It was the topic of breakfast conversation among several of the owners of Ama Waterways onboard their newest European river vessel, the 164-passenger Amacerto: Is river cruising a luxury travel experience? Do they even want river cruising to be defined as luxury?
To answer those questions, they first needed to define luxury. That in and of itself proved a challenging task.
But luxury can in part be defined by choice: the choice to upgrade or enhance the experience wherever passengers see fit. It’s no wonder, then, that river cruise lines are systematically trying to create more choices for their passengers as they push their ships closer and closer to the luxury bar, wherever that bar may be.
The Amacerto is no exception. To start with, the stateroom configuration is the first choice passengers can make, including whether they would like a balcony. Ama, like most other river cruise lines, assumes that most passengers now do, so 49 of 82 cabins on the Amacerto feature a new indoor/outdoor balcony concept that allows for only a limited amount of cabin space to be sacrificed for an outdoor balcony area (space: another defining feature of luxury).
Additionally, Ama has worked to add more dining options. While many river cruise lines have toyed with the concept of a small, casual dining area at the aft at the ship, the Amacerto has a full-fledged second restaurant at the aft, called Erlebnis, a chef’s table venue with its own menu where diners can watch the chef cooking in a glass-enclosed kitchen. There is also a casual dining grill on the sun deck, weather permitting.
The main dining room features two semi-enclosed, 12-person rooms near the entrance that currently serve the same menu as the dining room, but those spaces could eventually house themed restaurants with unique menus, according to Ama executives (they threw out options for these spaces that ranged from sushi to tapas to a wine bar with an Alpine lodge theme).
Another level of choice is butler service on the top two decks. Upon arrival, guests on these two decks are greeted by a team of two butlers who can provide room service breakfast, bring drinks to the cabin or assist with unpacking, laundry services and a handful of other personal requests.
Does that make the Amacerto a luxury river cruise experience? Do marble bathroom features make it luxury? Ultimately, passengers and the price point will decide. But what’s clear is that just as hotels and ocean cruise lines have had to define what luxury means in those markets, river cruising is defining what luxury might mean in the river cruise market as it gets closer and closer to that luxury bar. And as it gets closer, it’s also having to figure out how much further it wants to go.