Ranking of River cruise lines?

We are looking to book a river cruise this early summer. I can't seem to find any kind of ranking of the river cruise lines. Only for the ocean cruises. We have enjoyed cruising Oceania in the Mediterranean a number of times as well as the Baltic row years ago. We do enjoy a more intimate experience with Good service and food. We enjoy casinos too. (Is that allowed on European river cruises?)

We are in our mid 50s and very fit and active. We would like to see some smaller towns not accessible from the ocean. Maybe. French vineyard tour. I don't know anything about the difference in the different cruise lines. Can anyone help me? Are some more luxurious? To some have higher rankings for their food? Are some more geared towards younger active adults? Usually an ocean cruises I book my own tears. I'm concerned about being on tour with lots of people .

We are used to going out her own speed and seeing what we want to see.

Someone I know I compared the Viking line to the carnival cruise line of River cruises but I don't know why. Is there any truth to that? I need to make a decision quickly. As we are looking at June. Please respond ASAP Thanks! I'm so confused!!!!😲

Start with this pinned thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2415906

I think it would be completely unfair to compare Viking to Carnival, so it that is the only issue you can rest easy. To answer in more depth, I suggest you start with this comparison article that the Cruise Critic editors wrote, which compares each river cruise line to an ocean line and a hotel chain:

http://pdf.cruisecritic.com/travel-guide/UltimateGuidetoRiverCruising.pdf?et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845

Another resource that ranks river cruise lines is the Berlitz guide River Cruising in Europe by Douglas Ward. He doesn't rate the cruise lines, but he does rate 310 river ships on a scale from 1 star to 5 stars [but there are no 5 stars ships yet]. Of these 310 ratings, the top 10 are all AmaWaterways vessels. Every AMA ship gets the top 4+ star rating. Scenic’s five newest ships are the only other river ships to earn the top 4+ star rating. Viking's Longships get 4 stars. That should help you get a quick and dirty feel for the ranking of Viking against the top lines: not bad, but not the best.

Just remember that the largest river cruise ship holds fewer than 200 passengers, and there will be multiple tour groups going out. Most ships use a quietvox system so that you don't have to be right by the guide to hear the commentary. There isn't much point (or ability) to book your own tours. Most if not all excursions are included, and the timing is nowhere near as precise as on an ocean cruise.

As far as I know, there are no casinos on river cruise ships.

My husband and I normally do our own thing. But last year we did a Viking trip and this year too. Viking site will give you a lot of info. They'll be happy to send you plenty of catalogs.

We have only done Uniworld. But they do tours for various levels of physical ability. You have a regular tour and a tour for slow walkers. On one of our cruises several people asked for a fast walker group and they did one. Don't think this is the norm but you just need to ask.

martyinmpls,

I start with the casino question. As far as I know there are none on river cruise ships. As casino means basically "playing with/for money" in this case there are tight rules. And no international waters. Onboard entertainment is minimal, partly due to lack of space. The emphasis is firmly on the shore experience. But you can have a great time with other people just sitting at the bar and listening to the piano player.

If you would like to see a casino you could go on a cruise on the Rhine that has an excursion to Baden-Baden. At the moment I cannot remember the cruise line.

One note on Viking: Viking themselves stated that they are not gearing towards the active, younger demographic. There are no fitness rooms on their ships.

You can have a look at active cruises. There some this year that offer bike rides and the like.

For a vineyard tour in France go for the Rhone or the Bordeaux region. However, the Bordeaux cruises are relatively short in milage compared to other rivers.

notamermaid

Lately, we have gravitated toward Grand Circle Travel. There river and small ship cruises are amazing. Food is delicious. Program Directors (as they call them) are great. On land tours, you stay in nice, centrally located hotels. Some times they are big, well known chains, other times they are smaller ones. I would say they range in the 3-4*. GCT markets toward the over 50 crowd.

I think you will get many different answers since different people look for different things in their river cruises. What's important to me, may not be important to someone else. Do a search for reviews for whatever location you want to visit. There are lots out there not associated with this site. If you just want to go on a river cruise, you can't go wrong picking one of the European river cruises. Good luck in your choosing.

