Ocean Ship Experts Try River Cruising: Life Well Cruised Tips

It's a monumental first for Life Well Cruised! Ilana, Frank, and Ethan went on a river cruise! Is this a sign of things to come for the pre-eminent content creators of mega ocean cruising? Find out this and more as we discuss their shocking river cruise revelations coming from the ocean cruise ship world, sailing on AmaMagna with AmaWaterways. 

They also share tips and advice from this particular trip, including a wild airplane delay story that's certainly one we've never heard before!

Join us to learn what you can expect if you're considering a river cruise after cruising on big ocean ships, and hear what the experts thought firsthand. 

Find & follow Life Well Cruised: 

• On all socials: @lifewellcruised (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and especially YouTube)
• Head over to their website, LifeWellCruised.com, for articles and packing lists, amongst other great content

Curious to learn more about AmaMagna? We have a podcast episode about that! 

Additionally, listen here if you're interested in knowing more about what small ship cruises cost after listening to our episode with Life Well Cruised.

Thank you to our sponsor, Riverside Luxury Cruises. Find out more about our experience with this outstanding river cruise line, providing guests with the luxury of choice.

Chapters

• 1:17 Meet Life Well Cruised, Ocean Cruise Experts
• 2:26 Ilana & Frank’s Danube River Cruise Experience
• 8:03 Preconceived Notions vs. Reality of River Cruising
• 11:23 Surprises of River Cruising Compared to Ocean Cruises
• 19:52 The Travel Experience vs. Ship Experience
• 21:38 River Cruises Provide Unique Experiences, Different from Ocean Cruises
• 23:36 Adapting to Dining & Entertainment Options
• 25:36 No Lemons, Only Lemon Drop Martinis
• 27:06 Unexpected Age Diversity on Board
• 28:14 Excursions & Activities Across the Ages
• 29:56 Social Dynamics Among Passengers
• 32:54 Room Experience: Deck One vs Deck Two
• 34:18 Smooth Sailing: No Seasickness on Rivers
• 35:14 Advice for Ocean Cruisers Considering River Cruises
• 38:01 Comparing Costs: River vs Ocean Cruises
• 46:27 How to Connect With & Find Life Well Cruised
• 47:30 Is There a Future for Life Well Cruised & Small Ship Cruising?

Transcript

Dan (00:35)

Welcome to Small Ship Cruise Talk. Today we have two very special guests with us, Ilana and Frank. They are one of the go-to resources for large ship cruises. But today, we've asked them to be a guest on our podcast, Small Ship Cruise Talk, because they did something monumental. They went on their first small ship cruise.

Welcome Ilana and Frank, please introduce yourselves.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (00:59)

Thanks so much guys. We're happy to be here. So I'm Ilana, from Life Well Cruised. And I'm Frank, from Life Well Cruised. Yeah. And we are husband and wife our son, Ethan, who often joins us on cruises and works with us in creating content about cruising. We're so happy to be here talking about small ship cruising.

Mikkel (01:19)

We are excited to have you, and we are thankful we've been on cruises with you guys before. We adore the both of you and Ethan. It's always great to see the three of you, especially if we don't know we're on the same cruise and we run into you, which is always a treat or at the same cruise event. And I'm happy we're on a double date here today.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (01:37)

yeah, it's been nice the last year. 

Yeah, absolutely.

Mikkel (01:44)

So tell us a little bit about the river cruise you went on.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (01:48)

Yeah. So ⁓ we were on ⁓ AmaWaterways, AmaMagna. And I did really think that for a first river cruise, that ended up being a really good one to start with. I think especially given the size of the ship — obviously, you know, it's still a small ship in contrast to an ocean cruise. But given the fact that AmaMagna is that double wide size, it really didn't feel that small to us as a first one, but we did do the Danube River. Yeah. Yeah, that was amazing.

Mikkel (02:22)

What did you think as your first river cruise going in Europe on, I would say, Dan, you can tell me if you agree or not, one of the top two. I would say the Danube and the Rhine are usually people's first with good reason. So through Austria, through Germany, through Hungary a little bit.

Dan (02:40)

Yeah, it's such a great gateway river to jump into and especially with Ama and being on the Magna because like you said, it is that double-wide and it's a nice like little segue into small ship cruising if you're used to a big ship format.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (02:57)

Yeah, it was amazing. Even starting off, we flew into Munich and so we had some time in Munich before the cruise and then like every single village was so picturesque and nice, but we especially did enjoy Vienna and also Salzburg. Yeah and historical too.

Mikkel (03:15)

Was it your first time in the cities on this itinerary?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (03:18)

I had gone to Munich years ago when I was like 16 and we did a graduation trip. So we did like a European grad tour. We went to Munich then. And actually one of the things we did in Munich this time is we went to the Hofbräuhaus just because I kind of felt like you need to do that. But I remember being 16 years old and even though in Canada where I live, it's 18 to drink. 

But, even at the time, the teachers who chaperoned us, they had told all of the parents, were like, when we go to Europe, it's like when in Rome. So in Munich, like everybody's got these like one liter, you almost like a pitcher of beer. That was fun, though. Right. And I was there too when I was 16 as well. And I had been to Munich, I had been to Salzburg, Vienna.

So I'd visit that long time ago. So it was nice to go back again. Yeah. And we should say Frank's father is actually from the Salzburg area. So it was kind of meaningful. That's right. My father was born there. Yeah.

Mikkel (04:12)

That's so cool. Is that why you had been there before or no?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:15)

Yeah, yeah, I as a family trip when I was 16. Yeah.

Dan (04:18)

Oh fun. Like a family reunion.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:21)

Yeah, met a lot of my

Mikkel (04:21)

Family reunion, yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:23)

This time without the relatives.

