Cruising the World's Rivers with AmaWaterways

Welcome back to the Lowdown on Life and Travel.

I'm of course your host, Kevin Little, and you are listening to episode tweet 16.

Today we are kicking off a series on cruising.

Yeah, cruising in the midst of when everything is shut down might seem a little bit weird, but not to me.

Because you know what I've come to realize?

The year 2020 was designed for us to have time to plan for 2021's epic vacation.

And in this case, 2021's most amazing cruise ever.

So over the next couple of weeks, we're gonna dive in deep into the world of cruising.

Because you know what?

There's a lot more to cruising than you may realize.

So many of us think of just those big ocean miners, heading out to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

But the world's waters are a place to be seen.

And I'm telling you, cruises are all over the place.

We're talking about river cruises in America, Europe, Southeast Asia, even Africa.

We're talking about sailing yachts through the Caribbean and through the Mediterranean.

We're even talking about cruises up through all of Africa.

And let's not forget about those adventure cruises, where you get to really dive in deep to the destination, jump off the ship, snorkel with whales, and just have the time of your life.

That's why I wanted to go ahead and give some attention to an industry that I love and a type of vacationing that I think is absolutely wonderful.

So, let's kick things off the right way.

We're gonna go ahead and head on over to an interview I did with Kathy Brock, who is a member of the team at Alma Waterway.

If you're not familiar with AMA Waterway, they are a premier river cruise line.

Well known for their cruises in Europe, but as you'll find out, they have cruises all over the world, such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

As you'll find out, AMA means love.

And I hope that you're going to love today's episode.

Matter of fact, if you love it enough, I'd really appreciate it if you go ahead and give it a review and tell your friends and family about the podcast also.

We've done a lot so far and we've got even more coming up.

So let's go ahead and dive into a special interview with Kathy Brock, and let's find out about AMA Waterways.

Hope you enjoy.

Hey guys, I am here today with Kathy Brock, Business Development Manager with Alma Waterways.

Kathy, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you.

Pleasure to be here, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02: Ah, well, thank you so much.

It means a lot to have you joining me today and um excited to talk about all things AMA Waterways.

SPEAKER_00: And all things river cruising.

SPEAKER_02: That's right.

Exactly, exactly.

Well, I guess let's go ahead and start things off as basic as we can get.

Would you mind sharing exactly who AMA Waterways is?

SPEAKER_00: Okay, that'd be great.

Yeah, well, there are a lot of river cruise lines out there.

AMA Waterways is unique in the industry in that this is a small family-owned company.

Three families own AMA Waterways.

That means we are not a major corporation.

We do not have this crazy corporate management steps and rigor-parole to go to.

You, as a travel advisor, Kevin, can approach any one of our three owners, Rudy, Christine, or Gary, with email or phone call, and they will respond.

So we're 18 years old as of the 1st of July this year.

We were started the 18 years ago by these three families.

Rudy Schreiner is an architect trained in Vienna.

He actually designs our ships and designs our itineraries.

He was actually the first president of Viking River Cruises, and prior to that in 1992, which is a really critical year for river cruising, because that's the year they built and completed the Maine Danube Canal.

Now the Maine Danube Canal actually connects the Rhine River with the Danube River.

Prior to 1992, you couldn't go from one river to the other.

But with the Maine Danube Canal, the rivers are connected from the North Sea all the way down through 15 different countries to the Black Sea.

That's what's really given rise to river cruising, and that's where Rudy started off, inventing ships, state rooms, that sort of thing.

Another owner, Christine Karst, has another special story in that she's from Dresden, Germany.

She's now lived half her life in freedom and half her life behind the Iron Curtain.

She never traveled till the wall came down.

I call Christine the heart of Alma Waterways.

And the third family is the Murphy family.

Originally it was Jimmy Murphy.

We lost Jimmy a few years ago, so his son Gary is the third owner right now.

Now, Jimmy had an immigrant story too.

Jimmy came over on a ship by himself from Dublin, Ireland, with$50 in his pocket and managed to live the American dream.

Now, what that means is you've got three immigrant families here with the mentality of you build something, you buy something, you pay for it.

You don't put things on interest and layaway.

So every one of our ships are completely paid for, which is huge in this day and time where some people out there might be wondering what companies are going to be around when we come out of that.

