Included land tours - what are they like?

[Onessa]

One thing that is keeping us from a river cruise is the port tours that are "included".

 

We typically do not do ship's tours -- The thought of being one of 40+ people following the pink umbrella through cheesy tourist traps and being held hostage at gift shops, has kept us from doing the on-board excursions. So most of the time, we do our own research and use a taxi or hoof it to where we want to go. Sometimes we will hire a private guide or use Cruise Critics meet and mingle boards to set up small groups for a private tour.

 

I know we can always "do our own thing", but since the tours are included in the cruise, I am stuck paying for something that we are not going to use.

 

So how large are the groups? How many different options are offered in most ports by most lines? Are they better than the mass-market ocean type lines' tours?

 

Are there any river lines that do not include tours?

 

Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

[jpalbny]

One thing that is keeping us from a river cruise is the port tours that are "included".

 

I know we can always "do our own thing", but since the tours are included in the cruise, I am stuck paying for something that we are not going to use. True, but we still do a mix of DIY and the ship's tours. No problem leaving a tour early; just know when and where to return to meet the ship.

 

So how large are the groups? In our experience, small. Perhaps 20, often less. How many different options are offered in most ports by most lines? Usually a basic walking tour of the town, often 1-2 others. Are they better than the mass-market ocean type lines' tours? Yes, smaller, less crowded, less commonly making "shopping stops."

 

Are there any river lines that do not include tours?

 

Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

 

Some answers above based on 4 Uniworld trips. Can't say anything about other lines. Have a look at my trip reports for more details about the ship's tours. If you have a specific river or itinerary in mind we could give more details too.

[gnome12]

I don't know about ocean cruises, but most river cruise companies use a voice system that lets you hear the guide even from a distance.

[sbjornda]

Are there any river lines that do not include tours?

 

I believe CroisiEurope's tours are completely "a la carte" so you could choose none of them and go your own way. It looks like a typical price is 27€ per person per tour if you choose theirs.

 

Sterling

[acwmom]

I agree with JP. Most groups are 20, at the most. These aren't the "cattle call" tours of mass market lines. The guides river cruise lines hire are, for the most part, very knowledgable, and passionate about teaching you about their city/country/customs, etc. We have had some even bring along binders with historical photos, to further enhance what they are "teaching us" At times, it can be information overload, but I've learned A LOT on included tours.

 

Each line is going to offer a different number of cruises per port, some will have more "included" options than others. We have gone on Uniworld 4/5 times, and have always had at least 2 options to choose from, and that didn't include the "a la carte" options.

 

The only time we were "shown" cheesy shops was on an optional tour to Cesky Krumlov, with Avalon.

 

Like JP, we typically do a mix of included tours, and DIY exploration.

 

The risk with scheduling a DIY is that ports and times in ports may change.

 

Ocean cruising and river cruising are two entirely different animals. Unpacking once, and sailing from destination to destination (assuming the water levels are adequate) are where the similarities stop.

 

Teeming is also a la carte.

 

Robin

[Roz]

One thing that is keeping us from a river cruise is the port tours that are "included".

 

We typically do not do ship's tours -- The thought of being one of 40+ people following the pink umbrella through cheesy tourist traps and being held hostage at gift shops, has kept us from doing the on-board excursions. So most of the time, we do our own research and use a taxi or hoof it to where we want to go. Sometimes we will hire a private guide or use Cruise Critics meet and mingle boards to set up small groups for a private tour.

 

 

I've only river cruised on Uniworld, so I can only comment on what they offer. The experience you describe is not what I've experienced with Uniworld. There are less than 200 passengers per ship, and the tours are broken down into small, manageable groups. In most ports there is a choice of 2-3 tours, and depending on the numbers, those tours are broken down even further. I've not been to any of the ports I've visited so far with Uniworld, so it was all new to me, and I appreciated being shown around by a knowledgeable local.

 

I'm not aware of any lines that don't include tours, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

Roz

[CarolynFH]

One thing that is keeping us from a river cruise is the port tours that are "included".