It was nice to see it again like 40 years later, you know? Yeah.

Dan (04:28)

Right. Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:30)

Beautiful city.

Mikkel (04:29)

I love Salzburg. We went to Salzburg with AmaMagna, actually.

Dan (04:33)

Yeah? Yeah, we did.

Mikkel (04:35)

Gorgeous. And we saw it in the off season in early March. And even then, I was like, this is stunning. It's probably even more stunning in the summer. So I feel like you guys went during prime time for some picturesque photos.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:47)

I was surprised how meticulously clean it was. It was so clean.

Dan (04:51)

Mm-hmm.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (04:52)

It's immaculate. It's interesting too because to your point about how pretty it is, really did look like, you know, in August, it was very much like "The hills are alive," you know? It really did look like that. So it was beautiful. We actually took the funicular up to the top where there's the fortress.

Dan (05:04)

Hahaha.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (05:12)

And we ended up going to lunch there and we had the most incredible view. And I think like if you're in the States or in Canada, like a view like that is like, oh my gosh, you pay so much money to be able to eat at a restaurant like that. But it was just the same price as eating, you know, down at any of the restaurants in the town. Like it was like 21 euro or something. Not that that's like super cheap, but it wasn't super expensive.

Mikkel (05:12)

Mm-hmm.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (05:37)

And we ate schnitzel and we had, you know that dessert called Salzburg Nockerl? Do you know what it is?

Mikkel (05:43)

No, uh-uh.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (05:45)

It's a berry souffle. And funny enough, I always think of Rudi Sodamin when it comes to that souffle because at the restaurants that he has on some of the cruise ships, he'll have that dessert because Rudi Sodamin is from Salzburg, Chef Rudi. 

So whenever we see that dessert anywhere, like we'll often get it and we think of him. So, yeah. And again, cause Frank's father is from Austria, the idea that it's berries and a souffle. Like it's very much... I kind grew up with some of that food anyway. So it was nice. Yeah. Yeah.

Dan (06:15)

Nice. ⁓

Mikkel (06:17)

Oh my god, you're making me hungry. I should say we're recording this around dinner time, so eat dessert first is what I say.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (06:19)

All right. ⁓

Dan (06:22)

Right.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (06:25)

It was big enough to share, so too bad you weren't there.

Mikkel (06:28)

It is too bad for so many reasons. Well, you made the perfect link to big ship cruises with Chef Rudi. Tell everybody

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (06:32)

Haha

Mikkel (06:37)

what ocean ship cruise line that's with.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (06:40)

Okay, so Chef Rudi Sodamin, he is right now the culinary, I don't know what his official title is, like I don't know if it's the culinary, like, Head of Culinary? Head of Culinary maybe? Head of Culinary? For Princess Cruises. And he has been in the past, I think for Holland America, like involved with Carnival as well. And on Holland America ships, there is the Rudi's Sel De Mer, which a lot of people love.

And on Princess Cruise ships, quite a few of their ships, there's the Catch by Rudi, which a lot of people would say is one of the very best specialty restaurants. I find that when we're on a ship and we've been on a ship with him before, you know, he's so passionate about the food.

Dan (07:21)

yeah.

Mikkel (07:21)

So that's the perfect bridge to talk about maybe some preconceived notions you had about river cruising before you boarded. And if you could also talk about the reality once you were on

As expert and well, well, well-cruised big ship cruisers going on your first river cruise, what did you research or have in your minds or know from other content creators or know from other friends even who have been on small ship cruises what to expect with a river cruise and then what actually happened in comparison?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (07:56)

I do have to say though, shout out to you, even though it's on your own podcast, that you were nice enough to have a call with me like a week before to give a heads up about a lot of things and answer a lot of questions. So that was amazing. Plus I do listen to your podcast. I actually watch it on YouTube and you guys are both super informative. So great resource. But beyond that, I did watch other videos, of course, on YouTube.

Mikkel (08:14)

Good.

Dan (08:15)

Thank you. Thank you.

Mikkel (08:19)

Yeah.

Dan (08:19)

Sure.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (08:20)

You know, I guess we had known about river cruising for a few years. I did used to work, this is years ago, but I used to work with a travel agency in Montreal, very part time, but we did sell river cruises as well and I did a couple of training sessions on them. So I had an idea and I thought they would be interesting, but I think my preconceived notion at least is that it would be extremely slow paced and there wouldn't necessarily be a lot to do.

That was pretty much mine too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much the same. I think I had a bit of an idea because like, you know, we had watched videos and stuff like that, but I would have thought to a lot slower pace. Yeah. Did you think you would like it? Yeah. I still had a feeling that I would still like it. Like, I just like the idea of, you know,

Mikkel (08:48)

Okay.

Yeah. I was going to ask you, Frank, what you thought too. Yeah.

Dan (09:07)

Hahaha.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (09:10)

like, you know, sailing down this river and just stopping in villages every day. And I was looking forward to that and it pretty much, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was really nice.

that, I think I thought also that a lot of the people would be older, which I always find a funny thing even when I say it sometimes because I realize I'm getting older. So my perception of what older is is different than 20 years ago.

That's a reality too, right? Because I'll tell people, I'm like, my gosh, the people were really quite young because on average they were between like 50 and 70. Sometimes I hear myself talking and I'm like, not that there's anything wrong with those ages, but I think if I was 30, I would hear that differently. 

And of course there were some people that were younger and some people that were older, but I thought that a lot of the people would be, there's nothing wrong with anybody of any mobility or anything being on any cruise and everybody's got some great stories. So I never mind with whatever age of person we are with on a cruise, but I did think that overall it would be mostly people that were retired and mostly people that would have been over 70 and maybe even

people with like canes and stuff like that. I don't know why I that. You know, we found out that most people are quite active actually. And, you know, healthy, active and I mean, they're having a good time on this cruise.

