The differences amomg the major lines

We're trying to choose a river cruise company. Can anyone summarize the major differences among Trafalgar (liked their bus tour), Uniworld, Viking and Grand Circle?

Do all have twin beds, free wine with dinner, bicycles, great food?

Thanks!

Sue

There have been numerous threads about comparing Avalon, Viking and AMA Waterways.

You might search in the threads about those cruise lines. I started a post 18 months ago dealing with these. Let me be very frank, I spent months looking at various river cruise companies. Most are doing the free wine. AMA is the only one with bicycles. AMA and Avalon have the largest regular cabins at 172 square feet--beds can be twin or combined.

Grand Circle is notorious for great beginning price but by the time you add in optional tours that should be included, the price is considerably higher. I just had friends do Prague to the Black Sea and that was their biggest complaint. They are in their late 60's and felt that it was an older crowd than they were on Grand Circle.

I have found Viking to be higher priced to begin with and then they come in with all kinds of specials as time goes by that makes their prices in line with the other major competitors they face. Watch Vikings ships as well--smaller cabins for normal cabins and some have windows at the top of the outside wall where you can't see out without standing on a chair--I swear that's true.

In my opinion, you will not go wrong with AMA WAterways. We sailed on her in 2007 and we have a group of 20 going on her again in September of this year.

I do not know Uniworld's product so can't really add anything there.

Hope this helps.

Mom C

I had forgotten--that was another question I meant to ask--do all the lines include excursions in their price?

Thanks for the feedback.

sjde - most provide excursions included in their price package and many offer optional ones. The detailed itinerary's will give you this information. Some include the price for each on-line.

You won't go wrong with any company you select. Avalon, AMA, Viking, and Vantage all have suites it you want them and they have queen size beds on the upper decks. GCT is always have the lowest price even it you add in all the optionals but they only have fold down double beds. AMA and Avalon have bikes..I'm not sure about the others. I don't think Viking and Uniworld include wine but teh others do.Check out each lines website and brochures to find what you are looking for. If you go to a travel agent you will not get any info on GCT or Vantage becuase they do not use them. I have been on at least on European River cruise a year since 1999 and will be on another in July.

I don't think Viking and Uniworld include wine but teh others do.

Uniworld serves complimentary wine with dinner. It's quite good and poured generously.

We used Viking Sun and found the rooms nice, good view (from our room which was not a suite), pulled the two beds together and had a king-size, brought wine and booze on board, had a drink before dinner, bought a drink at dinner, food was above average, "entertainment" was a man playing an organ (didn't expect an orchestra or Broadway show though), staff was good, but the tours were good and the guides were exceptional. I would use Viking again. They do a good job and go where everyone else goes. Some of the stops were not good (one stop everything was closed, one stop was to tour a pottery factory, one was a coo-coo clock factory but the countryside was nice) but you'll have that experience on any. Average age on our boat was mid 50s to 60s.

What about Scenic Tours? Any comments regarding their ships?

Tauck River Cruises probably has the largest size cabins for the European River Cruises. (Also I think Scenic cabins may be larger)

You must look at the river cruise you will be on, then you can compare the cabins on the vessels of the various river cruise lines.

It is difficult to say X line has the largest cabins. That may be true for 1 ship.

I have found the cabins on Avalon to be much small than my cabins on Viking Century Sun and Viking Surkov.

I have gotten good reports on Viking, AMA, Tauck, and Uniworld cruises. These reports came from people that have traveled on several of the river cruise lines.

After my cruise with Avalon in June 2008, I will not choose Avalon agin.

Check the reviews for more information.

MSEm

MSEm,

We're trying to decide between Tauck and Avalon. Could you tell me why you wouldn't take Avalon again? Thanks.

We did Vantage Castles on the Rhine in early Fall 2008 and it was great! We saw Viking ship (not sure if it was different one or the same one in each port!) and major difference I could see was the swimming pool on the top deck! I understand that Trafalgar now owns Uniworld. I've done land tours with Trafalgar and been very satisfied but I chose Vantage for the following reasons:

1. Airfare was included in the tour catalog price and was free from NY.

2. There were very few optional tours, just about all of them were included in the catalog price. Only optional we purchased was to a beer garden/monastery that included a cruise through the Danube Gorge and was well worth the money.

3. Full day tour of Heidelburg, Rothenberg, Passau organ concert and every port we stopped in were included.

4. Vantage the only one that included tour of Schoenbrun Palace which was very important to me.

Our cabin was a nice size but we did upgrade to A-1 category. Plenty of room to store stuff, food was very good, wine and beer were sometimes free but we bought a bottle of wine and used it throughout the trip. Our tour guides were excellent and I will and have used Vantage again.

