The first two in a series of colorful innovations has just been announced by the Chairman of AMA Waterways (
www.amawaterways.com (http://www.amawaterways.com)), a cruise line consisting of six large river ships (none older than 2006) that sail primarily on the Rhine and Danube in Europe. I was not surprised by these new inventions, which emerge from a well-known travel figure known for his creativity. He is Jimmy Murphy, the longtime former owner of Brendan Tours, now the chairman of AMA, who shouted out a "hello" and various other greetings to me (in a distinctive Irish brogue) at the
Los Angeles Times Travel Show on Saturday.
(http://community.frommers.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/1/14/e183fd9d-e995-4cec-8e2b-8dc962b896c6.Large.jpg)
Rhine River cruise/ClatieK/Flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com/photos/clatiek/2690220978/)
Unlike other river cruise companies that carry one or two bicycles aboard their ships, Jimmy has now equipped each of his vessels with no fewer than 30 free-of-charge bicycles that passengers are urged to use on the paths that parallel the rivers of Europe. Because a 145-passenger river ship goes at a slow pace -- occasionally, three or four miles an hour -- passengers are able to cycle ahead to a picturesque village and there enjoy a beer or glass of wine while waiting for the ship to catch up to them. Or they can go exploring in the immediate vicinity, and still stay within reach of the mother ship.
As Jimmy Murphy's son, Gary, reported to me by e-mail today: "What is also happening is that the clients are forgoing their included city sightseeing programs and spending this time to cycle to the next port of call. We will pack them a lunch, and they are on their way to discover the interesting villages and towns on the banks of these magnificent rivers."
Supplying that unusual option is obviously an attempt to appeal to persons young in spirit (or years), and the 30 bicycles, Jimmy assured me, will be more than adequate to handle the wandering-needs of passengers with curiosity. Having myself recently gone on a overly-relaxing, slow river cruise of the Rhine (operated by a different company), I had an immediate favorable reaction.
The second innovation (and there will be many more) was a decision to make Wi-Fi connections available in each of the cabins aboard the ships, enabling passengers with laptops to go online from their own rooms, instead of standing in line (as on other river vessels) to use the two or three communal and connected laptops available in the bars of each ship. On my own recently-completed river cruise, those communal laptops were always non-functioning, and at each river stop along the way, some of them small villages, I had to hunt (sometimes in vain) for a cybercafe that I could use for e-mail purposes.
Wi-Fi is now immediately available in each of AMA Waterways' six ships, of which two ultra-modern ones are going into service for the first time this year. If the overall plan of Jimmy Murphy is to appeal to a different type of person than those who normally book river cruises, these two new policies should go far towards achieving that goal.
Don't get me wrong. A European river cruise, on any ship, can be an absorbing vacation activity, and I never once felt bored as we stopped and explored all the famous cities and towns along the historic Rhine on my recent cruise. But with Jimmy Murphy running the excellent AMAWaterways (each ship's name starts with the prefix, AMA), that line might now enjoy a real edge. You get further information at
www.amawaterways.com (http://www.amawaterways.com) or by phoning tel.
800/626-0126.
Source: By Adding 30 Bikes to Each of its Ships, AMA Waterways Hopes to Enliven the World of European River Cruising (http://www.frommers.com/blog/?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog:3ec3ac40-db8a-4d10-a884-acf9ccad0879Post:ec5e6ec5-c4b3-48e4-88ce-b9f6939652b0)