They were going hiking and biking and you know, all that stuff. Yeah.

Dan (10:40)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mikkel (10:41)

Were there any other surprises between ocean versus river?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (10:47)

Yeah, so on the first night of our river cruise, and just to let you know, the first day, because we started off in the town of Vilshofen, and you pronounce it the way it's supposed to be. Yeah, Vilshofen. He tells me the way supposed to be pronounced, but anyway. I still say it the way it's spelled. But so we had the Oktoberfest, you know, we had like the welcome

Dan (11:00)

Hahaha

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (11:10)

on the ship and then we all went to Oktoberfest which was so fun and so cool. And then we knew dinner... It said dinner at 7:45. Well, if you're an ocean cruiser, dinner at 7:45 means what? Dinner starts at 7:45, right? 

Like it was open dining at 7:45, meaning like there are just tables that are open and non-reserved for 7:45 in the main dining. That's where we were. It was like main dining and it's open at 7:45. So we went back and we're like, we haven't finished unpacking yet. So we all were like, well, we'll just unpack for the next half an hour. We're like, we're not that hungry because we went to Oktoberfest and Frank and Ethan had beer and then we had pretzels. And then we showed up to dinner, maybe 8:30? And then we go and they're like, "Ummm...", like, you know? Like... 

And I was like, "Oh, you know, we'll just have a table for three, please." And he's like, "Oh, okay, dinner's already started." We're like, "Yeah, that's okay. That's fine for us, we don't mind." And then he's like, "Do you want to sit with other people?" And we're like, "No, we'd prefer to sit by ourselves." Like, we just didn't, we knew there were some tables that you could sit just three people or four people or two people. 

We just didn't think that when they say dinner is at 7:45, or at 7:00, or at 7:30, because different evenings the dinner time changed between those times, that they actually meant that everybody arrived at that time. in recent years, we've done whatever the equivalent of "my time dining," open dining. We did not know everybody starts dinner at that time. So you kind of have to like,

Dan (12:41)

Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (12:55)

line up for a lack of a better word. You don't really have to line up, but you know what I mean? You show up at the time dinner starts. So anyway, we did eat at that time and everything was fine, but we were like, okay, well now we know. And I think we even said, we said, "Nobody told us." And they're like, "Well, it does say it on the planner that it's at 7:45." I'm like, "Yeah....okay."

I think other people would have realized if they hadn't ocean-cruised, but I think in our head we just didn't think you had to be there at that time. You know? That was our little lesson.

Mikkel (13:26)

Yeah. And I think it varies. It kind of is open until...like they'll give you a time frame. But you're right that normally, I would say 98 % of people if not 99%, get there within the first 10 to 15 minutes. So they do a double take, the crew, the wait staff, and look at you like — they're accommodating, but they're kind of like, "Oh, okay, everybody's almost done.

Did you know?" Yeah, so I can see that happening.

Dan (13:52)

Here we go.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (13:56)

Yeah, for sure. And that being said, for breakfast, when we ate in the main restaurant, like if it started at seven and it was 'til 10, as an example, we did not have to go at seven. Like we would sometimes go at 8:30 depending on our tour, sometimes go at 8:00, sometimes go at 7:45. And that was fine. And we did sit with other people sometimes and we sat ourselves sometimes and we didn't mind.

Mikkel (14:19)

Yeah, we understand that firsthand as well.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (14:21)

you

Dan (14:22)

Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (14:22)

In contrast to ocean cruising, a lot of ocean cruises, you've got sea days, right? Like, you know, maybe a Caribbean cruise you tend to have, you know, out of a seven day cruise, you'll have usually three sea days, you know, sometimes even three and a half sea days or four sea days. So like three ports and four sea days or so.

And sometimes four ports and we've been on Mediterranean cruises that have had a little bit more ports but we've always had sea days and we've always had downtime but on the river cruise we were surprised that on some days we visited two places and that meant excursions in two places and that meant like a little bit of busyness in both places and it was leisurely but it was still doing stuff, and there was no sitting around. know the way on an ocean cruise, you might just sit around the pool and have a drink. There were few opportunities to do that on the river cruise and that didn't make it bad. It just made it a really nice travel experience. I think I wasn't expecting the travel experience to be so good. It was very immersive.

Dan (15:29)

Hmm, interesting. We did that when we were on the Magna. We skipped an excursion one of the days just to enjoy the ship because we felt like it's such a beautiful ship and

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (15:36)

Well idea.

Dan (15:40)

needed a full day of just enjoyment.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (15:43)

Yeah.

Mikkel (15:44)

But I will say that we skipped ports we had been to and the weather wasn't good, so it was a really easy decision. But if I had not been on that itinerary before, I would have had a really hard time making that decision to stay on board. So it's a good reason to repeat an itinerary.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (16:02)

Oh, that is a great point. That's probably what we would do because exactly we didn't want to skip a port. Yeah, we didn't want to miss anything. As much as we would have liked to maybe spend a little more time on the ship. Yeah. 

But if we would ever do it again, I think that's what we would do probably. Maybe choose one port and then say, hey, let's stay on. Yeah. And it was nice too because the times that we did have, like if we had a port in the morning, maybe we'd get back on the ship at 11. We'd be off from 9 'til

Dan (16:08)

Right. Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (16:30)

And we'd get back on the ship, we'd have lunch at like 12:30 and then, you know, like we wouldn't be in the next port until three o'clock. I think this is when we were in Melk in the morning and then was it Grein in the afternoon or Krems, Krems? I think so, yeah. Near Durnstein. Yes, yes. And my pronunciation, I apologize that my pronunciation of everything is not good. I think it was that. But everybody knows what I mean, so.

