Ocean Cruiser trying to learn about River Cruising

[cruiserdru]

My cup runneth over with info on the ins and outs of ocean cruising but four of us are interested in doing a river cruise in 2015 for our anniversaries so I am in research mode.

 

Things I could use some help with:

 

 

• How far in advance do you need to book (we want an Amsterdam to Budapest - or reverse in late spring of 2015)? I know there are no brochures out there but I am seeing talk about booking now to be sure to get what you want.
   
  
• Do prices ever drop on river cruises and do the lines handle price drops the way ocean lines do or is what you booked at what you will live with?
   
  
• For onboard expenses, do you use cash or do they run a tab against an account?
  

 

Thanks for any info you can supply. If it is relevant, we are currently looking at Avalon.

[franski]

Hi -

 

If you know which itinerary, and (approx) which dates, then you should start looking now to get a sense of which line you think you want to travel with - and do some watchful waiting. Viking does have some itineraries open for booking now - but most will put their brochures out in the early spring.

 

Occasionally prices will drop - but mostly for the the odd unsold cabin. If you are flexible with dates and itinerary, some people have gotten some great last minute deals. However, many sailings sell out many months in advance - so most don't wait. We are doing the south of France with Avalon next June (booked in the early spring of this year) and our sailing has been sold out for months.

 

I have never seen a refund if prices drop - but perhaps others have.

 

Most companies ask you for a non-refundable deposit - somewhere in the neighbourhood of $250/pp --> with the balance due 90 days out. Viking asks for payment in full within 30 days.... quite a source of discussion here on the river cruise forum of CC. Some lines will offer a better price if you pay in full when booking - although it is still your choice. We paid up in full when we booked our Russian cruise with Uniworld - as they offered savings of $500/pp in lowest category to do that.

 

You charge against an account on board - and pay at the end. Some lines are more all-inclusive (ie: include all day bar and gratuities in the price up front) and therefore your bill is small - or non-existent - at time of disembarkation. Gratuities (if not included) are never an "auto-add" to your bill.... you identify how much you want to pay, and either add to your credit card, or put cash in envelopes (envelopes supplies) and place them in boxes at the front desk.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Fran

[whatnot]

Probably best to book at least a year out so you can get the early booking discount. I booked our recent Uniworld cruise in April of 2012 for a September 2013 cruise. At that point I got the early booking and virtually my choice of stateroom. We also had gone to a travel agent presentation which gave us an additional discount if we booked within a week of that presentation. There was also a preferred vendor discount through my TA.

 

I do not know about price drops. But from what I have read, most of these cruises book up pretty quickly, so to get what you want you need to book early. Explore all the discount possibilities through travel agents. I think they are so popular that they don't have to do the big discounting to get passengers like ocean cruises do. Of course it is much easier to fill up a ship that has 150 passengers than one that has 3 or 4 thousand!

 

On our cruise they ran a tab and you paid on the last evening or last morning by cash or CC. On our cruise the currency of payment was in Euros.

 

Don't know anything about Avalon, but we really enjoyed Uniworld and would do them again.

[Stratheden]

We booked in July, 2013 for September/October, 2014 and could not get the dates that we wanted as they were booked out. We were able to work around it and find suitable dates but not many cabins left.

[hattack]

Plan at least a year in advance to include best rates for air fares...as an alternate you might look into American River Cruises who do soke great regional river cruises

 

River cruising is experiencing a huge boom so price drops are rare on the most popular routes...you may find a last minute deal, which would be offset by higher air fares

 

Settle up by cash (euros) or cc and don't forget tips

 

Several lines have brand new vessels coming out next season which is a good thing...also locate a TA or call AAA which sponsors large groups to Europe

[caviargal]

We always travel off season and have scored great deals. Not all promotions are advertised to the public and a TA that really knows river cruising can be a big advantage, not only for pricing but for insight into the river cruise lines.

 

We generally book 18 months ahead and handle our own land arrangements. High season cruises fill really quickly so best to book early and get what you want.

 

In my experience, price drops are not honored by the river cruise companies.

[cruiserdru]

Great info and it appears we want to know what we want and do something by January 2014 to have the kind of options we would like.

 

Can anyone give me a range for the early booking discounts (5%, 10%, etc) or for pay in full discounts?

 

Reluctant to do pay in full as I'm not crazy about giving anyone that much of my money to use for over a year but have no problem with committing early to get a discount even if I am risking my deposit.

 

For ocean cruises I can add travel protection insurance up to just before final payment (unless I want pre-existing condition coverage), is that true here also?

[Bill'sBride]

We booked in April '12 for a river cruise sailing next week. This is our first river cruise as well and they seem to really fill up, unlike the large ocean cruise ships. We knew the trip we wanted, and I called Viking in advance to speak with them about when we could book it. The sales person I spoke to called me on the day it opened for booking and we were able to get the cabin of our choice. I was very pleased with that, and with all the help we have had from Viking so far with booking the trip (we are two couples going together and needed to coordinate) doing the air reservations - even after the airline canceled that flight route, travel insurance and the pre-trip information packet we received last week was great. You are smart to plan early, I hope that the rest of my trip goes so smoothly! Good luck!

[SfromATX]

Great info and it appears we want to know what we want and do something by January 2014 to have the kind of options we would like.

 

Can anyone give me a range for the early booking discounts (5%, 10%, etc) or for pay in full discounts?

 

Reluctant to do pay in full as I'm not crazy about giving anyone that much of my money to use for over a year but have no problem with committing early to get a discount even if I am risking my deposit.

 

For ocean cruises I can add travel protection insurance up to just before final payment (unless I want pre-existing condition coverage), is that true here also?

As for paying at or near the time of booking (Viking), I see lots of complaints about that on this board. So, I'd like to give our perspective on that. Granted, we are Viking fans so keep that in mind when I say that we do not mind paying early but here are some reasons why. With interest rates so low, the discount for paying by e-check balances out what we would have earned in interest. Also, when the time gets close to the trip, it's a good feeling to know that we have already paid and can just look forward to our holiday. On some trips we have used the long lag between payment and trip as a window to "pay ourselves back" a little each month, thus replenishing our accounts before we travel.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Some river cruise lines give you 10% off if you pay 12 months in advance ..

[Turtles06]

For ocean cruises I can add travel protection insurance up to just before final payment (unless I want pre-existing condition coverage), is that true here also?

 

We always buy travel insurance from a third party, like Travel Guard, and not thru the cruise line, so if you are talking about the latter, I don't know the answer. But when you are buying travel insurance from a third party, I don't see why it would matter how you are traveling.

 

I will say, though, I think it's important to buy the insurance at a time when the exclusion for pre-existing conditions is waived. As Travel Guard has explained it to me, that exclusion applies not only to the people traveling, but to others whose serious illness (or worse) right before, or during, your trip could require you to cancel (or interrupt) the trip.

[caviargal]

Our Christmas cruise on AmaPrima was 40% off when we booked.

 

Our wine cruise next year is part of a group and in total the discount was almost 1000 per person.

 

A GOOD TA is essential, IMO as these are not published discounts.