For more info on the ships used try to go to the ship's web site. It will give you all the amenities in your cabin as well as the cabin size and location.

1. Tauck All inclusive price, includes wine, beer at lunch and dinner, includes all (or almost) all tours and on board tips. You may need to tip bus driver and local guides separately.

Cabins will be larger on Tauck. Less than 140 guest vs 178 guest.

Tour escort for each group. The 140 guest will be divided into 4 or 5 smaller groups with a tour escort.

I traveled with Avalon in June 2008. I talked with other guest that had traveled with other river cruise companys. We were all in agreement on the following.

The other (AMA, Viking, Tauck, Uniworld) had better service, better food, and much better organization. Also when I added up the cost of all of the optional Avalon tours and recommend tips, the total cost of the Avalon was only about $100 less per person that the same Tauck tour.

We wasted alot of time on Avalon finding the correct bus for our headsets for the tours. There was only 1 tour escort for the vessel. The tour escort would go to bus to bus to bus to bus to check on people having the correct headsets and to check the the headset were all working. Also the dinners were marginal. One entree was always fish with sauce every night. One morning I finally went up and got a pot of coffee for our table. We had been at the table for 15 minutes. The waiters were standing at the front by the table with the coffee pots talking and joking.

Avalon will loan you a rope for 30 euros for your trip. All of the other river lines have a nice rope in your bath for you to use at no additional cost.

Again when I take another river cruise I will look at AMA, Uniworld, Tauck and Viking.

MSEm

Avalon will loan you a rope for 30 euros for your trip. All of the other river lines have a nice rope in your bath for you to use at no additional cost.

MSEm

I am rolling on the floor laughing out loud....I was reading your post and wondering why would Avalon loan you a "rope" and what could you possibly be doing with it.....then I finished the sentence and realized of course, you need the rope for after your bath!!!!! Some typos just cannot be ignored.....priceless!!!:D:D:D

Seriously now, I have always heard that Tauck is top of the line and I certainly won't dispute that...I don't know if Tauck includes air fare in their brochure price. I do know Vantage does and we received excellent service in hotels adn ships. I would do the same thing you did if I was being ignored and I would make certain they saw me getting the coffee!!

We too were divided into four groups, each with its own tour manager, who stayed with the same group for the entire trip. Having just returned from a trip with 45 people and 1 tm, I have to admit 20 is better.

Before you pay Tauck a lot of money, check out Vantage. I chose them because to me you get more for your money than with anyone else.

Thanks for the laugh, you made my day!!!!

I'm confused about the 'rope' .... what is it? (or shouldn't I ask?)

1. Tauck All inclusive price, includes wine, beer at lunch and dinner, includes all (or almost) all tours and on board tips. You may need to tip bus driver and local guides separately.

Cabins will be larger on Tauck. Less than 140 guest vs 178 guest.

Tour escort for each group. The 140 guest will be divided into 4 or 5 smaller groups with a tour escort.

 

I traveled with Avalon in June 2008. I talked with other guest that had traveled with other river cruise companys. We were all in agreement on the following.

The other (AMA, Viking, Tauck, Uniworld) had better service, better food, and much better organization. Also when I added up the cost of all of the optional Avalon tours and recommend tips, the total cost of the Avalon was only about $100 less per person that the same Tauck tour.

We wasted alot of time on Avalon finding the correct bus for our headsets for the tours. There was only 1 tour escort for the vessel. The tour escort would go to bus to bus to bus to bus to check on people having the correct headsets and to check the the headset were all working. Also the dinners were marginal. One entree was always fish with sauce every night. One morning I finally went up and got a pot of coffee for our table. We had been at the table for 15 minutes. The waiters were standing at the front by the table with the coffee pots talking and joking.

Avalon will loan you a rope for 30 euros for your trip. All of the other river lines have a nice rope in your bath for you to use at no additional cost.

Again when I take another river cruise I will look at AMA, Uniworld, Tauck and Viking.

 

MSEm

Is AMA really any different from Avalon? They used to be owned by the same company, Globus.

I'm confused about the 'rope' .... what is it? (or shouldn't I ask?)

I think it was a typo, and should have been "robe."

Is AMA really any different from Avalon? They used to be owned by the same company, Globus.

AMA has nothing to do with Globus (and never had).

steamboats

AMA has nothing to do with Globus (and never had).

