There was a thread a while ago that I mentioned looking at river cruises after getting a brochure from Viking

[sharkster77]

25 minutes ago, Kristelle said:

 

 

I would call the dress code more relaxed, or informal, than business casual.

 

Some people dressed as you described but also people wore shorts ,casual sundresses, tee shirts - and, as you mentioned, jeans.

 

(of course the weather also played into that)

I hear ya--when we sailed in mid October, anyone wearing shorts, tees, or sundresses would have been VERY uncomfortable!!

[Kristelle]

We were so lucky with the weather  in September - ranged from low 20's to low 30's celcius for the whole 3 weeks we were in UK/ Europe.

[JordanF]

On 1/12/2024 at 4:24 PM, ontheweb said:

Is it as relaxed as NCL where I wore tie dye tee shirts all the time including dinners?

The thing about Gate 1 is that you could wear tie dye shirts to dinner, although you would likely stand out a bit.  Also, there is no buffet (someone mentioned one) and no Captains Dinner (someone also mentioned that).  Dinner is one seating, no assigned seats.  It is all very friendly and chill.  As I quoted form the cruise docs above, just no bathing suits at dinner, which I doubt you'll be wearing in March anyway.

[Canal archive]

The challenge comes when you leave Amsterdam during an April when the canals were only just unfreezing and arrived in Budapest in early May where shorts and t’shirts would be really comfortable.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, JordanF said:

The thing about Gate 1 is that you could wear tie dye shirts to dinner, although you would likely stand out a bit.  Also, there is no buffet (someone mentioned one) and no Captains Dinner (someone also mentioned that).  Dinner is one seating, no assigned seats.  It is all very friendly and chill.  As I quoted form the cruise docs above, just no bathing suits at dinner, which I doubt you'll be wearing in March anyway.

Thanks for the information. i agree no bathing suit, even for DW who is definitely a swimmer.

[JordanF]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Thanks for the information. i agree no bathing suit, even for DW who is definitely a swimmer.

Although on second thought, some of the Gate 1 boats have hot tubs! 🙂

[Daisi]

23 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I originally asked about Viking, but then got an e-mail from Gate 1. We had in the past gone on Gate 1 escorted tours (Central Europe and Peru), and thought highly of them. We ended up booking a Gate 1 river cruise for this March. (I was actually looking at March 2025, but DW picked a date for this March and when I found a couple of cabins available for that date, booked one of them for us.)

 

I believe they also do that egalitarian dinner. Can someone confirm that?

 

Also is there a buffet option instead of dinner. I sometimes want to eat earlier, and DW on all of our ocean cruises has said she gets tired of being waited on and also likes to make her own salad in the buffet,

 

 

Can't speak for Gate 1, as we've never sailed on them, however most river ships only have the one sit-down meal in the evening. Buffets are usually reserved for breakfast & lunch. Some lines do have an extra dining area where it's a bit more casual style, not sit down, (Avalon does one in the lounge like a tapas type where you pick individual servings of whatever is served for dinner, and it's actually 1/2 hr after the dinner starts).  Some will also have snacks served around 4:00 or so.

 

I haven't read this in full, but this is from a cruiser from last year, you may find some info in it: 

 

Edited January 14 by Daisi

[jsn55]

One of the many things that keeps me booking Avalon ships is that casual little buffet of goodies up at the bow in the evening.  I just don't want a 'big dinner' every night, it's wonderful to just wander in there for a bite.

[Canal archive]

Jsn sounds good.