River cruise ships are well described as floating hotels. Your hotel room travels, mostly overnight, with you so there is minimal packing and unpacking as you see the sights-- only in Prague. I also brings your restaurant along.
The Amalyra is one the most recent clones of AMA Waterways six more or less identical ships which are used on all AMA Waterways cruises except the Rhone and Duro Rivers and in Russia. What we found on the Amalyra should be what you can expect to find on any of them except perhaps for the unusually good food on the Amalyra. The chef was Austrian. The chef on the cruise where we had the next best food was also Austrian.
These sister ships carry 140-150 passengers in cabins on three decks. The top two decks have French balconies, rooms with sliding floor to ceiling doors opening up to a railing so you don’t fall off, but no floor outside the door. Faux balcony would be a better name. There are two cabin sizes. Standard cabins are 170 sq. ft. This is a small room, but large by river boat standards. The four suites are 225 sq. ft., but the extra furniture doesn’t allow for much added floor space. There was considerable storage space, as river boats go.
The entertainment system included six satellite TV stations in English and free internet access. Unfortunately, the internet access used another technological disaster from Microsoft, an operating system unlike any other MS system I’ve ever see, and I've been suffering them since 1982. None of the basic key board commands, like “enter,” have the same effect they usually have. There was no mouse. Instead, there was a small touch screen that kind of works like a mouse, but enough different that a week isn’t long enough to get the hang of it. No doubt some web addicts mastered it, but we quit trying after it took an hour to figure out how at access our email account.
The floor to ceiling windows which filled the entire outside wall had very good light blocking curtains. The beds were large, comfortable, and came with OK pillows. At night, the clock lights up if you touch the cover over the face of the clock.
The A/C/heat / ventilation was fairly quiet and did not create much noticeable breeze in the room, although we found the low speed on the fan to work fine and never had it up to high.
At one point, the in room safe misbehaved and would not open. It was promptly fixed.
The bathroom was commendable, probably a bit larger than typical, but also very well designed to make the best use of a small space. No tub, but the shower was superior, roomier than most and with three shower heads, one fixed position above, a hand held, and an adjustable one aimed a chest-stomach level. The controls for the shower look like a computer, but they are fun to play with to explore all the ways the water can hit you.
There was an exercises room with a treadmill, a rowing machine, something else, and a sauna. The hot tub was on the Sun Deck, and not very hot. The Amalyra and its twins carry 20 bicycles which passengers can use ashore. A group of exercise fiends rode the bikes from Melk to Durnstein while the Amalyra sailed down the river.
The main lounge, large enough to seat all passengers, in the front of the ship, incorporated the bar and the invariable on board keyboard artist. The nicely arraigned lounge had several different styles of seats, a good touch as ships with only one style can become very uncomfortable if you don't like the fit with that ubiquitous chair. The aft lounge had a different style of chairs. The Sun Deck had three different models, including a frustrating chaise lounge that only had two positions for the back– too straight up and too far back. Get creative– drag one over to the rail, position it at a distance from the rail where the back of the chaise is stopped by the rail at the angle you like.
Very unusual for a river cruise, there were two families on board with children, including a little four year old girl who was a real trooper. We commented to her mom on how happy the kid seem to be. Mom said, “you don’t get to see the bad times.”
For on board entertainment, a keyboard artist was part of the crew, playing during teatime and every evening except when there was an outside entertainer. One night's outside entrainment featured Hansi, a one man musical variety act who played a six different instruments performing Austrian folk music. Another night, The Aphrodites, an all girl band of two violins, one viola, a bass, and piano played show tunes. Other nights, it was Peter at the keyboard.
There is always a required safety drill conducted by the Captain. Our lesson went something like this. 'There is only one life boat. It is to retrieve passengers who fall overboard, not to abandon ship, except for the Captain. It is required you learn how to put on the life jacket. If we start to sink, you will be surprised how fast we can get to shore. If we sink, go to the third deck or the sun deck. They will be above the water when the ship sits on the bottom. '
I was walking through the reception area one day when the Captain was sitting behind the desk. He asked if I would like to see the engine room. I said, “Sure.” He made a phone call, and the Chief Engineer soon arrived to show me the engines-- 2,000 horse power twin diesels with propellers that rotate 360 degrees.
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