My First River Cruise as a 30-Something Old Soul

My maternal grandmother passed away in January 2024, and once everything in her estate was settled, my mom decided that she wanted to spend her money on a family vacation for her, my dad, my brother and me (unfortunately, my boyfriend was unable to attend, but he was invited too!)

So, as a newly established travel advisor, my mom became one of my first clients!

She originally had the idea of taking a cruise that included Puerto Rico (“I heard there are some really pretty waterfalls there!”), and I set off looking at balcony rooms per her instructions.

But she had left out a very important detail that nearly gave me a heart attack when she said, “The Owner’s Suite looks nice!” She had forgotten to tell me that she was fully planning on blowing her whole inheritance on this vacation!  And here I was, hunting for the best bargain!

The payout sum wasn’t huge, but it also wasn’t a number to sneeze at, either.  And after a well-placed comment from my boyfriend about how we could do much better than a cruise to Puerto Rico, I set off on a plan to get myself on my first river cruise!

Here’s a few things you should know about me that might make this decision make a bit more sense: I have always considered myself, for lack of a better term, a bit of an old soul. Not that I was born in the wrong era or anything of the sort, but that I skipped a few chapters of my young adulthood. I have never been to a club, I was never invited to a party in high school, and I don’t even think I’ve purchased a scratch ticket. My friends and I even call our early dinners “Grandma dinner” because we all agreed that staying up late really didn’t appeal to us anymore!  We all like to be on the road and back to our own beds for our normal bedtime. 

I think this is a big reason why river cruising (in Europe in particular) always spoke to me.  It naturally appeals to the side of me that likes a good schedule while also taking away a huge element of decision making on the day-to-day. I know exactly where my meals are going to take place, which excursions I’m looking forward to due to my pre-planning, and each day is mostly a variation on the same theme.

Plus, seeing Europe without bus- and train- and plane-hopping? Say no more!

There were a few factors that really led me to river cruises for this particular trip: my brother lived in England at the time and it would be very easy for him to meet us; the larger budget of a river cruise wouldn’t make my mother have heart attack this time around; and I had just started learning about them and knew that if I missed this chance, it would take a long time before I could afford to go on one myself!

I pitched three AmaWaterways itineraries — a roundtrip Paris and the Seine, a one-way variation on the same route, and The Best of Holland and Belgium, which featured the Kinderdijk Windmills and a Belgian Chocolate Workshop. My mom chose option three before I even finished my pitch (the chocolate workshop sealed it.)  She also opted to add on the pre-cruise extension of 2 nights in Amsterdam, taking advantage of a promotion that was happening during our booking window.

So this meant that both my brother and I would most likely be among the youngest onboard, both being in our mid 30s. My brother is pretty go-with-the-flow, and as long as he’s fed well, he’ll be happy.  

Me? I was the driving force behind this decision, but as much as I wanted to take this trip, I was hoping I wasn’t making a huge mistake.

Most river cruises are taken by those in their 60’s and 70’s, but that was never a concern of mine. What appealed to me about river cruising was the mostly European destinations, which I had grand plans of visiting when I was younger, but my previous career as a performer kept me from seeing through. I’m also a huge fan of girl-math, where everything is paid for in advance and the stress of counting my pennies is significantly lessened by the time the trip comes around.

Fast forward a few months to November 2024, and it was time for us to meet our cruise manager and some of the other guests in Amsterdam. Like I thought, I was definitely the youngest one there at 35 years old, and we somehow happened to pick a sailing that a large group of fellow travel advisors was taking as a Familiarization trip, or FAM trip, in addition to a few new cruise managers learning the ropes from our fearless leader, Milan.

He met us in our gorgeous Amsterdam hotel, the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam, where we settled in and met up with the group on the extension for a small cocktail reception. We had two nights there, so the first night was all about settling in and recovering from our travel days.

Our one full day in Amsterdam started with a guided walking tour complete with in-ear listening devices so our tour guide’s narration could be easily heard.  I am personally a fan of a guided tour, since I love learning about the history of the places I get to visit. Once the tour was done, we were free to wander the streets and canals to our heart’s content, and when the day was done, I had racked up more than 24,000 steps with nothing guiding me but my intuition and my search for a stroopwafel.

The next day was embarkation day, but we had some exploration time built in before heading to our ship. We got bussed to the nearby town of Haarlem for a canal cruise and a short walking tour. The highlight of this was exploring the Church of St. Bavo and its famous floor-to-ceiling pipe organ once played by a young Mozart! My brother and I found our way into a few chocolate shops decked out for Sinterklaas before we got back on the bus and headed to board the AmaCerto.

If you’ve ever been on a “regular” cruise ship heading to the Caribbean or Alaska or the Mediterranean, a river cruise ship is going to seem ridiculously small. I knew that in my head, but it was still striking just how approachable these ships feel in comparison to the mega-ships that exist today.  The AmaCerto holds 164 passengers at its maximum, and there are only a few public spaces to explore, so to me, it felt much more manageable. There’s very little chance of getting lost on a ship like this, and within a day or so, I really felt like I had the whole thing on lock.

The first real confirmation of my young age amongst the rest of the passengers came at our first cocktail hour and port talk, where Milan the cruise manager talked us through the daily procedures on the ship and how things would proceed for the next week. I was for sure on the very low end of the age spectrum.  And for me?  That really doesn’t bother me!  I’ve always been one to sit and listen to conversation and not feel obligated to contribute, but I also really enjoyed hearing where everyone came from and how they found out about this cruise (as well as listen in to some of the travel advisor shop talk!)

