AmaWaterwaysReviews of amawaterways.com

"Cruise" dates: Apr 5, 2124 - Apr 13, 2024 Normandy to Paris, "Impressions of the Seine" Ships: AmaLyra and AmaDante Be aware that climate change is causing unusual extremes in the water levels of the Seine. Thus, we never got the "Scenic River Cruise" experience, instead being tied at anchor first in Le Havre then at Paris. All we got were bus rides ("Ama Busways"?). And we will not get any money back from Ama, whose motto seems to be "We got your money - see ya". But what all went wrong? Well: 1) This is sold as a high-end gourmet experience. It definitively is not. The food was unexceptional (except for the very excellent "Chef's Table", the ONLY dinner I got that was good). 2) The wait staff (on a "cruise" full of American Tourists) did not speak adequate English, so that what you ordered was rarely what you actually got. Several of my fellow passengers mentioned the same thing, so not just me. One such was "Florian" on the AmaLyra. After one dinner where he brought me two items I had said "No" to, (and having him then question why I wasn't eating them!), he screwed up my dessert order. I am 74 years old, and have never faced off with a waiter over service issues until I met him. Also, the wait staff was arrogant, often questioning my menu choices and giving "eye rolls" and other expressions of Gallic disapproval. Entirely inappropriate. It cannot be their job to critique my food choices to my face on a "cruise" I was paying for. On the AmaDante, I had run-ins with Yanko Stoychev (sp?) who took it as a personal affront when I asked for the meat to be cooked a little more. It is apparent that on Ama, beef and pork come only as "Blood Rare" or "Shoe Leather". In one meal, I asked for the pork (blood rare) to be cooked a bit more, and Yanko came out with what looked like a burnt offering and literally stood over me - not taking "no" for an answer - until I took a small byte. Made me very uncomfortable. One lunch, I tried to get a cheeseburger with "No mayonnaise". It was delivered thoroughly slathered top and bottom with a sauce - not listed on the menu - consisting of ketchup and...mayonnaise. I had to walk away from that one. At another dinner, I ordered my steak medium well (since "medium" was also way too rare), and the waitress gave me an amazed look as if I were an idiot, and asked if I was sure? She then proceeded to serve mine to another passenger and gave me the usual (bloody) one he had ordered (so we were both annoyed). When I asked for a re-do, Yanko got involved again (again taking it personally) and proceeded (without any request on my part) to bring me another order which was shoe leather (par for the course with him), and insisted I try it. I did, and sent it back again. Third time was no charm, as he brought me yet another one overdone, at which point I gave up and told him it was fine - the only way to make him go away. Again, in all my years of dining out, I have returned a meal only twice; I beat that total in one meal here. 3) Ama advertises ship-board Internet but delivers only very low speed spotty service which was frequently unvailable. So if the Internet *might* be important to you, be advised that you will be stepping back in time at least 12 years to when such service was more normal. Also, one morning after breakfast (with only 20 minutes to go until the bus tours were to leave), all the toilets on board stopped working. Was not fun, I assure you. I was later told that this was rectified fairly quickly. 4) The Cruise Director ("Dragan") was a great guy and a very good director; however, the immense number of changes in venues caused by the situation made him frequently unavailable. I feel genuinely sorry for that guy in such a no-win situation. And the situation caused some of the excursion options to become unavailable, so again, what I got was not what was advertised and paid for. So, this experience was very much not as advertised. I will never book anything with Ama based on this experience, and suggest that if you are seeking a good cruise vacation, look elsewhere. This was, to be polite, stressful; our once-in-a-lifetime splurge vacation pretty much ruined. Update 4-17-2024: "Ama cannot find me in their database". So how was I given an ID card on board the two ships to access my room and to check on and off board?

We booked a cruise and pre-trip to Egypt departing next year but had to cancel because my wife fell while in Japan in September and broke her femur. Even though we cancelled 9 months before the trip, AMA charged use the full insurance premium even though we had only made a 9.8% deposit on the trip. We were aware of the contractual penalty but not the forfeiture of the 91.2% of the insurance for which there was no risk. The difference was over $3000 so no small change. No one from the company ever discussed this issue during booking process other than to say insurance would be 13% of the trip cost. Seems fraudulent and have reported issue to State Insurance Commissioner.

Despite your reply to my complaint on here earlier, and an email to Customer services as you suggested....I still have had NOTHING from you. No I would never travel with you again.....your staff are downright rude and untrained. We paid alot of money for this which was our last holiday abroad as my husband has Parkinson's disease and Dementia. I thought this would be perfect as everything was included....your cruise Manager fell down in his duties.

We booked a Nile Cruise with AmaWaterways and we’re told that the deposit would be refunded if we had insurance. We took out insurance. Before making the final payment Covid was still a concern so we thought it better to cancel. The insurance company, AIG, refused to issue a refund! We always enjoyed AnaWaterways and had four great cruises but based on our recent experience we will never book a cruise with them again! Our advice to anyone considering booking with AMA, DON’T BOOK! David Olsen

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!

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.

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.