The areas of Hungary, Austria, Slovakia & Germany that we will be sailing through on October 17th, 2012 for the Friends of Dave Tours sponsored trip have amazingly rich and complex histories; I imagine that for many of you, getting to see human achievements of the last several centuries is the reason you travel in the first place. One of the great themes that still resonates in this part of Europe is the legacy of World War II and the tragedies that were visited upon many communities and groups of people. What is more amazing (to me at least), is the resiliency of the people to overcome war, and the nightmares of the mid 20th Century, to create an incredibly rich and multi faceted present day. I am excited to say that our Ama sailing has ... read more

As I've mentioned before, we are experienced sea cruisers, which is to say, while on a cruise we are used to food every 10 feet and a formal meal every 20 minutes (smile). OK, perhaps that's exagerating a bit, but with the 24 hour revolving door of food on sea liners, we have become accustomed to a certain culinary expectation when we take a cruise. To add to our list of skeptical themes before taking our Ama cruise, we were not expecting too much from the limited space that a river cruise ship would provide to their kitchen staff. We could not have been more wrong. While it is true, there is no room service or 24 hour kitchen staff on board Ama's ships, the availability and selection of food was impressive. Not only can you ... read more

Before we say goodbye to Budapest and board our home on the Danube, the MS AmaLyra, we had time to intensely explore the Castle District in Buda. After a city tour by bus, I can honestly say that I understand and appreciate the differences between Buda and Pest and what awaits on each bank of the Danube. It is completely possible to see a great deal of the city in 2 days, but as Budapest is a city of amazing museums, art galleries, spa baths, and public parks, our suggestion for anyone coming here is to spend a bit of time at the fabulous website run by Budapest's Tourist Office: budapestinfo.hu is one of those rare travel sites that is easy to use, has all the info you can possible need, and is well laid out. ... read more