Another thing?  Almost all of the ship staff was in my age bracket. I think there was a 5 year age gap between me and cruise manager Milan, and so many of the waitstaff and housekeeping staff were in the same range too.  So even if I didn’t really connect with the group of cruisers I happened to be with at any given moment, I had my new ship staff friends to chat with.

When we were making our way through our itinerary, there was a wide variety of shore excursions offered at each port (all included, btw) that my family chose from.  My dad has some mobility issues, so he and my mom took advantage of the “gentle” walking pace option when they could, and my brother and I were usually in the “regular” groups. And we were free to choose any excursion regardless of what the rest of our group chose. You could also freely explore the ports if you chose to.

I ended up getting hit pretty hard by a cold and general “Oops, I went too hard” in the middle of the trip, which led to me changing my plans a couple times.  And that was totally okay, since I didn’t pay for any of the excursions out of pocket, so there was at least one afternoon that I enjoyed a real good nap!

But the shore excursions were really well-suited for each of our destinations. We had a canal cruise in Amsterdam, a visit to Castle de Haar in Utrecht, a half day city tour of each Ghent and Bruges (just as the Christmas markets were beginning to open for the season!), and ended with the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Kinderdijk Windmills.

Our single best excursion was the one that brought us to Belgium in the first place: our Chocolate workshop in Brussels.  When I tell you I have never seen a group of full blown adults more excited and acting like kids in a literal candy store, I am not lying to you!

We learned a little bit about why Belgian chocolate is so damn good, and then it was time to create our own bars. We were given a baggie of liquid chocolate and a full tray of fixings, and we were set off to go wild! There was 10 minutes of utter chaos while we all banged air bubbles out of our bars and hurried to pack them full of M&Ms and nuts and cookie bits.  I chose a nut sampler, with stripes of all the types of nuts, while others chose the “I want it all” approach and threw everything at it to see what stuck.  

Our bars went off to chill and harden, and we got more liquid chocolate to play with, this time to create candy buttons.  This is where I decided to try a little bit of everything, with at least one button for each type of mix in.  My table mate was someone on the corporate side of AmaWaterways, and she decided to write out each of her daughter’s names in chocolate! (I unfortunately have no clue whether they made it home in one piece, but I know a valiant effort was made). 

As good as the chocolate workshop was, one day in particular stood out as the best of the best.  I had no expectations for our day in Antwerp, as it was a city I had heard of but doesn’t jump to the top when you think of Belgian cities. But the combination of city lore, gorgeous buildings, and incredible food really made an impression on me.

One of the first things about Antwerp that I loved was that we docked right in the city.  We took a walking city tour that brought us through the Old Town to the Grote Markt, the city square with golden Guild Halls, a majestic City Hall building, and a fountain of a man slaying a giant. Add in a visit to the Cathedral, and it was a great way to spend the morning!

After a lunch back on the ship (and a trip out for some souvenirs for me!), our afternoon excursion was a food tour.  Our new guide led us to all of her favorite spots, including some just plain interesting little nooks, while feeding us full of Belgian delights: fries from the winner of the Belgian fry contest (yes, this is a thing!), pickled meat from a local deli that we watched the butcher slice, more chocolate from a family run chocolaterie, and waffles loaded with whipped cream and powdered sugar. 

Every night once we had boarded again, we would attend a cocktail hour and port talk, then head to dinner (no assigned seats or table mates!).  We always tried to get a seat in the section of our favorite waitress, and we were joined on more than one occasion by an older woman traveling on her own.  Her name was Pat, and she was a retired travel writer.  She was fascinating to listen to, especially when we asked about her all time favorite trips (Without missing a beat, she said France — which only solidifies my need to get there soon!)

After dinner, there was always some sort of entertainment onboard…but I couldn’t really tell you what any of it was like! Between the activity of the day, the cold I was nursing, and the social energy I had used up during the day, I usually headed back to my room after dinner and passed out pretty quickly.  But I can tell you that I was definitely in the minority! The other guests were on vacation, and they were ready to party!

After 2 days in Amsterdam and 7 days sailing the Dutch and Belgian Waterways, we disembarked back in the Netherlands and headed for home. And I think my whole family can agree that we had a blast! My parents got time with us while exploring a few new countries, I got to experience a river cruise, and my brother got to eat his way through the Netherlands and Belgium. (We’re not going to talk about the nightmare travel day that my brother had getting back to England…that’s a story for another day!)

As a travel professional, this trip was such a great way to confirm that I had chosen the right niche. I got to experience a river cruise as a guest in an environment that also gave me access to other travel professionals. And I didn’t feel out of place as the youngest on the ship; I actually felt more comfortable there than I did on previous ocean cruises that I have taken. And that’s what pushed me further into this niche – because I know there are people out there just like me who never considered that river cruising was even an option for them.

Would we do a river cruise again? Absolutely! But it will definitely take more planning with a tighter budget.  Luckily, there’s a specialist in the family that can take the lead on the planning.

My grandmother was a great lady who didn’t travel very extensively, but she loved hearing about all of our travels. She lived until she was 92, on her own until the very end. And we all like to think that spending the money on a big blowout vacation would have made her very happy!