New Themed River Cruises with AmaWaterways
- Danielle Dybiec
- 14 minutes ago
- 5 min read
It was great sharing dinner with colleagues at AmaWaterways in Salt Lake City last week and hear how they've been evolving by offering specially themed itineraries in Europe and on the Nile. They've now got sailings that delve into African history or focus on wellness experiences (hello, Champagne yoga) plus cruises for Spanish-speakers, beer enthusiasts, music lovers, and intellectually curious travelers who'll appreciate AmaWaterways' new partnership with Smithsonian Journeys and their experts for lectures and exclusive excursions. AmaWaterways has gotten creative with these themed cruises, and I'd love to help you plan and talk about all the reasons why river cruising is so awesome.
Virtuoso article below produced by Virtuoso with AmaWaterways from 4/16/2025 can be found here.
Embark on a floating wellness retreat down the Danube, follow a brewmaster to Germany’s best watering holes, celebrate Black culture on the Douro, and more.
Floating down the world’s most beautiful rivers is already a sublime experience, but when the itineraries pay extra attention to a traveler’s interests, it gets even better. AmaWaterways’ collection of expert-led specialty river cruises offers travelers a way to turn their vacation into an even more elevated experience, whether it’s sailing alongside sommeliers through France’s Burgundy wine region or high-fiving a fitness instructor after a rewarding pedal through Austria’s Vienna Woods. The line’s 32-ship fleet brings cruisers to storybook villages, cosmopolitan capitals, and picturesque landscapes around the globe, and themed sailings add talks and excursions led by resident and guest historians, scientists, beer sommeliers, and more.
Let curiosity and camaraderie chart the course on one of these expert-led sailings.
For Black Travelers and Black History Enthusiasts
On AmaWaterways’ Soulful Experience sailings, Black cruisers can join like-minded travelers with a shared heritage to celebrate Black culture and learn more about how the African diaspora has shaped the world. These first-of-its-kind river cruises, which launched in 2024, include several 7-to-14-night itineraries along the Nile, Douro, Mekong, Rhine, and Rhône rivers. On each sailing, onboard hosts emphasize regional connections to Black history and lead curated excursions that showcase Black and African culture through art, music, and food.
During an 11-night round-trip-from-Cairo sailing on the Nile, the 82-passenger AmaLilia visits the ancient Pyramids of Giza, the Temple of Luxor, and the valleys of the Kings and Queens. Throughout the journey, a Nubian Egyptologist leads insightful onboard discussions and an excursion to a Nubian village in Aswan to learn more about the country’s Black pharaohs and the legacy of their ancient settlement.
In Europe, travelers learn about the history of the Black and African diaspora in Lisbon and across Portugal during a ten-night Lisbon-to-Porto journey on the Douro River. The 102-passenger AmaDouro calls at Porto, Régua, Vega de Terrón, and Pinhão for wine tastings, private palace tours, guided hikes, and more. The sailing’s hosts provide insight into the influence of Portugal’s Black communities, shedding light on their contributions to society as well as the challenges they currently face.
For Wellness Seekers
A pair of seven-night wellness-focused voyages – one plying the Danube from Budapest to Vilshofen on the 160-passenger AmaBella and the other sailing the Seine round-trip from Paris aboard the 140-passenger AmaDante – offer goal-oriented travelers the chance to turn a cruise into a full-blown floating retreat. Dedicated wellness hosts lead health talks and daily fitness classes (from core strengthening to Champagne yoga), before travelers embark on extended bike tours, hikes, and runs through scenic locales such as Austria’s Vienna Woods and Normandy’s beaches.
For Spanish Speakers
AmaWaterways’ pair of Spanish sailings on the Douro and Rhine rivers are led by a fluent-in-the-language cruise manager and feature special culturally curated itinerary additions. Travelers can expect daily Spanish-speaker-led tours in each port, onboard newsletters and menus in Spanish, and two nights of onboard Latin entertainment.
On a seven-night round-trip-from-Porto sailing aboard the AmaDouro, cruisers wander the narrow streets during a guided tour of Vega de Terrón’s Castelo Rodrigo, sample bôlas de lamego (bread filled with smoked ham) in Régua, and sip port wine in Pinhão. Or celebrate Navidad on a seven-night Basel-to-Amsterdam holiday itinerary on the 162-passenger AmaVenita that visits the twinkling towns and villages set against a backdrop of fairy-tale-like châteaus and snowcapped peaks in the Rhine Gorge. A Spanish-speaking guide accompanies cruisers as they roam through Christmas markets in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland.
For Lifelong Learners
A new alliance between AmaWaterways and Smithsonian Journeys is set to introduce a series of specialty sailings featuring lectures and excursions led by experts, from archaeologists to art historians and more. The seven- and 14-night cruises – with sailings offered on the Douro, Danube, Rhine, Rhône, and Seine rivers, plus the Netherlands and Belgium’s waterways – are packed with up to six daily guided tours in each port, plus special onboard lectures and other exclusive experiences.
On a seven-night Rhône River cruise between Lyon and Arles on the 150-passenger AmaKristina, travelers explore Lyon’s legendary wine vineyards in the company of Dr. Kate Lakin-Schultz, a master lecturer in French, and art historian Lisa Passaglia Bauman, who schools them in proper French chocolate-and-wine pairings and joins a truffle hunt in the Provençal countryside. On a seven-night, Amsterdam-to-Basel Rhine River journey on the 156-passenger AmaSiena, cruisers learn about tulip cultivation from conservation biologist David Scott Silverberg during a visit to Amsterdam’s famous Keukenhof botanical gardens.
For Beer Enthusiasts
A trio of 7- and 14-night itineraries that depart from Amsterdam and wind their way down the Rhine River and through Dutch and Belgian waterways give beer lovers a chance to tap into the region’s traditional brewing culture. Private tastings and brewery tours pair well with afternoons spent meandering through the lively markets and city streets of Düsseldorf, Strasbourg, Utrecht, Cologne, and Bruges. Back on board the 156-passenger AmaStella, beer experts and brewmasters host tastings and discussions before artisan-ale-paired dinners in the main restaurant.
Beer breaks come in the form of an array of active excursions, including a guided bike ride down Strasbourg’s medieval streets to the Parc de l’Orangerie and a pedal with stops for Belgian waffles in Antwerp. And of course, both experiences end with celebratory brews.
For Music Aficionados
The river is alive, too, with classical melodies and musical inspiration during a seven-night round-trip-from-Budapest sailing along Johann Strauss’ “Blue Danube” on the 162-passenger AmaReina. Trace the region’s musical history with stops in Bratislava, Salzburg, and Vienna, where excursions include going behind the scenes at the Vienna State Opera House, hopping a horse-drawn carriage for an evening tour of Vienna’s city center, and walking in the footsteps of Mozart on a guided tour in the Austrian capital. On board, private performances and lectures by renowned conductors and musicians – such as opera singer Indra Thomas, music director Mitchell Klein, and husband-and-wife pianist and vocalist duo Bo and Danielle Warren – keep the sailing pitch perfect.
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