‘Other Itineraries Are Coming Very Soon’ in AmaWaterways’ Partnership with Adventures by Disney

AmaWaterways president Rudi Schreiner took some time yesterday to chat with TMR editor Cheryl Rosen about the state of river cruises in Europe post-Paris, the partnership with Disney, and the trends he sees in the marketplace. Here’s an edited version of their conversation. 

How is business looking this year?
Overall it’s going well. Our 2016 bookings were doing very well until Paris; afterwards the demand for French cruises slowed down but things have picked up and are pretty much back to normal. The Rhine and Central Europe cruises are similar to last year; we will end up full. In France we are maybe 3% below full capacity. At this time of year we should be at about 75% full for the entire year but France is about 3-4% below. I’ll predict the ships will operate full, but they will fill up later than usual.  

We have 21 ships in the marketplace, but Europe, and especially Central Europe, is our prime focus. The Rhine and the Danube cruises are doing very well. Since we started, every year has been the best year and I predict 2016 will be the best year for us as well.  

What changes are you seeing in the marketplace?
Twenty years ago, the majority of passengers were sailing for two weeks; 14 nights from Amsterdam to Budapest was the top-selling item. Today the big majority of cruises are seven nights, with three hotel nights attached.  

Agewise, our customer is getting younger and younger. We have a very active program, with 25-35 bicycles on each ship, and very well developed internet reception. Our wine cruises also are attracting a younger audience—we started with seven or eight of those and now have over 40 wine-themed cruises. The audience for those averages in their 40s. And of course we have our Adventures by Disney partnership, which starts this summer. 

How is the Disney partnership going?
We will have five back-to-back charters in Europe in July and August and two at Christmastime, so seven total. We announced that in April and within three days we were booked up. We are talking about more for next year, and also have other itineraries coming very soon that will be announced by Disney.  

I’ve heard a rumor that perhaps Disney is thinking about starting its own river-cruise line. Do you think that will happen?
I don’t really believe they will start their own. We have a partnership into 2021 and 2022.  

What other changes do you see in the business? 
One thing that is changing a lot is land excursion programs. In the past you did a city tour in Budapest, a bus in Vienna; today you have to give the customer choices, and active choices—the regular city tour or a bike tour. We include two or three guided bike tours in every city now.  

Also food is changing very rapidly. People are concerned about salt, sugar, dressing on their salads. Healthy food is very, very important to them.  

I myself work quite a lot on menus, trying to improve little things and keep up with customers’ interests. For example, we introduced pho soup from Vietnam—it’s a big bowl of noodle soup with chicken or shrimp. When we started we thought okay, maybe 50 people will take it, but soon we needed 150 because everyone wanted to try it. Now we have it once per cruise—you get broth, and then choose from a selection of noodles and maybe 15 other ingredients, like mint or chili or shrimp.  

We also are changing the chefs’ table menu to a true tasting menu. The first serving is a plate with three appetizers; then there are three main courses, fish, meat, and something else; and then a plate with three desserts. Personally, I’m very picky about food and I like to eat healthy. I travel a lot and I do eat out a lot, so I see a lot of menus, and I constantly talk to people about what they want to eat.  

Has your relationship with travel professionals changed in any way?
We are 100% focused on the trade, 100%, and we have very good relationships with all the consortia. We do not do any consumer marketing. What has changed is that where travel agents used to be more order-takers, today successful travel agents are excellent marketers. Our products are high-priced items, and customers don’t want to buy them online. They want a professional answer from a professional travel specialist. Our seven-night cruisers are a younger audience—they don’t have time to do the research; they rely on travel agents. The active travel agent who markets well can make an excellent living.  

Do you think low water levels will be an issue this year, as they were last year? How do you handle that?
Right now Europe is having a lot of rain, and it had quite a good snow cover in the winter, but it’s very hard to predict the weather this early. But if there’s low water or an accident or a bridge closing, I believe it’s very important to resolve it in an extremely customer-friendly manner. If there is a day that’s not according to the itinerary, we offer customers a 15% future cruise credit per day. 

Any advice for travel agents selling river cruises?
For a travel agent who sells river cruises, it’s very important to physically experience an actual river cruise. It’s hard to explain how different it is from every other means of transportation. You get double the leisure time. You don’t have to check in and check out, sit in rush hour traffic. You just go to bed at night and you wake up the next morning and you are in town, so you have double the time to see Europe. On the river you sit on the top deck and you see the small villages and beautiful landscapes.  

What’s your favorite cruise?
I don’t have a single favorite. I like them all. The Moselle Valley in Germany is magnificent; the Danube has big cities like Budapest and Vienna; and I love the Mekong.