Explore your heritage through a unique cruise experience. AmaWaterways has partnered with Ancestry to create two river cruise opportunities to educate and immerse yourself in a place your ancestors once called home.
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“Following the success of our first Heritage on the River cruise in 2022, we are thrilled to expand our partnership with Ancestry and AncestryProGenealogists as the desire for an immersive and enriching travel experience continues to grow,” said Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-founder of AmaWaterways. “These very special sailings combine our companies’ shared passions for family, heritage, and travel, and we look forward to helping our guests forge a deeply personal connection to their European roots while creating new memories that will truly last a lifetime!”
The 2023 Rhine and Danube cruises are open for booking.
Ancestry Heritage On The River
The seven-night cruises, the Legendary Danube cruise, and the Captivating Rhine cruise are dedicated Heritage on the River experiences, which will uncover guests’ family’s history while sailing along two of Europe’s most renowned rivers.
Guests will start the experience with a pre-journey welcome call with an expert genealogist, an AncestryDNA Kit, and a five-hour Ancestry research and consultation package. Once the cruise begins, the genealogist will be with them for the entire journey. They’ll provide two historical and genealogical presentations, a private consultation, a hosted lunch or dinner plus a curated excursion delving further into the heritage of the region.
Legendary Danube Cruise
The Legendary Danube Cruise leaves June 17, 2023, from Nuremberg, Germany, to Budapest, Hungary. Guests will be offered a unique perspective on the Jewish and Hungarian migration experiences with exclusive enhancements to Budapest and Vienna city tours.
Highlights of the cruise also include cruising through the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and exploring Austria’s Wachau Valley and its well-known vineyards. You can bike along Passau’s scenic Inn River and explore the UNESCO Old Town.
Captivating Rhine Cruise
On the Captivating Rhine Cruise, guests will gain a deeper understanding of their ancestors’ challenging journey to the new world through an exclusive excursion to the historic Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The ship embarked on November 2, 2023, from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Basel, Switzerland. In between, there will be visits to five countries and the chance to see more than 40 castles along the Rhine River.
Some highlights of this cruise include tasting Kölsch beer and Rüdesheimer coffee, seeing France’s Alsace region, and hiking through Germany’s Black Forest.
Ancestry Customizable Experience
This exclusive opportunity allows guests to explore their heritage with tailored experiences. On either cruise, if guests’ DNA results show their ancestral heritage is in a region the ship sails through, an expert AncestryProGenealogist will guide them through a private ancestral home visit to the spots their families once lived, worked, attended school, worshiped, or the cemetery where they were laid to rest.
This experience varies by country and complexity and prices begin at $3,000. You can dive deeper into your family history with additional genealogy research, beyond the five-hour included consultation. Prices start at $175 per hour.
Pre And Post-Cruise Land Packages
To fully enhance guests’ experience, there are optional pre and post-cruise land packages available. They will be fully escorted by AmaWaterways Cruise managers.
For the Legendary Danube, a pre-cruise option will be three nights in Prague, Czech Republic, and a post-cruise option of three nights in Kraków, Poland. For the Captivating Rhine, there is a pre-cruise option of two nights in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and a post-cruise option of two nights in Lucerne, Switzerland, and two nights in Zurich, Switzerland.
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