One of the youngest landmasses on Earth, Iceland formed when volcanoes rose from the ocean floor where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. Located 915 miles from Norway, it drew early explorers, such as Vikings, from as early as the 800s. Today’s explorers are tourists, and what they find is still awe-inspiring. Standing-room only in the two-level Vista Lounge on Holland America’s Zuiderdam told the tale: An Iceland expert and long-time resident was about to tell the 1,900 guests, including us, what to expect, and not one of us wanted to miss a nugget of info. As slides popped on the screen showing otherworldly terrain of black lava rock grown over with thick moss layer
Having relished extensive ocean cruising the past two decades, in recent years we’ve added several river cruises in the mix, with great delight. Our latest, aboard the 158-passenger AmaViola provided several check-offs on our must-see list: the Danube, Prague, Budapest and one of the newest ships from highly-rated AmaWaterways. “Ama” comes from the Latin word for love. We found much to love on AmaViola: the attentive staff, the ship’s thoughtful details, a super comfortable cabin with ceiling-to-floor views of the passing scene plus extremely well-planned itineraries. Read the full story in Voyages Magazine: http://voyagesmagazine.com/2018/01/13/amawaterways-offers-luxury-cruising-on-danube-