Mikkel (16:54)

Yes.

Don't worry, we're not native German speakers either.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (16:59)

But that was so nice. We had like three hours in between and we were eating lunch at around 12:30 and we ate in the main restaurant and like passing by us or I guess we were passing by it. But the scenery, the castles, the vineyards, was... Yeah, it was stunning. Everything. Yeah.

And I will tell you something that I heard in somebody else's video recently that they said, sometimes it's not that picturesque. Sometimes you're only seeing campgrounds. We were looking at the campgrounds and we're like, "Oh my god, it's so nice to see people swimming and they're camping." Like that was really nice to, like, I didn't think that was not picturesque. Like I didn't need to always see a castle. I understand real people live there. So anyway, that was, it was nice. I will tell you something else that surprised me by the way:

It was that in an ocean cruise, I love to look at the ocean. So obviously the blue of the ocean, you know, and sometimes the turquoise, is gorgeous. This was more the color of like, you know, almost like a lake, I guess. Well, you know what a river looks like. But for me, I can only compare it to a lake, you know, in the country where I live, which is nice, very peaceful. But it was that we were on the second deck and our balcony was so close to the water.

It was the most calming, peaceful thing. As much as I love the ocean, the river was so peaceful. We saw swans a couple of times. We saw the ducks,

Dan (18:20)

Yeah. Beautiful.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (18:22)

saw the campgrounds. It surprised us though sometimes because we had the balcony and then sometimes we'd go through the docks and then the docks, the locks. Suddenly you're just staring at a wall.

Mikkel (18:23)

Yeah, yeah.

Dan (18:33)

Hahaha

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (18:35)

20 minutes or whatever, 40 minutes, just look at a wall.

Mikkel (18:38)

You literally can touch it too. I mean, I have. You can't not.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (18:40)

Yeah, you can touch it and you feel the ship going down slowly. It was kind of cool, actually. Yeah, it was cool. We enjoyed that experience. Yeah, we did a little video where didn't actually touch it, but we were probably within two feet. So like I was like, you know, but it is an ever-changing view. It is incredible. I really do think everybody who's done ocean cruising and likes ocean cruising should try a river cruise especially for people who like the travel experience. You know, I would say that that's the caveat. Yeah.

Mikkel (19:10)

It's so interesting what you said that the river cruises are good for somebody who wants a travel experience, but that could mean different things to different people listening. So for you, what does the travel experience mean for somebody interested in going on a river cruise?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (19:25)

I think for some people going on a cruise, the ship is a destination. And you know what? I mean, there are some incredible ships, right? With the types of shows that are on, as an example, like a Royal Caribbean, one of their mega ships. The Aqua Show is incredible. And the infinity pool

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (19:45)

that is huge and you know having a ship that's 250,000 tons incredible with the water slides and everything and some people are going to absolutely love that and to a certain extent maybe a little bit of the the party culture that exists on some cruises. So, I think if that's what you love in a cruise I would never try to convince somebody to do a river cruise. Because, you know, it just wouldn't be necessarily the experience that they wanted, at least not for that party cruise. 

But I do think that for somebody who likes, as an example, a Mediterranean cruise or a cruise to Norway or an Alaska cruise or a Caribbean cruise where they're actually doing excursions and they enjoy the land portion and experiencing some of the culture and the sites and if that is important to them, then I think that a river cruise is like an absolute must. I don't think anybody would be disappointed. Plus the experience on the ship, this is maybe another thing. I didn't expect the food and the ship experience. I didn't expect to really think the food was so good. Like the on the ship experience was

I do think that the type of experience that you get being able to visit, you know, small villages, big cities, like in our case, we were in Vienna, that is a world-class city. We got to explore Vienna, had these incredible experiences. We even went to a concert in Vienna, which you encouraged us to do. In the evening time, I was gonna skip it, but you said, no, you have to do it, which we were glad.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (21:20)

What an incredible experience. And then at the same time, being able to walk around these picturesque villages, both with the tour guides that were on the most part really quite good, as well as on our own with some free time. And we also, we kind of use ChatGPT to help us to figure out the translation of some of the different plaques on the walls and to give us walking tours with some of the things that were interesting to us.

It was really amazing and I do think for people that like ocean cruising and like the visiting, like the travel experience that can come with ocean cruising, I definitely think they would not be disappointed in a river cruise. They would like it.

Mikkel (22:00)

And you have said to us in the past that a big ocean ship is the destination. Mediterranean, Norwegian, even if somebody likes the culture and everything, like you just said a few seconds ago, that it's likened to an ocean cruise ship in that way. But it is very interesting that an ocean cruise ship could be the destination.

You don't have to leave. Frank, was there anything you missed from an ocean ship on this experience?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (22:28)

Not really. I enjoyed every moment on this ship. I enjoyed it so much that I didn't really think much about what I would have missed on a large cruise ship. I think I actually enjoyed just the idea of being on a small ship like this. I really liked that. 150 passengers, think it was. 164, I think they said. It was just nice. I didn't miss the large cruise ship at this point at all.

Mikkel (22:28)

⁓ Nice! Win-win!

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (22:54)

Did you miss the variety of restaurants or anything like that? Because that was one thing that we thought maybe we'd find maybe a little bit confining a little bit. No. We didn't really seem to miss it. No, wouldn't say we missed it. Yeah. But that, yeah. You know, that is something like on bigger ocean cruise ships, you know, you certainly have more varieties these days of restaurants and entertainment options. 

