The bicycles aboard, and what you actually do with them
Every European ship in the fleet carries bicycles, including electrically
assisted ones, free to use during port calls. It is a brochure line that looks
harmless and yet changes the nature of the day.
A six-hour call by bicycle is nothing like the same call by coach. You leave
the group's perimeter, you follow the river instead of leaving it, and you come
back when you choose. On the Rhine and the Danube, cycle paths follow the bank
almost without a break, which makes the exercise safe: you do not get lost
following water.
The trade-off is real. You have to be able to ride, accept the traffic on the
approaches to towns, and watch the time you are due back. The ship does not wait.
A bicycle outing is arranged the evening before with the crew, not on a whim at
breakfast.
Rhine and Danube
AmaSerena works both basins, with departures from Amsterdam and Basel. Our
count on 26 August 2026 found 140 departure dates across three years.
The hull
A hundred and thirty-five metres, 161 guests, 85 cabins, delivered in 2015. It
was named at Vilshofen in Bavaria, like most of its sisters. Twin balcony in the
upper cabins.
The other ships in the fleet
AmaVenita, AmaCerto and AmaPrima share its configuration. AmaStella belongs to the second wave, with
larger cabins and fewer guests.
What the cruise fare covers
Meals are included, with wine and beer served at lunch and dinner, soft
drinks at any hour and a daily cocktail before supper. Guided excursions are
included at every port. Wi-Fi is included. Bicycles are aboard, free to use
during port calls on the European ships.
Outings are graded by effort: gentle, regular, active. That is not brochure
caution. An active visit strings together stairs and slopes for three hours, and
anyone who overestimates themselves at the start regrets it on the way back.
Choose the level the evening before, not on the morning itself.
Two items are not included and they matter. Gratuities for the crew and the
guides remain your responsibility on every destination: the line suggests an
amount, it does not charge it. Air travel is not included either, unless bought
through the line's own air programme.
Who this ship suits
The clientele is adult. There is no children's club, no childcare and no
youth programme, and every traveller under eighteen shares a cabin with a
responsible adult. The minimum age varies by destination and grows stricter on
the African journeys; have it confirmed for the date you want.
A lift links the main decks, but it does not reach the sun deck, which is
accessed by stair. That is where the landscape is watched from. Add to that
boarding gangways that vary from quay to quay, and calls where you cross another
ship moored alongside to reach the bank. Reduced mobility is prepared for, not
improvised.
Booking from Quebec
Voyages AquaTerra operates under a licence from Quebec's Office de la
protection du consommateur. The sums you pay move through a trust account kept
separate from the agency's own funds, and the Compensation Fund for Customers of
Travel Agents steps in where the law provides. That protection does not follow a
booking made outside Quebec.
The ship is the simple part of the file. The flight, the connection, the
hotel night before embarkation and the transfer to the pier make up the rest,
and that is where the real comfort of a departure is decided.