Well, there as Rudy says, there is no debt on any of our ships.

He can sleep at night.

So that is AMA waterways.

Our name actually comes AMA is the Latin derivation of the word love.

Amo, amos, amat, amore.

So that's why we are AMA waterways.

We are not AMA waterways.

That would be the American Medical Association waterways, and we don't want to go there.

SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm glad you distinguished the two.

So that's good.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, so so many people say, what about AMA?

AMA?

And oh no, well, AMA does so and so.

Well, does AMA do this?

And it's it's so funny because you try to pattern somebody to realize other than saying, it's not AMA, it's AMA.

And sometimes they catch it and sometimes they don't.

SPEAKER_02: That's too funny.

That's too funny.

No, I absolutely love the story behind the three different owners of AMA Waterways.

I think that's such an amazing story to a company that I think most companies like that, we don't think of it being truly family-owned.

And um, I just think that's really amazing.

Really separates AMA, AMA waterways from the rest.

So I think that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00: We're happy with it.

SPEAKER_02: That's great.

Now, can you tell me?

So I think most people are used to thinking of river cruises for Europe, which I know you guys definitely do that, but where else in the world does AMA sail?

SPEAKER_00: As we like to say, we'd we'd like to show you the world one river at a time, because there's lots of rivers out there.

Of course, the European waterways are going through the main rivers, which would be the Rhine, the Mine, the Danube, the Moselle.

Oh, the Moselle is such a beautiful little river.

Then you've got several rivers in France.

You've got the Seine, which is from Paris out to the Normandy beaches, which of course is such fabulous history.

You've got a combination of two rivers, the Rhone and the Saunne, which goes through the Burgundy and the Provence regions.

You've got another little river over coming out of the ocean and estuary called Bordeaux, wine, wine, and more wine.

Then you also have a ship on two ships on the Doura River, which actually goes from Portugal into Spain.

We also have a what I call a wee ship, and by I mean a wee ship, she only has 14 cabins.

We have a wee ship called the Zambezi Queen sailing in Africa.

So she's actually on the Chobi River, which runs between Zimbabwe and Botswana.

It's actually the largest concentration of elephants anywhere in the world.

So you do game viewing by land and by boat.

You spend four nights on the Zambezi Queen, and then you go for two nights at Victoria Falls.

Fabulous hotel there at Falls, Sundowner Cruise, all the falls viewing areas.

I understand there's bungee jumping, but I really would not go there.

My number one is Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia meaning Cambodia and Vietnam.

Now I really had some reservations about this when we first started offering it about 13, 14 years ago.

And I realized when I read something that people look at Vietnam one of two ways.

Vietnam, the country, or Vietnam, the war.

My head was on the war side.

I didn't realize that Vietnam is the fastest growing economy in the entire world.

But what's even more critical is that 65% of the population is under 45 years of age.

This is true in Vietnam and in Cambodia.

So I did the Mekong, Cambodian Vietnam, six years ago this week.

And it was the most astounding, powerful, and life-changing trip I have ever done.

And I've done Africa twice.

I would say if anybody has an outlook of perhaps Thailand or somewhere in the area, please consider Cambodia and Vietnam.

Just an absolute life changer.

And the big news now is in September of 2021, we are going to return to Egypt and the Nile.

Now we were on the Nile.

I remember the brochure till 2007, but they had some problems over there.

We had some problems with the ships over there.

So we left the Nile in 2007.

It is Christine's favorite destination.

So number one, things got better over there, so it would be safe to do it.

Number two, we discovered that Rudy could build his own ship.

So when that happens, is when we decide to go back.

So we just announced this about a year ago.

Maybe not even that.

We are a beautiful ship being built right now, the Amadalia, named for the Egyptian flower.

And she is only going to have 34 staterooms.

That means her total capacity is 68 people, and she has 62 crew members.

She's going to sail the Nile on a seven-night cruise, bookended on either end by Cairo.

She doesn't start sailing until September of 2021.

She is 70% sold out for the year of 2021.

She has a land option.

There are actually two pre-cruise land options.

One is three nights in Dubai.

The other is four nights in Jordan, going to Amman and Petra.

And the post-cruise portion is very, very special.

I dreamed about us doing this.

When they announced it, I was so excited.

The post-cruise portion with our Egypt sailings are four nights in the Waldof Astoria Hotel in fabulous Jerusalem.