But it's funny how you can adapt to anything as long as it's good. And their menus were good. The menus were nice variety side. No, it was good. Yeah. But yeah, but even in terms of the entertainment, like I would have to say the entertainment is not even going to say it's a weak point. It's just a difference compared to ocean cruising, you know. But that was something I thought that we would miss with some of the big shows that you get, you know, on big ships. 

But I feel like you adapt to all of the pros, all of the positives of the river cruise that in the evening time we enjoyed... There was a really nice duo who would play in the main lounge and most of the time they would play or one of them would DJ. And we would have so much fun though, like we dancing some of the times or I was dancing and you were standing with the other guys.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (24:10)

I danced to a bit. You did dance a little bit. You did. You did. But there were definitely some times that it was the women. Yeah, all the women were on the floor. Yeah, you're right, the women. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, that went on for like a couple hours and then that was it. By 11 o'clock, everybody... Right. Like 11:30. Yeah. And there was like sort of a trivia game one night. I think that you were editing. Yeah, I was editing. I went. Yeah, that's life.

Dan (24:25)

Haha.

Mikkel (24:34)

Yeah.

I love that. Well, the good news is it's for a finite amount of time. So it's not like you have to make the decision to enjoy the couple of restaurants on this river cruise ship versus the ocean ship. It's not like you're never going to eat at a different restaurant again. So I think that helps.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (24:54)

Yeah, absolutely. But I do think it's good for anybody. This is our philosophy in general: is when we're even on like big cruise ships no matter which cruise ship we're on or cruise will adapt to whatever is the most positive about that experience. We definitely have our preferences when it comes to the experience for us even on big we still are able to — I think like you guys are able to — see like, "Oh, this is really enjoyable on this ship for that experience for that amount of days."

Mikkel (25:24)

Yeah. We always try to find the positive and the good in things, too. I mean, just being able to travel is an honor, privilege in itself. There are so many people that can't travel for whatever reason. You really always make lemonade out of lemons if there's ever a lemon. But

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (25:36)

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Mikkel (25:41)

No lemons, even if you're going to Italy.

Mikkel (25:43)

The only lemon is in my cocktail.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (25:46)

Oh, that's a good

Mikkel (25:48)

Give me a twist. Give me a twist. They do

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (25:50)

Give me a lemon drop martini. That'd be good. Save that for Instagram.

Mikkel (25:53)

have lemon drop martinis, I'm pretty sure, on that Sip and Sail. Every night? Yes, I love it. Yes, exactly. I'm picturing you on the dance floor. Maybe, you know, you, Frank, are standing by. Maybe you come for a minute, not when the ladies have the dance floor, as you just said.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (25:56)

Yeah, they did. I had one every night. Yeah. Every night. Yeah. Sip and Sail. Yeah, was good.

Dan (25:57)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (26:15)

Haha

Mikkel (26:15)

Where is Ethan? I think he's 24 or just turned 25?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (26:19)

Yeah, so he's 25. He was not really dancing. No.

Mikkel (26:23)

Okay.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (26:24)

I do want to mention though something that surprised us is Ethan was not the youngest person on board.

Mikkel (26:29)

⁓ Please, tell us more!

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (26:31)

So we thought we would be among the youngest, Frank and I, I don't know why. But I definitely thought that Ethan would be the youngest by 25 years. And he's 25 now. But he's well-traveled. So I think he likes traveling, he appreciates that. So he knew he would like the cruise. He wasn't worried about that at all. 

But there was a family and they had two girls that were 16 and 20. There was another family that, speaking of multi-generational travel, that they had an 18 year old as well as a 26 year old and a 29 year old. And the 26 and the 29 were living in different cities and working now. But this was from the part of the parents. They were like, let's do a family vacation and everybody will fly in to do this trip. And there were another couple of younger people as well on the cruise maybe in their early 20s so that surprised me I didn't expect I mean definitely it's not a party ship as you know but it's very 

and one of the things that Ethan really liked was - and we liked it too - was the fact that with AmaWaterways you had your excursions included and they had a choice of three or four excursions in every single port so it was pretty nice. There was one port that he really wanted to do a hike because he was like ⁓ this is really active and you know and then he's like he wanted us to do the hike and I really wanted to just walk. I was like that walking tour sounds good and...

Anyway, he did the hike and I was very glad that he did it and not me. Yeah, the biking was like 15 miles or something. Yeah, a three hour bike ride through the villages, like Durnstein and that whole area. So he did that. He really liked it. That would have been really hard for us. We borrowed the bicycles to go leisurely. We did what, like 40 minutes? About 40 minutes. You know, along the Danube. That was nice enough.

Dan (28:07)

Ha ha ha.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (28:28)

Yeah, it was very enjoyable to do, but he did a biking excursion. So I think that that's what's really good about it. I mean, in similar ways to an ocean cruise that you can have everybody do what's of interest to them. But so I found that nice too. And depending on what people enjoyed or the level of activity people wanted to do, like there was the "Gentle Walker" tours and then the more active tours, "Active Walkers." So we were always in the more "Active Walkers" I guess or regular.

He did about half the excursions with us and the other half he just did, you know, with whoever else wanted to do those and Ethan's very talkative so Ethan meets people and he was fine and he'll chat with somebody if they're 50 or if they're 75 or if they're 30 so no problem.

Mikkel (29:13)

Yeah, Ethan's great. Did you feel like — maybe it's hard to know because you weren't on the excursions that you didn't do together — but did some of the — let's call them 20-something year olds — kind of socialize a little more? Or no, everybody kind of stayed with their multi-gen family, so to speak?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (29:30)

I think they stayed more with their families. Yeah for the most part.

Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much they did. Yeah, and I guess that's what's different too than an ocean cruise where you've got like a couple of thousand people if not more than a couple of thousand. Where you know, sometimes like, you know, the younger people are gonna go out a night and they're gonna meet each other and that kind of thing. I would say it was definitely less that maybe more similar to like land travel.

That being said, when we met the other family who had the kids that were 18, 26, and 29, we did sit with them one time for lunch, because we just had a few things in common, which was super nice. We had dinner with them too. Oh yeah, we did. At Jimmy's. So that was nice. And I know Ethan hung out with one of them at Yeah, they hung out a little bit. At the lounge. Yeah, just chatting, not dancing. They were chatting while everybody else was dancing.

Dan (30:16)

Yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (30:19)

Exactly.

So I mean, I think but for Ethan, it wasn't like a big priority to meet during that cruise. So it's fine. But definitely enjoyable. Yeah.

Mikkel (30:29)

And it's such a crap shoot with the amount of, well, people. It could be at capacity, but it could not be. And then, like you said, the ages of the people, you just never know. And when there's less people going on it, there's less opportunity for there to be ranges and ages like on an ocean ship. So I think being realistic about that, too. And hopefully liking your family, if you are a 20-something-year-old and going on with your family, because you just don't know if there's other people on it that you're going to click with.

But that could be said of anyone, right?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (31:00)

We've gone on Holland America before and there have not been that many young people on Holland America, understandably, if we're not at high season. But you know, Ethan will end up talking to even people that are in their 50s. 

It just doesn't matter. Yeah

Mikkel (31:14)

We have a very easy time talking to Ethan and I do feel like in a good way and just like Dan and me too, like he's a little bit of an old soul.

Dan (31:20)

Yeah

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (31:21)

Maybe it's a traveling thing, do you think? Because you guys have traveled lot in whole lives, I would imagine.

Mikkel (31:22)

Yeah, he's great.

I think it's part of it, yeah.

Dan (31:25)

Yeah.

Mikkel (31:28)

Yeah, yeah. But also, think that — it's like which came first, the chicken or the egg kind of thing? Like, did he travel more and then he was a little bit of an older soul and could relate to any age. Or was it the opposite kind of thing? Because he travels, he can do that. So we'll never know for any of us, I guess.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (31:44)

To your point though, I do think people bringing their own children on cruises, and in this case I'll say any cruise, I do think helps them to become more comfortable speaking with people. Everybody from the waiter and the cabin attendant to the other people that they may meet at a kids club or at the table in the evening time at dinner. So I do think that you develop social skills by cruising.

Mikkel (32:10)

That's a great

Dan (32:10)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mikkel (32:12)

You had a unique situation that Ethan stayed on deck one, which had the windows that you could, you'll tell us. But I know there were windows, and you can let us know his view, versus your balcony on deck two. And for anyone listening who's unfamiliar with river cruise ships, there's really only three decks and then the sun deck. So we're not talking a big difference here. But...

What was the experience in the two different rooms like? Because I'm sure you looked at his room and vice versa.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (32:39)

Yeah, so he liked our balcony. He was like, your room is so nice. But he didn't actually mind his room. I think he liked it. I think he enjoyed, know, he liked to his own space. I think it was nice. Yeah. there was one thing. Yeah. Sorry. The noise? No, there was that though. I think that was the first not the first night. I guess it was one of the days or evenings nights, I guess, that he could hear the noise of the water and the locks, sometimes. Yeah. And I think. Or like I think a vibration too or something. Maybe, maybe. He only said it once. It wasn't anything terrible, but you know, like it's a different sound than it's a different sound than than ocean cruising. So even us, like we would hear sometimes it was one morning very early. It like 5:00 a.m. Well, I think it was the locks. I think that maybe they were putting

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (33:29)

things down before going through the locks or something. Like this is lot of noise going through the cabin. Yeah.

Dan (33:32)

All right, yep.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (33:35)

But it was so smooth. I remember you telling me that like there's no seasickness on a river. So really like really smooth. You do not need Bonine for a river cruise. So that's another thing too, that some people who might feel a little bit, ⁓ sometimes seasick or motion sickness.

I think that's another reason to do a river cruise too.

Dan (33:58)

Yeah,

Mikkel (33:59)

Yeah, well, Dan gets a little seasick on ocean and obviously not on river, but what about you guys, personally?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (34:06)

I will feel it sometimes like I always feel like a bit of a you know, like lightheaded a you know, I'll get once in a while get seasick, but not often. But I always feel something but on this on the river cruise. It was so smooth. I mean I didn't feel a thing. Yeah, you'll take if it's some if it is a little bit rocky he'll take a Bonine preventively. Yeah

Dan (34:11)

Mm-hmm.

Mikkel (34:23)

I love that.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (34:30)

And that will usually help.

Mikkel (34:32)

Yeah.

Dan (34:32)

So do you have any advice for somebody that is a big ship cruiser thinking maybe small ship is the way to go?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (34:39)

Yeah, I think that they should give it a try. Honestly, I think that they would like it. I do think one of the things that they have to think about is when they're looking at the cost of a river cruise is to actually to really look at it side by side. Because I've heard some people say, like even when I shared a little bit about our river cruise, some people said, but a river cruise is really expensive. 

And when you look at the base price, you're just not going to find the same base price or what appears to be the same base price as an ocean cruise. When you look at, okay, now what if you were adding on your wifi? Because on our river cruise, wifi was included. What if you were adding on a specialty dining package? You do not need to add a specialty dining package because all of the food was included.

All of the food was very good to excellent and there was the Chef's Table which was one of the very best restaurants that we've ever been to. It was so good. ⁓ my goodness. Did you like Chef's Table on Ama?

