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Suggestions for a River Cruise with college aged kids this summer


Scarlette
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I am looking to book a river cruise in August for my family, kids are 17 and 19. Main focus is to spend a good amount of time in Germany.

 

Could someone suggest which operator may be geared toward activities for my late teens.

 

We have 14 days in our vacation. So we could do part land and part cruise.

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The Rhein, Mosel, and Main are options. Choose a line that provides bikes. I am sure somebody here will know which line to choose.

 

With kids that age, I would do a land tour that you organize yourself. Take one of the day trips by local boat in the Middle Rhine Valley. Lots of advice on the trip advisor forum Germany.

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Having kids that same age myself, my first question is......are they on board with a river cruise? I agree with Floridiana, a land based vacation with travel by train, and a daytime cruise on either the Rhine or Danube is probably more suitable, not to mention more flexible.

 

If you're really set on a river cruise, though, look at Uniworld or Adventures by Disney river cruises. Tauck also offers family programs, but theirs are already sold out.

 

Robin

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I third the recommendation for a land trip with a couple of day boat excursions thrown in.

 

IMO, a river cruise on ANY line will bore most teens to death. It is highly unlikely there will be other teens onboard; the entertainment is very limited and overall it is just very low key.

 

If you are set on a river cruise, AMA has the most active excursions of all the lines we have sailed. Lots of biking tours and other active level tours.

 

Germany is beautiful and our preferred way to visit is to take the train and base in a few cities, then venture out for day trips. It is a very user friendly destination for public transport.

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I cannot review it yet, but we're taking our college age kids next month on a bike and boat trip with Rad and Reisen:

 

http://en.radreisen.at/

 

Our kids already know that there will not be much to do at night, but at least we're stopping in Budapest, which offers a night time folklore show, and Vienna, which has an evening classical music/operetta. During the days we will either be biking or touring in the cities (Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava) I'm hoping for the best. Actually, the older one picked this over an ocean cruise, of which we have done many.

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Hello Scarlette,

 

this is a tricky one. I agree with the previous posters that it might be a good idea to consider a land trip. Day cruises on the Rhine have English commentaries so you get a similar product as with being on a large cruise ship. The Goethe paddleboat in the "castle stretch" is a nostalgic one but the modern ones are also nice: https://www.k-d.com/fileadmin/schiffstouren/kd_timetable_2016.pdf For old castles the Rhine is considered the best river.

 

On the Moselle as well as on the Main there are day trips, probably also with (recorded) English commentary.

 

Another river to try is the Elbe. Here, in Dresden, you get the famous old paddle steamers. Trips on the Elbe usually start in Berlin - great town for young people to see - coach to ship, through canal and river seeing various places including Meissen (oldest china factory in Europe) and then take the last stretch by coach to Prague. Unless you are going with CroisiEurope, then you actually sail into Prague.

 

All of the cruise lines mentioned offer great itineraries in Germany but a section will in 98 percent of cases be in another country. Shorter trips of five days that CroisiEurope offers as well as Arosa are within Germany. An option if you are willing to steer away from a "North-American luxury experience".

 

I would not go with Viking as the company has "officially declared" they gear towards an older demographic.

 

Rad and Reisen is a nice suggestion. The ships, you need to know, are smaller and not of the luxury type. The Danube trip and the Moselle trip I would regard as superior to the Rhine trip.

 

I personally like the GCT Rhine and Moselle itinerary but again evening clubbing is not really available on a river cruise. https://www.gct.com/trips/river-cruises/europe/romance-of-the-rhine-and-mosel/2016

 

Are you taking two girls, two boys or one of each? A thing to consider. Do they like art and seeing churches? Do they like mingling with people triple their age for a week?

 

If you like train travel, which is relatively easy to organize in Western Europe, you might consider flying into London and going to Brussels with Eurostar. Brussels is a lovely town for exploring and shopping.

 

Cologne, Trier and Strasbourg and Frankfurt are great bigger towns on a river cruise. If they like middle-sized slightly quieter places the towns among the Main and Moselle are lovely stops. The most touristy and "old-world charm" of any towns IMO is Rüdesheim on the Rhine.

 

Remember: legal drinking age in Germany is 18, so will the younger one feel left out on a river cruise, seeing that there are beer and wine tastings?

 

Do they have a hobby, something they learnt at school about that they want to see or a career they want to pursue? If they like technical stuff they could have a trip out from Speyer when you are on the cruise, to the technical museum for example.

 

This guy has some good suggestions: http://www.european-traveler.com/category/germany/

 

The official German tourist board is here: http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

 

notamermaid

Edited by notamermaid
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Some years ago I did river cruising on the regular river ferries getting off in bigger towns daily, seeing the sights, staying in hotels and off next day on a different boat to another interesting town .Did Rhine, Moselle and others. Visited Castles, museums. Ate lots of Weinerschnitzel .Drank German beer. I found this more interesting than overpriced river cruises .Think we started from Amsterdam.

Edited by zoncom
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Since River cruises usually sell out one to two years ahead of sailing, you are probably too late to book for this year anyway.

 

booked my river cruise (and QM2 crossing) 3 months out

 

and had plenty of options . . .

 

we sailed this time last year

 

I would not go with Viking as the company has "officially declared" they gear towards an older demographic.

 

on our Viking Danube this time last year there were at least two groups doing exactly what OP asks about ... Granny taking the new graduates on a river cruise

 

One group was one girl with Granny and the other was Granny with a girl and a boy

 

all were college grads (4 year)

 

I'm SURE this is not typical BUT

 

the girls fit in wonderfully with the rest of the passengers and the male was upset that granny had not bought the unlimited booze package . . . . loudly announced his first trip to the bar minutes after boarding and regularly thereafter.

 

SO WHAT?

 

Just because you are a graduate ..... ya may not be mature enuf for a river cruise . . . .

Edited by Capt_BJ
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Hello everyone,

 

Actually in Germany it is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for spirits.

 

That is correct. I was a few years behind in my thinking... :o

 

Sometimes proof of 18 is required for buying beer and wine as well in certain contexts like online, but legally drinking it is allowed from 16 and in shops you can buy beer and wine from 16.

 

I was under the assumption that on a river cruise they might stick to 18 but, yes, again, legally both the kids of 17 and 19 can drink beer and wine but only the 19 year old one can drink spirits.

 

notamermaid

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