Arosa Cruises

AROSA Cruises (officially A-ROSA Flussschiff GmbH, translated "A-Rosa River Ship") is a German company operating passenger riverboats on Main, Rhine, Danube, Rhone, Saone and Moselle itineraries.

Company history and changes

A-ROSA Cruises (a-rosa.de/en) is a Rostock Germany-based company. As river cruise line brand, "A-Rosa" is currently owned (since 2018) by the UK-based Duke Street Capital (headquartered in London England). The brand was previously owned by Atlantis International Ltd (Florida-based US travel company, also specializing in maritime services - surveying, risk consulting, average adjusting, claims management, cargo recovery). Its last owner (until 2018) was Waterland Private Equity LLP (Manchester-based investment group).

The company was founded in 2000 as a P&O Princess Cruises subsidiary to serve the German market. Alongside sister line AIDA, A-ROSA Cruises reflected AIDA's unfussy sensibility with less-structured dining, relaxed dress codes, and active onboard experience.

Arosa cruise company's operations started with three ships - Blu, Bella, and Donna. Following the 2013 merger between P&O and Carnival Corp, A-ROSA was sold off to the private company A-ROSA Flussschif (run by Lars Clasen, who created the A-ROSA brand). In 2009, Waterland (independent private equity investment group) acquired a majority stake in A-ROSA Flussschiff GmbH. In the following years, the cruise company enjoyed significant growth and became the largest and most successful on the German passenger source market.

In January 2018, Waterland Private Equity LLP announced the sale of its interest in A-ROSA River Cruises. Arosa's new (current) owner is the UK-based Duke Street Capital, which acquired the whole company. Duke Street Capital (1988-founded) is a private equity firm investing in middle-market Western European companies. In 2019, Duke Street had ~GBP 2,6 billion total assets, the largest of which are Wagamama (restaurant chain), Gala Bingo (online), ERS-Equity Insurance Group (motor insurances), Burton's Foods (biscuits manufacturer), Esporta Clubs (health and fitness), GettyImages (online free stock media), The Original Factory Shop (department store), Marie Brizard (alcoholic beverages), Payzone UK (consumer payments).

In January 2020, A-ROSA partnered with CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) to expand its operations to the Australia New Zealand market. By CLIA Australasia as a River Marketing Affiliate, A-ROSA access a worldwide-known community of premium cruise companies and top-rated travel agencies from across the region as well as Executive Partners from various cruise travel industry supporting businesses.

On two Rhine voyages on Arosa Sena ship in August 2023 (Aug 5-12 and Aug 12-19) were offered the river cruising industry's first onboard swimming lessons. The program was via partnership with Wasserlust GmbH (swimming schools in Hamburg and Dusseldorf). The onboard lessons were for children (between 4,5 and 7 years of age) and cost EUR 100 per kid. Each course had max capacity 6 participants. Per voyage were offered a total of 6 swimming lessons (duration 40–50 min each) led by a qualified, Wasserlust-certified instructor. After completing the course, the kids received Wasserlust Certificates for Beginner and Intermediate levels.

Fleet's newest vessels are Arosa Alva (2019, on Douro River) and Arosa Sena/Emotion (2022, on Rhine River).

This Europe-based passenger shipping company targets predominantly younger and active travelers. Its riverboats have the industry's largest spas and feature sundeck swimming pools. Onboard wellness facilities deserve special mention, being served by certified massage therapists and trainers and offering latest beauty treatments and large-sized riverview gyms and saunas.

Indoor and outdoor open-seating restaurants emphasize on buffet stations. The food quality equals that found on other luxury vessels, and even the buffet aspect is upscale. The cuisine is mainly Mediterranean, with fresh and healthy choices. All cocktails are cruise price-included.

Staterooms are on 3 decks (as on most large European riverboats) with standard cabins sized 155 ft2 (14 m2). The cheapest are on Lower Deck (deck1) and with porthole windows (2/3 of the way up the riverside walls). Family staterooms are with sofabeds, which is also rare in the river cruise market. Cabins on Decks 2 and 3 are with French balconies and convertible to twins Queen-size beds. Some A-ROSA also have large-sized Suites.

During the day, the heart of each AROSA ship is its Sun Deck/top deck. This is a large outdoor area outfitted with a giant chessboard, shuffleboard, comfortable seating (loungers and deckchairs), shaded seating (retractable awnings). At other times, the bow-located Bar Lounge (indoor) is the prime spot for daily scheduled enrichment activities and live entertainment in the evenings. Most AROSA boats have a swimming pool on their sundecks. The newest bota (Arosa Sena) even has a separate/exclusive pool for kids.

Complimentary bicycles (onboard bikes) can be used on shore excursions (group and individual land tours). Also complimentary are provided Shore Excursions in each of the visited call ports along the cruisetour's route. These offers include also "food and wine" tours, culture-history and leisure (walking/biking tours) led by local professional guides (speaking both German and English).