So you'll do Masada, you'll do the Dead Sea, you'll do all the sights and experiences in Jerusalem, and a taste of Tel Aviv as well.

So that's our rivers all over the world, and Rudy's always looking.

SPEAKER_02: Well, that sounds absolutely amazing.

Wow, now I have to ask you, what was it about Southeast Asia that that stole your heart?

SPEAKER_00: It's the most gracious, welcoming, cheerful, and forgiving people and culture.

Let's face it, it's always the people that capture your heart.

The people of Southeast Asia are so absolutely amazing.

I think the children of Cambodia, the most beautiful children I've ever seen.

And it's very, very interesting because the Buddhist culture does not allow begging.

So picture children running along beside you in a tuk-tuk or a rickshaw and just going, hello, hello, trying to practice their English with you.

So one of the things we do is we invite our guests to bring some school supplies on, and we visit three or four schools and bring them crayons, markers, that sort of thing.

Give that to the teachers so they can share it with the students.

We could take some lessons here too, because the last thing the children do when the school day is over is they clean the school.

So they do all the sweeping and cleaning.

So everything is clean when they come back in.

It's just amazing the people's stories.

Um we had two different guides.

We had a guide in Vietnam, and he was raised by a single mom.

Needless to say, he lost his dad in the war.

Our guide in Cambodia was also raised by a single mom, and that's because his dad was killed in the killing fields, the Camille Rouge.

So that happened right after the Vietnam War.

So I don't recall us paying that much attention to it.

But when Pol Pot came in and took over that country, he was sort of like Fidel Castro came in, he emptied the city of Phnom Penh within the first week.

If you were sick, if you were dying, if you were in a nursing home, he still emptied the city, sent you out into the fields.

In the first two weeks, he held control.

He killed every doctor, every lawyer, every teacher in the country.

So just the amazing stories from these people.

The the Vietnam cruise manager would say, uh, he and his mom lived in a village, and this was still when it was very, very communist, uh, didn't include any capitalism.

So his mom managed to get a hold of a chicken.

So they raised that chicken.

And when they got ready to eat that chicken, the village elders announced they would have to split that chicken with every single person in the village, because nobody owns anything in that communist socialist philosophy.

So I just, I just to experience a different culture and for it to be so amazing, there's only one negative with Southeast Asia, and it's very hot and it's very humid.

If you think Charleston in August, you're pretty close.

The air conditioning on the ship is absolutely fabulous.

So and we have a pool in Jaco uh pool and uh uh covered bar up on the sun deck, which is pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_02: Well, that sounds wonderful.

That sounds wonderful.

And I just I have to say, I mean, I think that is one thing that I try to really get across to to my listeners here on the podcast, as well as my clients who I send out to you know various vacations, is is paying attention to the people of the destination.

And and that's what I just I loved it as you were saying it because I was like, that's exactly what I try to to portray is that it's it's the people of a destination that is going to completely change your life and make it something that's going to be more than just a trip, it's going to make it something that's going to stick with you for your life.

SPEAKER_00: So that's why river cruising is so fabulous.

River cruising just doesn't come in and touch a port.

You get off the ship four or five hours, you go back to the ship, you leave the port.

Uh river cruising gives you the opportunity to get with the people, enjoy the culture, enjoy the cuisine, enjoy the wines and the beverages, all of that.

It's it's always the people and the experiences that make or break the memory of a vacation.

And river cruising is just all about that.

It's not glitz, it's not glamour, it's not a casino, it's art and it's architecture, culture, and it's cuisine, and it's just amazing.

People, people, people.

That's what makes it.

SPEAKER_02: That's that's wonderful.

That's so true, so true.

Well, that kind of leads me in as we are starting to talk about that into the next question that I wanted to ask you was most people are are very familiar with the ocean going cruises and the big massive ships that they are.

And I think people may be surprised when they when they see a river cruise line.

And so would you mind touching on kind of what somebody can expect one of the uh Alma Waterways cruises to look like in comparison to one of these massive ocean going cruises?

SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.

When I talk about river cruising, I sometimes even say I almost regret that we have the name cruise in our name, because when you say cruise or cruising, everybody's head goes to these big ships, anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 people sitting out in international waters, coming into ports and just visiting and leaving.

Our ships are 156 passengers.

