AmaWaterwaysReviews of amawaterways.com

Since AMA is no longer family owned but corporate they are using lies and schemes to trick people into booking future cruises. The water levels interrupted our cruise itinerary during our Eastern European cruise and we were promised a 40% return on our cruise fare to use on a future cruise. If we put down an additional deposit we would get another 5% off to stack on top of that. Normally a 2 year grace period applies for such a promotion. After we had been home for 3 weeks we were informed that we had 3 months to book the next cruise and it had to be for the following year. Overseas travel is usually booked 1 and 1/2 to 2 years out. Our calendar was already full, It is evident that Ama does not care about repeat business. They seek to scam you once then move on to the next person. We did contact customer service at AMA and were told nothing could be done. Basically they do not care.

This was our first river cruise and in fact our first ever cruise, it was very expensive and for a 7 day cruise never again. Out of a boat of 145 passengers we were the only Brits which was ok but most of the time we were made to feel like interlopers. When we arrived in Budapest there was no one to greet us and thank goodness we had a great taxi driver who helped us with the luggage. We saw the Captain twice on board and he didn't even acknowledge us. At the end of the cruise, they cannot wait to get you off the boat, breakfast finishes at 8.30 am and then get off, that evening I had the trots. Great end to a very ,very, expensive holiday Done it ,got the T-shirt ,NEVER AGAIN !

Inquired about a Danube River Cruise in August 2026 online and spoke to agent on the phone. Agent was pleasant and took further information. Received email a couple hours later with a quote for September 2026 for a cruise in France. Felt like a complete waste of time and a poor first impression. Will likely look to another company

We have traveled on Ama several times in the past and have been very impressed, these trips were in Europe. We booked a trip on the Magdalena River which was to include pre and post cruise stays. Originally we were to leave Feb 18, 2024 and return home March 4, 2024. Ama cancelled that trip and offered a small $500 if we rebooked. I rebooked the trip on the AmaMelodia, and they now have cancelled that cruise as well. The first cancellation cost us over $2400.00 because of the increase in airfare to rebook the flights, yet Ama offered a discount of $500.00, which was less than 10% of our initial booking for the cruise alone. For this second cancellation, they are offering nothing, except a form letter emailed to us. I have lost faith in Ama Waterways!!

First AMA trip on Danube was great. Recent Duoro cruise was quite unremarkable. Ship seemed cramped. They were two great, fantastic staff—Christina the sommelier was absolutely fantastic as was the hotel manager. Excursion guides were also great. The front desk and lounge crew never made eye contact, never smiled, and seemed to lack English language skills. Made the whole experience seem lackluster and ordinary. Very different from my previous AMA cruise. I wouldn’t go on another AMA Douro cruise if it was free. I would not recommend this cruise. Maybe try the Danube instead.

Took a 7 day cruise with extended family in a larger group. The furnishings on the ship are gorgeous and comfortable, the excursions lovely and Maung who did our housekeeping was second to none. That’s where any positives ended. The rest of the staff varied between ultra friendly to downright hostile so much so that I often avoided ordering a drink - and I am someone who often gets told that I’m the smiliest person people have ever met. Food, although very well presented, was mediocre and the 2 vegetarians in our group were served meat on more than one occasion (wrong order). For their Chef’s table evening, they were served bland salad and chewy spring rolls as alternatives. Most of our group, as with most passengers were American. Being British myself, in a conversation with Dinu, hotel manager, I told him that my father was originally Lebanese and he responded ‘I’ve been there, Lebanese are great - they are nothing like Arabs which makes them great and which is what I like about them and some even have blue eyes’. Telling someone so openly something this racist was shocking and I needed to calm my partner down who wanted to complain about this comment - this is the hotel manager who should know better. He then went on to say ‘My favourite place is Israel in the Middle East, and they are better than the Palestinians who just cause trouble’. I couldn’t believe this man was getting political with absolutely no exchange of a political nature from us. Finally, by the end of the cruise, at least half the passengers were showing signs of sickness and on the last morning we found out that staff knew of Covid cases and didn’t provide tests, masks or warnings. Given most of the passengers were elderly and a few who had recent cancer treatment, this kind of outbreak should be taken more seriously. Our whole group tested positive a day or two following the end of the cruise.

