On AmaDante Now

[tulok]

This is our first Ama but many river cruises. We usually sail with Uniworld so I will compare the two. This is same itinerary that I sailed 2 years ago so that makes it easier to compare.

Pros: The cruise director is the best we have ever had. The tours have been nice and the tour guides have been great.

 

Cons: (I can only give my opinion so I

am sorry to those that love Ama) This will probably be our last Ama. The staff have been slow and at times rude. Especially the bar servers. Many times I went all

lunch without anything but water. I have seen passengers have to go up to the server stating they have been waiting 30mins for a drink. Today for Normandy we had to make our box lunch. I thought that was a nice idea, no condiments so the sandwich was very dry. Had to eat in the bus because no lunch time was built in. 

We came back at 6p and social hour was cut by 30mins. Which is funny since no one was here to drink with lunch so it saved them money.

I know these are little things but I was afraid of not having all-inclusive was going to make a difference and it does. I hate signing a little piece of paper and having to

make sure they get it. For some this makes no difference which is why there are choices. 

[CastleCritic]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the bar staff, make sure you note it on the feedback form.

 

Was this the one way cruise or the Paris->Paris loop?

 

Like everything else they can be a bit short staffed, they were having some issues with service on that ship when I was there last year (a new Maitre d' was brought onboard that week specifically to address it and they shuffled waiters several times during the week, and this was a cruise with only about 45 passengers it went fairly well but I can see that staff getting stretched on a full ship).

 

The box lunch was a neat idea, last year they gave us friend chicken drumsticks (yes this sounds like it would be disgusting hours later...but they were really good), sandwiches and a bunch of other stuff, but we ate them at Aeromaches, on the beach, during free time not on the bus.  

 

Not sure I get the last comment, issue with having to pay reception for tips?

Edited August 8, 2023 by CastleCritic

[tulok]

The service was the talk last night with many passengers. And the first day it was mentioned this was the first full ship this year. We do believe they are under staffed and over worked. We sat with passengers that were on many Ama cruises and hated that this was many of our first impression. This is the paris-paris. And maybe other lines are feeling the same staffing problems. I just do not feel like this is a premium line at this point. 

I do not regret trying Ama, just not impressed. As for the last comment, it has nothing to do with tipping.. I just hate signing for a drink every time. Last night listening to the singers, we had a table full of small pieces of paper (drink tickets), all over the table. We were sitting with a group, not all our tickets lol.  We started a few years ago going on all inclusive ocean and river cruises. It is usually  not much more or even cheaper in the end. Just a preference.  Tauck was tendered with us and we walked through. We will have to try them sometime. I think next year we will try Scenic.

The weather has been lovely.

[CastleCritic]

ah, I dont drink so I've never seen the drink tickets (but on the other hand...Ive literally never seen the drink tickets....and Ive spent a lot of time in the lounges).

 

Hopefully it improves a bit.  I liked that cruise, though I did it as the one way from Paris from Le Havre (when we did the Normandy beaches the ship was already in Le Havre to end the cruise from the day before) which should cut down a bit on the rush to get onboard the ship so it can move (or it sounds like perhaps in your case..longer bus rides. and that was already a long one).

 

I think that week was the best cruise weather week Ive ever had too..