Help me get started, please ...

Experienced ocean cruiser and DH looking for 7-10 day September or October 2017 first river cruise with either start or end in Amsterdam. Upscale but not exorbitant, not big drinkers, love art museums but not cathedrals. Love people and diversity but we are not "group people@'". Love good food but I am vegan (DH is not). We will be celebrating a milestone birthday for me. We are healthy and active though audio headphones or whatever would be appreciated when touring. Can you help make suggestions for cruse lines and tours to get us started? Thank you!

Welcome to the River Cruising forum - there are lots of great posters here that will provide answers and guidance! The first recommendation is to start with the "New to River Cruising? Start Here!" sticky at the top of the menu page. Host Jazzbeau has compiled lots of useful information.

That to me sounds like the profile of someone who would enjoy independent travel, for example from Amsterdam to Berlin with its many lakes and rivers (boat rides!) and a milestone dinner in the renown vegan restaurant Lucky Leek. Side trips to Potsdam and Dresden.

I always suggest that folks considering a river cruise read Cash Peters's Kindle ebook, Best Vacation EVER!: The Highs and Woes of River Cruising in Provence. It's a hilarious account of a river cruise, yet it gives a pretty good idea of what one can expect on a river cruise.

FuelScience

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FuelScience

https://smile.amazon.com/Best-Vacation-EVER-Cruising-Provence-ebook/dp/B00J0PCWU2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469708672&sr=8-2&keywords=best+vacation+ever#nav-subnav

Experienced ocean cruiser and DH looking for 7-10 day September or October 2017 first river cruise with either start or end in Amsterdam. Upscale but not exorbitant, not big drinkers, love art museums but not cathedrals. Love people and diversity but we are not "group people@'". Love good food but I am vegan (DH is not). We will be celebrating a milestone birthday for me. We are healthy and active though audio headphones or whatever would be appreciated when touring. Can you help make suggestions for cruse lines and tours to get us started? Thank you!

Don't be put off by the cathedrals in each town. Usually the tours end at the cathedral and you have the option of going in our not. The Basel to Amsterdam or reverse stops in very diverse towns with huge cathedrals yes because that is how the cities were formed but there are interesting museums or other points of interest in each town that you never have to set foot in a cathedral and still have much to see.

If you scroll down this page, or the next one, there are a few other threads with great suggestions for first timers.

Enjoy.

Good morning Myra and Leo and welcome to CC! I've done 8 river cruises, plus 3 bus tours, and lived in London. One thing I can say is that we've never been bored on a river cruise and from what you described it sounds like we're very similar in likes and dislikes. I would suggest an Amsterdam to Budapest or vice versa tour as a good first one. Ours was with Vantage and we never went with anyone else after that, but everybody has one and they're all very very similar so be guided by itinerary, price, dates. By all means read Jazzbeau's introduction to river cruising and buy a book about river cruising that includes evaluation and comparison of all the lines as well as itineraries and ports.

There are some things you should be aware of though:

Our trip was 14 days from Budapest to Amsterdam, but there are shorter ones that go from Amst. to Vienna...or Cologne to Budapest. Budapest is one of our favorite world cities and if you haven't been there, I recommend it.

1. We did find the tours to be short on art museums and long on cathedrals. You don't have to go into all of them or any of them, but some of them are truly worth seeing. Each port will have a walking tour upon arrival so you're oriented as to where your ship is in relation to the town or city. After the walking tour your guide will give you recommendations for things to do, etc. and will tell you when and where to meet to get back to the ship on time.

2. As for "mingling" you will be part of a group for the escorted tours but you'll also find that you'll meet people with similar tastes and interests. All meals are open seating and you sit where you wish. Tables for 2 are pretty rare on most river cruises although there are some lines that have them. Most of the tables seat 6-8 with some for 4. If you find yourself sitting with people you cannot tolerate (it happens) you do not have to sit with them again. Breakfast and lunch are usually buffet style and a little freer as to time. Vantage serves dinner at 7 p.m. but some other lines allow more freedom for dining. After dinner you can go to the lounge for socializing or the occasional entertainment, but many of us retire to our cabins for some well needed R&R. The entertainment on river cruises is nothing like ocean cruises. Usually it will be a local group that will perform local songs and/or dances. You will have a port talk every day before dinner explaining the next day's agenda and these are very interesting, especially if you want to strike out on your own.

3. Meal selections should not be a problem. I'm not a vegan but I do eat plant based and all I can tell you is that Vantage has one of the best vegetarian chefs on the planet!!! Every menu and buffet will have vegetarian options on it but I would still tell the DR manager on the first night how strict a vegan you are...in fact I recall telling Vantage when we booked our first trip that DH is diabetic and I a plant eater, and I never had to tell them again. As for the b-day be sure to tell them when you book and remind the hotel manager....they WILL celebrate!!

4. Vantage uses the whisper system, but they all use audio phones for touring. Of course they only work when you're with the guide so they don't work if you're out touring on your own.

Why Castles on the Rhine should be first? It's one of the most beautiful of all the tours. It stops in wonderful cities like Cologne, Vienna, Regensburg and Passau (if you only go into 1 cathedral this is the one) and you spend a full day on board cruising past the castles with your guide narrating. You do not get to visit any of the castles! Most of them are either privately owned for corporate use or hotels or totally run down....but still beautiful. Vantage has bicycles and helmets on board for use by passengers free of charge. I think most of the lines now have them, although some of them might charge a small fee for them.

Sept and Oct is a beautiful time of year to do this trip. We went late Aug. to Sept. and weather was glorious.

