What River Cruisers Don't Have to Worry About

[Host Jazzbeau]

Several posters have commented that they plan to stick with ocean cruising to avoid the kind of low water problems that we have been experiencing on the Danube and Elbe this year. So I thought I would point out that Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have just had to rearrange the itineraries of their cruises to avoid Hurricane Danny. I'll take low water as an alternative any day!

[cruiseryyc]

several posters have commented that they plan to stick with ocean cruising to avoid the kind of low water problems that we have been experiencing on the danube and elbe this year. So i thought i would point out that carnival, norwegian and royal caribbean have just had to rearrange the itineraries of their cruises to avoid hurricane danny. I'll take low water as an alternative any day!

 

like, like like

[Got2Cruise]

I'm leaving for an ocean cruise to Bermuda tomorrow. So hoping for the best. [emoji3]

[Lois R]

Hurricane season happens every year;)....I live in Florida and luckly

haven't been in the direct hit area in many, many, many years.

As for sticking to one or the other.....well, I will have to give my first

hand opinion after I take my first river cruise in April:D

[Poconolady]

Let's see what else is there that river cruises don't have to worry about-- they wont have to worry about being sent to the naughty room if they bring booze on board.

They won't have to worry about standing in line with hundreds of other passengers to get tender tickets, or waiting in line to get into the Anytime dining room.

They won't have to spend extra for alternative restaurants, or beer, wine and sodas.

What else do River cruisers not have to worry about,

-anyone?

[xriva]

Several posters have commented that they plan to stick with ocean cruising to avoid the kind of low water problems that we have been experiencing on the Danube and Elbe this year. So I thought I would point out that Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have just had to rearrange the itineraries of their cruises to avoid Hurricane Danny. I'll take low water as an alternative any day!

 

 

Hurricanes have a known season each year, and even if your cruise is diverted, I would rather be on a cruise ship, even skipping ports, than pay river cruise rates to take a bus tour.

 

My greatest fear about a river cruise (and one of the reasons we haven't gone yet, because we tend to plan a year or so out), is arriving and finding out I've spent twice as much as I would for an ocean cruise just to be bussed around Europe. My wife would kill me. (She's less fond of busses than I.)

[jklc123]

On half the ocean cruises we've taken, we missed one port due to rough seas (and I spent that day and night seasick). So getting seasick is one thing you don't have to worry about on a river. We did have one river cruise turn into a bus trip with a luxury floating hotel meeting us at each port; at least we didn't have to pack and unpack each day.

[pbnjrockette]

Not being SEASICK is the biggest plus for me with river cruising!! (b

ut it doesn't keep me from Ocean cruising... just booked Norwegian Fjords for next spring :)

[Lois R]

Hurricanes have a known season each year, and even if your cruise is diverted, I would rather be on a cruise ship, even skipping ports, than pay river cruise rates to take a bus tour.

 

My greatest fear about a river cruise (and one of the reasons we haven't gone yet, because we tend to plan a year or so out), is arriving and finding out I've spent twice as much as I would for an ocean cruise just to be bussed around Europe. My wife would kill me. (She's less fond of busses than I.)

 

I don't understand your post....why would you not know how much

you spent for your cruise? And why would you arrive and end up being

"bussed around Europe?"

 

I am going on my first River Cruise in April 2016 and am totally

excited:D.....and that is not taking anything away from the 40+

ocean cruises I have been on too;)

[Got2Cruise]

Hurricanes have a known season each year, and even if your cruise is diverted, I would rather be on a cruise ship, even skipping ports, than pay river cruise rates to take a bus tour.

 

My greatest fear about a river cruise (and one of the reasons we haven't gone yet, because we tend to plan a year or so out), is arriving and finding out I've spent twice as much as I would for an ocean cruise just to be bussed around Europe. My wife would kill me. (She's less fond of busses than I.)

 

 

Not me. It's all about the ports for me. Of course traveling by River boat is ideal but you can't fool Mother Nature. I don't need a floating hotel that goes nowhere. I can go to Vegas for that kind of stuff.

[Shmoo here]

Let's see what else is there that river cruises don't have to worry about-- they wont have to worry about being sent to the naughty room if they bring booze on board.

