Travel advisor Denice B. and her clients Christina and James S. are among hundreds of AmaWaterways river cruise guests who have had the opportunity to explore the world with AmaWaterways through a unique lens focused on Black and African history, culture, cuisine and more.

For Denice, it all started when she attended a travel industry conference. “I had never been on a river cruise before,” she explained, “and I had never heard of a company taking interest in curating cruises for Black history, culture and heritage. My mouth dropped when AmaWaterways started talking about their Soulful Experiences. I was immediately drawn to the brand.”

Denice embarked on her very first river cruise with AmaWaterways, our Melodies of the Danube itinerary, soon after. She loved the 7-night sailing through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany, but she still felt a strong pull to embark on one of our curated Soulful Experiences. Originally available exclusively in France in 2023, our Soulful Experiences have quickly grown in popularity. In fact, we have been able to expand the program further into Europe, Egypt, Asia and even South America.

At the top of Denice’s list was our Secrets of Egypt & the Nile Soulful Experience in 2024, but she had a dilemma. “I was supposed to be graduating around the time of the departure,” she said, “but then I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful to ‘graduate’ in Egypt where it all started, where our ancestors were originally from?”

Denice decided to move forward by reserving her stateroom and invited her clients, Christina and James, to come along with her. “Denice said she had the perfect product for me,” recalled Christina. “Egypt was one of my bucket-list destinations and we were really excited.”

The Warmest Welcome in Cairo

The trio’s 11-night Soulful Experience in Egypt began with three nights pre-cruise in Cairo. Having been encouraged to use our luxury Egypt VIP Visa service, the transition from airport to hotel was seamless. “As soon as we exited the plane and came down the stairs, our representative was there with a sign from AmaWaterways. She had our visas put in our passports, gathered our luggage and transported us over to the Nile Ritz-Carlton right there on the Nile River,” described Denice. “My goodness, it was amazing and we had a beautiful view.”

Christina happened to be celebrating her birthday when she and James arrived early in the morning to the hotel. To their amazement, multiple members of the Nile Ritz-Carlton staff came up to their room to serenade her with a personalized birthday cake. After that delightful surprise, Christina’s first evening in Cairo was full of anticipation. “There were people who looked like me,” she said. “It was nice for us all to be experiencing the same thing for the first time.”

Exclusive Experiences

AmaWaterways’ Soulful Experiences include specially curated excursions, educational components and entertainment highlighting aspects of Black and African culture, history and cuisine. “I really liked the things that were tailor-made for our group and were really different than I had done before,” said Christina.

Our Egypt Soulful Experiences include a Nubian cooking class during which a culinary expert from the region is brought on board to prepare authentic African cuisine. In addition, Christina and Denice’s cruise had a unique coffee making demonstration and Nubian entertainers on board. “We also appreciated having a Nubian Egyptologist because he was able to provide a different spin on Egyptian history,” Christina added.

One of Denice’s favorite memories was visiting the Nubian village on Heisa Island – a destination included exclusively by AmaWaterways on every Secrets of Egypt & the Nile departure. “The kids welcomed us by singing. We had the opportunity to buy artifacts that were made by people in the village, and we toured some of their houses to see how they lived. The cultural immersion experience was just wonderful,” she raved.

When the time came for Denice’s commencement back home, she was honored to celebrate her graduation on the Nile River. “AmaWaterways had a special ceremony just for me,” she said. “That was so meaningful and amazing.”

Reflections and Recommendations

Following their Nile River cruise, Denice, Christina and James have since also been on our Enticing Douro Soulful Experience in Portugal, where Denice applauded a special culinary experience curated by two chefs from Mozambique and a tour that focused on Portugal’s connection to the Atlantic Slave Trade. “Our guide Kai did a phenomenal job of letting us know about things I didn’t even know existed,” she shared. “I definitely learned a lot through her presentation.”

All in all, Denice and Christina have fully enjoyed their time on our Soulful Experience itineraries and encourage other cruisers to consider embarking on one for themselves. “Being African American, sometimes when we travel our culture is not focused on,” explained Christina. “It’s nice being with like-minded people and focusing on the African history in each area. These types of programs are not that prevalent. It says a lot about AmaWaterways.”

“No other company I know of in river cruising is doing this,” continued Denice. “I want to do all the Soulful Experiences!”

AmaWaterways has several Soulful Experiences operating in 2025 and 2026, including a newly available New Year’s cruise on the Dutch & Belgian Waterways, as well as recently announced Riches of the Mekong and Swiss Alps & Rhine Castles departures. Space is limited – contact your travel advisor or visit AmaWaterways.com/soulful to reserve your stateroom today!