We're not in international waters, we're not crossing international borders, we're sailing through the heart of these different countries.

And the rivers were the original highways of Europe.

So this is where civilization grew up.

They built the cities and the towns on the riverbanks.

So when we pull into city or town, we're able to walk off the ship, do walking tours.

We also have bicycle tours, we have hiking tours, and we have culinary tours, and they're all included.

Now there's a huge distinguishing feature with the ocean ships.

Typically, you're gonna pay a base price for an ocean ship.

This is a cost of your seven-night cruise.

Oh, by the way, if you'd like to do something in every port, you're gonna have to pay for an excursion in every single port.

That can cost more than the cruise did.

Actually, we have four to six excursions included in every single port.

Specialty restaurants on the big ships,$38 to$40 per person, plus tips, plus wine.

We have a specialty restaurant included on all of our ships with a private chef, seven course paired wine dinner, no charge.

Beverage package, that's the other one.

And it's not just a matter of beer and wine.

On those big ships, you have to buy their water.

You cannot bring water on board, you cannot bring anything on board.

We don't guard the gangway.

If you want to bring a local bottle of wine on board or that duty-free bottle of scotch, that's fine with us.

We're serving the premium local wines where the ship is sailing.

So every single day we have a different red wine and white wine.

We have beer wine and soft drinks with lunch and dinner.

We have champagne with breakfast, which just means a mimosa.

And we have a happy hour sip and sale the hour before dinner, which is like a happy hour with beer wine and mixed drinks.

And then we also, if you need to stay connected, if you're still working, if you have a business like Kevin does, where he can't be out of touch with his clients and his suppliers.

We have Wi-Fi included.

There's an Apple TV in every cabin that's connected.

We're also wired for at least 4G for free Wi-Fi.

Last year we spent as much on Wi-Fi as we did on fuel, which is huge.

So if you need to stay connected, again, back on that big ship, you're probably gonna have to buy a Wi Fi package.

I think the cheapest one I've seen is just under$200.

And it's always not that good either.

Because again, you're out in the middle of the ocean.

So just a few of the differences there.

SPEAKER_02: Now, do you guys I know like a big part on the um big ocean going cruises are the different things to do?

I mean, because they're huge, so they have all their different casinos and the different plays and performances.

I mean, is there, can somebody still expect to find some of those things on one of your ships?

SPEAKER_00: With 156 passengers, our ships are going to have a fitness center, a beauty salon, a massage center, a wellness host on board every ship, and what you do on a river cruise, if there's nothing scenic, we'll actually sail the ship at night.

So you wake up in a different city or town, walk off the ship, typically in the middle of everything, and do walking tours or your hiking and your biking tours.

And then you can break off and go shopping, or you can stay in town for lunch, or you could go back to the ship, have your lunch, and then go back into the port.

So you're you've got a lot of port time.

Basically, those big ships have to have all that kind of entertainment because they have days at sea.

They come in and they're just in a port a few hours a day and then they're gone again.

We do have entertainment most evenings.

We have anything from classical musicians to a French cabaret singer to maybe the night outside of Budapest, those crazy gypsies with their accordions and their dancing and their fiddles.

And then we also have an onboard musician.

But if you're looking for a Las Vegas style show with the ding-ding slot machines, or if you're looking for a Las Vegas style show, uh, you're not going to find it on a river cruise ship.

Where you are is the show.

The people that go on a river cruise are very destination focused.

They're there for art, architecture, culture, cuisine.

So it's a very like-minded group of people that are sailing together.

So they, yes, they will go into that fabulous gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, and just be amazed at that kind of art and architecture.

And I always suggest when you pick a sailing, pick it well ahead of time so you can get the space, get the cabin you want, get the date you want, and then start reading.

Go find books that were set in that time, go find books about World War II, go find movies that were set in there, and just really be ready for when you get there.

Number one, you need to anticipate.

That's the whole thing about a vacation.

You know, Mr.

Carson from Downton Abbey said it best.

He said the business of life is the acquisition of memories, and nothing makes memories better than travel.

I got a pair of six-year-old grandkids.

They're turning seven this week.

The next time I go on a river cruise ship, they're going with me.

What an amazing experience it is to travel with friends, family, grandkids, kids, nieces and nephews.

You can create memories that'll last longer than you do.

No doubt about it.