 

steamboats

That's not correct. They split about two years ago.

Sorry for the typo. I try to check for spelling, but I do not get all of them. If you want to "rent" a robe from Avalon, put in your request as soon as you get on board. They only have enough robes for about 9 or 10 cabins. Even Carnival has a nice terry robe in my cabin (OV or better) for my use on a cruise.

When asked to compare Avalon vs Tauck.

If you end up paying the Tauck price for your total cost, IMHO, just book the Tauck river cruise.

Tauck may or may not offer some benefit of "free air". All of the companies are making special offers. If you are offered free air, check on what it will cost you to book your own air and how much credit you may receive against the cabin cost.

For me I usually do better to get a credit for the "free or special" air and booking my own air.

Msem

That's not correct. They split about two years ago.

Sorry, but you´re wrong. This was not AMAWaterways. Here´s what I copied from another posting and which is from an email by Rudy Schreiner, the founder and president of AMAWaterways:

"The Latin meaning of AMA = LOVE and DEUS = GOD.

AMADEUS was frequently used as a boy’s first name in Austria and Switzerland.

AMADEUS is a beautiful name and means LOVE OF GOD.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made the name AMADEUS almost into a trademark.

In 1990, I opened a student travel company in Woodland Hills, California. Being Austrian and organizing tours to Europe it seemed appropriate to name my company Amadeus International Tours. Unfortunately, during the first Gulf War IN 1991, student travel was very limited and in 1992 I closed down the company and I started working for Uniworld. Uniworld was a small tour company which operated motorcoach tours through Yugoslavia and Easter Europe. Here, I designed and planned the first river cruise trips through the newly opened Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. In 1996, I contacted an Austrian company which operated old Romanian ships on the Danube (Dr Lueftner Reisen). I asked them if they would build a ship for Uniworld which Uniworld would lease for several years. They agreed to build a ship for us and I named that ship the MS AMADEUS. The ship started cruising for Uniworld in 1998. In 1999, the MS AMADEUS II was built (renamed later to MS AMADEUS RAPHSODY) and Uniworld started using this ship for the next several years. The ship owner, Dr. Lueftner, continued building more ships. The MS AMADESU CLASSIC was number three.

In 2000, I left Uniworld in Encino and I started up Viking River Cruises a few miles down the road in Woodland Hills. For two years, I was President of Viking River Cruises. In 2002, I left Viking River Crises and I started up AMADEUS WATERWAYS in Chatsworth, a few miles from Viking River Cruises. I always liked the name AMADEUS, and I thought again that it was appropriate to have a cruise line with ships in Central Europe with this name. I signed a charter agreement with Dr. Lueftner to build a new ship for our company and this ship was named the MS AMADEUS SYMPHONY. We chartered this ship for 4 years (2003/04/05/06) and then we started building our own ships. To have a very unique ship identity, I decided to name our own ships AMA plus a musical term – all in one word. The MS AMADAGIO was our first ship and the name is a combo of AMA and ADAGIO. Then came the AMALEGRO, the AMACELLO, the AMADANTE, the AMALYRA, the AMADOLCE and currently under construction is the AMABELLA. Dr. Lueftner also continued building more ships which he named AMDEUS ROYAL, AMADEUS PRINCESS, etc.

In 2003, I applied for the trademark AMADEUS in the USA. But it was blocked by the airline reservation system AMADEUS, which registered the name two years before I opened my company AMADEUS INTERNATIONAL TOURS. I finally gave up on the trademark AMADEUS and in 2007, I renamed our company AMAWATERWAYS (the Love of Waterways). Our ship names also all start with AMA. We have no longer trademark conflicts with the airline reservation system and we also distinguish our ships clearly from the ships of Dr. Lueftner."

I think it was Avalon and Uniworld which were both connected to Globus.

steamboats

Thanks for posting that note, Steamboats. Wish that I were as computer literate as you. Uniworld was a stand alone company til they came under the same umbrella as Trafalger. You have been and continue to be a knowledgeable, patient contributor. Thanks Pat

Sorry, but you´re wrong. This was not AMAWaterways. Here´s what I copied from another posting and which is from an email by Rudy Schreiner, the founder and president of AMAWaterways:

 

"The Latin meaning of AMA = LOVE and DEUS = GOD.

 

AMADEUS was frequently used as a boy’s first name in Austria and Switzerland.

 

AMADEUS is a beautiful name and means LOVE OF GOD.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made the name AMADEUS almost into a trademark.

