AmaWaterways hosts more than 80 agents on post-Clia fam trip

Luxury river cruise line AmaWaterways hosted 83 international travel agents for a post-Clia fam trip on AmaSerenalast week.

 

Agents from the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Lithuania and Australia joined the line’s Amsterdam round-trip sailing through Dordrecht, Rotterdam and Zaandam on March 10-13.

 

Delegates enjoyed three excursions, including a walking tour around the Unesco World Heritage Site of Kinderdijk Windmills, an architecture tour and cheese tasting in Rotterdam, and a cycling excursion around the Zaandam waterways.

 

Guests also got the chance to sample AmaWaterways’ seven-course Chef’s Table dinner experience, as well as the line’s Italian bistro lunch offering, which is new this season. 

 

AmaWaterways hosted a company update onboard, which included details about the line’s new City Escapes programme, which launches this summer, with “extended” itineraries on the Seine, Rhine and Danube designed for guests to spend more time in key cities and “relax” with fewer crowds during quieter periods.

 

Marketing manager Aimee Boschier also led a social media marketing workshop covering the best ways to showcase a river cruise online, such as day-in-the-life videos, interviews with crew members and direct calls to action.

 

The trip concluded with a fireside chat with UK and Ireland sales director Andrea Stafford, cruise manager Jonathan Beaumont and hotel manager Svetoslav Denehchiev, moderated by Aspire features writer Katie Byng-Hall.

 

Stafford told Aspire: “It’s really important to us to bring agents on fam trips like this because they really need to have a good understanding of what cruising with AmaWaterways is like. 

 

“There’s nothing like the first-hand experience – you can immerse yourself in the food and the excursions, and this trip has been an amazing opportunity to take agents beyond the training and the brochures to understand what it’s all about.”