The beautiful AmaCerto..my kind of River cruise ship.

As you know I was lucky enough to attend the CLIA River cruise convention last weekend in Amsterdam, and what an amazing weekend I had. I have been selling cruises now for many years and this was my first experience on board a river cruise boat. Before the weekend I had an idea of what I was expecting a river boat to be like, what I imagined a river cruise would be and I can honestly say I was so impressed with the whole concept of river cruising and not to mention how I was blown away by the ships themselves. I was lucky enough to stay on board 2 different river ships and also visit a number of others during the weekend.

The river cruise ship that I fell in love with was one of the ships with Amawaterways, the AmaCerto. From the minute I stepped on board I loved it, the atmosphere, the design, the cabins. This is the ship I could see myself enjoying a river cruise on board.

River cruise ships are much much smaller than the usual Ocean liners. The AmaCerto carries only 164 passengers, with all cabins being outside or balcony. Before seeing the cabins I imagined small compact functional cabins, instead they were spacious, beautifully designed and with state of the art features. The cabins on board AmaCerto are as you can see very stylish, and also had a very homely feel. I love the French balcony cabins, you slide open the floor-to-ceiling glass door and you have the most fantastic views and of course all that fresh air. They say that a river cruise boat is your hotel that travels with you, and this was like a 5 star boutique style hotel in my opinion.

The Sun Deck on board the AmaCerto was a favourite area of mine on board this ship. I could quite easily see my self on a lounger with the pool close by taking in the amazing views on one of the European rivers in the summer. What could be better! For those not so warm days the Sun deck has a retractable roof and the pool is heated, there is also the heated whirlpool.

The Dining Room on board looked very inviting, again spacious and stylish. On board AmaCerto you can choose to dine in the main restaurant and for a special dining experience there is chef’s table restaurant with a tasting menu, perfect for a special occasion. During your lunch and dinner  you can enjoy regional wines, beers and soft drinks which are included. Also something I didn’t know was that you can always have bottled water, specialty teas and coffees are always available and are free of charge. As you can see from my photos the ship is all ready for the Christmas cruises, tastefully decorated and I can imagine a Christmas cruise on board taking in the best of the European markets would be so amazing

Entertainment on board a river cruise boat is low key, don’t expect west end shows or lots of evening entertainment. On board AmaCerto the evenings centre around the lounge where  you will find the pianist playing on some evenings, there is a small dance floor and of course the bar. Most guests are up bright and early for the daily excursions which are also included and so usually off to bed early to wake up fresh for the next day.

As you can see from my photos AmaCerto is a stunning river cruise ship and like I said my favourite from the weekend. That’s not to say that the other ships didn’t also impress me…..look out next week when I will take a closer look at the Emerald Sky, my home in Amsterdam for the first night of the convention.

Until next week…Abbi .