Susan and I took our first ever European river cruise on the AMA AmaBella 375 miles up the Danube River from Budapest to Vilshofen an der Donau. Along the way we passed through 16-locks and stopped in 7-ports over 8-days and 7-nights. A small ship at 443 feet with 49 crew serving 130 passengers, the AmaBella provides a first-class cruising experience combining excellent accommodation, local and international cuisine, and friendly local guides leading an extensive array of tours in the cities, towns and villages along our trip.
Even with everything to do, life aboard the AmaBella could be very relaxing as we spent hours on our cabin balcony watching the Danube go by. A main dining room and cocktail lounge along with the Chef’s Table were available for dining as often as one desired. Our favorite gathering spot during the time aboard was on the top deck where Mr. Jeffrey brought us cocktails while we watched the scenery sail by.
As this was a cruise featuring the wines of Hungary, Austria and Germany, we visited wineries at every port and regional wines were served at dinner aboard. We also had wine tastings on board with a wine maker explaining the history of regional viticulture as we went from Budapest to Vienna to the Wachau Valley and into Germany. Some of the featured wines from the region were Tokaj and Blaufrankisch from Hungary and Gruner Veltliner and Blauer Zweigelt from Vienna. The Wachau Valley is known for its Riesling, Gruner Veltliner along with Apricot brandy and Schnapps. While Germany produces some Reisling along the Danube brewing beer is more traditional in Bavaria. At our last stop in Vilshofen an der Donau, we found our way to a German polka band in a dockside beer garden and sampled the local Pils from Wolferstetter Brauhaus where we had our pictures taken with the Vilshofen Bierkoenigin or “Beer Queen”.
All in all, our first cruise was a fun and interesting adventure. We met friends from California in Budapest and made new friends on the cruise. We can recommend river cruising as a luxurious, comfortable and convenient way to tour wide swaths of Europe. When cruising you are exposed to many different options for experiencing a region that can be as focused and personalized as you want to make it. This is an historic and enchanted part of Europe that has more to offer than wine and we are looking forward to returning for another visit soon.
All images were taken with Fuji X-T50 with Fuji XF 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR II lens or Fuji XF 27mm f2.7 lens in RAW or JPEG format, processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC 14.4