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Wednesday 21 November 2012

Luftner Cruises - Amadeus Elegant

I've just got back from the ACE river cruise expo, (#rivercruiseexpo if you're on Twitter), and wanted to tell you about some of the ships I've seen. I had the amazing opportunity of seeing six different river cruise ships all owned and operated by six different cruise lines in the space of about three or four hours.
For that reason, (as we were being hurried around them a little), some of these posts about the different ships may not be as detailed as they always are and some of the pictures might not be the best in the world. They will however, (I hope), give you a taste of what each ship is like and let you judge the 'personality' of each ship.

Luftner cruises were a new one to me. They've been established for over thirty years but I've not really come across them before so I'd be quite interested in hearing back from anyone that has cruised with them in the past.
They're a European company pitching themselves as European experts, (as opposed to many of their American or Australian competitors). The first language on all their ships is English and drinks are free with dinner. They don't however include shore excursions free with their cruises and they don't sell flights so you'd need to make your own way to the ship, (or get your travel agent to arrange it).
That being said however they did offer some very competitive prices when compared to their competitors and as you will be able to see below their ships are of at least a comparable level.





These are some pictures from the main lounge. It was well appointed ans stylish




Luftner wanted to give us an idea of what afternoon tea would look like onboard their cruises, served in the main lounge. As you can see I wouldn't have any problems, it all looked delicious.



These globes hung over a staircase in the main lounge for use by the crew. You can't see it in these pictures but they were changing colour every couple of minutes.







I loved this section of the ship, (and it was the first river ship I had seen you could do this on). They had a seating area at the very front of the ship so you could look where you were going as you drifted down a river and if you fancied it you could even re-create that seen from Titanic the movie.



For the traditionalists amongst you they even have a shuffleboard deck if you fancy a game.



These pictures might look a bit strange but this is a small pool up on the sun deck only about an inch deep with a glass bottom that is above the main reception. Up on the sun deck it looks OK but when you head down to reception and the sunlight is shining through an inch of moving water then the effect becomes amazing.





More games to play up on the sun deck - this time a giant chess board.


And even more games, this time a, (very), mini golf course.




This is a small, private lounge at the back of the ship, perfect for relaxing in the peace and quiet at the end of a long day.




This is the main reception, decorated in  a very contemporary style.


Remember that pool I was showing you? Well this is a picture of it from below.

 





Again, if you've ever seen any photos of me you'll know I haven't needed a hairdressers in a long time but for those of you who do it's nice to know there's one onboard.



The ship also comes with a fully equipped gym, (fully equipped by river cruise ship standards anyway).



An example of a balcony cabin


An outside cabin on the Amadeus Elegant


One of the great things about Luftner that really impressed me was that all their ships come equipped with two cabins designed especially for solo cruisers and are always sold with a 0% single supplement!





And finally a few pictures of the exterior of the ship.

So what did you think? DO Luftner look like someone you would want to do a river cruise with? Have you already done a cruise with them? If so what where they like? Let everyone know what you think here.

Happy, (river), cruising


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