 

In 1990, I opened a student travel company in Woodland Hills, California. Being Austrian and organizing tours to Europe it seemed appropriate to name my company Amadeus International Tours. Unfortunately, during the first Gulf War IN 1991, student travel was very limited and in 1992 I closed down the company and I started working for Uniworld. Uniworld was a small tour company which operated motorcoach tours through Yugoslavia and Easter Europe. Here, I designed and planned the first river cruise trips through the newly opened Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. In 1996, I contacted an Austrian company which operated old Romanian ships on the Danube (Dr Lueftner Reisen). I asked them if they would build a ship for Uniworld which Uniworld would lease for several years. They agreed to build a ship for us and I named that ship the MS AMADEUS. The ship started cruising for Uniworld in 1998. In 1999, the MS AMADEUS II was built (renamed later to MS AMADEUS RAPHSODY) and Uniworld started using this ship for the next several years. The ship owner, Dr. Lueftner, continued building more ships. The MS AMADESU CLASSIC was number three.

 

In 2000, I left Uniworld in Encino and I started up Viking River Cruises a few miles down the road in Woodland Hills. For two years, I was President of Viking River Cruises. In 2002, I left Viking River Crises and I started up AMADEUS WATERWAYS in Chatsworth, a few miles from Viking River Cruises. I always liked the name AMADEUS, and I thought again that it was appropriate to have a cruise line with ships in Central Europe with this name. I signed a charter agreement with Dr. Lueftner to build a new ship for our company and this ship was named the MS AMADEUS SYMPHONY. We chartered this ship for 4 years (2003/04/05/06) and then we started building our own ships. To have a very unique ship identity, I decided to name our own ships AMA plus a musical term – all in one word. The MS AMADAGIO was our first ship and the name is a combo of AMA and ADAGIO. Then came the AMALEGRO, the AMACELLO, the AMADANTE, the AMALYRA, the AMADOLCE and currently under construction is the AMABELLA. Dr. Lueftner also continued building more ships which he named AMDEUS ROYAL, AMADEUS PRINCESS, etc.

 

In 2003, I applied for the trademark AMADEUS in the USA. But it was blocked by the airline reservation system AMADEUS, which registered the name two years before I opened my company AMADEUS INTERNATIONAL TOURS. I finally gave up on the trademark AMADEUS and in 2007, I renamed our company AMAWATERWAYS (the Love of Waterways). Our ship names also all start with AMA. We have no longer trademark conflicts with the airline reservation system and we also distinguish our ships clearly from the ships of Dr. Lueftner."

 

I think it was Avalon and Uniworld which were both connected to Globus.

 

steamboats

Avalon was and still is connected to Globus. If AMA and Globus/Avalon were never connected, please explain how the ship named Symphony began as an AMA ship, but now sails for Avalon. Also the ships Artistry and Poetry began as AMA ships, but now sail for Avalon. Amadeus and Globus used to be joined at the hip.

Avalon is a part of Globus. Many of the river lines lease a vessel for a season or a number of seasons. Also the same name by be used by more than 1 line.

I do not know that if AMA was a part of Globus. AMA was Amadeus and changed to AMA.

MSEm

What about Scenic Tours? Any comments regarding their ships?

yes I am wondering why nobody is mentioning Scenic especially their new spaceships? Has anyone got any feedback please.

Avalon was and still is connected to Globus. If AMA and Globus/Avalon were never connected, please explain how the ship named Symphony began as an AMA ship, but now sails for Avalon. Also the ships Artistry and Poetry began as AMA ships, but now sail for Avalon. Amadeus and Globus used to be joined at the hip.

Rudi Schreiner explained the Amadeus Symphony in his email (which I´ve posted). The Amadeus Symphony was built for the Austrian cruise company Lueftner and is still owned and operated by them. The Amadeus Symphony was chartered to - then - Amadeus Waterways (now AMAWaterways) and they started out with that ship. Then they built their first own ship, the Amadagio. The Amadeus Symphony went back to Lueftner. Lueftner is chartering out several of their ships.

Avalon never used the Amadeus Symphony. Neither were the Artistry or Poetry ever used by other companies than Avalon - as far as I remember. The Poetry and the Artistry were built for Avalon but are owned by the German investment company Premicon. Premicon is using both ships during the winter season (when they are not used by Avalon) for Christmas Market cruises. But those cruises are only sold on the German market.

Gate1Travel did sell cruises on the Amadeus Symphony for 2009 but recently cancelled the whole season. So the ship is back with Lueftner and cruises now sold by Lueftner again.

steamboats