Doh15

I would think you could also ask to sit by yourself in Amphora if you wanted.

We did this recently as a last minute thing and really liked it more than we expected even (we did not miss any ports). A cruise is not the same as a land tour but we didn't realize before we took the trip how difficult it would have been to see the places we saw by land. We really liked the Westfjords and the Westmann Islands, for example, and those would take a lot of effort to see on your own. We also got the chance to do some decent hikes to waterfalls and it felt reasonably active. So without diminishing the benefits of a land tour I think the cruise offers at least competing benefits. The yacht club did get a little crowded at times but I don't recall ever really being frustrated. We did sometimes bundle up outside. Didn't mind the bus rides- a couple excursions had long rides to and fro through pretty countryside and a couple had 3 or 4 stops where you had to get on/off the bus to see multiple sites which lets you see a lot but also gets a little old I think.

Tier III NOx is pretty clean-- about 1/4 the emissions of Tier II-- but I think the Norwegian fjords are now zero emissions areas, meaning only electrically powered boats are allowed.

We did AMA and aren't very social-- we like to be polite and it's nice to have the occasional conversation to find out where people are from, but for better or worse we are on the cruise to spend time with people we know, not try to make new friends. Not sure if our cruise was particularly undersold but we had no problems eating by ourselves-- we generally took a booth which seats 4 and no one ever joined us. And yes, on excursions and in the lounge it was no issue to smile and nod and people and not really engage if you didn't feel like it.

We did this years ago and had a great trip-- it was just four of us on the boat with a captain (who was a wine expert) and his wife (who was an excellent chef). I just looked and it seems like they have traded up in boats and it now costs $30-40k for a week (depending on how many of you there are-- it has 3 cabins so a max of 6 people), but I am sure it would be great if that's your budget. https://www.charterbarge.com

Update for what it’s worth— our ship seemed to use an apple monitor as a screen for the cabin. Maybe in theory it would have been possible to connect my iphone using a usb port but in practice it did not seem to be (although admittedly I did not spend much time investigating it).

I was very impressed with the full sliding door/window on the Ama french balcony. Would have no problem booking that again.

Ama on the Rhine has a nice mix of options including some hikes (2-6 miles) and some bike tours (10-20 miles).

Thank you for for answering my question but also just generally for all of the information and updates!

How far up and down the river is boat traffic banned based on that gauge?

Interesting, thanks! (It would have never occurred to me either to ask them for help taking the tv off the wall or to bring a universal remote.) We do have iphones, although aircast doesn’t always work for us even at home, but if anyone has experience using those would be interested to hear.

Does anyone know if it's possible to connect a phone to a tv on Amawaterways (via a HDMI cable or even casting)? Not a big deal either way but we might download some movies to a phone if we could. thanks

We have decided last minute to do this cruise in December— any advice on choosing among the excursions? Are the hikes nice in winter?

So I assume this is nothing to actively be concerned about if we are leaving from Basel in December (that is, it is all so unpredictable there’s no point in worrying) or do you think the situation is likely to be better or worse in another month?

So our family of 3 was thinking of taking a Windstar cruise and possibly bringing an older parent. However we may not know if the parent is feeling up to it until closer in time to the cruise so I wondered if we could either book two cabins with two pax each and change the name on one if we needed to (and found someone else to come), or if we could book one cabin with 2 pax and one cabin with one person (paying the single supplement) and then adding a second passenger later and getting a refund of the single supplement or a discount to offset it off the 4th passenger's fare. Does anyone know if either of those approaches would work, or if there's another way to be flexible on a fourth passenger? (and if these would be more likely to work if booking directly with Windstar or through a travel agent?) thanks

We did this cruise a few years ago and for Curacao we actually rented a car and drove to one of the beaches up the coast. We had a lovely day there (and I recall it still left us enough time to walk around the town and the fort).

Interesting AC had problems on sunny days— do they have that problem in the Caribbean too?

It looks like Windstar is moving the Star Legend from the Caribbean to the Persian Gulf this winter. Maybe part of it is being based in North America, and having gay travel companions who may not be comfortable in those countries, but I have absolutely no interest in these itineraries and I am disappointed there will be fewer Caribbean options.

Can you share the tour provider?

We are relying on credit card insurance this trip (knock wood) but it didn’t really occur to me that it would cover this. Interesting.

We were interested in maybe doing a private excursion here, especially since our first choice for the ship's excursions seems sold out, but I am very hesitant to book one if there is decent chance we will miss the port because most companies do not seem to have a refund for a missed port. Anyone have suggestions?

Does anyone have an updated list of spa offerings (and prices), especially for the motor yachts post-furbishment, they could share? thanks!

When I looked in the T&C it said you will be told the deadline for cancellation when you get on board, but I was wondering if that means that you can always cancel excursions the first day?

I think Quark does some expedition cruise to Greenland too

I agree Viking has some very interesting itineraries but my impression is it skews older— I think someone mentioned there were only a handful of people under retirement age on a recent Norway cruise? May or may not matter to OP. Pre-pandemic Azamara had a Norwegian captain which I think some people felt was a small bonus but he might have moved on?