AmaWaterways has confirmed the delay of its launch in Colombia on the Magdalena River by two months, with the first of two ships set to now debut in January 2025.
AmaMagdalena had initially been planned to launch in December 2023, then pushed back to late March 2024, until the most recent intended start date in November 2024. The second ship in Colombia, AmaMelodia, remains on schedule to launch in June next year. It too had been earlier flagged to begin service in April 2024.
Subscribe to LATTE Cruise’s free eNewsletter to keep up to date with everything in the luxury cruise space.Speaking exclusively with LATTE at the Virtuoso AU/NZ Forum in Bangkok last month, Gary Murphy, Co-Owner and SVP of Sales, AmaWaterways revealed the Colombia program was “not on track to launch as planned”.
“Being the first on something…,” Murphy started, suggesting that there can be challenges and unforeseen hiccups with shipbuilding, or entering a new destination.
“We’ve never been late…” he added, referring to the delivery of AmaWaterways’ existing fleet of mainly European river ships.
Murphy explained that the shipping of components for the new-builds in South America has been “different” compared to other regions of the world. AmaWaterways has 20 ships in Europe, two in Portugal (with a third coming soon), two in Egypt, and one ship in both Southeast Asia and Africa.
“The Colombian government has been fantastic. They’ve dredged over 100 miles of a canal connecting Cartagena to the Magdalena River. They’ve done so much, because they know we had the option to build the ships in Europe and bring them here, or we build them in Colombia, where they develop the expertise and the ships can be maintained and serviced.”
“And understanding that when we’re successful — and it’s going to be successful — competitors will come into the marketplace, and it’ll raise all ships.
“It’s going to be great for local communities on the river.”
Murphy continued, “Rudy Schreiner, our President, is an adventurer. He scoped out 500 miles on the river with the government, checking out places and potential stops, and the last time there was traffic on that river was in 1962, for cargo moving tobacco and coffee, and it had maybe six tourist rooms where a tourist could go on it.
“So, it’s a new adventure, but we have huge demand for it,” Murphy added. “And the Aussie market is the number one market asking about it at our shows.”
“It’s a sexy product and it will be wonderful once we get it going.”
In a statement this week, AmaWaterways confirmed the delay, stating: “As the first major river cruise line to explore this fascinating river and the destinations beyond its banks, it is of the utmost importance to us that we deliver the best possible experience for our guests, not only on board our newly designed river cruise ships, but on shore as well.”
“With this in mind, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the launch of our Colombia itineraries, which will give us the additional time we need to ensure our Magdalena River cruise and land journeys meet the high standards of quality our guests have come to expect—and for which AmaWaterways is renowned.”
Impacted guests have been offered the opportunity to change their Colombia booking for another river cruise in Europe, Asia or Africa during the same season, postpone their arrangements to 2025 aboard AmaMagdalena or AmaMelodia, or receive a full refund.
