AmaWaterways Wins 5 Readers Choice WAVE Awards from TravelAge West Magazine
By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
I guess it is no surprise to me that AmaWaterways is in the winner’s circle again—we consider them the best river cruise company among a lot of good choices for European river cruises.
If you have read our 2020-2021 company comparisons, there are many factors that make AmaWaterways a special company and they deserve the recognition from these awards.
This is the real deal folks—there are many good options and 5 worthy contenders in each category, yet AmaWaterways is consistently voted the best by travel agents during the Wave (Western Agents’ Votes of Excellence) Awards.
We know a lot about how hard these awards are to win—we won a Trendsetters Runner-Up Wave Award for Best Targeted Marketing Idea in 2018.
Here are the categories they won, based on voting by travel agents—the folks who are the most knowledgeable about the best river cruise companies:
River Cruise Line with the Highest Client Satisfaction
Best New Ship (River Cruise) AmaMagna
Best Onboard Dining (River Cruise)
Best River Cruise Line for Families
River Cruise Line Providing the Best Travel Advisor Support
This slide was created by AmaWaterways and they kindly gave us permission to use it in this blog
Ready?—let’s go together and learn all about the awards.
River Cruise Line with the Highest Client Satisfaction
We all know how much satisfied customers means to any business and AmaWaterways excels consistently with guests.
Basically, this means that the products and services of AmaWaterways meets or exceeds customer expectation.
Our clients often feel the same way—it is one reason so many of our river cruise clients chose to sail with AmaWaterways.
Best New Ship (River Cruise)—the AmaMagna
There is only one true Giant on the Danube—the AmaMagna, the ultimate European river cruise ship. She sails the upper and lower Danube River routes.
AmaMagna. Image from AmaWaterways
Built in 2019, the magnificent AmaMagna has 96 staterooms and carries 196 passengers. She is a long ship (443 ft long or 110 meter) but double wide at 72 ft—most other river cruise ships are only 38 ft wide. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, she will not carry a full 196 passengers.
It is the largest river cruise ship in Europe.
Here is a quick summary of the dining options:
There are 4 dining options—the main dining room, Jimmy’s Wine Bar, the Al Fresco dining area and the chef’s table.
Al Fresco Dining Area. Photo from AmaWaterways
•Regionally inspired cuisine made with locally sourced ingredients
•The Chef’s Table specialty restaurant
•Welcome Cocktail, Welcome Dinner, Captain's Cocktail and Gala Dinner
•La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs exclusive dining experience
•Unlimited fine wine, beer and soft drinks with lunch and dinner
•Unlimited sparkling wine and fresh juice with breakfast
•Sip & Sail Cocktail Hour with complimentary wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks
•Tapas, sandwiches, snacks and refreshments served daily in the Main Lounge
There is a lot of personal space, as the suites range from 355 sq ft to 710 sq ft, most featuring full balconies.
Other onboard features include an upper and lower lounges (with intimate pockets to relax unhindered); a water sports platform (it has a Sundowner vessel for an excursion at no extra charge); a Zen wellness studio with fitness center offering exercise classes led by a professional wellness host, 2 massage rooms plus manicure and pedicure services; and an expansive sun deck with a large heated pool and a pop-up sky bar.
Trust me—there is nothing like this sailing on any European Rivers by any other river cruise company.
Best Onboard Dining (River Cruise)
After sailing on AmaWaterways 17 times, we agree wholeheartedly with this award. There is no extra charge for all these options, so this makes it even a better deal.
The main dining room serves most of the meals you will eat on board this river ship. Breakfast and lunch used to be buffet style with options to order off the menu, but now all items are served to guests.
Most days I select the Eggs Benedict along with complimentary unlimited sparkling wine and fresh juices to start my day. All breads are freshly baked every day and they even make homemade ice cream for dessert at lunch.
Here is a sample lunch menu (quite an impressive selection, in my opinion):
Every evening on the dinner menu (a 4 course affair of an appetizer, a soup or salad course, a main course and dessert), there are 3 Entrée’s choices—usually a meat dish, a fish dish and a vegetarian option.—all are excellent! Here are some of our meals—they were awesome!
There is an Always Available Menu that features a steak, a grilled chicken breast, and a vegetarian or pasta option.
The lunch and dinner meals feature a white and red wine from the region you are sailing thru and they change daily (not every river cruise lines changes wines every day or offers included wine and beer). There is also beer and other beverages.
One item of note—portions are slightly smaller in recent sailings and for the baby boomers of our generation, this is a smart move. You can always have more food, but even for big eaters like me, the portions were properly sized.
