Andrea Stafford updates the Irish travel trade on AMA Waterways’ activities at the World Choice Conference 2025. She shares, “River cruising is really having a moment right now, which is interesting, and I feel very proudly privileged to work for Ama Waterways… and for me, it’s about connection. It’s about immersing yourself in a destination and really, truly connecting with people all over the world and sharing stories as you visit these wonderful places.”
AmaWaterways is a Calabasas, California-based luxury river cruise company that offers cruises in Europe, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and Egypt. Interestingly, this global river cruise company has a strong Irish connection. The co-owner and Vice President of Sales, Gary Murphy, is the son of Irish travel pioneer Jimmy Murphy. Jimmy Murphy worked in the travel trade in Ireland, including Aer Lingus, before emigrating to the USA.
For more on the fascinating history, check out the ITTN interview with Gary Murphy, VP Sales & Co-Owner of Ama Waterways here.
“23 years ago, Rudi Schreiner, Kristin Karst, and Jimmy Murphy – who, I’m sure, a lot of people know from Brendan Tours and Brendan Vacations – decided to start a river cruise company and Ama Waterways was born.”
Second Biggest European River Cruise Company with 32 Ships
“From one ship on the river Danube, we now have 32 ships, which makes us the second biggest European river cruise company, and in five years time, we will have 40 ships. So you may not know the scale of what we’ve got on the rivers of Europe.
Multi-Award Winning Ama Waterways
Andrea shares, “So your clients are in really, really good hands”, given the impressive array of awards, including:
- Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards – Top 10 River Cruise Lines
- Travel + Leisure 2025 World’s Best Awards – Top 10 Favorite River Cruise Lines
- TTG Media Travel Industry Awards 2025 – River Cruise Line of the Year
- Travel Weekly The Hot List (River Cruise) – Winner 2025 – Best for Excursions, Best for Food & Drink, Best for Fitness & Wellness
- Travel Pulse Canada 2025 Readers’ Voice Awards – River Crusie line of the Year, River Cruise Line of the Year – Cuisine, River Cruise Line of the Year – Groups and Sales Rep of the Year – River Cruise
- Forbes – The Best Danube River Cruises for 2025 – 10 Best Danube River Cruises for 2025
- Travel + Leisure – 10 Best Danube River Cruises – #1 Best Danube River Cruise
- UDA Today – Readers’ Choice Awards 2025 – 10 Best River Cruise Lines of 2025
She highlights that the food is locally sourced, expertly selected wines, wonderful cruisers and wonderful guides to take clients on up to six excursions a day.
Global Itineraries including Gorillas of Rwanda, Asia’s Mekong River, Egypt & Colombia
As Andrea emphasised, Ama Waterways are “the first at many, many things”. In fact, clients can visit Victoria Falls, see the gorillas of Rwanda or take a cruise on the Chobe River that takes in excursions in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. In Asia, guests can journey along the Mekong River through Vietnam and Cambodia taking in the Angkor Archaeological Complex, Ha Long Bay and even Bangkok’s Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
A favourite of Andrea’s and a wishlist of mine is the adventure through Egypt and along the Nile with sights including the iconic Pyramids of Giza and the enigmatic Sphinx, marvel at the countless artefacts on display at the Grand Egyptian Museum and explore the mysterious Valley of the Kings and Queens.
Ama Waterways has also expanded to Colombia. They are the first river cruise line to explore the magnificent Magdalena River, which began earlier this year. Guests can experience the vibrant culture, astonishing natural beauty and distinctive flavours of Colombia on one of two unforgettable itineraries taking in Cartagena to Barranquilla with options to add stays in Panama, Medellín and Cartagena.
Fly-Cruise & Tailored Travel
“With us, we fly directly anywhere you want to, if we can get you there from any airport in Ireland, we will get you there. So you can take river cruises with us and fly cruise packages from Dublin. And we also work with the lovely Sunway with Deirdre Sweeny (General Manager – Worldwide at Sunway). You can package everything you want. And, if you want to extend your cruise or see something before, you can do that with our lovely friends at Sunway as well.”
Get in touch with Katrina Latimer, the dedicated business development manager for Ireland or anyone from the Ama Waterways team. Check out ITTN’s Coffee Break with Katrina Latimer below.
