B2B reversing direction; any difference in ports?

Id like to leave and return to the same embarkation port. Has anyone experienced a different set of ports on the return voyage?

TIA, Scanditaly

It depends on which river you want to cruise. You can look at the itineraries, and see if there are differences. Most seem to be about the same. You can try one cruise line in one direction, and a second the opposite way. Or, you could consider Paris-Normandy, as most (not all) are round trip from Paris; or a tulip-time cruise, as most (not all) are round trip from Amsterdam.

We did a Danube cruise, and had round-trip air from Munich. We took a few days by train, and did some land excursions en route to our embarkation city.

Robin

Thanks ACW for the response. Yes, great advice to look at all the possibilities going back and forth. At this time, all the different lines and ships have no meaning to me, so it is a bit difficult to judge apples with apples, per se.

I will call AMA tomorrow to see if they are available, and continue my online search. I can really appreciate all the ocean going cruise-experience I have gained over the years, and now understand how some of the newbies feel.

Scanditaly

B2B is a good experience. Have done Amsterdam to Basel to Amsterdam on the Rhine and highly recommend it. You get a good feeling for the river. The port locations varied slightly because of river level and number of ships in port. If you choose an itinerary that offers several options for excursions in the ports you can have different experiences from the same port. Even with the variances, the scheduled excursions took place. Of course major ports like Strasbourg and Cologne have so many possible experiences that it is worth being there more than once.

Port variations can be a benefit. On an unscheduled stop in Mannheim, I took a walk in the city instead of one of the offered tours. Good private experience.

One caveat - some cruise lines have 'electronic systems' that have difficulty booking B2B. If you persevere, you should eventually get what you want.

Nearly all Douro River cruises begin and end in Porto and stop at different ports going upstream and downstream. However many companies begin their cruise-tours with a few days in Lisbon before embarking in Porto. I think that with some companies including Emerald you can opt for the cruise only portion.

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Nearly all Douro River cruises begin and end in Porto and stop at different ports going upstream and downstream. However many companies begin their cruise-tours with a few days in Lisbon before embarking in Porto. I think that with some companies including Emerald you can opt for the cruise only portion.

AMA also has a one-way itinerary from Madrid to Liston and vice versa. It isn't offered every week, but there are a couple of times when a b2b would be available.

I think I did what you would call a B2B. Passau return. It is very common for European cruise lines. Several do this. I have seen it with Arosa, CroisiEurope and RivieraTravel. You could have a look at their websites. With Arosa and CroisiEurope you might find though that those itineraries are not all geered towards the English-speaking market.

My ports where all different on the return journey.

notamermaid

Thanks to all of you for all the encouraging advise. Your replies are wonderful and informative. I have just looked at the Amsterdam to Basel, and it looks promising. Seriously, though, I've perused the Avalon website, and it is rather tedious to get one ship's calendar isolated. Since I work in a school, and the school-year is coming to an end, I'll have plenty of time for in depth research.

Scanditaly

Thanks to all of you for all the encouraging advise. Your replies are wonderful and informative. I have just looked at the Amsterdam to Basel, and it looks promising. Seriously, though, I've perused the Avalon website, and it is rather tedious to get one ship's calendar isolated. Since I work in a school, and the school-year is coming to an end, I'll have plenty of time for in depth research.

 

Scanditaly

Easiest way to look at Avalon is to look at the Amsterdam to Basel cruise you want (I will guess it's called Romantic Rhine, but you may be looking at a different one), open the "book online" tab, and it shows all sailing dates for that route. Then you just have to pick your date. Next year they seem to be sailing out both Saturday & Sunday every week. The ship is listed for each sailing. You can then select your return trip. We have decided to take the train back to Amsterdam for our A to B cruise, and will be travelling along the river for as much as we can. It will be a day of travel, but a different view.

No one has asked why you want to return to the embarkation port? Unlike US domestic flights, booking "open jaw" flights to Europe doesn't add to the cost -- and you get to visit two interesting cities instead of just one. What about combining an Amsterdam to Basel cruise with a Basel to Paris cruise? "Two, two, two mints in one!"

Just to make it clearer, I was not on the ship for two itineraries, those I mentioned are just one itinerary. It is often the case that people arrive by train or even by car if it is within a day's drive. A couple at my dinner table had parked their car in Passau with a special arrangement with a cruise company partner. Naturally such a cruise would have different ports on the return journey.

I reckon with a real B2B you will have more duplicates in ports.

As hostjazzbeau has pointed out flying for example into Amsterdam and leaving from Lucerne (Basel end of itinerary) from the US is a standard thing to do.

And I quite like his itinerary suggestion. You would get the same ports in the South of Germany but why not go to Strassbourg twice on the way to Basel and on the return journey? From what others have reported it is worth seeing twice. If you did it with two different companies you get even to compare river cruise lines and ships.

Plenty of options to keep you occupied with planning for weeks. :)

notamermaid

Need to correct my post above: Zurich is the preferred airport for US river cruisers, Lucerne is a favourite post-cruise stay.

Sorry.

notamermaid