Maximize your Christmas experience by embarking at the height of the holiday market season with daily or near-daily visits to Christmas Markets.
Get "just a taste" of the holidays in mid-November or late December with visits to one or two Christmas Markets during your river cruise.
We are pleased to offer guests the opportunity to experience Floriade in 2022 while sailing along the Rhine River and Dutch and Belgian Waterways between April 14 and October 9. Right outside Amsterdam, this rare experience calls for its visitors to “explore, touch and change” as part of their journey into Floriade – which is set to feature stunning gardens, innovative sustainable gardening exhibits, live entertainment, talk shows, souvenirs and food stalls.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Rhône with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2024.
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through four countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Danube with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Explore the rich history of classical music along the Danube River where famous composers lived, worked and performed. Plus, be treated to a variety of live performances on this melodious journey.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2025
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through five countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Douro with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
We invite our loyal past guests to join us once again on these special Loyalty Cruises, offering unique experiences in multiple ports, commemorative gifts, and many more surprises and delights.
Imagine if there was a way to combine luxury river cruising on the Danube with the opportunity to indulge your passion and play golf? We have created the perfect package to enable you to do just that! Our exclusive Concierge Golf Programme includes 7 nights onboard one of the highest rated ships in Europe, complete with award winning cuisine, a choice of excursions in every port and our unique Twin Balconies, as well as up to 5 rounds of golf at some of the leading championship courses on the continent. Our Programme takes you straight from your ship to the course and back making your golfing experience seamless – Golf and River Cruise truly is a marriage made in heaven.
Hello! "I'm Kristin Karst, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of AmaWaterways and I'm passionate about river cruising. Each month, I love to share with you my thoughts, personal stories, travel tips and latest news on the people and places that help turn every mile of our guests' river cruise experience into one of their most cherished memories!"
The Great Pyramid of Giza – the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex – has been at the center of conspiracy theories for decades as people have struggled to understand how it was constructed. Was it a calling card left behind by aliens? Did UFOs lend insight on how to construct it? Here’s what we now know about this historic structure that has mystified researchers and theorists.
Last Man Standing
Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza is not only the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the only one that has survived all the way to modern times. Constructed between 2560 and 2540 BCE, the pyramid was built for Pharaoh Kufu – the second pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty. It is the largest of all the tombs built in the ancient world and has towered over the West Bank of the Nile River, south of Cairo, for more than 4,000 years.
While the Great Pyramid was once the tallest man-made structure in the world – a title it held for thousands of years – it was eventually overtaken by the Lincoln Cathedral in 1311 CE. It once stood at 481 feet tall but has since shrunk down by about 25 feet as a result of erosion.
All That Glitters Wasn’t Always Gold
Despite the golden images we now often see of the pyramid, a modern documentary by historian Bettany Hughes claims that it was pure white when it was built. Citing a 4,500-year-old journal, Hughes has stated that it was constructed from polished white limestone – 2.6 million casing stones, in fact, which took about 20 years to turn into the pyramid we recognize from history books. The stones, which weighed in at 2.5 tons each, were carried for 15 miles along the Nile River. The final structure is estimated to weigh about 6.5 million tons. The pyramid no longer has that pure white appearance because its outer limestone shell was stripped away over the years, potentially for use in other building projects.
Building Theory
While it is hard to imagine how thousands of heavy bricks were maneuvered into the pyramid shape without modern technology, historians and scholars suspect that a system of ramps was used. Based on archaeological evidence at other pyramid sites, they believe that staircase, spiral and linear ramps were used to slowly raise the stones hundreds of feet into the air. At that point, wooden and bronze levers were likely used to position the stones into the pyramid formation.
Almost Perfect, But Not Quite
Highly regarded as a nearly perfect structure, it turns out that the Great Pyramid of Giza is actually slightly lopsided. An error made during construction caused the west side of the pyramid to be slightly longer than the east side, which means that the base isn’t a perfect square like it appears to be. This error was not discovered until 2016 when researchers were studying the original dimensions.
Slight imperfections aside, the Great Pyramid of Giza is a must-see – sure to impress even the most critical of travelers. While many questions about the pyramid remain unanswered, researchers are dedicated to digging into its history, and new archaeological evidence continues to shed more light on its stunning construction.
Get an up-close view of the Great Pyramid of Giza for yourself. Reserve your Secrets of Egypt & the Nile river cruise journey today!