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In September 2011 AmaWaterways launched a second ship on the Mekong River, AmaLotus, and it immediately was recognized as the most luxurious ship on plying the waters between Vietnam and Cambodia. Travel Pulse, a vast information travel online network for travel industry pros, recently released four videos interviewing guests and crew about the experience of cruising on the Mekong River aboard the AmaLotus. Accommodating 124 passengers, the ship's interior areas are largely built with rich teak wood and the décor combines Colonial elegance with regional Khmer accents. The staterooms include comfortable sitting areas, individually controlled air-conditioning, a mini-bar, safety deposit box, robes and slippers, and a luxurious bathtub (Jr. Suites/Suites).
During the dignitary filled maiden voyage in September 2011, Simon Marks, a free-lance journalist based in Cambodia, went on board the AmaLotus in Phomh Phen and interviewed AmaWaterways President and Co-Owner Rudi Schreiner, Chairman and Co-Owner Jimmy Murphy and AmaWaterways Australian partner APT President Geoff McGeary. A feature article about the ship, the river cruising industry in Southeast Asia and the future of this rapidly growing sector of the tourism business around the world was published in the International Herald Tribune/New York Times a few months later.
AmaLotus features ultra-spacious 624-sq. ft. Suites; ten Jr. Suites at 290 sq. ft. and standard staterooms at 226 sq. ft., with 90 percent of her staterooms boasting outside balconies. Public areas include a main restaurant serving Asian and Western specialties; Saigon Lounge; Gift Shop; Fitness Center, Spa, plus a swimming pool and bar on the Sun Deck. The ship also features a fully English-speaking sta?.
On November 8, AmaWaterways was featured in an article published by the International Herald Tribune, the Global Edition of the New York Times. Written by Simon Marks, Executive Editor at The Cambodia Daily and free-lance reporter for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times, it provides an interesting look at the booming river cruise industry in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. When he saw an Internet news release from AmaWaterways' Los Angeles PR firm, generated through Expert Click's NewsReleaseWire service, about the impending launch of AmaWaterways' second ship on the Mekong, the AmaLotus, he saw an opportunity for a business story on a topic he had been wanting to write about.
In early August, Simon Marks contacted Promotion in Motion about going aboard the new ship during the dignitary filled inaugural cruise to gather information for an article. On September 15, after a host of back and forth communications, he found himself on the AmaLotus, while moored in Phnom Penh, for a tour of the new ship and a chance to sit down with AmaWaterways' Chairman and co-owner, Jimmy Murphy, President and co-owner, Rudi Schreiner and Geoff McGeary, owner of the APT Group, an Australian travel company and partner of AmaWaterways.
With tourism on the rise from river cruising, in Southeast Asia generally and Cambodia specifically, the AmaLotus launch provided Marks an ideal chance to delve into AmaWaterways' Mekong operations and the river cruise industry around the world. The New York Times.com online edition, entitled Arriving at the Temples of Angkor Aboard a Luxurious River Cruise Vessel, appeared on November 7 while the International Herald Tribune print edition appeared the next day under the headline Cruising the Rivers of Cambodia in Luxury While Basking in Pool and Spa.
Simon Marks was thoroughly impressed by the AmaLotus, telling Promotion in Motion "it is the most luxurious ship on the Mekong, that is for sure" The first portion of the story, quoted below, reflects that and sets the stage to explore AmaWaterways and the global river cruise industry.
PHNOM PENH — Gliding through the water almost soundlessly, the ship drifted toward a small landing stage and quickly threw down the gangplank. An elderly man in swimming trunks lounged next to the boat's swimming pool. Another sipped from a glass of whiskey as he watched the city approach from his private balcony.
The cruise ship AmaLotus offers luxuries like spa treatments, a gym and a swimming pool.
This was no ordinary vessel. Unlike the more traditional fishing boats and ferries that ply the waterways of Southeast Asia, the AmaLotus, a cruise ship that began operating in September, contains luxuries like spa treatments, a gym and a swimming pool.
At 92 meters, or 302 feet, in length and capable of holding 124 passengers, the AmaLotus is one of the latest cruise ships to start ferrying tourists between Siem Reap in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers.
After that Marks went into how river cruising had only recently come to the Mekong after growing dramatically in Europe over the last ten years. He quoted an official from CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association, who said that "the river cruise industry is growing fast worldwide as baby boomers in United States, Europe and Australia enters retirement and looks for new travel experiences"
After the Rhine-Main Canal in Southern Germany was completed in 1992, linking the Rhine and Danube Rivers together, a new era of European river cruising was launched. As the new millennia began AmaWaterways, founded in 2002, began building ships for North American consumers with more amenities and bigger staterooms and it has been growing exponentially ever since.
Big ship cruisers, having exhausted all their options, flocked to river cruising and, for the first five years, 80% of AmaWaterways' clients were of that ilk. Jimmy Murphy, Chairman and co-owner of AmaWaterways, has said more than once on radio shows that he was right about river cruising for the wrong reason, at least initially. Based on 50 years in the tourism industry, as founder of Brendan Vacations in the late 1960s, Murphy surmised that river cruising would be popular and that those who had grown weary of coach touring would be AmaWaterways' client base. Instead they got the big ship cruisers and then word began to spread, with millions more still unaware of the nature and history of the current river cruising trend.