I do have to point out that on the Always Available Menu, I usually get the steak once during the cruise. It always is large, and very tasty. Here is a photo—looks very good, doesn’t it!
The Chef’s Table. In Europe, each AmaWaterways ship has the chef’s table specialty restaurant. This small dining venue (usually no more than 28 guests) features a kitchen where your meal is prepared right in front of you. This unique menu is paired with carefully selected fine wines. It is truly a great experience. At least each year the menu changes, so we will look forward to our next sailing to see what great new features will be added to this fun dining experience. Here are some pictures from our past Chef’s Table experiences:
AMA spends more than most other river cruise lines on the food and wines and it shows, especially in this unique dining venue. We always go during our cruises and always arrange for the groups we led to dine together—it’s always a superb experience!
But that is not the only culinary achievement—they are the only river cruise line inducted into the La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a prestigious international gastronomic society dedicated to fine cuisine.
The entire European fleet and President Rudi Schreiner were honored. According to the AmaWaterways website, the society was
“Founded in Paris in 1950 to honor the royal Guild of Goose Roasters (whose origins date back to the 13th century), it is the oldest and largest food and wine society in the world. Membership to La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is by invitation only and is extended to those possessing world-class culinary acumen.”
If you want good food and wine on a river cruise, go on AmaWaterways—it seems a lot of other travel advisors share our opinion! Pretty easy to see why the won the Best Onboard Dining Wave Award for River Cruising in 2020.
Best River Cruise Line for Families
We have seen first-hand how well AmaWaterways helps families have superior vacations.
Here is just a partial list:
Flexibility—multiple tour and activity options help make all ages enjoy the trip-it could be active with the bikes or hiking, seeing and touring castles, a wine tasting for adults, seeing sights you have only read about in in a safe, organized tour. Multi-generational family members do their own thing yet get to share the overall experience.
Wellness--Almost all raters of Europe river cruising companies, cite AmaWaterways for their active and wellness program. All European riverships have a wellness host—leading exercise classes, bike tours and hikes—we have seen this program in action and it is excellent.
Adjoining accommodations—since 2016 several staterooms have these adjoining staterooms—sure makes easy to travel with the family.
Hassle free—unpack once for 7 days and spend your time having fun—meals, tours are included.
Here are 4 great ideas from AmaWaterways for family friendly cruises (these 4 slides are from AmaWaterways and we were given permission to include them in this blog):
River Cruise Line Providing the Best Travel Advisor Support
Again, with our great partnership with AmaWaterways has helped our customers have the best possible vacations.
I just can’t say enough how all are always ready to go the extra mile for our clients—the can do friendly spirit is always there in all our dealings.
It starts with my group coordinator’s—Kristie, Jennifer (my two past group coordinators) and now Brandon and the highly responsive groups department—you folks rock!
Our Business Development Manager, Sheila, is a gem—fully of energy, great ideas and suggestions—makes our business better with every idea and actions on our behalf.
The responsive Marketing Department helps us tell the AmaWaterways story properly.
Upper level managers Janet, Alex and co-owners Gary and Kristin (one of the co-founders with Rudi) have created a company our clients want to sail on and a company all can be proud about.
In all our dealings with AmaWaterways, even if we only sold one or two river cruises at first, we were and continue to be treated like we are the most important partner in whole world. Believe me, not all vendors treat us this way.
No wonder they are voted the best at providing support to the travel age community.
How these Awards help you decide on the Right Vendor for your next River Cruise Vacation
There are a lot of good options for a river cruise vacation but knowing who does it best helps you make good decisions and add value to your vacation purchase by spending your dollars wisely.
AmaWaterways business culture benefits you, our clients and potential clients—they have the right product for you in most cases and now, since you are the right person to take a river cruise, we just have to figure out when the time is right for your vacation.
And, here is a quick reminder—along with the right company, we are the right folks to help you—please just read our qualifications in the next paragraph.
Our Primary Specialty--Are We the Right Folks to Plan your Next European River Cruise?
Our knowledge of Europe river cruises is exceptional. We are primarily partnered with AmaWaterways because they usually provide the best option for our customers.
We have been on 18 Europe river cruises, written over 60 blogs about all aspects of Europe river cruises, have 3 items on the first page of Google, we have 51 port guides (they are free) for you, and we have helped dozens enjoy river cruising in Europe.
And if that we not enough, we have 50 free guides to most Europe Cities you might want to visit before or after your Europe river cruise.
My Final Thoughts
Wow! What great travel partners—AmaWaterways and us—Visit Dream Destinations, LLC!
Why don’t you give us a call today—let’s start planning your river cruise in 2021 or 2022 now!
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations. As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.
When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
