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Chengkp75- You are correct- I thought dry dock was the same as refurbishment. So how often are they generally refurbished? At what point is it usually needed for a ship not to feel outdated?

With this being the case- “Youngest and most-stylish fleet in the business,“ how can they be less expensive than others like RCCL? I know in the case of river cruises , we found Grand Circle to be Much less than the others ( except Gate 1) and there’s an understandable explanation. They don’t advertise( except to past cruisers) and they don’t pay travel agent’s commission , so those savings are passed down to the passengers.

Do you choose by ship more than itinerary?

I would like to go on Cunard sometime but they don’t go to the Caribbean , at least not early next year when we are planning.

Have there been any particular ships that you've been really impressed with or blown away by? Especially in these lines-RCCL, HAL, Princess and Celebrity. TIA!

I have looked at about two dozen ! ship itineraries for early 2025 and over half of them either had their last refurbishment or were built 2017-2019. Shouldn’t they all be due? But they are taking bookings.

Do most cruise lines have a set schedule for refurbishing, like maybe every 5 years? I'd like to have some idea if a ship is due. Once on Princess they changed the ship we'd booked because of this and that was rather disappointing.

This is probably like The Haven on Norwegian?

I've been on many cruise lines but never MSC. A friend whose parents are travel agents told me they prefer MSC. How do you think I' d find it compared to RCCL, Princess, Norwegian, etc? TIA!

I have not been on Gate (I would like to), but on the 4 others I've been on, there were more than 3 choices for dinner (besides the everyday standards).

I want to take Gate 1 for my next river cruise because of their competitive pricing and a friend has done trips with them and loved them. We have sailed with AMA ( nice but pricey), Grand Circle ( very nice and great prices but only twin beds) , Teeming and Viking ( didn’t really care for them).

Is Scenic an English company? Lots of Brits on it?

We’ve been on the Rhone , the Rhine and the Danube, as well as the Main, Moselle and Douro . Has anyone been on the Saone, Garonne or Dordogne in France and can speak to what the area or towns are like ? TIA!

The Alsace 6 nt itinerary- Cruise on the Marne-Rhine Canal from Strasbourg to Lagarde STRASBOURG - WALTENHEIM - SAVERNE - LUTZELBOURG - XOUAXANGE - LAGARDE - Strasbourg

I see two Burgundy itineraries- The Doubs valley and Burgundy - BESANCON - RANCHOT - DOLE - SAINT-JEAN-DE-LOSNE - PETIT-OUGES - DIJON and the Burgundy Canal- from Saône-et-Loire to the Côte d'Or Dijon(2) - SAINT-LEGER-SUR-DHEUNE - SANTENAY - CHAGNY - CHALON - SAINT-JEAN-DE-LOSNE - PETIT-OUGE - DIJON Is one preferable ? CielBleu-did you take one of these?

Yeah- that’s the case with a lot of things- multiple pronunciations that are accepted. BTW, to me, Door-oh and Dough- row sound the same- just different ways of spelling it out.

Well, I'd been saying DOURO incorrectly because my computer now tells me it's pronounced DOOR-oh, or DOUGH-row not DUE-row.

I was incorrect. The Alsace itinerary does have some spring and fall sale dates. Does anyone know anything about Dutch Barge Cruises?

I didn’t see the Alsace itinerary because the email I got I think was just for some of their sales and none of the Alsace destinations are on sale . They come out to $473 per person /night.

And that's why it costs $5000 pp for 5 nights!

Why can ships be longer on the Main? Is it because the locks are longer? I think it generally costs more on the Douro because the ships are smaller and hold fewer passengers. If the Main is quite a bit shorter than the Douro, why/how is there traffic on many more kilometers? Or did you just mean there is more traffic?

Croisi Europe’s 4 barges each hold 22 people. Plus a 6 person crew.

Only two of my seven river cruises were in the summer so that could be why there were no kids . The time there was a family with teen girls was in August.

Has anyone taken a barge cruise? We’re thinking about CroisiEurope for next year in France and wondering if it’s worth it. Although I do see they have sales 3 to 6 months out when they have unsold cabins and some of them are as low as $320 /nt per person. Also wondering if one destination stands out more than the others . They have Provence , Burgundy and Oise ( near Dijon).

Obviously the AMA Disney cruises wouldn’t be geared toward older teens but what about Uniworld?