After taking a wonderful cruise down the Danube, five years ago, my husband and I decided to take another cruise with Ama waterways. This time we took the Rhine cruise from Basil, Switzerland to Amsterdam, with a pre-cruise trip in Lake Como. I am sad to say, that we were both incredibly disappointed. It seems that AMAwaterways has drastically changed… The food was terrible, absolutely inedible. The menu was completely unappealing, and it was difficult to find anything that you wanted to order. The rolls that were served on day one were fresh…. with each day, the rolls became harder and staler. I am gluten-free, and they gave me a piece of gluten-free bread with each meal by day three the bread was so hard and so stale that I could not eat it. And even though I told the company I was gluten-free two months ahead of the cruise as I filled out their long, required paperwork, they were still unable to provide so much is a cookie at snack time that would be gluten-free. Every day the cookie jar was put out and I was told by my husband and friends, that the cookies were as hard as rocks and tasted like cardboard. But the most disgusting food were the hamburgers! They were filled with gritty substances and fellow diners needed to use their napkins to take large pieces out of their mouth. It was revolting. The ship’s entertainment was cringe-worthy….(an accordion player). The cabins were immaculate as was the ship….the staff could not have tried harder to please, or worked harder….but they were understaffed in the dining room and meals were super long…sometimes, there would be 20 minute gaps between courses….painful! The price for AMA is much more expensive than Viking and other most other competitors….I would not recommend AMA. If Tauck is the equivalent of The Four Seasons….AMA charges Marriott prices and feels more like a Holiday Inn Express. (Serving food that is not up the standards of a BurgerKing).

We booked a Danube Christmas river cruise, along with another couple, on the AMABella on 2/11/20, departing Budapest on 12/5/22. We took advantage of a cabin upgrade offer and were both booked in AA class cabins. We heard nothing further from Amawaterways (except confirmation of our final payment) until we boarded 12/5/22. Before heading to the ship on 12/5/22 we were told by another passenger that the ship had been changed to the AMAStella. We never did get any notification from AMA of the ship change and several passengers taxied around the dock area for some time trying to find the AMABella. Upon boarding we were informed that both bookings had been downgraded 2 cabin levels to category BA rooms (smaller sq ft). Ours was ultimately only downgraded 1 level to a AB class cabin. The other couple remained in a BA class cabin. No one on board could explain why we had been picked for the downgrade. All we heard was talk to corporate. Some crew members told us the ship change had happened more than a week ago. We had been on another AMA cruise, same itinerary, pre-pandemic. And we were told by the AMAStella hotel manager that all covid restrictions had been lifted. On this cruise there was no breakfast buffet. If you wanted water with breakfast you had to order it and it was delivered in a small glass. If you wanted more, same process. They did not refill water glasses in the morning. There was no dessert table at lunch or dinner. On the past cruise there was a dessert table you could go to make an ice cream sundae or pickup whatever dessert you wanted. Not anymore. We felt the menu was overly embellished, more style over substance. Portions were small. Steak entrée was small and tough. Chicken entrée was smaller than amount of chicken in their classic salad. It was like the whole dinning experience had been cheapened. On the positive side the staff tried to do a good job. The tours were good. The ship was clean and well maintained. We had booked directly with AMA. I called our booking agent about the cabin problem on 12/5/22. He was unaware of the problem but ultimately said "it would be made right". Ultimately AMA Guest Relations made us a settlement offer that we felt was insulting. Given the cabin downgrade, the the fact we were not notified of the downgrade before boarding and hence not given the opportunity to cancel or change our booking, and the meager settlement that was offered, we will no longer be cruising with AMA. Clearly we were not valued customers of AMA given that cabin priority was given other guests even though we had booked over 2.5 years ago. Ignoring the cabin problem, in our opinion the cruise was simply not good value for the money.