A-ROSA's deals are also inclusive of airport and land transfers, taxes, onboard tips (gratuities), English-speaking professional staff service. On all Arosa ships, kids up to 15 years of age (including 15-yo) travel free of charge when the cabin is booked "Premium All-Inclusive". The children must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. During school holidays, kids enjoy complimentary onboard childcare service (8 am - 9 pm) and supervised fun activities - like pizza baking, treasure hunts, dance parties, trivia quizzes.

(Coronavirus crisis) passenger shipping pause 2020-2021

Due to the COVID pandemic, Arosa River Cruises suspended its entire fleet's passenger shipping operations (all boats) canceling all voyages with pre-scheduled departures in the period March 14, 2020, through early-July 2021.

Operations were planned to resume in 2020 on Rhine River (June 17), Danube River (June 20), French rivers (July 11) and Douro River (October 28). Eventually, all voyages (Douro-Danube-Rhine) scheduled for 2020 were canceled.

AROSA's schedules for 2021 were canceled for the ships Bella (restarted on March 8, 2022), Luna (restarted on March 20), Viva (restarted on March 28).

All affected bookings received full refunds, including on prepurchased through A-ROSA Flusskreuzfahrten packages and services. With rebooking were offered EUR 50 pp in OBC (onboard credit) plus 30% discount on a future cruise booking.

The list operated by Arosa Flussschiff destinations includes Europe's largest rivers Danube and Rhine, also Main and Mosel, and France's Rhone and Saone rivers. Currently, the A-ROSA cruise company owns eleven riverboats operated in Europe exclusively.

Follows the list of all Arosa river cruise ships. Launch years (shown in brackets) allow you to see the fleet's expansion from 2009 onwards (1 new boat per year).

• Arosa Alva (2019)
• A-Rosa Aqua (2009)
• A-Rosa Bella (2002)
• A-Rosa Brava (2011)
• A-Rosa Donna (2002)
• A-Rosa Flora (2014)
• A-Rosa Luna (2005)
• A-Rosa Mia (2003)
• A-Rosa Riva (2004)
• A-Rosa Silva (2012)
• A-Rosa Stella (2005)
• A-Rosa Viva (2010)
• A-Rosa Sena/E-Motion (2022) - new class / 5-deck riverboat with 2 swimming pools (adult and kids)

In 2024 starts the charter deal with Avalon Waterways for multi-year chartering of two boats - Arosa Alea (fka Avalon Affinity) and Arosa Clea (fka Avalon Creativity). Both sisterships are 2009-built and smaller-sized (LOA length 110 m, max passengers 138).

Train-and-cruise travel itineraries (2024)

In 2024, A-Rosa signed a partnership deal with Planet Rail Ltd (UK-based luxury train travel company) to introduce three new itineraries to enhance its European portfolio.

The first itinerary ("Southern Rhine Cruise Through Germany to Switzerland") departs on Thursdays from April 4 to October 12. This journey navigates the Middle Rhine Valley, spanning from Cologne/Koln to Strasbourg via Rudesheim, Speyer, Breisach, Basel, Strasbourg, Mainz, and Koblenz. Prices start from GBP 1695 per person.

The second itinerary ("Classic Danube Cruise") is priced from GBP 1895 per person. Departing weekly from April 5 to October 18, 2024, it follows a roundtrip route from Engelhartzell via Vienna, Esztergom, Budapest, and Bratislava. The package includes return first-class train travel from London, pre-cruise hotel stay in Nuremberg, a 7-night voyage (ship Arosa Donna), a walking tour in Bratislava, and a post-cruise hotel stay in Cologne.

The third itinerary ("Classic French Journey") is priced from GBP 1995 per person. It offers weekly departures from April 11 to October 10, 2024, and includes a 2-night hotel stay in Paris City before embarking Arosa Stella ship, France river cruising through Burgundy and Provence (Rhone and Saone rivers) and visiting Chalon-sur-Saone, Macon, Trevoux, Lyon, Avignon, Arles, Viviers, La Voulte, before returning to Lyon.

Arosa's three new cruise-and-train itineraries include first-class return train travel from London (St Pancras International), an overnight hotel (the night before embarkation) and Arosa's all-inclusive drinks package.

In this section, you'll find all their itineraries/schedules with dates and prices. Additionally, you can track Arosa's riverboats with our VesselFinder map for ship tracking integrated into every page below. This way you'll be able to see where your Arosa ship sails through the year, when and for how much, plus where is the A-Rosa riverboat right now - in real-time!

Note: You can see the CruiseMapper's list of all river cruise ships and riverboats in the "itinerary" section of our River Cruises hub. All river passenger shipping line companies and their fleets are listed there.