AMA Magna Danube cruise

In September 2024, I had the pleasure of a week’s cruise on the Danube and the river’s largest and best vessel, namely the AMA Magna. Our trip began with an early easyJet flight to Munich, and a meet-up with AMA’s charming host lady at a café within the airport terminal. A 2 hour transfer took us to the ship moored at Vilshofen in SE Germany. After an overnight stay, a leisurely cruise down river followed to arrive at Passau, close to the Austrian border, where the Danube meets the Inn and Ilz rivers. A walking tour of this lovely historic town with it’s scenic little streets and alleyways. An overnight sailing saw us arrive next morning at Linz, where again we choose the optional walking tour of the City. Later that day, a short scenic cruise down to Grein was enjoyed, a small town with a magnificent old residential castle, which we took a tour of at night. Another overnight sailing saw us arrive next morning at Melk, known for it’s famous Baroque Abbey overlooking the Wachau valley. An afternoon cruise down river followed for a stop at Spitz, a small town in the heart of the Austrian wine-growing country. Our next port of call, after another overnight sailing, was Vienna, a city I have been to before, so a brief walking tour was had to relive the city’s highlights, despite the weather not being great that day. In fact, it was after leaving Vienna that we ran into the horrendous weather central Europe suffered in Mid-September 2024, so the visit to Bratislava, the next port of call, was somewhat of a non-event which was a shame as I’d never been there before. The last leg of the cruise was also the longest, sailing along the Slovak / Hungarian border towards Budapest and the final stop. The rains cleared up a bit to allow the views of the arrival into Budapest, under the magnificent bridges and past the city’s historic buildings to our final docking point. The AMA Magna remained in the city overnight, allowing for exploring the city both by day and night. Leaving the ship on the last day, it was noticeable how much the Danube had risen, fed by all the rains up river. It was a surprise how many locks the ship went through on it’s week-long journey, 12 in all, and it was fascinating to see the ship squeeze inch-prefect into them. The Magna is a fabulous new addition to the Danube, excellent facilities and service throughout and lovely food served in the smart restaurant. Clientele were mainly retired American and Canadian citizens on my voyage, with some from other nations too. I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever river cruise experience, and thank AMA Waterways for the opportunity I was given to sample their flagship vessel.