They won't have to worry about standing in line with hundreds of other passengers to get tender tickets, but you do wait in line to get on the excursion busses every morning (that's assuming you don't want to sit in the rear of the bus everytime).or waiting in line to get into the Anytime dining room.we found there was always a line waiting to get into the dining room (since they don't open the door until spot on the correct time) of people who would always rush to claim the best tables (as in the ones next to the windows) every meal, not just dinner.

They won't have to spend extra for alternative restaurants, or beer, wine and sodas.except for dinner, beer, wine, sodas had a cost on our cruise.

What else do River cruisers not have to worry about,

-anyone?

My thoughts in red.

[Hydrokitty]

Hurricanes have a known season each year, and even if your cruise is diverted, I would rather be on a cruise ship, even skipping ports, than pay river cruise rates to take a bus tour.

 

I think I would hate to be on a cruise ship during a hurricane. It's bad enough being in my HOUSE during a hurricane!

 

I don't understand your post....why would you not know how much you spent for your cruise? And why would you arrive and end up being "bussed around Europe?"

 

He's saying that he would hate to find out on arrival that he had spent twice what he would pay for an ocean cruise only to be on a bus trip. It's not an unreasonable fear, but I think realistically you have to be prepared for that when you book a river cruise during the spring (snow melt causes high water), which is more common than the drought this year causing low water. To avoid cancelling trips outright many river cruise companies will arrange for buses and hotels in the hopes that river levels will improve, sometimes they do, but when they don't people are upset when they think they're going on a river cruise and find out they're going on a bus! I think you would agree that you run the same risk booking an ocean cruise to the Caribbean during hurricane season...

Edited August 22, 2015 by Hydrokitty

[Host Jazzbeau]

My thoughts in red.

 

Most of these things are due to the cruise line you chose. Some lines don't fill the busses and do provide drinks throughout the cruise (or at least at all meals). We never had to wait at the entrance to the dining room, because they opened the doors as the CM's meeting ended and everybody trooped right in (open seating, no waiting for the host/ess to escort you). If those things bothered you, whatever savings you got from choosing that cruise line did not provide you with Value.

[Poconolady]

My thoughts in red.

 

 

160-190 people waiting for a excursion busses is nothing compared to 2-3 thousand people all trying to get into tenders.

There will always be people at the door at opening time, no matter what type of sailing vessel you are on.

Many River cruise lines serve beer, wine and soda at both lunch and dinner, and sparkling wine at breakfast, too.

[Shmoo here]

Most of these things are due to the cruise line you chose. Some lines don't fill the busses and do provide drinks throughout the cruise (or at least at all meals). We never had to wait at the entrance to the dining room, because they opened the doors as the CM's meeting ended and everybody trooped right in (open seating, no waiting for the host/ess to escort you). If those things bothered you, whatever savings you got from choosing that cruise line did not provide you with Value.

 

160-190 people waiting for a excursion busses is nothing compared to 2-3 thousand people all trying to get into tenders.

There will always be people at the door at opening time, no matter what type of sailing vessel you are on.

Many River cruise lines serve beer, wine and soda at both lunch and dinner, and sparkling wine at breakfast, too.

 

We were quite happy with the cruise line we chose. We had 127 people on our cruise, and every excursion had "full" buses, usually 40ish people per bus.

 

Vantage typically (apparently) only includes wine, beer, and soda at dinner (although I think for our cruise they did add wine & beer for lunch, also). We could have water, iced tea, coffee, hot chocolate, at at any time (included).

 

As I said (on another thread) the biggest issue I had with the river cruising over ocean cruising was, even though we only had 127 people onboard, at all times all 127 people were in the same place, doing the same things. At least on an ocean cruise, there's more chances that you aren't always bunched up with 3 busloads of people. And we had some who felt that they had to be first in the dining room to claim "their" table (every meal).

[Hydrokitty]

Shmoo, some people are inconsiderate, selfish, boorish and ill-mannered. You can't avoid them you just have to accept that they're there and there's nothing you can do about it without stooping to their level. On river cruises they camp out by the dining room door so they get in first to grab the best table and on ocean liners they go to the pool at 6 a.m. and put towels and clothing on the best lounge chairs.:(

[Shmoo here]

Shmoo, some people are inconsiderate, selfish, boorish and ill-mannered. You can't avoid them you just have to accept that they're there and there's nothing you can do about it without stooping to their level. On river cruises they camp out by the dining room door so they get in first to grab the best table and on ocean liners they go to the pool at 6 a.m. and put towels and clothing on the best lounge chairs.:(

 

Oh, I get it. In fact, DH & I would pretty much just shake our heads when we were headed to the dining room and the line was already halfway down the hall from the (CLOSED) door. There weren't really a lot of "boorish" types in our group, but the few that there were we just avoided for the most part (when we could).

