First, Crystal Cruises resurrected the extra-wide Danube cruiser the Crystal Mozart last year. Now, AmaWaterways is gearing up to launch a double-wide Danube vessel of its own, the AmaMagna in 2019.
So, are extra-wide river cruise vessels with larger staterooms and more onboard amenities going to be the next big river cruise trend, a la the race to make space for balconies 10 years back?
No, seriously, there was a time not that long ago when not all river cruise vessels had balconies. But with the fierce competition in the river cruise industry, all it took was a couple players to come up with some innovative balcony/French balcony concepts and next thing we knew, even the balcony skeptics (ahem, Viking Chairman Tor Hagen) started redrawing their ship designs in order to accommodate the popular stateroom feature.
As river cruising has become more popular, a culture of one-upmanship has pervaded this growing segment, with each player trying to outdo the other. And once the genie is out of the bottle on an interesting or attractive concept, it's hard to put it back in. Potential passengers hear about or see said concept in a brochure and then they start asking about it. Before you know it, other lines feel the pressure to get onboard.
The same thing happened with multiple dining venues. Despite the limited space on river cruise ships, river cruise lines have been steadily upping their fun and interesting alternative dining concept game to create a more dynamic onboard culinary experience, not least because everyone else is doing it. It's peer pressure at its most effective.
Introducing a vessel that is nearly twice as wide as traditional river cruise ships on the Danube like AmaWaterways is doing introduces all kinds of new possibilities for enticing prospective travelers. AmaWaterways is promising everything from staterooms averaging 300-square-feet in size to more dining venues to an open-water sports platform on the ship, which will give guests access to zodiac boats, canoes and jet skis. A larger spa and gym area and enhanced evening entertainment are also being touted. And who knows what else they will come up with. AmaWaterways president and co-owner Rudi Schreiner has said he could "go crazy" with this ship.
So, while we're still a couple of years away from the launch of the AmaMagna and thus from seeing how well it performs, my guess is it's only a matter of time before we start seeing other companies roll out their version of the extra-wide river cruise vessel.