JordanF

One factor may be the promise that the ship won't leave without you if you are on a ship excursion.  This promise has a strong trickle down effect on the tour operators, who will have severe consequences if they are late in returning to the ship (our tour guide in Athens told us about this).  So I suspect they are all just that much happier to take you out in the morning and leave the afternoons to you if they can.

I prefer to pre-pay because I like having most of the expenses behind me and my onboard folio limited to purchases I make onboard.  The more I have pre-paid, the more I don't feel like I'm spending money during the trip.  This is purely personal and psychological on my part.  As a purely economic decision, it is probably, in some small way, the wrong one (time value of money and potential delay in getting a refund as noted above).

4 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I’m staying at the Ibis Amsterdam Centre in October. Just the other side of the train station from the Doubletree and actually a shorter walk to the train, metro and trams. Well priced clean hotel, but rooms fairly basic and small. For a city like Amsterdam where I’ll be spending only enough time to shower and sleep in my room it’s a good choice. 

We stayed at the Ibis in 2016 pre-cruise.  Great location--can walk many places, trams right out front, and we even walked to our river boat to get on board.  This place is less expensive than most others, especially with the great location.  It is a bit basic--but it was clean and efficient and checked all the boxes for us.  

Our biggest cash day on a cruise last year was in Aruba, where we paid cash for taxis to and from the beach and cash for beach chairs and an umbrella--so just under $100.  Lunch was charged because we ate at a hotel restaurant, otherwise it may have been cash as well.  In other ports we used cash for tipping and small purchases.  All in all, we spent less than $200 in cash for a 9 day cruise--but I'm sure I had at least double that--most of which spent the entire trip in the cabin safe.

Not the Rhine, but we went to China in late December, and the trip included a four night cruise on the Yangtze River.  The trip was great!   But--it was cold! My wife is always cold, so she packed with a lot of forethought--including hand and feet warmers.  She had a excellent trip--she did everything.  It certainly beat too much heat, and there were thinner crowds.  (Having said that, in full disclosure, we did the Rhine in June and the Danube in May, so while we loved our China trip, we have not exactly made a habit out of unnecessary winter travel...).

We have been on four river cruises: Avalon (Rhine); Gate 1 (Danube), Gate 1 (Yangtze) and Grand Circle (Egypt).  All were predominately American with some Canadians and the occasional Australian.   I think it has to do with marketing--our tour guide in Egypt told us about tours of English tourists that he had done--so evidently those were marketed separately.  Our Gate 1 land trips (Iceland, Vietnam) were the same as well.  

The other reality is the U.S. has a lot of people and is an affluent country.  According to my quick research, nearly 100 million Americans travelled outside of the U.S. in 2019 (year before the pandemic).  The most popular destination outside of North America for all of these intrepid Americans was Europe.  We fill a lot of river boat cabins.

My personal favorite is Gate 1--Excellent product for less money, and a very relaxed vibe.  Here is a link to my review from last year:

I am pretty sure that the Oregon Attorney General has a consumer protection unit where you can make a complaint (probably online) and say that you want your hotel credits as a remedy.  Most consumer protection laws (I don't know about Oregon) declare something a problem when a business uses "unfair and deceptive" practices.  It does not have to be outright stealing--so even though your money got put towards your cruise and you got the OBC, they still got you to pay this money by promising you something they did not deliver.  Don't worry about if you were talking to a contractor or Princess employee--that is their problem.  There is no guarantee this will work, but most business' like this one do not want to get sideways with an Attorney General. My own opinion is that cruise lines have such an wonderful product--it is a shame they sully it with these shifty practices.

All this is good advice, but I will add a little contrariness.  I prefer a cabin that is next to, above and below other cabins, with no connecting doors to other cabins to increase quiet.  I also might just get a regular balcony on this cruise because Europe in April may not be all that dry and warm, and it is a fairly port intensive trip, so balcony time may be limited no matter what the weather is.  

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

There will be close to zero to do on the ship other than read a book because most all leave the ship when in port.

