager who acted appropriately shocked that one of her employees would do such a thing. We also told her about the previous night's sweater incident. About 5 minutes after we got to our room the dining room manager knocked on our door carrying a champagne bucket. He explained that, yes, many of the passengers were coming into the dining room 30 to 45 minutes early to "mark" their desired tables. He did not like the practice but did not seem to know how to stop it. He also explained that the VIPs, who apparently had dined at the same table all week, had dined at the Chef's Table that night. He could not explain why his employee would facilitate a violation of Ama's "no reserved table" policy.

So... Was our experience the rule or the exception? Is it only an AmaWaterways problem? I have read that other companies do not allow passengers into the dining room early. Does this work?

Just got off AmaStella. We were in a BA cabin with two "Balconies" (French and Outside). We rarely used the Outside Balcony. Too narrow and no privacy. We used the French Balcony every day. Too bad it was not wider. I would probably go with a CA cabin next time. A bit smaller, but more usable space with the full-width French Balcony.

We boarded AmaStella on 8/20 in Basel. Cruising towards Amsterdam. Cruise director told us last night that we would be docking at Speyer instead of near Heidelberg tomorrow due to water levels. So far that is the only "deviation." Still scheduled to cruise through the Rhine Gorge on Friday afternoon.

Edit: forgot the figures: Maxau 364cm, Kaub 71cm, Koblenz 72cm.

 

notamermaid

I probabky missed something earlier, but what do those numbers mean?

I just think Viking is at the low end of experiences at a high price. We will consider AMA and Uniworld in teh future, but NEVER Viking.

Our TA suggested we not use Viking for our first river cruise based upon our preference for Cunard's ocean cruises. We are on AMA next week. From the reviews and comments we are expecting great dining and shore excursions.

Will advise our experience.

Hello Captiveguru,

 

you are right about the shallowest part. The depth in that area is currently 1.83m. Why and how it is calculated I am happy to explain tomorrow.

Looking forward to that. I am glad we are booked on the AmaStella next week, which appears to have a draft of 1.60m. Still cutting it close...

Look at the line with a red marking that has the figure 1,90m written above it. That is the trickiest bit and in that section you find the Lorelei rock for example.

Very interesting. So the shallowest part of the river is between 508 and 557? And the current depth on that stretch is 1,90m?

I think the Amastella and Amakristina are both on the Rhine between Amsterdam and Basel. Trying to follow both this week to see if there are any deviations (due to water levels).

The location of both show on this website: http://www.cruisemapper.com

But only Amastella shows on this website: https://www.rivercruiseshiptracker.com

In any event, they both seem to be following the published itineraries...

What does "ship swap" mean? How does that work?