Best company for European river cruise

[stromer]

I am thinking about taking a 15 day Amsterdam to Budapest river cruise in June 2014. I am considering Viking, Avalon and Vantage. All 3 cruises offer similar iteneries, excursions and shipboard services. However the prices vary considerably and are very costly when compared to traditional ocean cruises. The Vantage and Viking are about the same because I can get a discount from my travel agent on the Viking (Vantage only books directly without agents). Avalon is about $500 more and is thus getting rather expensive. Are there any differences in these 3 lines that would make one of them better than the other two? I have read some reviews and they are generally all good. Vantage does not seem to have many reviews, probably because there are not many ships.

 

Does anyone who has cruised several lines have any opinions on the above 3 lines and are there any differences worth the extra cost for Avalon?

Thanks, Rick

[Marty156]

You might want to check this link out.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k6587682-o10-Viking_Cruise_Line_and_the_Floods_in_Central_Europe-Cruises.html

[Talisker92]

I cannot comment on 2 of the lines as we have only sailed on Vantage. I have run cost comparisons between Viking and Vantage and Vantage comes out better. Plus you get a 5% credit towards your next trip.

The stories and pictures of our trips are on our website. We are always happy to answer any questions.

[caviargal]

Of those lines we have only cruised with Avalon and I have reviews posted for each cruise. Our first was Affinity, which was also our best with Avalon. Their ships are contemporary, well maintained, and have comfortable bedding. CDs have all been professional and hard working. They handled a challenging weather situation very well on our last cruise with them in 2010.

 

We don't have any interest in Viking or Vantage so cannot compare.

[honumaui]

We can not comment on Vantage but have seen their ads ..they seem to be liked by many...We did our 1st rb cruise with Viking in 08 . They were good. We did our 2nd with Avalon in 2012....found them a cut above Viking . Liked their mix of Aussies, Canadians & Brits. Also from what i read don't think you can go wrong with AMA either....When we did Avalon we compared cost with Viking..at the time they were pretty close...Also...Avalon does not require full payment up front and i believe has less pgs than the new Viking boats. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples for costs....same itinearies, tours, cabin accomodations . We are booked on Avalon again for 2014..Zurich to Amsterdam. They had a special $1000 off on this cruise. Check out the web sites for each line.

[honumaui]

PS...both Avalon & Viking also give past pgr discounts on your next cruise...not just Vantage..I believe most lines do so don't base your decision on that.

[nana541]

Have you compared the passenger count on each boat and the size of the cabins. I can NOT speak from experience but my understanding is the the ships are all about the same size and some lines have 120 passengers vs 200, the higher passenger loads being on Viking.

 

Just be sure and check this out as part of your decision making!

[peterdkiwi]

We have just had our first river cruise with Avalon and it was faultless, so good that we are booking another this week. Having read CC in detail for many months I place a big importances on how companies handle things when they go wrong. In all my readings Avalon was very good during river flooding and cancelled sailing, some other including companies you mentioned were very poor at best. You take you chances with these type of operators.

I understand that most Avalon boats are also less people and the newer ones from 2012 also have bigger staterooms.

Just my 2 bobs worth

[caviargal]

We have just had our first river cruise with Avalon and it was faultless, so good that we are booking another this week. Having read CC in detail for many months I place a big importances on how companies handle things when they go wrong. In all my readings Avalon was very good during river flooding and cancelled sailing, some other including companies you mentioned were very poor at best. You take you chances with these type of operators.

I understand that most Avalon boats are also less people and the newer ones from 2012 also have bigger staterooms.

Just my 2 bobs worth

 

Avalon's Panorama class ships have spacious Panorama Suites that are very nice.

 

Avalon also has less passengers than the Viking longships, which IMO pack on too many. They are reminding me of ocean cruise lines, who continue to pack on more and more people.

[Steamboatin]

Know Uniworld was not mentioned in original question. However we have been well pleased with our 2 sailings with them.

 

What we like about Uniworld is that they have little free time. We like guides when we go off the vessel. We do not like to go off on our own. Something to consider as well between the three lines above.

 

Nor do we wish to waste our vacation time visiting a school or a person's home. To do so would be a BIG turn off for us as a TOTAL waste of our vacation and touring experience.

[pacmom]

we have been on 17 river cruises with most of the lines--have sailed on Viking and Vantage. They both had good and not good points. Viking seems to run hot and cold in Europe, nice mix of English speaking pax. Vantage had only US citizens on board. We picked a main deck cabin because we wanted hotel style beds, nor daybeds. Food on both was about the same--good but not spectacular. Tours on both were good. One plus for Vantage was there were 4 program directors on board. You signed up to be with one and they were yours for the entire trip. We were very satisfied with ours--some did switch, tho.

On only one of our 3 Viking Europe did we have a good CD. This was on the Elbe--reaaly a fantastic trip.

We will travel with Avalon in Feb on the Mekong--picked because did not have to go to Hanoi.

We really like both Uniworld and AMAwaterways, but they are our preference. Becareful, river cruising can become addictive. Pat

[skatergirl38]

We are booked on avalon for may 2014 amsterdam to Budapest. We were looking between avalon and viking also. My husband and daughter had done a china trip last year with viking and enjoyed it immensely. Our decision to try avalon was based on the size of the panorama rooms and the fact that you don't have to pay in full right away. Especially since we booked our trip a year in advance.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app