SPEAKER_02: That is so true.

That's that's the power of traveling, and especially an amazing, amazing vacation and stuff.

It is, it's something that, like you said, it will stick with you forever.

And um, so I just I love that.

I love that.

Now, one of the particular sailings that Alma Waterways does that has really interested me, that I would love to go on myself.

I know my clients have raved about them, are your European Christmas markets.

SPEAKER_00: Turn me loose.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

So I would love for you, for those who are not familiar with a European Christmas markets river cruise, for you to kind of take us through what that would look like.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, let's paint a picture.

Let's think about the this is my number one.

I have done the Christmas markets seven times.

I will always request to do the Christmas markets.

Now, the Christmas markets are very, very unique in that number one, it's very much of a local thing.

The Christmas markets are not just over Christmas.

You do not have to travel over Christmas.

Typically, they open based on Advent about the 24th or 25th of November, and they go through Christmas Eve.

Some of them stay open into New Year's.

The lights stay up in all these cities and towns until Little Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany on the 6th of January.

They don't decorate just a tree outside.

They don't decorate the inside of stores, they decorate entire cities.

There's a street in Vienna that all the way down the street are huge chandeliers.

The next street over are waterfall lights, the next street over are big, huge red glistening balls.

It's very much of a local thing.

The tradition goes back seven to nine hundred years when the Christmas markets open, and some of them opened earlier.

For instance, the the main market in the fabulous, most beautiful city in the whole wide world at Christmas time, Vienna, last year opened on the 15th of November, and my number two favorite market in the whole wide world, Budapest, opened on the 9th of November.

So think about going over Thanksgiving or that first week in December, do all your Christmas shopping and come back with it all done.

So the locals come out every evening.

Gets dark early.

People complain about that.

I say no, no, no.

Gets dark early.

Lights come on.

So you've got that magical ambiance.

People are standing in front of the market stalls.

They've got their families and their kids.

They're holding the hot mold wine, which comes in a specific Christmas market mug, different in every single market, and they make fabulous souvenirs.

Take two to three of those home from then for the rest of your life.

Every time you take out one of those Christmas market mugs, the memories are just going to flood back.

The foods are fabulous.

You're going to walk through a market, you're going to smell sausages roasting.

You're going to smell the nuts roasting.

You're going to smell the local gingerbread.

You're going to find handcrafted goods.

You're going to find pottery.

You're going to find beautiful ornaments.

I always suggest I have two suggestions for people going on my beloved Christmas marks.

Number one, buy a roll of bubble wrap.

Cut the sheets of bubble wrap to the size of your suitcase.

Line the bottom of your suitcase with about six sheets of bubble wrap.

Throw in a roll of duct tape.

You can get anything home.

Those glass ornaments, absolutely fabulous.

Wrap it in your underwear?

No.

Take the bubble wrap.

And number two is I always suggest people don't pack your scarf and your hat.

Buy it in the first market.

So layers is the suggestion at that time of year.

It's typically not that bitterly cold at all.

I've only seen snow once on a Christmas market.

But let me tell you, as beautiful as the city of Vienna is, the Vienna dusted in snow, and seeing the carriage horses with the little neoprene ear covers, it's just absolutely amazing.

So buy the big, big fat scarf to go around your neck.

It traps all the warmth below your chin.

Buy a cool hat, wear it all the week, and just like the mugs, every time you pull that hat or that scarf out the next year, two years, ten years, all the memories are going to come flooding black.

I will strongly encourage the Christmas markets.

Having done it seven times, I've both I have done both the Rhine and the Danube.

There's no wrong choices.

I will tell you, my favorite city in the entire world is the beautiful city of Prague.

Prague just captured my heart from the first time I went there.

The architecture is amazing.

Prague is a beautiful city any time of year, but at Christmas time it just really sparkles and comes to life.

The old town square, they put this huge Christmas tree.

I mean, it's as big or bigger than Rockefeller Center.

They time the lights with the music, the market stalls, with the street food, with the pastries, with the with the spit of ham.

The dishes over there that are really special in that area is crispy duck.

The duck is excellent over there, and something called a pork knuckle.

Pork knuckle is is a big piece of ham on the bone, and basically it's it's like something you cooked on a big green egg.

Because when you stick your fork into that, it's just gonna fall off, and then you've got that crispy skin on the outside.