This is true, but also sometimes nice.  For sure, we usually want to see the ports.  But, every once and a while it's nice just to chill out on board--read a book, take a nap, be a lazy bum.  One time four of us (me, wife, two grown sons) were on a Rhine cruise, with a day in Strasbourg. We all took the morning tour.  After lunch we were free for the afternoon.  Wife and one son went back into town.  Me and the other son basically napped and read on the top deck in the loungers.  All four of us were happy with our choices.  I've never actually skipped a tour to laze on the boat just because I would rather see these places--but one certainly could.

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

One of the bigger differences to us is that on an Ocean cruise we feel that we can be completely anonymous and stay to ourselves, where as on a River cruise you are going to meet and interact because for the most part dining is shared tables and everyone goes to the Lounge after dinner.

Couldn't agree more.  It is very easy to be social on a river cruise--perhaps more so if you are not in a group.  I love the observation about ocean cruises--my wife and I go on a ship with 3000 other people and we are basically there to be by ourselves and are.  On a river cruise, the dining situation (tables mostly seat more than two, no reserved seating) mean that you meet other people.  We also found we made friends when we were just lounging around in the other public spaces.  

2 hours ago, pontac said:

Viking call them Long Ships - a Viking Long Ship is their logo. The Vikings of old roamed the oceans in their long ships bringing rape & pillage (or if you're Scandinavian - culture). Boats from the major cruise lines have different names but tend to have the same sized boats on a river, made as large as will fit in a lock and go under bridges.

I beg to differ just a bit.  The Long Ships are the same height and width as other ships (for bridges), but are a bit longer (or at least have more cabins).  I checked some random ships, and the Viking boats have 190 passengers (Viking Aegir).  I found an Avalon boat with 166 (Avalon Envision) and a Gate 1 boat with 174 (Monarch Baroness).  This was a quick check--not meant to be thorough or scientific.  So, as I mentioned above, a "few" more passengers on Viking.  Some people would prefer fewer passengers for a more intimate experience.  Some might like more as there are more people to meet and also, perhaps, more tour and other options.  

My vote would be the Rhine, Amsterdam to/from Basel.  Very nice sailing by all the castles and some pretty nice stops--Amsterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg and more.

2 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Viking Grand France is very good. You see a lot of France in a relatively short trip (14 days). We've done it twice because we just liked it. No excuse!!

And...you can never go wrong with France.

I think the two best places to start are the Rhine (Amsterdam to/from Basel) or the Danube (Budapest to/from Regensburg or someplace near there as lines vary a bit).  But... those are basically 7 day cruises, and since you are up for a longer one, why not Amsterdam to/from Budapest--more likely around two weeks?

As to cruise lines, I am huge Gate 1 fan, but it sounds like you may like a slight step up, so maybe Viking or Avalon?  I have been on Avalon and it is very nice.  My only relationship to Viking is the practically daily mailings I receive from them, but people like them.  The "longboats" Viking operates carry a few more passengers than shorter boats--I'm not sure if that is a feature or a bug, but it's worth considering either way.

You probably won't get too many kids.  Many lines don't take young ones.  We took ours on the Rhine with us--they and one other "kid" were the youngest on the boat, and they were in their mid-20s!  On our recent Danube cruise there were not even any of those.  And since you are aiming to go during the school year...

Like you, I love me some ocean cruise!  And I also love the river cruises.  In general, river cruises cost more per day, and the service and food are a step up from the mass market lines like RCCL.  If you go, have a great time!

We just returned from a land tour of SE Asia (with Gate 1), primarily in Vietnam.  This was a terrific place to see.  There are tours of the area that include river cruises on the Mekong River.  As you note, it is far to get there, so I would make sure the total trip was at least two weeks.

I have been on GCT (Egypt), Avalon (Rhine) and Gate 1 (Danube and Yangtze).  I agree that GCT and Gate 1 do not feel "budget," but they may be that compared to the more luxurious lines.  I think of Gate 1 as a nice Hilton, while some of the more upscale lines may be more Four Seasons.  But Gate 1 and GCT are definitely not Motel 6.  So I guess it all depends upon the context and meaning of "budget."

I'm glad it worked out (assuming the credit comes through).  The cynic in me wonders if this is the way they handle it after someone has persisted the way your dad did, after all of the less persistent have given up?  But either way--way to go!

