THE BASICS
Name: Rudi Schreiner
Title: President
Company, city: AmaWaterways; Los Angeles, California

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always loved art and I had a fantastic chemistry teacher in high school, so I was going to study either art or chemistry in college but ended up studying architecture. I continued to study, pivoting to anthropology and also getting my MBA.

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve always loved travel; my first driving trip was to Nepal, traveling through the Middle East. At the Afghanistan border, when we needed to get visas, we changed from our “hippie” attire into suits and immediately got through. Other fellow roadtrippers laughed when they saw us in suits while they sat there waiting for visas. They might still be waiting today!

If you could go anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go and why? As an art lover, one place on my bucket list is Cameroon. Cameroon has the best wood-carvers in the world.

A LITTLE BIT MORE
What two nonessential items would you want if you were on a deserted island?
A radio, as I enjoy having background music, and a fishing pole. During COVID, I fished at my house in Malibu and found it relaxing.

What person or experience most influenced your choice of career?
Austrians have always been known as adventurers, with a long list of famous Austrian adventurers.

What is your favorite song, and/or who is your favorite musician/band?
It changes a lot, but the Rolling Stones is a mainstay.If you had a time machine, would you travel to the future or back to the past? Why?
The future, because I’m interested to see what will happen.

THE BUSINESS
How would you describe your leadership style?
I am focused on creating happiness in the office environment. You get the best benefits when your employees love coming to work.

What predictions do you have for the travel industry over the next year?
Travel is booming, as is river cruising, and I believe that will continue. People now are more focused on luxury experiences, not luxury goods. And the idea of luxury in travel has changed a bit now to more about comfort.

What is your or your team’s proudest professional achievement?
We’re a preferred partner for all consortia; we’ve been named an American Society of Travel Advisors Partner of the Year for three years. We’ve won an Emmy. We will soon partner with Smithsonian. All of the recognition feels like a stamp of approval.

What project are you currently working on?
In 2017 I started working on getting a ship in Colombia on the Magdalena River, and we should start sailing in March 2025. There was no infrastructure in place, but 70 percent of the population live on or near the Magdalena River. The long-term goal is to educate the people, clean up the river, and bring the area’s culture and history to more people.

AS A TRAVELER
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned about customer service? We have the most pleasant experiences when dealing with friendly people. Take good care of your staff, and be friendly and nice.

What’s the first vacation you can remember taking? Growing up in Austria, every summer we went either to the Austrian lakes or Yugoslavia, which is today Croatia. We always went to water.

What are your travel pet peeves? I don’t have too many, as I’m extremely tolerant. My wife, Kristin Karst, co-founder and executive vice president, AmaWaterways, and I travel to 20–25 countries yearly, so nothing too much bothers me.

Share your favorite travel experience: The time I spent in East Nepal; it was the most rewarding travel experience. We stayed with farmers and joined religious and tribal festivals, spent time outdoors and so much more. It changed me and was just an out-of-this-world adventure.