Magnificent Europe Reviews

We enjoyed every minute of our River Cruise, the weather perfect, the food amazing, the staff and crew on both ships outstanding, the tours and guides amazing, however the icing on the cake was the professionalism of the cruise director - nothing fazed him, a wonderful sense of humour which was put to the test with over 150 people on board to please ...read more - which he did amazingly well - well done Gunther. We would certainly recommend APT and this cruise to our friends.

Our cruise featured two major problems. A barge collision in the canal meant that we needed to change ships half way through the trip. There was also a health scare which unfortunately occurred on the night of our dinner and concert at Burg Namedy and brought the evening to a premature close. Our entire crew (on both vessels), our cruise director Emese ...read more and the APT staff merit the highest praise for managing to bring us through all obstacles to the finale in Budapest. Obviously this entailed a lot of additional work, which was undertaken cheerfully, and the team-work required was clearly visible.

There were many highlights. Those which stood out for me were the train trip on the Majestic Imperateur, the evening concert at the Liechtenstein Palace in Vienna and the twilight cruise past the Budapest lights. All tour guides without exception were top quality, as were the shore excursions. I especially liked the "Freedom of Choice" nature of these, which meant that passengers could do as much or as little as they felt like. As a solo traveller I had no difficulty in making new friends aboard, and commend the attitude of my fellow travellers. I cannot end this review without a mention of the food and drink. I had expected both to be of very good quality and am happy to say that both exceeded my expectations. The two dinners at the Chef's Table were standouts.

Everything about this trip was fantastic, from initial booking, airport pickups & drop offs to the trip itself, we could not fault anything. We will only travel with APT in the future.

Great trip! The weather was excellent and all facets of the journey with APT were first class. The ship, the food, the excursions and the accommodation were all first class. Value for money spent was excellent.

Fantastic trip, enjoyed it thoroughly. A highlight was visiting Amsterdam, an easy city to walk around. The visit to Namedy Castle with evening meal was a definite highlight, as was meeting our host. Austria and its gorgeous cities of Salzburg, Vienna, and Melk are a must.

We attended an amazing concert in Vienna and visited the site where the Lipizzano ...read more horses train, the most beautiful animals. A little cold at this time of year but would travel again with APT and Global journeys continued their professional attitude with our booking.

Thank you Jemma for arranging our trip. Had a great time and APT certainly treated us well, attention to detail all the way!! We will do another river cruise in the future, probably France!

Usually we travel independently, organising all details ourselves, so going on a trip that was organised for us was a bit of a leap. The trip was faultless - the food was wonderful, the upgrade that Hannah secured for us was absolutely unbelievable - wonderful cabin with the chance to lay in bed and watch the world go by.

The staff were helpful ...read more and kind. We are used to doing things at our pace which is a lot faster than the tour guides but I understand that there were older people on board who would not be able to keep up a normal pace, but it was still a bit frustrating to shuffle around. We especially enjoyed the hikes. It was organised the best way it could possibly be done to cater for the diverse age groups and mobility of the passengers.

The tours were educational and the free time was appreciated. It was a wonderful experience, the passengers were a great group and we even got invited to the Captain's Table on the last night.

This was the holiday that simply had it all. Great accommodation, fabulous food and brilliantly coordinated tours and activities. We enjoyed every part of this holiday. We were very well looked after by the crew of the AmaVenita from Cruise Director Daniella and Hotel Manager Marcel, these two (assisted by their great staff) were fun and entertaining, ...read more yet highly professional. It is hard to know how any other cruise director and hotel manager could have done a better job, but we hope to find out in the future. Thanks also to Hannah from Global Journeys for working through our options with us.

The APT Amsterdam to Budapest cruise on the AmaBella is expensive, but provides passengers with a wonderful experience of life along the Rhine, Maine and Danube Rivers. The meals and accommodation on board are probably equal to other river cruise ships, but APTs Signature Tours: dinner at Namedy Castle, rail trip to Salzburg on the Majestic Imperator ...read more and classical concert at the Palais Liechtenstein are what sets APT apart. The onboard staff were excellent, all shore excursions ran like clockwork, with informative and friendly guides. This trip should not be missed. It is truly a memorable experience.