 

We typically do not do ship's tours -- The thought of being one of 40+ people following the pink umbrella through cheesy tourist traps and being held hostage at gift shops, has kept us from doing the on-board excursions. So most of the time, we do our own research and use a taxi or hoof it to where we want to go. Sometimes we will hire a private guide or use Cruise Critics meet and mingle boards to set up small groups for a private tour.

 

I know we can always "do our own thing", but since the tours are included in the cruise, I am stuck paying for something that we are not going to use.

 

So how large are the groups? How many different options are offered in most ports by most lines? Are they better than the mass-market ocean type lines' tours?

 

Are there any river lines that do not include tours?

 

Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

 

On our recent Amsterdam to Basel cruise with Viking in early July, we found the tour groups to be small; most passengers did take the included tours (remember, the ships are much smaller than on ocean cruises; there were only 187 passengers on our cruise) but were broken up into 6-8 groups, each with their own tour guide. And not only did they not hold us "hostage at gift shops," my husband and I almost missed the bus back down from Marksburg Castle to the ship despite a very quick visit to the gift shop there! The only time I can remember the tour being focused on a gift shop was during the Black Forest excursion - the destination was an historic inn and a "local workshop," but there was opportunity to take a short hike through the forest there instead, so we weren't exactly "held hostage" there.

 

Most of the included tours were 2-3 hours but some longer than that (for instance, the tour of Heidelberg was about 5 1/2 hours due to the drive from the river to the city). Some allowed time on our own afterwards (such as in Cologne) but sometimes the ship cast off immediately afterwards, such as the morning tour of Marksburg Castle which was followed by our afternoon cruise down the Rhine Gorge.

 

I can't compare the river cruise tours to the ocean cruise tours - we cruised with Royal Caribbean to the Western Caribbean in April but didn't take any tours at all, for various reasons. However, from reading the posts for those cruises before and after our cruise, I suspect that the river cruise tours are much better than the ocean cruise tours.

 

Have you read the cruise companies' websites for the destinations you're interested in? Viking describes all its excursions, both included and optional, in detail as far as duration and how strenuous. And of course you can search the River Cruising and River Cruise Ports boards for more details!

[caripoo]

We are avid cruisers that also book private excursions, and do not do ships tours....after a few river cruises, we had to get used to that....I would say that they are much smaller, sometimes they will do the same tours with just smaller numbers, which is good...if you look at Crystal, the number of passengers on the Debussy is 105...the smallest numbers. Also, if you have not been to the port before, most of the time the excursions are very good....I'm not sure what I would do if I had encountered a trip where I had been before, there are a few places that I would like to repeat the same excursion!!

[YWW]

One thing that is keeping us from a river cruise is the port tours that are "included".

 

We typically do not do ship's tours -- The thought of being one of 40+ people following the pink umbrella through cheesy tourist traps and being held hostage at gift shops, has kept us from doing the on-board excursions. So most of the time, we do our own research and use a taxi or hoof it to where we want to go. Sometimes we will hire a private guide or use Cruise Critics meet and mingle boards to set up small groups for a private tour.

 

I know we can always "do our own thing", but since the tours are included in the cruise, I am stuck paying for something that we are not going to use.

 

So how large are the groups? How many different options are offered in most ports by most lines? Are they better than the mass-market ocean type lines' tours?

 

Are there any river lines that do not include tours?

 

Any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks

 

It depends on the river cruiselines. On Viking, the average excursion group size is about 23 to 25 and on Crystal, it's as low as 10 to 15 with tour guide up front and a Crystal rep behind to make sure no one gets left behind. All wear quiet boxes so you can hear clearly what the tour guide is saying. The quality of standard (free) excursions vary a great deal though. On Viking, the typical standard excursion involves a 2 hr city walk. For a more comprehensive half day or full day tour on Viking, those are extra from about 70 euros to 350 euros per person whereas on Crystal even full day excursions are standard with lunch included. Only optional excursions offered on Crystal are the ones who want a private limo. We have no complaints with Viking's standard excursions however we prefer sailing with Crystal river since there's only about 95 passengers on board vs 195 on Viking not to mention the Crystal staff really pampers the passengers to death. Food naturally is much better than Viking.