Dan (35:36)

Excellent.

Mikkel (35:38)

Yes, and we've been on a few different Ama ships, and it's a little different on each one. And then other river cruise lines, for example, Riverside has another dining experience. You pay a little more for it, but the option is there. And in general, I would say I always find that in cruising, the specialty experience, if it's included or a little upgrade, is nine times out of 10 worth it.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (36:03)

Yes, yeah, I agree. And I heard Riverside that the food is like so good, but yeah, I heard it's amazing, amazing, amazing. So there's no additional cost for the food. Then beyond that,

Mikkel (36:07)

It is. It is.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (36:18)

the excursions are included.

So when you look at the fact that you're in a port every single day and sometimes in two ports... There was actually one day that we did a tour of the Benedictine Abbey in the morning time. And then in the afternoon we did like a little walking tour to Durnstein, but that included, the little bus ride over there. And then we walked around on our own and then we signed up for a wine tasting, which by the end of the day, we were so tired. 

We're like, why did we sign up for the wine tasting? But it was good. It was good. And then we went back to the ship and okay, I think that was it for that day. But there was another day. Was that the same day that after the wine tasting, there was the castle tour at nighttime? Okay, there was another day that at nighttime after dinner at like nine o'clock or something or eight o'clock in Grein, I think it was, that there was a...

Dan (36:46)

You

Mikkel (36:48)

Yeah

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (37:11)

Maybe the day we went to Salzburg? Anyway, there was a castle tour at night. You even had... you're touring a castle at night, like thinking about how much would these excursions cost you if you were on an ocean cruise? And you know, the only thing I can compare it to is maybe in Norway or the Mediterranean, like the approximate cost of excursions are usually going to be at the low end $150 US.

Higher end, $300. Obviously you can get much more than that, but like if we were looking at an average and these were all really a very good quality excursion. So all of that being included. Oh, and in the case of Ama, there was no specific drink package.

Wine, beer, Prosecco or Champagne were included at our meals, but also specialty coffee during our meals. And then also like specialty coffee from a little machine, which was very good, that you can have all the The gratuities were not included. So that's the only thing I can think of that was really an extra that you had to plan for. But otherwise to think of that cost includes all of that. So I think it's important to kind of compare like apples to apples. 

And then also the experience. Is it going to in the way that maybe it's worth instead of taking two ocean cruises that are a little bit less expensive, would it be worth it to do this one experience that you might really have these incredible memories from? So that's my thought.

Dan (38:35)

Hmm.

Yeah, that's a really interesting way to look at it. Like, to double up, maybe instead of taking two, take one big kind of like keystone trip.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (38:43)

Yeah, well, because for a lot of people, is like, I don't always like to use the expression bucket list, but I think it's certainly like wish list. And I think it should be, so... Another tip I think is also at the beginning and or at the end, if you're in two different cities especially, to add on land. So whether it's with the river cruise line or on your own

Mikkel (38:44)

Keystone trip.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (39:06)

if you're going all the way to Europe, and if it's not a usual for you, then you may as well spend extra time, whether it's in Munich or in Prague or in Budapest, you know, I think it's worth it.

Mikkel (39:18)

And what did you guys end up doing for this cruise?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (39:22)

Munich we did on our own. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. So I should say also that it's always our tip and advice is to always fly in at least one day early when it's like a regular ocean cruise that is

Mikkel (39:24)

And you flew in early, which is a good thing.

Dan (39:27)

Yeah ⁓

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (39:39)

in the same, you know, vicinity. But if we are flying to Europe, we will always fly two days early, especially because we know from where we live, there is usually only one flight that is going to leave per day to that city if it's like at nighttime. So if we miss that flight or if the airline cancels it for some reason, it may be really hard to get another flight until the next day. So not always, but you know, it can be challenging.

So we want to make sure that we allow at least two days and in the case of this time, unfortunately, we were affected by the lovely Air Canada strike. And you just never know when airlines are gonna strike whether it's the pilots of the flight attendants and different things or you know unforeseen things happen. 

So our flight was canceled six hours before we were flying and of course because I have some flight anxiety and just because we wanted to, had a direct flight, so we had a good flight. It was canceled, but we ended up getting on another flight, thank goodness, even though it was connecting flight. And we had a series of things that didn't make it as convenient as the direct flight would have been. But I have to tell you, one of the things that happened, because we had a connecting flight, we had only an hour and about five minutes in between. So we were quite tight on our time. 

And of course, Murphy's Law, we were in our airplane. We were all sitting in separate spots because we had no seats together by this point. And we're taxing and taxing. It's like 30 minutes and we're going faster, slower, faster, faster, slower until somebody, I think it must have been a flight attendant, came on the intercom to let everybody know that we would be heading back to the gate. 

And the reason was we would have to have authorities come on the plane to escort people off and it turned out that somebody decided, at some point during this time, to vape on the airplane. And apparently this is against federal law and you know like it was a really big deal. I think six or seven different authorities everybody from the airport to the provincial authorities to like

Dan (41:47)

⁓

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (41:49)

federal... We had like Sûreté Quebec. They all came on. That took a fair amount of time - a good 45 minutes to get them off the plane. And very stupid because apparently it's like a super big deal! I think they'll be on a no-fly list — like there's a whole bunch of things. But of course, now we were delayed. 

Not only were we delayed because we had to go back to the gate but after they got off we were told... they had to retrieve their suitcase. Yeah. Yeah, because you can't fly with people's luggage — and for safety reasons, right? You don't want to fly with the luggage of two people who are not on the plane anymore. So we were, you know, happy to wait for them to get that off. The whole was about three hours, three-hour delay. Yeah, three hours on the plane. And like can't complain because I mean...