Just the foods are wonderful.

The foods are wonderful.

And stand around with the locals.

It's just magical.

That's the only word I got.

Magical.

I'm up for number eight this year.

SPEAKER_02: That sounds awesome.

That's I know that's what I want to do for Christmas.

That's for sure.

Now I am curious, is the experience on the cruise itself different also for one of these Christmas markets?

SPEAKER_00: Our ships are decorated.

It takes two weeks to undecorate a single ship.

We are lighted inside, we are lighted outside.

We have a little tree trimming contest with two trees there.

My favorite day on the Christmas market cruise is when we honor St.

Nicholas Day.

And the tradition, you learn all these different traditions.

It's so special.

Your cruise manager may be from Austria, uh, they may be from the south of France.

They're always going to share with you the different traditions of Christmas with the different countries.

So the children for St.

Nicholas Feast put a shoe outside the door of their home.

So we ask you to put a shoe out in the hallway of the ship, and the next morning St.

Nicholas may have brought you a goodie.

It could be like a Santa Claus goodie or an angel goody, or it could be a critter over there by the name of Krompus.

Krompus is the dark side of the Christmas season.

And if you saw the latest Beauty and the Beast movie, when you see Beast with those huge ram horns, that is Krompus.

So it's so fun learning the different traditions and experiences.

And like I say, I just can't get away from that word magical.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

And I mean, I think, I think, especially as as our family we've we've gotten older, we don't have any little kids in the family and stuff.

We're always looking for something to do at Christmas to try and bring back that magic of, you know, like you had when you have the little ones in the family.

And, you know, I'm sitting here thinking to myself, like, what an amazing opportunity to for a family to get together and do one of these cruises to just bring back the Christmas spirit in a whole new way to the entire family.

It just sounds out of this world.

SPEAKER_00: Christmas will never seem the same again after you've done this.

Take a kid on this.

We do allow families and children, they tend to be very well-traveled kids, very well-behaved kids.

They're also being watched by every grandparent on the ship.

It's just such an incredible experience.

And I myself, for this year, this is what's going through my head right now.

Can you think of a Christmas season in your lifetime that will be more anticipated or more appreciated than this one's going to be?

So we do have some great promotions on the Christmas markets too for this year and for next year, because they're $1,000 off per person, uh shipboard credit and an upgrade.

Our deposit is very unique in the industry because if you want to book a cabin with us, say December 1 of next year, the deposit is$400, and then there's absolutely nothing else due until 90 days from the sailing.

So book December 1, 2021, put your$400 down, and then there's nothing else due until what October 1 of next year.

That's very different as some of the river cruise lines uh really want full payment.

Way far out, like a year or two years out, and we don't do that.

But I'm telling travel with your kids, your grandkids, your nieces, and your nephews.

I my daughter is gonna complain.

I can hear it now.

She's gonna go.

Well, mom, they're gonna have to miss school.

And yeah, this grandma is gonna say they're gonna learn so much more on this trip than they would sitting in the second grade.

We're going.

SPEAKER_02: That is so true.

So true.

I agree with you 100%.

Wow.

Now, now I am wondering with this day and age of the coronavirus and everything.

I assume right now all sailings are currently stopped at this point for AMA waterways.

SPEAKER_00: We've got this.

We have got this, okay?

Okay.

We have partnered.

Now we've been talking about the protocols, what we're going to do and how we're going to do it.

All the cruise lines are coming up with, well, when we get to sail, we'll do this, this, and this.

Well, we partnered with a German tour company, and we put our Ama Christina on the Rhine River starting about five weeks ago.

So we have not just been talking about the protocols that we're going to put in place, they are in place.

We are operating that vessel with only 100 passengers, even though her usual is 156.

We have done all the spatial distancing needed from the lounge and from the dining room.

We have a plexiglass partition at the reception desk and between the seating areas on the main lounge.

When you're moving around the ship, you do wear a mask.

When you're seated, you do not have to wear the mask.

We're even offering room service, three meals a day, if you would like to sit on your balcony and have your breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

And our systems are very unique in that we are all fresh air.

No air in any cabin, lounge, or dining room is recirculated.

This is individually controlled for every single space.

We've never been a company that did a lot of buffets, so that will not be an issue for us.

We've always been served breakfast, we've been served lunch, uh salad bar, but at least for a while that would be served.

