AmaWaterways wine cruises add a unique epicurean dimension to a variety of itineraries at no additional cost. Join one of these wine cruises with a special wine host and be treated to a menu of exclusive wine and culinary experiences designed to delve deeper into the wonderful flavors and tastes of Europe.
European cities transform into majestic winter wonderlands for the holiday season – and we invite you to experience all their splendor with us. In addition to our variety of daily excursions, you will also have the opportunity to visit festive Christmas Markets in select destinations and participate in nostalgic traditions.
Maximize your Christmas experience by embarking at the height of the holiday market season with daily or near-daily visits to Christmas Markets.
Get "just a taste" of the holidays in mid-November or late December with visits to one or two Christmas Markets during your river cruise.
We are pleased to offer guests the opportunity to experience Floriade in 2022 while sailing along the Rhine River and Dutch and Belgian Waterways between April 14 and October 9. Right outside Amsterdam, this rare experience calls for its visitors to “explore, touch and change” as part of their journey into Floriade – which is set to feature stunning gardens, innovative sustainable gardening exhibits, live entertainment, talk shows, souvenirs and food stalls.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Rhône with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2024.
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through four countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
Join Chef Joanne Weir, award-winning cookbook author, restaurant owner and host of PBS television series “Plates & Places” as she hosts a special 7-night Flavors of Burgundy river cruise.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Danube with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Explore the rich history of classical music along the Danube River where famous composers lived, worked and performed. Plus, be treated to a variety of live performances on this melodious journey.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2025
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through five countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Douro with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
We invite our loyal past guests to join us once again on these special Loyalty Cruises, offering unique experiences in multiple ports, commemorative gifts, and many more surprises and delights.
Imagine if there was a way to combine luxury river cruising on the iconic Danube with the opportunity to indulge your passion and play golf. We have created the perfect package to enable you to do just that with our Exclusive Concierge Golf Program. Discover Europe, complete with award winning cuisine, incredible service and a choice of excursions in every port, as well as up to 5 rounds of golf at some of the leading championship courses on the continent.
AmaWaterways’ Exclusive Concierge Golf Program is available on select Magna on the Danube cruises sailing aboard the AmaMagna.
Hello! "I'm Kristin Karst, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of AmaWaterways and I'm passionate about river cruising. Each month, I love to share with you my thoughts, personal stories, travel tips and latest news on the people and places that help turn every mile of our guests' river cruise experience into one of their most cherished memories!"
Deck the halls for a festive winter wonderland this year as you sip hot chocolate, double down on gingerbread of all yummy shapes and sizes, sing delightful new and classic yuletide holiday staples – and yes, find some tinsel-tastic decorations to string around your tree. You’ll sing “O Tannenbaum” to your heart’s content as you navigate through Nuremberg’s bustling Christmas Market (“Christkindlesmarkt”). One of the largest and most popular markets in all of Europe, you’re sure to have a jolly good time rekindling Old World traditions and carrying back a few as special souvenirs.
Christmas Markets are one of Germany’s brightest and merriest customs – and one of its longest running ones too. Each city puts its own unique and sometimes quirky spin on them (sometimes several different spins). But Nuremburg’s markets always take center stage. They’re a bit like the holidays themselves – a gift that keeps giving.
Dating back to at least the early 1600s, with the first record of it in 1628, the Nuremberg Market draws in both locals and tourists from near and far. Over 180 wooden booths, blanketed with red and white striped cloth, offer up artisanal goodies of all kinds. One of the most notable are the Prune Men and Women. Hundreds of years before Barbie, GI Joe and iPads were available, kids would play with these figures, made with wire, walnuts for heads and dried prunes for bodies. They come in hundreds of action poses -- kissing couples, cooks and waiters, skateboarders and piano players. An old Nuremberg saying goes “With a prune man in your house, money and happiness stay, too.” Often presumed to have been invented here, these figurines can be found throughout many of Germany’s markets and are a national toy craze that has lasted through the centuries.
Visitors can take another kind of nostalgic trip through the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt with a horse-drawn ride in a stagecoach. Sip warm cocoa or mulled wine as you listen to holiday music and cozy up in scarfs and blankets because as Dean Martin once crooned, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
Music is performed live on stage, as opposed to being piped through speakers, to encourage a quaint feeling of years ago. Plastic decorations and machine manufactured gifts are banned. Only fresh pine boughs and handmade crafts are allowed here. Along with the Prune Figures, favorite gifts include Schwibbogen candle stands with yuletide artwork and Springerle biscuits, a Nuremberg specialty cookie that are almost too beautiful to eat and are often used to decorate the tree. And of course, figurines of the Christkind – the angel that is thought to bring gifts to children in Germany on Christmas Eve.
An old-fashioned carousel, ferris wheel, steam train and nativity scene trail are other can’t-miss spots while you’re here. And a sighting of the angelic Christkind, played by a blonde-haired young woman in a magnificent gold and white robe, will warm your heart as much as the second helping of strudel. The Christkind opens the market with a grand party on the first night and then greets visitors in the weeks that follow.
Merry Christmas – or as you might want to exclaim when you arrive “Frohe Weihnachten!”
Visit one of Germany's merriest Christmas Markets in Nuremberg when choosing from our Christmas Markets on the Danube and Iconic Christmas Markets itineraries.