Stay in touch....you'll find a wealth of information on this board and the posters will go out of their way to give you solid info. :)

We'll be doing our first river cruise at the end of next month (thought it would never get here!). We chose Viking for several reasons - the number 1 being that they have a stop in Kinderdyck. It's a place with 19 windmills many are working. It's a UNESCO site, so they are preserved. There were other reasons, but nothing really fundamental. There were many other lines I looked at and if they stopped at Kinderdyck we might have chosen them.

Many people view Viking poorly, but so far my dealings with them have been wonderful - above and beyond expectations. I'll come back with a review when we've done the trip.

I do want to recommend that you read this review - it's more than a review it's a lengthy travel log with LOTS of photos

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2085470

I'd pretty much decided on Viking, but this kind of put me over the top. Even if you decide to go with another line, still read this - it's great - lots of info on the Rhine ports. And did I mention photos :D

Hope you find a line & itinerary that works for you. I'm counting down the days now!

Another itinerary that might appeal is the Moselle. Start in Amsterdam, end in Paris -- museums up the wazoo!

Another itinerary that might appeal is the Moselle. Start in Amsterdam, end in Paris -- museums up the wazoo!

We'll leave on this itinerary (in reverse) 4 weeks from Monday on Avalon. I'll let you know how it is, but we're already big Moselle fans!

FuelScience

Experienced ocean cruiser and DH looking for 7-10 day September or October 2017 first river cruise with either start or end in Amsterdam. Upscale but not exorbitant, not big drinkers, love art museums but not cathedrals. Love people and diversity but we are not "group people@'". Love good food but I am vegan (DH is not). We will be celebrating a milestone birthday for me. We are healthy and active though audio headphones or whatever would be appreciated when touring. Can you help make suggestions for cruse lines and tours to get us started? Thank you!

Don't just go and book with Viking because you saw their ad.

There are a lot of very good river cruise companies and you should check out what you get for what $$$$.

Carefully compare how many days are the cruise and tour if a tour is included. How much per day? What is included in the cruise. What tours, meals, etc.

I always compare AMA, Uniworld, Viking, Vantage and sometimes others.

AMA tends to be higher in price, but they are great. Still, we usually book Vantage. On every cruise we have booked, Vantage beats Viking in price. Vantage is a smaller company with fewer cruises, but they have a lot of faithful customers.

Another itinerary that might appeal is the Moselle. Start in Amsterdam, end in Paris -- museums up the wazoo!

Or, if you choose another line, GCT, the Mosel trip starts in Antwerp and ends in Basel. And one of our trips was with two vegans; they faved about the food.

Or, if you choose another line, GCT, the Mosel trip starts in Antwerp and ends in Basel. And one of our trips was with two vegans; they faved about the food.

Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

No, but some cruise lines actually start in Zurich. Avalon I know for a fact does. You meet in Zurich and then they bus you to Basel.Opportunity to tour Zurich.

Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

Jazzbeau, Basel apparently has a ton of museums. We didn't have time to visit any, but when we looked into things to do, there were a number of them that seemed interesting to us. Some day we will have to go visit them.

I spent an extra 2 days in Basel at the end of Uniworld's Vienna-Basel. There are lots of interesting museums to visit.

There is also a nice zoo in Basel if that's your thing!

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Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

If interested in Ruebens' art, don't miss the Rubenhuis Museum in Antwerp; it isn't big but it is a lovely museum (http://www.rubenshuis.be/en/Museum_Rubenshuis_EN/Rubenshuis_EN.html). Another museum (which I haven't visited because it didn't exist when we lived in Brussels) that receives very favorable reviews is the Red Star Line (passenger line used by many emigrants) Museum (http://www.redstarline.be/en/content/about-museum-0).

Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

Well, you'll just need to get to Antwerp ;). http://www.visitantwerpen.be/museums

Basel has it's share too, the collection at the Kunstmuseum is great.

I'm a fan of the Red Star Line museum. I could go on and on, but I won't hijack this thread. Think of an explanation of the start of the trip to Ellis Island and similar ports of entry in that era.

Haven't been to Antwerp, but don't think of it or Basel as big on museums, as OP requested.

Antwerp has a diamond museum....with a gift shop...I'm just sayin' :D

Basel has a boat ride, three actually, where the boat is pulled and I've been told it's really fun and interesting...unfortunately we weren't there long enough to look for it.

Antwerp has a diamond museum....with a gift shop...I'm just sayin' :D

That's just dangerous...kind of like going tanzanite hunting in Tanzania! Who does stuff like that? :rolleyes:

Appreciate all the suggestions. A cruise that includes Netherlands and Belgium is ideal for museums but haven't yet found one offered in September or October.

Appreciate all the suggestions. A cruise that includes Netherlands and Belgium is ideal for museums but haven't yet found one offered in September or October.

I would keep looking....while it's true the most popular Netherlands cruises are in the spring for the flowers, I can't believe nobody has one in early September...especially going from Amsterdam to Budapest. We did that one in late August and started in Budapest going North to Amsterdam. When we arrived in Netherlands it was cold and rainy.

I would keep looking....while it's true the most popular Netherlands cruises are in the spring for the flowers, I can't believe nobody has one in early September...especially going from Amsterdam to Budapest. We did that one in late August and started in Budapest going North to Amsterdam. When we arrived in Netherlands it was cold and rainy.

We're doing the Rhine Getaway on Viking at the end of Aug ending in early Sept. When I was looking at options there were quite a few for that time period. We also booked last July and the cruise was nearly sold out.

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