And our dinners are five-course paired wine dinners.

We're serving the regional cuisine where you're sailing.

And then we always have your standard American cuisine as well.

We can accommodate any dietary need with the exception of kosher.

We can do vegetarian, vegan, gluten.

It's not unusual for the chef to come out and meet with an individual or a parent the night before and say, this is what's happening tomorrow, this is what you can't eat, this is what you can't eat.

So we're very, very good at that.

I have to go back to fan traveling with kids and families because picture yourself taking a preteen or a teenager, go with them to the Anne Frank House.

Go to Nuremberg with them.

Sit in courtroom 600 where those Nuremberg trials were held.

Or walk through the children's museum in Prague or through the concentration camp outside of Prague.

Absolutely the most educational experience they could possibly have.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

And I mean, right back.

I mean, it goes back to, you know, the talk about, you know, your grandchildren.

And, you know, you can you can learn a lot in school, but there's nothing that beats being there.

I mean, no no textbook video you could watch is going to hold a candle to, you know, being there firsthand and experiencing that.

I mean, that just it just speaks again.

Like we we keep reiterating the the power of travel.

You know, it's just it's absolutely amazing.

So Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Memories that'll last longer than you do.

No doubt about it.

SPEAKER_02: Exactly.

Exactly.

Now, now I did want to ask as far as other parts of the world that AMA is sailing in, do you guys have any idea at this point when you think sailings will resume?

SPEAKER_00: We are not subject to CDC regulations.

In Europe, we're subject to the regulations of every single country we're sailing through.

So, for instance, when you sail the Danube, say between Prague and Budapest, you're going through five different countries.

So we're subject to the regulations of all five of those countries.

Egypt is not an issue because we're not going to be there until next September.

Both Cambodia and Vietnam have suspended sailings for the time being, as has that area of Africa.

We are waiting.

That's all we can do.

Every one of our ships is operational.

The captain and the engineer on board.

We love having the staff and crew on the Ama Cristina right now.

In fact, that those sailings for the European passengers are sold out through the end of October, and they just came back to us this week and said, Will you add sailings in November and December?

Like wine cruises in November and of course the markets in November, December.

So we will continue to be there.

We just want the European Union to let us get there.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I think it goes to the thing, you know, people are ready to travel.

I mean, we we're we're tired of staying home.

We're we're ready to get back out and and start doing what we love.

And so I think that's wonderful.

I'm glad to hear that demand is there and people are ready to get back out and uh cruising the rivers of the world.

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00: Actually, June, we had the strongest booking months in the history of the 18 years of the company.

July was just as strong.

So now river cruising is always something you need to book well in advance in order to get the date, the ship, the cabin you want.

But now, everything from 2020, for instance, the tulip time cruises, the springtime cruises, the wine cruises, they all just simply move to next year.

So I fully expect space to be an issue next year, which is another reason just to do that deposit because no risk.

And we also have a travel waiver plus program that will you can cancel for any reason, absolutely any reason.

I changed my mind.

I don't want to go 24 hours from now.

It covers that, it also covers medical for COVID, and it covers all the services that you purchase through AMA Waterways.

So it's not just the cruise.

If you add those three nights in Prague, which I'm begging you to do, and if you add an extra night in Budapest, and if you book your air through us, all of that is covered.

Please, if you learn nothing else from this experience, learn that you really should not, cannot, never travel without insurance.

SPEAKER_02: Amen.

Amen.

Now, the other thing, which I think think through uh through our talk today, I think most people will probably already gather this, but um would like to ask, do you does Alma Waterways, do you guys recommend people book through a travel advisor?

SPEAKER_00: Always.

That that is our from the start.

That we do not direct market.

You will not see television commercials.

You will not, we will not magically appear in your mailbox every two weeks.

We are presenting this product only through Travel Advisors.

Uh 97% of our bookings are through Travel Advisors because it's a partnership.

They have your back.

You not only have AMA there if you have an issue getting someplace.

You have Kevin.

You know who to call, and he knows who to call, and things will happen.

We've gone through so much.

We had the ash cloud.

Remember when everywhere shut down.

Flights couldn't fly because of the ash cloud.

Then we had terrorism.

You couldn't go to France.

It was terrible.

Then we had low water issues in 2018.

