Vanessa with AMAWaterways' Rudi Schreiner
AMAWaterways stateroom showing the mirror where
connecting doors will be on their new ships.
The AmaSonata lounge
One of my imperatives in business is that I need to “reach
out and touch" frequently. I actually believe it's essential in any
relationship business and that it will afford more success and better results
over the long haul. But I come by this easily and find it a natural thing to do
and love catching up with a myriad group of people.
So, when I attend an event such as cruise3sixty I take the opportunity to sit down and
converse, find out what's new, get the general gist of what is going on and
determine what is coming next. I like to take the pulse of the industry
and because I have a Canadian sensitivity I am always seeking knowledge
and ideas of what a cruise line's next move might be and how we “up here" can
take advantage or influence some key decision making “down there".
I was able to meet with 2 of my most favourite people
in the industry – Kristin Karst and Rudi Schreiner, co-owners of AMAWaterways.
This is a truly excellent river cruise company that I have watched over the
last 10 years make really great strides and expand their operation from
regular European river cruises on the Rhine and Danube, to now offering
numerous European rivers including Portugal's Douro as well as exotics on the
Mekong and Irrawaddy. These are people, and a company, that never sit still.
I spoke with Rudi in depth about his initiative for family
cruising with Disney on 5 upcoming itineraries (maybe more – there are some in
abeyance) for 2016 and how they accomplished creating family
staterooms/connecting staterooms on board the new ship - the AmaViola - which
will be used for the Disney partnership. There are 4 departures during summer
vacation and one at Christmas. Ama has been working on this deal for 2 years
and planning the logistics.
If you look at the image of the stateroom I had on my
AmaSonata cruise last July, you will see there is a mirror behind the guest
chair right by the window. That is where the connecting door to the next
stateroom will be placed. It is a pocket door and there are 12 rooms in total
(6 doors if you will)situated on 2 decks
that will now connect. The AmaSerena also has some connecting rooms (8 rooms/4
doors) so this is a test to see how it works and makes sense.
Disney will literally take over all reservations and onboard
product for these specific itineraries but it will be interesting to see, on
the many other departures of these ships, if families decide to try this out –
and I suspect they will. Also some rooms that are larger, with those terrific
twin balconies – about 235 sq ft, also have a small couch that pulls out and
becomes a triple. And in Ama's suites which are 350 sq ft there is a full size
sofa which easily affords a spacious triple.
The other news from Rudi and Kristin is their partnership
with Backroads and the opportunities available for more active and adventurous
guests. Ama has partnered with Backroads for bike tours on 7 departures for
2015 and this will expand to a greater number in 2016 on the Rhine and Danube
as well as their new ship on the Mekong where guests can literally bike (and
hike) in Vietnam and Cambodia. More guests are asking for active excursions and
Ama is answering the call.
Another interesting point is that they have the youngest
average age guest amongst river ships so are looking to sustain that and offer
their audience more and more opportunities to step out and engage in more
general activity. Apparently that goes along well with wine cruises as they are
seeing greater interest in these departures. Most of the wine hosts are from
North America -and not just from California. I was surprised to hear that EVERY
state in the U.S. has some kind of wine industry (yes even Alaska!) and Ama is
finding wine hosts from Arizona and Texas, as well as the more obvious areas. They are also keen to work with travel agencies
to generate wine groups so if you have some
contacts in BC or Ontario, then I suggest you reach out about how you can
make this work.
There were 7 focused wine departures in 2015 and next year
this will go to 21 so it's easy to see that this is “reaping" rewards for
all. Wine groups will sail on the
Danube, Rhine, Rhone, Douro, in Bordeaux (new itinerary for '16) as well as the
Mekong in 2016.
