Interview: AmaWaterways' CEO on River Cruising and the New Active Cruiser

Europe's rivers are more crowded than ever with cruise ships. And in the midst of an unprecedented growth in demand for river cruising, river cruise lines are tailoring experiences for a new breed of active traveler. AmaWaterways founder and CEO Rudi Schreiner says that river cruisers now want a more participatory lifestyle experience on their vacation, instead of the tried and true in-destination tours of the past. Schreiner, who co-founded AmaWaterways in 2002 and was one of the original innovators in the river cruise space with Uniworld Boutique River Cruises in the '90s, spoke with Skift about how consumer expectations have shifted how his team designs the cruising experience. Skift: AmaWaterways has been building new ships, along with the rest of the river cruise industry. But can you talk about what you're doing onboard in terms of experiences and onshore in terms of excursions? Schreiner: Every year we're adding two ships in Europe and maybe one elsewhere. This year we started our partnership with Backroads to provide guided bicycle tours, which have been very successful. Our Adventures by Disney partnership will start next summer on the AmaViola, they've pretty much sold out all their departures; they'll have seven departures in 2016 and will expand from the Danube to the Rhine as well in 2017. It's become a very active environment. We're also creating adjoining cabins on the