[LFS517]

We lucked out on our Viking Danube Waltz tour of Cesky Krumlov. We took the "leisurely" walking tour due to some mobility issues....this tour did not go into the castle, so only 4 of us chose this option. It was like having a private tour of this wonderful Czech town!

[Onessa]

Thanks for all the input!

 

We have done quite a few land trips on our own in Europe, but really like the unpack once and travel while you sleep concept on our Med and Baltic cruises. So we have been looking at river cruises.

 

The prospect of a much smaller ship, all by itself is SO appealing to us. Tour groups of 20-25 are a bit larger than I feel comfortable with, but perhaps some of the samller lines 12-16 is doable. And it is good to know there are lines with all ala-carte options.

 

Our youngest is our of college and out on her own, so we have a bit more disposable income and a bit more time -- ready for some new adventures!

[wheezedr]

Thanks for all the input!

 

We have done quite a few land trips on our own in Europe, but really like the unpack once and travel while you sleep concept on our Med and Baltic cruises. So we have been looking at river cruises.

 

The prospect of a much smaller ship, all by itself is SO appealing to us. Tour groups of 20-25 are a bit larger than I feel comfortable with, but perhaps some of the samller lines 12-16 is doable. And it is good to know there are lines with all ala-carte options.

 

Our youngest is our of college and out on her own, so we have a bit more disposable income and a bit more time -- ready for some new adventures!

My suggestion is that you continue to research River cruises with friends, TA’s and others as well as what you are doing here. You are off to a good start but it really helps your experience to be aware of how different ocean and river cruises can be. As I like to point out, ocean and river cruises share basically two things in common. They are on a ship and they are on water. Pretty much everything else is different. Good luck and I hope you enjoy one. We did after 20+ ocean cruises but we understood what to be prepared for.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Since others have already described their experiences on Uniworld, Crystal and Viking, I will add some thoughts based on my experiences on AmaWaterways. AMA offers several options for tours in most ports, which allows you to tailor the experience to your priorities (e.g. on the Rhone one tour might focus on Roman antiquities while another on wine tasting). The more popular walking tours are also broken up into fast-walker, regular, and slow-walker groups. Both these things keep the size of each group small, and the QuietVox headsets dramatically reduce the need to cluster around the guide [as a photographer, I am always sprinting ahead or lagging behind to get clear shots, but I can hear the entire commentary]. When we do land tours I prefer to DIY [with a Rick Steves book in hand], but we adapted very easily to the AMA river cruising guided tours. Make sure you research this aspect thoroughly, as you can see that different cruise lines handle the shore excursions differently.

[notamermaid]

The experienced past cruisers have already given you so much valuable information that I can hardly add more. I have done one river cruise and cannot regard it as the norm on this board as most of the tours I booked - they were not included, I booked a package to start with and added a couple on the first night onboard - where bilingual. This can happen when your cruise line is not based in an English-speaking country but caters to that market. CroisiEurope which is French appear to have dedicated cruises for English-speaking guests, though.

 

 

A main aspect to note is that different ports have different "set-ups". Some ports have the ship close by, in some ports you dock outside of the area with the tourist attractions but are easily connected with cruise shuttles and public transport. A few ports are in industrial parts, i.e. the nature of the canal requires docking away from a town, where there is no public transport. You need the cruise shuttle or (expensive) taxis. This differs from river to river. On the Douro past cruisers have reported the excursions being done very much by coach. This is something you will need to bear in mind. Some ports work better for DIY than others.

 

 

 

Overall, I agree with the previous posters that I did not feel as if I was a sheep following the shepherd with his stick at all, or in a cattle herd. All excursions I did were very informative and apart from minor issues I very much enjoyed them all.

 

 

notamermaid

[Captiveguru]

To add to notamermaid's excellent comments... It is also possible that the docking location may change.

Example: Last week we were supposed to dock in Mainz but, due to water levels, we docked in Speyer. No problem for those on AmaWaterways' tours. The busses came to where we were. And no problem for us because we were planning on taking the Speyer tour and did not have to get on a bus.