Between AMA and your travel advisors, we've got this covered.

But if you could tell me somebody who predicted this, I'd be flabbergasted.

I mean, if you could, I mean, really, uh, Gary the other day said, if somebody had told me in March we would not be sailing in August, I would never have believed it.

SPEAKER_02: No, none of us did.

That's for certain.

None of us ever imagined 2020 was gonna end up like it has.

But you know, I mean, we we're all getting through it.

We're making the most of it.

Like we said, we're we're definitely ready to get back out exploring the world.

SPEAKER_00: So that's another reason to do a New Year's Eve cruise.

Because we can kiss 2020 goodbye.

SPEAKER_02: I love it.

I love it.

That would, you know what I think that is that is the the the trip to promote right now is is the the kiss 2020 goodbye cruise.

SPEAKER_00: I want it in my rear view mirror.

I've had enough of it.

I I posted somebody's post on Facebook.

It said, I'm not adding 2020 to my age this year.

I didn't use it.

SPEAKER_02: That's right.

It's so true.

So true.

Well, well, listen, is there anything else that we have not already touched on about AMA waterways that you feel like those listening should should know about?

SPEAKER_00: Tulip time is so fabulous.

If anybody's into flowers and garden, tulip time is based on when the Kuchenhof Gardens are open, which is not that long.

It's only from about mid-March to the first week or so in May.

Um, that's in the Netherlands where they plant seven million tulips.

Another thing, if you're a flower person, in 2022 it will be the year for Floriad.

Now, Floriad is the largest agricultural flower festival in the world, and it only happens every 10 years.

So in 2022, any sailing that you're doing on the Rhine River would include Floriad.

Also, wine cruises.

If you are wine people, please understand that we are scheduled for 70 wine cruises next year.

Wine cruise has all the usual excursions.

You're not missing an excursion, you're just adding the fact that there's a wine host on board.

Now that wine host is doing tastings, there's doing lectures, they're changing, doing one paired wine dinner, where there's a different wine every course of dinner, and they're going with us to the vineyards and the wine cellars.

Sounds like no big deal what everybody does, right?

No.

We invite a North American ventier to come, California, Oregon, Figure Lakes, and we pay for them to ship their wines over.

Now, people's first reaction is, well, why are you doing that?

Because you've already got great wines over there.

But we want you to experience the difference.

We want you to understand the difference.

North American wines tend to be very bold and fruit forward and hearty.

That's what we're accustomed to.

But here we have European wines that are more soft, steeped in tradition.

So you come out of a wine cruise learning about and appreciate both.

It's a very unique.

There's 70 of them spread out through the year.

Uh, November is a great time for wine cruises.

Those French rivers are incredible.

Portugal is probably one of the most beautiful scenic areas anywhere in the world with fabulous foods and wines in Portugal.

SPEAKER_02: Well, it sounds absolutely out of this world.

I'm sitting here as you're going through them and thinking, gosh, which one would I want to do?

And I'm just thinking, every one of them sounds out of this world.

They all have their own unique characteristics that I'm like, how do you choose?

SPEAKER_00: Make a plan.

We want to show you the world one river at a time.

So pick the first river, and you could even pick the second one the year after, and go ahead and just have that deposit down and start reading, start watching movies, anticipate, and uh, you will just make some fabulous friends on a river cruise, too, because they're they're all there for the same reason.

Yeah.

So just start a plan, make it happen.

You know?

Uh, I love the quote from Buddha.

I always use it in my presentations.

Buddha speaks to all of us when he says the trouble is you think you have time.

Oh, sure, you're always gonna feel this good.

You're always gonna be able to travel with your kids, your grandkids, your nieces, your nephews.

How many of us know somebody who thought they had time and they didn't?

So I'm telling you, after this experience, make things happen.

I passed up a trip to Portugal three years ago.

Oh, no, I really can't afford that this year.

Shouldn't take that much time off.

I am promising myself, I will never do that again.

I am going to make things happen.

This has been such a reality check.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I think that's the perfect closing to this episode.

So again, Kathy, I want to thank you.

I want to thank Alma Waterways for being able to come on the podcast today and um I just uh let you know how much I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you very much.

Don't forget, it's Alma Love.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

And for all of you listening, I hope you enjoyed and hope you tune in again next week.

Have an awesome day.

SPEAKER_01: And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

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