It’s an exciting time for Calabasas river cruise company AmaWaterways, which this spring launched the AmaMagna – the largest luxury vessel to sail any European river. It was built to exclusively cruise the upper Danube River. At 443 feet long and 72 feet wide, the AmaMagna is double the width of traditional river cruise ships and double the interior space. Most river ships are about 36 feet wide, confined by the dimensions of the canals and locks they must pass through along their transnational voyages. In this regard, the Danube River is unique. The locks dotting the Danube from Hungary up to Passau, Germany, range between 78 and 104 feet wide, at least twice the size of the 40-foot locks typical of other European Rivers such as the Rhine. This allows the wider AmaMagna to cruise safely from Budapest through Slovakia and Austria all the way to Vilshofen, Germany. With its prototypical design, the AmaMagna brings a new experience to the river cruise industry – one that merges the upscale qualities of ocean cruise ships with the myriad cultural excursions available along Europe’s second longest river. Luxury in demand According to AmaWaterways President and Co-Owner Rudi Schreiner, AmaMagna targets an upper-middle-class customer willing to splurge on ocean cruises but usually uninterested in traditional river cruises. “Clientele on ocean cruises don’t feel there are enough big staterooms on river cruises,” Schreiner said. “Suites were doing low sales … but the owner’s suite, which is more than double the size of our other suites, is selling out fairly easily no matter the price. There’s an upscale market that just wants the best.” That’s why instead of installing dozens more standard staterooms on the larger AmaMagna, AmaWaterways focused on size and comfort of the ship’s suites. AmaMagna contains 98 rooms and a capacity of 196 guests – just 20 percent more rooms than the company’s other ships – despite being twice the size. AmaMagna’s smallest accommodations are 355-square-foot suites, a significant upgrade from the baseline staterooms on other AmaWaterways ships, which range between 160 and 235 square feet (deluxe suites on these ships are 350 square feet). But AmaMagna also contains six grand suites at 474 square feet and an indulgent owner’s suite at 710 feet. Those roomy upgrades are reflected in AmaMagna’s cruise prices, which start at $3,299 per person. “Pricing of general cabins (on the Magna) is closer to the price of a suite on other ships,” Schreiner said. “It’s a much more generous layout.” He said a wealthier customer base will result in more revenue brought in by the AmaMagna. “It depends on seasonality, but I would say somewhere around 70 percent more revenue than other ships.” Schreiner noted that for many ocean cruise travelers, the ship is the primary destination–excursions to places like Pompeii or Pisa in Italy provide hits of globetrotting fun, but the ship itself offers more opportunities for entertainment and relaxation than most people could dream of. Schreiner said this is not so for river cruises, where cities and their cultures are the main attraction and the ship serves primarily as a mode of transportation where customers can sleep while they travel. AmaMagna, then, presents a middle ground. Onboard AmaMagna Because AmaMagna’s sleeping quarters only occupy a bit more space than on other ships, it is left with a wealth of deck space dedicated to housing some seriously swanky amenities. These include a variety of dining venues, a “Zen Wellness Studio,” fitness classes, massage rooms, a sun-deck swimming pool and whirlpool, a theater-style movie screening room and nightly performances from local musicians and dancers. Guests can even renew their wedding vows on board. The ship sails three itineraries that tow guests from Budapest, Hungary through Vienna, Austria, and finally to Germany. Excursions include Great Market Hall in Budapest; a walk through the “Coronation City of Kings” in Bratislava, Slovakia; hikes to the Castle of Durnstein where Richard the Lionheart was held for ransom by the Duke of Austria, and visits to the Opera House and the Imperial Palace of the Habsburgs in Vienna, among others. “It was a passion project, but also an opportunity to design something new,” Schreiner said of his behemoth brainchild, the idea of which he’s been toying with since 2012. Because of its size, AmaMagna’s construction presented a unique challenge. AmaWaterways builds the hulls of its ships in Serbia, just outside of Belgrade. Typically, tugboats bring a completed hull on a three-week journey up the Danube, through the Main-Danube Canal, along the Rhine River into Holland, where the ship is pieced together. Then the ship sails back through the canal to the Danube where it receives finishing touches and eventually opens for public cruises. The AmaMagna, however, is too wide to pass through the Main-Danube Canal’s narrow locks, which lie just past the Austria-Germany border. But it still had to get to Holland somehow. “We had to ship the hull from Serbia (in the opposite direction) down the Danube to the Black Sea to Constanza, Romania, then put it on an ocean freighter and ship it from Constanza through the Black Sea, through the Bosporus Strait, around the Greek Islands, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, all the way up to Holland. Then we finished it in Holland and sent it back the same way to Constanza and up the Danube,” said Schreiner. The entire process took over five years. Traditional river ships tend to be variations on the same blueprint and typically take between 18 months and two years to construct. “That doesn’t mean it should cost double to make – but it did,” Schreiner said. AmaMagna set sail on its inaugural voyage in May. Industry on the rise Compared to the millions who go ocean cruising each year, river cruising is a small market, drawing between 500,000 and 600,000 passengers a year. But this sector of the cruise industry is rising, Schreiner said, especially for excursions along the Danube in places like Budapest, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. AmaMagna is one of three ships already launched by AmaWaterways this year. In April it launched the AmaDouro, which will sail Portugal’s Douro river, and in June it launched the AmaMora, which will sail the Rhine. Schreiner said AmaWaterways typically launches one or two ships every year, but sometimes debuts three when special projects come to fruition, as is the case this year. “Every year since our beginning in 2002 has been the best year for the company. We’ve been operating pretty full every year,” he said. “More and more, people are seeing value in travel rather than spending their money on goods or luxury items.”
