A nice cruise, I would recommend We had a lovely cruise. We started on the Amamora but due to high water levels we had to leave our boat and transfer to the Amaserena. The latter was slightly older. We preferred the staterooms in the Amamora. The staff on both boats were exceptional, nothing was too much trouble. Everything is very well organised including the boat switching! The food presentation was superb tho some dishes tasted a little bland. Overall I would recommend Ama Waterways.

Took a 7 day cruise… 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.

Obtaining a Refund from AMA We have toured with AMA twice. We were happy with the service. In June 2021, my wife and I booked a land/river tour from Madrid to Porto with AMA. They wanted $400 per person deposit. A final payment of $5308 per person due February 2022. As the deadline approached, we were very concerned about the pandemic outbreak in Europe. I have a compromised respiratory system and I fear being infected while on our tour. AMA rules for cancellation are ridged. If we decide to cancel within 120 days of departure we lose our $800 deposit. I spoke to a AMA agent concerning recovering our $800 deposit. She said if we pay an additional $175 ($350 total) per person, we would get a $800 credit toward another AMA tour. This made no sense. I read through the fine print of the contract online and found a section about terms of cancellation. It said "...unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances are...significant risks to human health such as serious disease...which make it impossible to travel safely" One problem: this clause is for UK guests only. Why are they treated differently? They are not separated on the tour boat. After numerous emails and calls, AMA decided to refund us half ($200 pp) of our original deposit of $400 pp. They refused to issue a credit toward another river cruise for the remaining $400.

My wife's parents took a trip with this… My wife's parents took a trip with this company where they departed 9/24/2022. They unfortunately contracted COVID by the time they arrived in Bilbao, Spain, and had to return to the US on 9/27/2022. AmaWaterways booked them a flight on Lufthansa/United from BIO to MUN to ORD to DEN for $2,800/person in economy. I did a quick search online and a round trip, with departure the same day, on the same airlines, with one fewer stop - BIO to MUN to DEN was $1,100/person. This seems like they were scammed out of thousands of dollars. I would like AmaWaterways to respond to this exorbitant charge.

Choose another company or at least, itinerary This river cruise line was recommended by our TA and we were very disappointed all around with our first river cruise. The food was marginal at best, service could have been better (except for 3 outstanding employees) and the woman working the front 'welcoming desk' was not happy to be there; we heard others voice feedback about why is she working there! As for the excursions, they were pretty packed and many required hour long bus rides to cities. Then we had to deal with 'slow walkers' who didn't pay attention to the 'active tour' detail versus taking the 'gentle walkers' tour. The the average age of passengers on this particular cruise was over 70 - we weren't expecting a 'floating senior citizen home' !! And last item, for any of you readers thinking of choosing AMA and this particular route, the only night we (and quite a few other passengers) got a good night's sleep was when the ship was stationary; the captain increased the speed at night (obviously when he thought many would be asleep) but the walls of the cabin and the bed were rattling and vibrating all night making it impossible to get to sleep; and we were on deck two near mid ship! If we ever decide to try another river cruise, it will be with Tauck or Uniworld and a different itinerary. p.s. and the entertainment was pretty much 'non-existent - one night they brought on board a singing duo - they were fun but the rest of the nights consisted of 'elevator music' by a man playing an electric piano - disappointing there also!