AmaPrima

Danny calls the Main Lounge your living room on the river. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame scenic stretches like the Rhine Gorge and the Wachau Valley. The bar hosts the Sip & Sail happy hour with complimentary cocktails for an hour before dinner, a pianist plays each night, and local performers sometimes come aboard. A buffet area puts out tapas and light bites, and the tour manager uses the lounge for excursion briefings and lectures on the places you’ll visit.

The lounge opens onto a front porch at the bow, with tables and chairs, overhead heaters and windbreaks, so guests can sit outside with a morning coffee or an afternoon bite and watch the river views change. On the port side, the library is a cozy corner with large couches, overstuffed chairs and fireplaces. It has a reference collection, a book exchange and a cabinet of games to share with fellow travelers.

The Main Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, with booths and tables lining the windows. Breakfast and lunch pair an à la carte menu with a buffet and made-to-order stations, including eggs in the morning and a salad bar at lunch. Dinner is a seated, multi-course meal with regional specialties and classics like steak, fish and chicken. Wine is included with lunch and dinner, and two private wine rooms sit at the entrance.

At the very back of the ship, The Chef’s Table is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling windows, with tables for four along the aft windows and a large table for eight in the middle. Guests are invited to a complimentary multi-course tasting dinner with wine pairings, and the chef comes out to explain each course. Harr Travel groups can also use the room as a meeting space for about 30 to 45 people, with a drop-down screen and projector.

AmaPrima has a fitness room with bikes, a treadmill set into the floor, a pulley system, weights and a bench, plus yoga mats. A wellness host leads classes, including yoga on the Sun Deck, and can even take guests out for a run. A massage room and a hair salon are on board, which is unusual for a river ship. Complimentary bikes are stored on the Sun Deck for exploring ashore on your own or on a guided ride.

The Sun Deck has tables and chairs up front, oversized wraparound couches, and a heated pool with benches, jets and a swim-up bar at one end. Farther aft are a giant chess set, cornhole, recliners with ottomans and a walking and jogging track. To slip under low bridges, the railings, shade structure and even the bridge fold down, and Danny notes AmaWaterways designed its ships with one of the lowest drafts in river cruising.