AMAWaterways or Crystal River

[islandhalls]

We're mostly ocean cruisers, but we have done three rivers cruises, one with Tauck and two with AMAWaterways.

 

We were doing the research for summer 2018 and had decided on AMA for 14 nights Amsterdam to Budapest. On Friday our travel agent suggested we look into Crystal River Cruises, who is just beginning this route with a new ship in September. Crystal is 15 nights and includes overnights in Vienna and Passau, which is appealing.

 

The online information looks impressive, but obviously it's a new venture for Crystal. Crystal is more inclusive and probably more expensive. A new ship is always fun, the shore excursions look wonderful, but ... would you go with a establish river cruise provider or trust your vacation to a new player?

 

I would appreciate your thoughts? Anyone out there been on a Crystal River cruise yet?

[Host Jazzbeau]

Crystal started running river cruises last year with one ship, Crystal Mozart, which is an older unique design (double-wide) that they purchased and extensively refurbished. This gives them some experience on the Danube that will be relevant for the cruise you are considering. And Crystal is well established as a dependable luxury ocean cruise line. That said, you would be sailing not just on a newly built ship but a whole new design. Even for Crystal there will probably be a learning curve during the first season. My guess is it will be a terrific cruise, but the biggest unanswerable question is how well Crystal's new ships will handle low water situations. Mozart is apparently fairly deep. That's where the AMA ships really shine, as they are able to keep sailing longer than most other river cruise lines.

[Gourmet Gal]

The prices could very well be comparable to Tauck or better on Crystal. I recently priced cruises on both lines and Crystal was less expensive. On the oceans Crystal is definitely not the priciest. New is nice and there have been some favorable reviews of Crystal's river product but only for the extra large ship that sails only on the Danube. Can you wait until you can read reviews for the smaller, newer ships coming this summer?

[cruisr]

Crystal, imho, would be a more luxury, more all inclusive than your previous Tauck and more than AMAWATERWAYS. The cuisine, and the Michelin * dining ashore as well as many luxury tour inclusions would sway me. Also, the dining onboard, from the info I received from friends, surpassed any other river cruise they had been on, including AMA. Also, if open seating dining is important then you need to choose Crystal.

 

Ama is a great product though and you can't go wrong. It will be less expensive and possibly almost as expensive, depending on the itinerary.

I enjoyed my AMA and Uniworld river cruises and am looking forward to Crystal River cruises.

 

Whatever you do, enjoy.

[Gourmet Gal]

Tauck has open seating as well and is all inclusive.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Crystal River Cruises have adopted the "Viking model" and the latest 2018 brochure (18RW2E17R-2_M) show all fares as 2-for-1 pricing. I guess we should all rush to book. ;)

[JohnKen3]

My second time on the Mozart in less than one year come September 2017. It must be good.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=561368

 

https://johnken3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/dec-21-2917-jan-4-2017-christmasnew.html

 

As I said, many fellow passengers I met on the Mozart were from Crystal, Seaboard and Silversea; i.e. luxury ocean cruisers who wanted to try a river cruise. They seem to be enjoy the Crystal river cruise experience.

 

No review of any other Crystal river cruise experience other than the Mozart so far since there have been none. This should change soon.

 

Crystal is not a new player to cruising. It is an established cruise company bring its ocean style luxury experience to the rivers. Crystal is known for its food and its service on the ocean. All I can say is that the food (at least at dinner) on the Mozart is far superior to its two large ocean sisters so that is really saying something. The service is almost matches up to the ocean vessels but still need more a bit more supervision from ocean crew seconded to the river vessels.

 

Likewise, Viking and Scenic are bringing their river cruise experiences to the oceans. I would say it is easier scaling down in size and more difficult scaling up.

 

The one major complaint I had previously was the internet on board but that has now been fixed.

 

I was impressed with the four dedicated coaches that followed the Mozart. Loads of rooms to spread out and the chance to offer differrent excursion option. On my Uniworld Rhine cruises, there we only two dedicated coaches that followed our river boat. I almost gave up on river cruising after my Uniworld experience. That was all inclusive and open seating as well but so so different. My Crystal Mozart cruise was a lot closer to my ocean cruising experience

 

Dining was a key differrence. Two venues for lunch daily (except on embarkation day and the odd day here and there) and two venues for dinner for many nights. The menu at both venues is completely different. An all day self-service bistro like you get on ocean ships. You can get a proper breakfast at the main restaurant or a late breakfast at the bistro once the main restaurant is closed. Tea and coffee is freshly made at the bistro. There are a couple of self service expresso machines at other times in one of the lounge area.

 

Do not get carried away with butler service for all staterooms on board. This really means glorified room service.

Edited July 10, 2017 by JohnKen3

[islandhalls]

Thank you all for your input, especially JohnKen3! It looks like we'll give Crystal a go!!!!

 

 

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