Dan (42:31)

Ha

Jeez. Wow.

Mikkel (42:35)

Oh my gosh.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (42:37)

You know, we were on the plane at least. Yeah, and we were just hoping once we take off we make it to Barcelona. Of course, we did miss our connection. We knew that would happen. But when we did get to Barcelona, unfortunately, we didn't have a flight until like later that night. It would have been like — oh my god — almost 11 hours later. 

But thank goodness we went directly to the Lufthansa counter and they were able to help us get onto an earlier flight. So it was not ideal, but we did make it to Munich probably about six hours late. But we were flying in two days early. So we were there still, you know, almost a day and a half before. Enough to enjoy the city and you know, get to see a lot. And we were very relieved when we were having wine and beer at the Hofbräuhaus.

Dan (43:25)

Yeah, sure.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (43:27)

So that was good. Budapest, we stayed an extra day at the end. And obviously, that's an amazing historic city. So on the last day of the river cruise, we had the day in Budapest and we were doing a tour of Buda. So originally I thought, well, I don't have to stay an extra day in Budapest because we already have a day that we're there and we're already doing a tour.

But then thinking about it, we actually changed our flight to add an extra day. And a cruise tip for anybody or a travel tip is we stayed at the Marriott on the Danube. And that was a very nice hotel and location for the price. We like Marriott because, you know, for Bonvoy points. So I know a lot of people do, but that was a good Marriott. Yeah. And all the rooms have a view on the Danube. Every single room the hotel.

Dan (44:13)

Nice.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (44:14)

And then we were able to visit Pest, I guess it is. We visited the synagogue on Dohány Street - the largest synagogue I think it is in Europe. And  some of the other, the Jewish Museum. That was important to us while we were there to see that. It's a sad part of the history of Hungary, but, you know, still something that you want to see. And I mean, honestly, Budapest is really beautiful. And we did eat chimney cake. Yeah, that's true. We had the chimney cake.

Dan (44:41)

So yeah.

Mikkel (44:42)

Yeah. As one does.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (44:44)

Yeah, it was really expensive. Yeah, Budapest was expensive. We weren't expecting Yeah, it was expensive. Everything, everything. Yeah, we were

Mikkel (44:49)

Expensive? Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Dan (44:54)

Interesting. ⁓

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (44:55)

The tourist areas, it was expensive.

Mikkel (44:57)

Yes, yes. Two things, we are Marriott Bonvoy loyalists, like you, so I love hearing that. And the synagogue is really beautiful, it's unique.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (45:08)

It is. And it's pretty amazing the way with the help of so many donors and I guess the support of Hungary that they've rebuilt this. And it's something sad, but I think the fact that they have the guided tours that are free — of course, there's an entrance fee into the synagogue — but guided tours in different languages and the museum and the different commemorative things that they have done. I think that's a good thing.

Mikkel (45:32)

And a lot of river cruise lines, it's an option — like you said, there's so many tour options in these cities, which is a great part of river cruising — but it is an option for most river cruises that we've seen the itineraries for that go to Budapest.

Well, tell everybody where to find you and how to follow along, because we knew some of your adventures and the flight delays, and we were waiting with bated breath too about your flights, because we follow you, and we love going on the journey with you in that way. So where can people find you?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (45:54)

So you can find us on YouTube @LifeWellCruised and everywhere it's always @LifeWellCruised. But I have to say we do have a couple of videos out about our cruise. Our AmaWaterways, for lack of a better word, "review," but information about the cruise.

You'll find that at YouTube, and otherwise on Instagram where I share a lot of pictures and tips and stuff like that. And Facebook and TikTok as well. Oh, and at lifewellcruise.com where we have our written articles and reviews and packing lists.

Mikkel (46:36)

And you guys are amazingly consistent. You send out consistent newsletters. You are like clockwork with your publishing of YouTube videos. So we always appreciate that about you guys.

Are you going to go on more small ships?

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (46:52)

Oh yeah, do you think we'd go on more small ships? Yeah, I think we got the river cruise bug now. So I think we're gonna have to plan another one at some point. ⁓ actually funny enough, this is something Ethan said. I think it was like the last day and they had a barbecue in Budapest or Budapest and it was just so nice. And I should say we did visit AmaMora by the way, which was next to us.

Dan (46:57)

Ha ha ha.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (47:15)

So the hotel director was kind enough to ask us if we wanted to take a quick little tour of it. So it was nice to see what a more regular, let's say like regular size, you know, the width. Yeah. So it was nice to see that because we thought that was really nice as well. Cause at first we thought, oh no, will we only want it like, obviously you only cruise on one ship.

Mikkel (47:28)

Single-wide, yeah.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (47:40)

We knew that AmaMagna goes in the Danube and if we want to do other rivers, we're going to have to do the single wide. So it was really nice to see AmaMora and to see that it was beautiful and it was more cozy, but really nice. But yeah, for sure we would do river cruises and I think other small cruises as well. We like river cruising, but maybe small ships, even if it was in the Caribbean or Europe, maybe Med or something. 

I think the idea even of being with a few hundred people rather than a few thousand people has an appeal.

Mikkel (48:14)

You know we're biased, but we support this, of course.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (48:17)

I know who I should ask about itineraries and about ships.

Mikkel (48:24)

I love that.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (48:25)

We appreciate you having us on and we appreciate all of your great advice.

Mikkel (48:30)

Our pleasure! All right, well, until next time, hopefully we see you on a cruise. And if you are listening and see us on a cruise, either of the four of us, don't be shy and say hello. So we will talk soon. And thanks again for coming on.

Ilana & Frank | Life Well Cruised (48:44)

Thank you. Bye bye.