AMA - The Enchanting Rhine Review

[thepoint]

AMA Waterways The Enchanting Rhine

Amsterdam to Basel - Ship: AMALyra

September 2, 2016 to September 9, 2016

Post Stay 2 Nights in Lucerne 2 Nights in Zurich

 

Overall we had a wonderful time. The ship was clean, the service and the food were excellent. We arrived in Amsterdam one day early and stayed at the Amsterdam Marriott. Transportation from the airport to the hotel was arranged in advanced by the Concierge and was $90 Euro for six adults. This is a good price if you are with a group. We spent the day walking around the city, went through the red light district and visited the Ann Frank House. If you are interested in visiting the Ann Frank House, you must make your reservations at least two months in advance through their website. The tickets sell out fast, so keep an eye on the website. The hotel is located in a very good location for walking and restaurants.

 

We boarded the ship on Friday morning and were served a light lunch while waiting for our room. Our room was 306. It is a quiet location and you do not feel any vibrations or hear noise from the ships engine. The rooms at the end of the hallway tend to be a bit noisy. Going through the locks is interesting and viewing the castles on the Rhine makes for a fun day onboard.

 

All of the tours were very good. Cruise Director, Sonja, was excellent. She is very informative, helpful and a real plus on the post tour portion. Our waiter Andreas was great. He was very friendly and has a great overall disposition. His recommendations were always right on. There is plenty to choose from on the menu. We did not dine at the Chef's table which is an option for everyone onboard to have dinner there once at no additional charge. Dalia our room attendant was also very pleasant and so helpful and accommodating.

 

The post tours in Lucerne and Zurich were the highlight of the trip. The tours and the tour guides were exceptional. The optional tour in Lucerne to the Swiss Mountain is well worth the trip as is the optional tour in Zurich to the Rhine Falls. The hotel Ameron Flora in Lucerne was ok, but nothing special. The Continental Hotel in Zurich was much nicer and served a very good breakfast.

 

Two disappointments. One was Koblenz. We arrived on a Sunday night about 10:00 pm and departed at 8:00 am in the morning. Even if we had arrived at the designated time of 8:00 pm, it would not have made a difference as it was Sunday night and everything was closed except for bars and restaurants. The other was docking location. This was our second Rhine cruise and the first time we were usually docked so that you could walk right into the town. This time we were docked a little further away which required bus travel, all in all I guess it is not that big of an issue.

 

This was our third AMA trip and we would not hesitate to book future trips. The staff is outstanding. If anyone has questions I would be happy to try and answer them.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Glad you had a great trip! It sounds very much like our experience on AMA on this route in 2013. It is AMA's practice on the upstream itinerary to arrive at Koblenz in the evening and depart the next morning -- we had a nice walking tour after dinner led by our CD, but I remember reading other reviews that it was too dark to see anything so maybe they arrived late as you did. We stayed at the Radisson Blu in Lucerne which was nice but not the most convenient location, and we were in an annex of the Continental in Zurich which was not nice at all.

[tribbs1]

Glad you had a nice trip. I sailed on the AMALyra on the Danube last October and had a great time. Our cruise director was a man and he was excellent. I am leaving from Basel on the AMACerto in a few weeks. We received notification that we will not be able to dock in Strasbourg (we were supposed to overnight there) and I am very disappointed as I wanted to spend more time there. We are docking quite a bit farther upriver and then busing down to Strasbourg. We also are not docking in Speyer, but will be bused there as well. When I spoke to my BDM (I have a group of 26 on this sailing) I was told that the Rhine is very overcrowded with river cruise traffic and that is why we were bumped from docking in Strasbourg. Also, she indicated that Viking has some agreements in place (or may own the docks) and they have first preference. In any case, this cruise will be different from my last cruise on the Rhine since we are not docking in 2 specific ports and being bussed.

This one will be fun though with all of our friends!

[thepoint]

. When I spoke to my BDM (I have a group of 26 on this sailing) I was told that the Rhine is very overcrowded with river cruise traffic and that is why we were bumped from docking in Strasbourg. Also, she indicated that Viking has some agreements in place (or may own the docks) and they have first preference. In any case, this cruise will be different from my last cruise on the Rhine since we are not docking in 2 specific ports and being bussed.

This one will be fun though with all of our friends!

 

 

This is what we had heard also, there are more river cruises then prior years and Viking owns some of the docks. AMA seemed to be getting the Docking space furtherest away from the town. It is still a great way to travel. Have fun.

[KathyK13]

This is what we had heard also, there are more river cruises then prior years and Viking owns some of the docks. AMA seemed to be getting the Docking space furtherest away from the town. It is still a great way to travel. Have fun.

 

That's very disappointing. We loved being docked right in town on our Seine and Danube cruises; we were able to spend more time in town and make our own way back to the ship. Having the ship docked far from town makes one more dependent on the buses provided by the ship. Is there any way of finding out which lines are still able to dock in towns? We are looking at taking an AMA or Avalon Rhine cruise next year, but may change our minds if docking continues to be an issue. We aren't interested in Viking mainly because of the small stateroom size.

[thepoint]

I was thinking that the next time we book a cruise, I would try asking AMA where the ship would be docking in each port. I don't know if a customer service person would know the answer, but it would be worth a try. We were told that they have there spot assigned a year in advance. That would make sense for scheduling purposes. It is worth asking.

[caviargal]

Is there any way of finding out which lines are still able to dock in towns? We are looking at taking an AMA or Avalon Rhine cruise next year, but may change our minds if docking continues to be an issue. We aren't interested in Viking mainly because of the small stateroom size.

 

 

This can change, based on time of year, boat traffic, etc. IMO, too early to know details of docking locations for next year this far out.

[notamermaid]

Viking having "preference" as regards docking locations on the Rhine and Danube has simple historic reasons. Viking took over the KD river cruises fleet in Germany. Viking started out in Russia then moved to the western European market. KD did the original cruises for some decades (they are the longest-running "Aktiengesellschaft" joint-stock company noted at a stock exchange in Germany) on their lovely white ships. A few here on CC have travelled with the Alemannia and the Britannia during their Viking time. Those ships have been taken over by other operators. Viking used the original KD landing stages or built new ones before other companies entered the market. This has happened in many towns along those two rivers. Other companies just simply "came later" and often use the landing stages provided by the local authorities built due to popular demand.

 

In Amsterdam (which is not a historical port for KD, it used to be Rotterdam originally) there is so much demand now that there appears to be no preference now. Viking sometimes docks way out. We have a thread on this from last year.

 

Some towns are struggling with the cons of "mass" river cruising now. I will write a little info on that in the thread "The increasing popularity of river cruising".

 

Docking times are known early as the itineraries are fixed - as you know - more than a year in advance. Some docking locations will stay the same. It depends on the town. Some locations are changed at short notice, the harbour master allocates the docking places.

 

notamermaid