Focusing on the Cambodian tourism industry, Marks noted that it has increased to 2.5 million annually, from 1.5 millions, in the last seven years and that the "large waterways make the country a natural fit for companies on the hunt for new markets" Rudi Schreiner, President and co-owner of AmaWaterways, told Marks that "for us, it's an upscale market" AmaWaterways, based out in Los Angeles, has a 50 percent stake in the AmaLotus along with Indochina Sails, a Vietnamese cruising company.
He went through the AmaWaterways pricing during low and high season and then moved on to environmental issues and the hiring of locals to work on the ships. The article reported that river cruising in Cambodia isn't a year round industry since ships can reach Siem Reap, the northern most destination for AmaWaterways in Cambodia, only between September and January "when the water level in the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, is high enough to let them pass."
Using diesel engines has raised concerns of pollution that AmaWaterways and other companies are seeking to confront, but progress is slow and "there is still a long way to go until standards reach those being enacted in Europe." With 70 percent of Cambodia's total protein intake through its fish, it is vital to keep the waterways from becoming polluted through the "release of nitrogen oxides, produced when diesel fuel is burned, can lead to acidification in water and soil."
The last issue was that money spent in Cambodia on tourism enhances the local population. AmaWaterways Chairman and co-owner Jimmy Murphy noted that this "is one of the hard parts: making sure that tourists arriving in Cambodia—that the money they spend works its way down."
Marks, keenly tuned into the Cambodian business scene, wrote that with 57 people working on board the AmaLotus only ten were from Cambodia, although they were making considerably more than the national average. He sees huge potential for the river cruise industry in Southeast Asia and thus a boom for Cambodia as aging baby boomers from Western countries begin to travel more.
Simon Marks finished his fine article with a quote that goes to the heart of the river cruising demographic: "The type of customers you find on here are quite interested in learning things," said Geoff McGeary, the owner of APT Group, an Australian travel company that has a share in AmaWaterways. "They haven't come on this trip to lie on their back in the sun. They're out to see things and learn things while they still can."
About AmaWaterways
AmaWaterways is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by looking back on an award winning 2011 which saw their fleet expanded to 14 of the most luxurious river cruise ships in the industry. In 2012 they will add the AmaCerto, with a host of amazing new design features, and the Zambezi Queen, which will ply the waters of the Chobe River in the Chobe National Park during AmaWaterways African Safaris and Wildlife River Cruises.
While adding new ships every year, AmaWaterways is always retrofitting existing ships with the latest amenities, upgrades and inventions. With a commitment to bring the best in river cruise vacations, AmaWaterways' has always and will always lead the way in unparalleled on-board services that are constantly fine-tuned for the highest customer satisfaction. These factors, combined with a slate of new itineraries and specialty programs such as extremely popular Wine River Cruises, which were launched in 2010, had made AmaWaterways the front runner in this burgeoning new segment of the travel business.
Over the years AmaWaterways garnered a number of Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly, picked up an Award of Excellence form Luxury Travel Advisor, a Cruise Passenger Readers Choice Award in Australia for Best River Ship and was recognized for its Twitter account that put AmaWaterways on the list of "The Top 25 Online Cruise Vacation Influencers" by Influencers in Travel.
Award-winning AmaWaterways provides luxurious, all-inclusive river cruise vacations on the world's great waterways. Founded in 2002 by cruise industry pioneer Rudi Schreiner, cruise line executive Kristin Karst and Jimmy Murphy, founder of Brendan Vacations, AmaWaterways operates its innovative, custom-designed vessels on the Danube, Rhine, Main and Mosel rivers in Europe; the Volga-Baltic Waterway in Russia and the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia.
The AmaWaterways fleet in Europe features amenities such as spacious staterooms with French balconies or revolutionary "Twin Balconies"; plush down bedding, marble-appointed baths; complimentary high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi; first-run hit Hollywood movies; complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks with dinner, complimentary bottled water; gourmet dining in multiple venues (AmaBella); nightly entertainment; complimentary small group shore excursions tailored to passengers' desired walking pace; guided bicycle tours and much more.
In 2011 AmaWaterways introduced the new 161-passenger AmaVerde in Europe, the newly-redesigned 212-passenger AmaKatarina on the Volga-Baltic Waterway in Russia and the new 124-passenger AmaLotus on the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia, increasing its luxurious fleet of river cruise vessels to 14 after the 2012 addition of the AmaCerto and Zambezi Queen.
AmaWaterways Included Features:
7 Nights Deluxe Cruise Accommodations in an Outside Stateroom; Most staterooms with large French Balconies;Jewish Heritage Tours with specialized guides; Daily Sightseeing Program as outlined in the Itinerary; Infotainment System in all Staterooms with Free Internet, Hollywood Hit Movies, Music Library and English Language TV Stations; Terry Bathrobes and White-on-white plush Bedding in all Staterooms; Superb Dining with all Meals included on board; Free-flowing Red & White Wines from Europe's great Wine Regions, beer and soft drinks with every Dinner on board the Ship; Bottled Water in every stateroom replenished daily; Cocktail Reception, Welcome Dinner & Captain's Gala Dinner; Special Highlights including Folklore, Dances, Lectures, Theme Dinners, onboard Music Performances and afternoon & evening Piano Music; Use of Bicycles to explore on your own; Services of a Professional Cruise Manager; All English Language on board in a non-smoking Environment (smoking permitted only on the Sun Deck); All Transfers included with the Purchase of Cruise, Land & Air package; All local Taxes
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