Wonderfully exhausting holiday! Don't expect perfection but gee these guys come pretty close! Can't praise the crew and staff enough - always cheerful, attentive and helpful despite the long hours they work. Scenery and historic wonderment is beyond description and would go back and do it again tomorrow just to capture what I missed this time round. ...read more Thank you! PS. Shower a tad cramped and not having laundry included was very expensive and disappointing.

Our tour host was friendly, competent and hospitable. All the tour guides were friendly and helpful. We particularly enjoyed Ludmilla, our guide in Bratislava who has the driest sense of humor I have heard in a long time.

Thank you to APT and Global Journeys for making our holiday a trip of a lifetime. Despite only deciding two weeks before departure, all bookings were secured by Global Journeys within days and before we knew it we were flying to Amsterdam!

The quality of the cruise with APT was outstanding and we were all made to feel like royalty. Our cruise director ...read more compiled a flawless itinerary and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all happen on time, every time. The Captain and his crew looked after us extremely well and interacted with us all daily. There were no hidden costs and in fact, except for a few souvenirs that we bought, we didn't need to spend a cent extra on the entire trip! Strongly recommend this cruise with APT.

It was well organised holiday, relaxed and stress free. Tour director, Stuart, was fantastic: friendly and very informative. All crews were nice, too. We cannot fault anything for the holiday. Other passengers were nice, getting on well.

Our highlights of this holiday were Salzburg and the Concert in Vienna. These were offered only with APT, I believe. ...read more So we'll travel with APT again. And finally, we were very happy that Hannah at Global Journeys who organised our trip without any problems. Thank you!

Magnificent Europe - Amsterdam to Budapest All one could ask for. Great value for money. We all had a great time.

I never thought I would enjoy a river cruise after having done 3 ocean cruises, but I was wrong. APT gave us a holiday that could not be faulted. Every person from the Captain down to the dishwashers made us feel like old friends. Service was impeccable, food was fabulous, choice of included excursions was good but you did not have to do all if ...read more you did not want to. Nothing was a problem for the staff and crew. I believe APT's ships were the best on the rivers. Ours was the last trip for the season and the entertainment APT put on for the last couple of nights was very enjoyable. I cannot speak highly enough of APT. Thank you, job well done. Thanks also to Michelle for organising this for us.

Wonderful holiday with a superb operator. Can't speak highly enough of APT. The ship was very comfortable, food very good and the staff were exceptional, particularly the Cruise Director, Rachel, the dining room staff and the hotel staff. The only problem I can possibly speak of is that I think I am now addicted to this life and it could cost us a ...read more lot of money in the future.

The ship was well appointed and laid out. The Wi-Fi was faultless and much appreciated. Sophie loves her Facebook. The crew always went out of their way to be pleasant and to enhance our experience. They were professional, positive and to have a happy and health work culture and environment with excellent leadership and management. The food, drink and ...read more entertainment were first class. The scenery m towns, buildings and excursions and guides were great. And we had good weather, almost the same as our Brisbane winter, with only one rainy day, from memory.

We found the AmaStella was first class and the staff were superb. The tours and excursions were also first rate - the dinner at Namedy Castle, the private concert in Vienna, the Imperator train to Salzberg, the palaces and the villages - all picture-postcard perfect. The on-board entertainment was wonderful - the gypsy violins in Budapest were a great ...read more grand finale! Once again APT were superbly organised and professional. The whole experience was seamless. We would completely recommend it.

Cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest with APT was the absolute best choice we could have made for our very first river cruise. It was fun filled 15 days. We made lots of new friends and had many experiences we have never had before. As someone who suffers with food intolerance's, I could not have asked for better with Chef Chardar and the crew. My ever ...read more whim was catered for and I was thoroughly looked after. We visited so many amazing towns and had many experiences, far too many to mention them all. The highlights would have to be Namedy Castle, the Vienna Orchestra and the Budapest Opera. We are now trying to decide which tour to do next!

We found the cruise to be very professionally run. One of the best things was knowing that we had paid for everything and there would be no surprises at the end. We would love to have had a dance floor on the ship. We had a great time on our holiday and would love to do another river cruise.