If you sailed Celebrity and have taken a river cruise

[bobby1119]

I recently returned from my second cruise with Celebrity, Silhouette to the Caribbean for 12 days.

 

The experience between a Celebrity cruise, or any other ocean cruise, is vastly different from a river cruise.

 

I did a spectacular Cairo/Nile River cruise in 2010 on Uniworld's Tosca. There were only 30 passengers, and nearly everyone knew one another and many of the crew by first name. The ship was very classy and luxuriously appointed; however, the atmosphere was very relaxed. The itinerary with stops at fabled temples along the Nile was amazing.

 

The River Tosca stateroom was very luxurious and spacious in comparison to the standard balcony cabins I have had on Celebrity and other cruise lines, with the exception of Grill class suites on Cunard ships.

 

The mix of passengers was very interesting, tending toward older and well seasoned as travelers.

 

The experience with Uniworld was so outstanding that I am now planning on one of their itineraries through China and Viet Nam.

 

I highly recommend the river cruise experience.

[mcrcruiser]

We have done 53 Ocean cruises & wanted to try a river cruise . We chose Avalon Waterways for our river cruise down the Rhine river from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland .This was a 7 night river cruise in early October :).

 

If we were to do another river cruise it would be in late May .Although a bit more pricy ,the weather & river heights would be better ;).

 

Avalon Waterways is a top river cruise line & imo they had awesome food /wine ie & the very best tour leaders. All inclusive pricing of about $5000 for both of us in a top deck french balcony . Can still remember the hundreds of white swans that we saw on the Rhine & all the castles;):).

 

We can not make any comparisons between a Ocean cruise & a river cruise .They are truely very different vacations. :p

[bbappel]

We took one river cruise with Gate 1 (Amadeus boat) from Amsterdam to Budapest. Our travels are largely itinerary driven, we only take one cruise a year. We thoroughly enjoyed our river cruise; it was the best way for us to see the places we were going. The greatest advantage - mentioned earlier - of docking right there in town was the reason we took the river cruise. The alternative for this itinerary would be a bus trip.

Food: I felt the food was much more tailored to the trip. It is always one of my recommendations to X that I wish we could have local food while cruising, for example on a Spanish Med trip, we should have some Spanish food; on a Norway trip, we should have some smorrebrod.

Dress: River boating is much much more casual. That suits some people. I missed the dressing up a little.

Activities: The boat was very small as were our cabins, and there were fewer activities, but because there was only one seating at dinner and we were traveling with friends, we sat around after dinner for quite a long time so we didn't miss the activities so much. We had a really nice guide (Rolf) and enjoyed our excursions with him.

Gate 1 isn't one of the more expensive tour groups so our trip wasn't terribly expensive. Viking and AMA Waterways seem much more luxurious (and expensive), but the ports are the same.

I would consider another river cruise if the itinerary suited it. It is also very very relaxing.

I hope you will enjoy a river cruise if you think it will suit you.

[Amelie]

I agree with dpryo319.

 

Went on a Rhone/Saone river cruise in France on the (now defunct) Princess de Provence with Peter Dielmann cruises as part of a 3 week Europe trip. It was fabulous. I've toured Europe by train, bus and car. River cruising is more relaxing and you get more free time by not having to unpack/pack/travel every few days if you are interested in seeing many different cities and smaller towns. I liked docking right in town, whereas the big cruise ships sometimes are docked farther away from day tour destinations, so you may spend more time in transit than at the destination. For example, it's a long day when you're on an excursion to Paris from LaHavre, France (where big cruise trips stop) whereas the river cruises dock smack in the middle of Paris. There was not a lot to do on the ship, but I think we only had one day out of seven where most of it was cruising. However, that was also nice since we went through many locks on the river and did get to relax for a day and spend time with our new cruising friends. We went in July and got to see sunflower and lavender fields, sometimes just sailing by them.

 

River cruises can also be more flexible. On the land-based part of the trip, we found a restaurant in Avignon that we loved. When the cruise ship stopped in Avignon, we decided just before the ship left that we were going to meet them at the next stop, had dinner again in Avignon, took the train, and were back on the ship by 11 pm in Arles. I couldn't imagine trying this on a large-ship Europe cruise or a Caribbean cruise.

 

One of my trip dreams is to go on a barge cruise because you can see France more in depth than on the river cruises. Barge cruises have fewer passengers than river cruises and can be tailored to what you what to see. However, barge cruises are also more expensive (more than river cruises since most barge cruises are chartered).

 

As far as comparing with Celebrity, I've been on 4 Celebrity cruises and it is a completely different product than a river cruise. Personally, I would not go to Europe (especially France/Italy) on a large ship because of how far they dock (at times) from what you want to see. The only one I've considered is a Baltic / Northern Europe cruise.

 

My river cruise experience has only been in France, but I wouldn't hesitate going on a river cruise in Germany, Egypt, Austria or anywhere else. You decision will, as others have noted, be based on what type of vacation you want. I love both the big and small ships but for different reasons. Sometimes the big ship is, in and of itself, the destination and I purposely choose a cruise with a lot of sea days just to relax more. Other times my goal is to see a lot of new places.

 

Whatever you choose, I hope you have a wonderful time.

[gracecarmo]

We have been on 3 river cruises with Grand Circle. We cruised from Budapest to Amsterdam, and then another time from Budapest to the Black Sea ending in Bucarest, so we have done the entire route: Rhine and Danube.

I agree with what everyone says about the foods, ship cabins etc. But the most enjoyable time is in the evenings when you are docked, and can go into the towns for all the wine fests that go on during the summer and fall.

Very laid back trips.

Grand Circle caters to people over 55, and all anouncements are in English. Guides are local and know the area quite well, even taking us to their family home for dinner featuring local foods.

[cruiserhal]

If you have sailed on Celebrity ships and have also taken a river cruise, what was your opinion of the river cruise. Realizing that they are both very different kinds of experiences, which did you like better and why?

 

I am curious because my husband and I are planning to take a river cruise since we feel it will give us an opportunity to see places that are not as accessible by large ships.

 

We just returned from our first river cruise on Avalon and posted our somments under River Cruising:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1644648

 

Overall, we loved the river cruise but it is very different than ocean cruising. Normally we cruise on X and Royal Caribbean.

 

Some things:

- no movement but slight engine noise durring the night when going thru a lock

- one dinner seating and no real chance to have a dinner alone

- every port had an included shore excursion plus optional for fee tours

- local entertainment was excellent but there is no show room or production shows

- most cities you can walk off the ship and be in the center of town in minutes

- no pressure to buy anything on the ship including no pressure to buy your next cruise

- you get to know most of the people and staff plus the staff remembers you after the first day

- eating in the cities off-shp can be expensive if you don't watch the currency conversion

- tips are a little higher per person but worth it in my opinion

 

I think the hardest thing is to pick a line that fits what you are looking for in a trip. I foudn the River Crusing section of Crusie Critic to be of help. And the people over there are friendly and willing to answer questions.

 

Good luck on your search and enjoy whatever trip you select.

 

Hal

[kitty9]

The biggest negative is you're at the mercy of the river. There have been quite a few recently where the river was either too high or too low and then your riverboat cruise turns into a long, not so nice bus tour with hotel stays and luggage hassles.