Nov 17: AmaWaterways, AmaBella

Monday

My alarm went off at 9 am and woke me from a sound sleep. Our driver would be picking us up at 11 am, so we got ready and had breakfast downstairs, then went back to our room, grabbed our bags, and went down to meet the driver. It was a nice Mercedes van that could have held six passengers in the seating area, very comfortable for the two of us.

We arrived at the river cruise ship a little after 12 pm. They took our bags and we went to the front desk. They said they’ll keep our passports until we’re in Croatia, because we’ll be crossing borders in the middle of the night and the border control officers want to see passports. This is common on European river cruises since ships cross country lines while guests are sleeping, and this way they don’t have to knock on cabin doors at 3 am to collect them. They also told us that rooms would be ready by 3 pm, but they’d let us know if they were ready earlier.

They said that they were serving lunch in the lounge, so we grabbed some food and sat out on the outside deck. We ended up talking with the other couple that was out there, Cinda and Dennis. When we went to go back into get something else, we couldn’t enter because we didn’t yet have our room keys, so we had to wave someone down to open the door for us. 

Around 2pm someone came out and said that both of our rooms were now ready, so we all got up and went inside, where we were greeted and walked to our cabin, #219. Our bags were already in our room.  

There were many people who had done the pre-cruise tour to Transylvania, and they were expected around 5:30 pm. So while the ship was still relatively quiet, I went around to take pictures and videos and give Lisa a tour of the ship. Then we went back to the cabin and unpacked.

I opened up my laptop, and by the time I realized what time it was, I had missed the 3 to 4 pm tea time.

At 6:15pm, I went to the lounge to meet with the chef and explain my dietary restrictions. He wrote them down, and then said they would bring me a menu at breakfast each day so I could order that night’s dinner. Surprised that I have to pre-order. Then we sat in the lounge – I found my ASTA (American Society of Travel Advisors) VP, Michael Shottey, and said hello and chatted. 

At 6:30 pm, we had the safety talk and the introduction of the hotel management and the ship’s senior crew. The cruise director also told stories about people who missed the ship because they weren’t back on time, and other cautionary tales.

Finally at 8 pm, they let us go down to the dining room for dinner. There aren’t many tables for two, so we went to the back and sat at a table for four, which was right next to Cinda and Dennis’ table for two. We were soon joined by Asia and Morgan. Asia is also a travel advisor, and was the ASTA Travel Advisor of the Year last year.

Dinner was good, but not wow. My fish was pretty plain, and so was my rice. It was after 9:30 when we got back to the room, so I did a bit of work and then went to bed.