There are plenty of times when contractors do announce their status.  I have been in hospital emergency rooms where there is a sign that the ER docs are employed by ER Physicians Inc  and the like.  I have seen signs in fast food restaurants and hotels stating that the facility is owned and operated by Acme Franchise Inc and the like.  Princess and the other cruise lines choose not to do that--they want the whole operation to look like one seamless show--and it works very well almost all of the time.  IMHO, if one of these contractors rips a customer off, both the cruise line and the contractor can be held liable to the customer, and the cruise line and the contractor can sort the rest out between themselves. I don't think that the cruise lines can act like it's all one big happy cruise line family when all goes well, and then hide behind an independent contractor defense when they don't.  Finally, not to get too into the weeds, but while some of these people work for contractors, there are many legal tests to determine if they are actually "independent".  Given all of the cruise lines' control over so many aspects of the workers, the cruise lines may be responsible for the workers' actions.  The cruise lines dictate attire, name tags, hours of operation, where the workers live, eat and play, etc...

We typically do one specialty dining per cruise, more to just mix it up.  It's the best food on the ship!  But we like the MDR a well, and just don't expect total top end.  The never ending price increases, especially for the steaks, make the whole thing less appetizing.  

Come to think about it, the whole cruise is a bit like this.  The art is the best art for sale on the ship even though there is better art elsewhere.  Land casinos often have looser slots than the the ship casino, but you are not on land.  You can definitely get at least as good a massage, for less money and without the hard sell on product on land, but the spa is the best massage available at sea.  Etc...  Would I choose Sabatini's or the CG on land--probably not.  But on a cruise--I just might!

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

This is a third party vendor not Princess   

Yes, it is a third-party vendor, but the cruise lines contract with mostly the same companies for future cruises, art, spa services, the stores and perhaps more.  This makes sense as these areas have their own expertise.  Still, the cruise lines partner with these companies and share in the profits with them as well.  The cruise lines are also delivering a more or less captive audience.  They share in the responsibility for business on the ships to be conducted honestly and ethically.

I addition to disputing with your credit card company, I would see if Canada (or your province) has some sort of consumer complaint place.  Here in Ohio our Attorney General has a department that enforces Ohio's consumer protection law.  It goes beyond outright fraud and protects consumers from "unfair and deceptive" practices, which this sounds like a good candidate for.  It is easy (online) and free to make a complaint, and they have pretty good success.  

I love cruises, but they have not always had the best honesty, especially where onsite contractors are concerned.  For example, the art auction people used to be in cahoots with an art appraiser, leading to inflated appraisals and consequently inflated prices.  Perhaps some of you have noticed that they don't do that anymore--the consequence of various legal actions.

I suspect that the OP's parents are not alone in this, and consumer agencies may be experienced in dealing with this.

Our worst experience was being oversold on meh product from the spa.  It was a small enough amount that we lived and learned.  Our second worst was being told we could buy future cruise credits and transfer the names, only to find out that was not possible.  We eventually used them on ourselves, but another lesson learned.  Neither of these happened on Princess, but the same companies work across cruise lines.  They are under intense pressure to sell, sell, sell.  Small wonder they sometimes cross the line, sometimes (like this instance) for quite a bit of money.

We have been on a few "mass market" cruise lines: RCCL, Celebrity, Princess and NCL.  While there are certainly differences worth discussing, I think that the cruise lines at this level are more similar than different.  The prices are overall similar, the included and extra fee items are pretty similar, and the general experience is also kind of similar.  Give or take a water slide, I think if someone painted over the ship name with another name, it would be hard to tell the difference.  

This is not a criticism of the lines--I actually love cruising and think they all generally do an excellent job at a good value.  Our last cruise was on Celebrity (Aruba) and our next cruise is Princess (Hawaii).  Our previous experiences on both lines have been excellent.  The only downside to our lack of loyalty is our low to middling loyalty status on multiple lines.

Regarding the "American" statement by GCT, it stands on its own, for better or worse.  If I were not American, it would certainly put me off.  Now that I know about it, it is putting me off.  However, our GCT trip to Egypt was awesome--and remains one of our all time favorites.  GCT gets some of the credit for that (also getting credit, the Pyramids, etc...).  As for Gate 1--while the guests on my four trips have been predominately American, there have always been some from other (at least in part) English speaking countries--Canada and Australia come to mind.  

MissiCruzs, Thanks for all of these posts!  We are booked on this ship in 2026, so it is great fun to live it through you right now!