 

One night, I did leave the port talk early so I could be in the front of the group :D. At least one night I wanted to pick the table I wanted.

 

I didn't post my comments/thoughts as a complaint, just as a "be aware, there are things that aren't perfect".

[pully8]

we like ease of getting on and off the ship. dislike long queues and masses of people. no sea sickness. recently on the south china sea we had 2-3 metre waves above the balcony.

[Hydrokitty]

Oh, I get it. In fact, DH & I would pretty much just shake our heads when we were headed to the dining room and the line was already halfway down the hall from the (CLOSED) door. There weren't really a lot of "boorish" types in our group, but the few that there were we just avoided for the most part (when we could).

 

One night, I did leave the port talk early so I could be in the front of the group :D. At least one night I wanted to pick the table I wanted.

 

I didn't post my comments/thoughts as a complaint, just as a "be aware, there are things that aren't perfect".

 

I have to plead guilty to leaving port talk early too!:D. DH says a good defense is a good offense!! :D. I know you weren't complaining....it's just frustrating.

[xriva]

Not me. It's all about the ports for me. Of course traveling by River boat is ideal but you can't fool Mother Nature. I don't need a floating hotel that goes nowhere. I can go to Vegas for that kind of stuff.

 

 

For me, sailing is a key part of the vacation. I would much rather sail nowhere (on a river cruise or ocean cruise) than ride a bus instead of a boat.

 

I thought there were a number of people that sailed rivers and oceans - I wasn't trying to start a war. Before I started looking at this board on CC, I didn't realize there is a sailing vacation that could turn into a riding vacation, and it costs more than the sailing vacations I take now.

 

I do realize that river cruise costs are higher because boats are smaller than ships. However, I would like some way to know I will actually sail on the boat.

[JVilleGal]

Don't sail in the summer, September and October are much better bets.... Just my opinion :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

For me, sailing is a key part of the vacation. I would much rather sail nowhere (on a river cruise or ocean cruise) than ride a bus instead of a boat.

 

I thought there were a number of people that sailed rivers and oceans - I wasn't trying to start a war. Before I started looking at this board on CC, I didn't realize there is a sailing vacation that could turn into a riding vacation, and it costs more than the sailing vacations I take now.

 

I do realize that river cruise costs are higher because boats are smaller than ships. However, I would like some way to know I will actually sail on the boat.

 

Pay attention to how the different cruise lines react to low- and high-water situations. Some cancel. Some give their passengers a choice. Some force passengers onto buses.

[twinkletoes4445]

Several posters have commented that they plan to stick with ocean cruising to avoid the kind of low water problems that we have been experiencing on the Danube and Elbe this year. So I thought I would point out that Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have just had to rearrange the itineraries of their cruises to avoid Hurricane Danny. I'll take low water as an alternative any day!

 

Same here!

[squarevanman]

I can only comment on Vodohod (Russia) PNC (Egypt) and CroisiEurope. No major queue for the restaurant as each line allocated tables according to language spoken. No mad rush for excursion coaches as all labelled and allocated to individual groups again per language. Often the rear seats got taken first (possibly a British thing from school days). No one trying to sell additional excursions or push expensive souvenirs.

Although I have only been on 5 sea cruises 4 of which were small ships I find the crew and officers on the rivers seem happier and are willing to spend a little extra time with passengers.

[caviargal]

Most of these things are due to the cruise line you chose. Some lines don't fill the busses and do provide drinks throughout the cruise (or at least at all meals). We never had to wait at the entrance to the dining room, because they opened the doors as the CM's meeting ended and everybody trooped right in (open seating, no waiting for the host/ess to escort you). If those things bothered you, whatever savings you got from choosing that cruise line did not provide you with Value.

 

 

I agree. We never had to wait in line to get on a bus with AMA nor stand in line for the dining room to open. There are always plenty of seats on the bus and no need to rush to get one.