One area that is important to us is size vs number of guests on a river boat. Most river boats are roughly the same size, but Viking carries 180+ people, while Tauck for example has the same size boat, but carries 130 people. This means no lines for dinning rooms, no standing in the lounge for port talks, and much better ratio of guests to tour guides. It is also important to consider what is included for the cost and what is not. If you like to have a drink in the afternoon, before dinner, or in the lounge after dinner, or you don't want the aggravation of gratuities for crew, guides, wait staff, you don't want up charges for certain tours then select an all inclusive line. Viking is less expensive until you add the up-charges. Other, upper end cruise lines, are all inclusive, you pay up front and you are done! We enjoy the Tauck experience, but there are other good all inclusive river cruise lines. If I were you I would start a spread sheet based on itineraries. Good luck and have a great cruise.

Hi M,

What's your budget?

Ira

I can sorta see the comparison to Carnival, only in that Viking has a lot of ships and is ubiquitous, but is much more upscale than Carnival. We did one Viking cruise down the Danube and enjoyed it greatly.

Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we will be leaving for Paris in one week on on a Grand Circle river cruise on the Saone/Rhone Rivers. We took the pre-trip extension so will be in Paris 5 nights, then go down to the Burgundy Region for a wine tasting at a chateau, and board the ship for seven nights. The trip ends with 2 nights in Nice. By the way the ship is older, has larger than usual staterooms, AND has ONLY 46 passengers. If you think this is something you might enjoy check it out.

One thing though about river cruising - it IS very regimented. You are in a port; everybody out by 9 am for the included tour, back by lunch, have a few hours in the afternoon to explore, then back on the ship. Then tomorrow, same thing, and so on, and so on... Now you DON'T have to do the tour, and you can go off and explore on your own, but generally the guides and the tours are very good (and you paid for them anyway), so why not go. Some days there is some "at sea" time when you can enjoy the passing scenery which breaks things up a little bit.

I would recommend you find a travel agent who specializes in river cruising. They will know all of the different lines and what each one offers. I can tell you than I took a Viking Rhine cruise when I was 50 and I was by far the youngest person onboard. They only have one ability group to tour and I can honestly say that the pace was a bit slower than we liked. We did enjoy ourselves, but decided to try another line. Our next river cruise we sailed the Danube with AMA Waterways. We loved being able to take bike tours and being able to choose an ability group for our regular tours - gentle, regular and active. I took a group of 26 on the AMACerto last October - all were between 50-60 years old. They took advantage of the biking and hiking tours as well as used the pool and the fitness center. You can also take the bikes out on your own when the ship is docked in port. I am leaving Wednesday to sail on the AMALyra Paris & Normandy cruise and I cannot recommend them enough. They are a great line for people in your age range and offer great service, food, and tours.

martyinmpls,

 

I start with the casino question. As far as I know there are none on river cruise ships. As casino means basically "playing with/for money" in this case there are tight rules. And no international waters. Onboard entertainment is minimal, partly due to lack of space. The emphasis is firmly on the shore experience. But you can have a great time with other people just sitting at the bar and listening to the piano player.

 

If you would like to see a casino you could go on a cruise on the Rhine that has an excursion to Baden-Baden. At the moment I cannot remember the cruise line.

 

One note on Viking: Viking themselves stated that they are not gearing towards the active, younger demographic. There are no fitness rooms on their ships.

 

You can have a look at active cruises. There some this year that offer bike rides and the like.

 

For a vineyard tour in France go for the Rhone or the Bordeaux region. However, the Bordeaux cruises are relatively short in milage compared to other rivers.

 

notamermaid

Lack of exercise options almost made me choose a different company, but we stayed with Viking for our second trip. Notamermaid is right, no exercise room, no bikes on Viking.

You may have "slim pickings" with cabin availability. Unlike ocean trips, river boats book quite far in advance. Also airfare is most expensive in the summer. Playing devil's advocate here. Pat