Considering a River Cruise..?s

[GoBestBunnymoon]

Looking at a possible river cruise through Europe in the summer. Are any of the river cruise ships more akin to the regular cruise ships with a pool, leisure etc?

 

Thanks!

[CaroleSS]

Most river ships have a small pool/hot tub for you to relax in and do bring on evening entertainment, but are a MUCH slower pace than ocean cruising.

 

You won't find Bingo, art auctions, daily trivia contests or the like as there just isn't enough room onboard. You will find nice lectures about your locale and great shore excursions - many of which are included. Part of a great vacation is knowing what type of traveler you are. If you like the hustle and bustle of ocean cruising, maybe you could do a Mediterranean cruise? If you enjoy seeing new places and entertaining yourself, river cruising is right up your alley!!

 

We enjoy both ocean and river cruising....it depends on the itinerary.

 

You may wish to read this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=191

as this one is somewhat dedicated to the ports you might visit. The one I provided would have more information about river cruising in general.

[nlsoftly]

DH and I are ocean cruisers just back from our first river cruise (Viking, Rhine). We did a lot of research on CC and elsewhere, so we were prepared for a slower pace with more time spent watching scenery and meeting fellow passengers and just relaxing. I am pretty high energy and I was never bored.

 

River cruising is not ocean cruising. We find both are wonderful and have added frequent river cruises to our bucket list.

Edited November 28, 2013 by nlsoftly

[peterdkiwi]

Have to agree with nlsoftly, we are usually the go go go couple out of the 6 of us that travel every year, did our first river cruise and really enjoyed the slower pace, enjoyed just watching the sights on the river, and some nice wine. Certainly never bored or looking for something to do. Also enjoyed being able to walk ashore every day, with or with free or paid additional tours. With only 130 on board, you get to know some of your fellow passengers and there is no rush and bustle. Have booked another cruise for next year.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Have to agree with nlsoftly, we are usually the go go go couple out of the 6 of us that travel every year, did our first river cruise and really enjoyed the slower pace, enjoyed just watching the sights on the river, and some nice wine. Certainly never bored or looking for something to do. Also enjoyed being able to walk ashore every day, with or with free or paid additional tours. With only 130 on board, you get to know some of your fellow passengers and there is no rush and bustle. Have booked another cruise for next year.

 

Does this mean that on Avalon some of the tour options during the cruise (not pre- or post- land extension) were extra cost?

[alexandra cruiser]

inc.but others are extra.Only one that I know that inc.everything is Scenic(and Tauck?).So you really need to read the fine print and details.;)

[cruiseryyc]

Scenic is all inclusive - tips, all drinks, all land tours are included in the price.

 

Be advised that river cruising is NOTHING like ocean cruising. Not many of these ships have any sort of pools, no big production shows (thank God), you pretty much have to be able to entertain yourselves in the evening.

Edited November 29, 2013 by cruiseryyc

[Host Jazzbeau]

AMA doesn't quite meet the "all-inclusive" level of Scenic and Tauck (wine and beer are free at meals but not otherwise, and tips are not in included) but it does include all tours including optional choices. Because of these different areas of inclusiveness, it is complicated to compare river cruise prices. I've seen a couple of posters who had to develop a spreadsheet to do so!

[Got2Cruise]

AMA doesn't quite meet the "all-inclusive" level of Scenic and Tauck (wine and beer are free at meals but not otherwise, and tips are not in included) but it does include all tours including optional choices. Because of these different areas of inclusiveness, it is complicated to compare river cruise prices. I've seen a couple of posters who had to develop a spreadsheet to do so!

 

I compared the price of Avalon and Tauck on the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam. The Tauck your came to over $1500 more per person not including airfare. This is where personal opinions come into play. To some Tauck is worth every penny and the extra experiences are priceless To others myself included certain details don't matter and are not worth the extra cost The most important thing for me is to visit the various ports.

[Host Jazzbeau]

There are also itinerary differences, some of which aren't apparent at first glance:

• It's hard to figure out how much time you get in each port on a river cruise (unlike ocean cruises, where it's usually clearly labeled on even the capsule itinerary). You can usually tease this out from the detailed itinerary.

• Do they sail during the day or at night? And which do you prefer, for a given itinerary? [some of the cruising is very scenic, some not so much. Some people are awakened by the noise of the locks.]

• Is the trip one-way (more expensive airfare but you can add time at two gateway cities) or round trip (ship will have to cover more miles for the same itinerary, so you'll be sailing more hours and may have less time in port).

 

It's enough to make your head spin! Which may explain why so many folks seem to find a line they like and stay with them. [That and the returning passenger discounts...]

 

And I agree with Got2Cruise that Tauck prices out much higher than the others. "All-inclusive" isn't free, so unless you will use all the extra bells and whistles, and are willing to pay extra for the convenience of not paying as you go, you will get better value from a luxury-but-not-all-inclusive line.

 

For us, the determining factor on our first river cruise was that AMA seemed to get the best reviews for food. The food on our cruise lived up to our expectations, so we looked first at AMA as we planned the next cruise.

 

Then, comparing itineraries in Provence we noticed that some lines are round-trip from Lyon while AMA is one-way from Lyon to Arles. That fit in better with our fly-drive plans. Someone else might prefer to fly in and out of Paris and use the TGV to get to and from Lyon.

 

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of river cruisers report that they had a great time, so matter which line they cruised.

 

The main exceptions were during this summer's flooding, when a few lines were heavily criticized for refusing to allow passengers to cancel and forcing them to endure the world's most expensive bus tours. AMA, Avalon, Tauck and Uniworld all got good reviews for their response to this natural disaster - so that is the short list that we look at.

 

A-Rosa is a new choice (they've been in business for a while but only for German-speaking passengers; now they market some of their cruises as English-speaking) that sounds interesting but doesn't have many reviews yet.