When is a 14 day cruise only a 7 day cruise?

I am really getting tired of searching for advertised river cruises that state "14 days" when in reality you are only cruising for 7 days and actually paying for the time you are flying to the commencement point (airfares are not included in the deal so why should travelling time be included in the 14 days?)Upon arrival (which they consider day Two you sit in the commencement port for 3 days (we're up to 5 now and haven't left the dock)and when you reach the end port you are there for a further Two days sitting in that port that the cruise line consider "sailing" making a total of 7 days where the riverboat doesn't move an inch? If I were to advertise a coach tour and you sat in my garage for 7 days I would quickly go out of business so how come River cruises are able to advertise 14 day "cruises" when essentially they are only 7? Additionally for the prices they charge you (while you are flying at your own expense) you could sit in a five star luxury hotel in the same cities for an extra couple of days. Is there a reputable River cruise company out there which will actually give you a 14 day cruise when they advertise 14 day?

May I suggest you check out Tauck?

Thanks OzJohnno, will check it out. You spend so much time flying and so much expense to get to these places that really all you want to do is maximise your time sailing and seeing different places not pay for being tied up to a dock for 4 or 5 days before you actually go anywhere.

Regards

Dave d

AMA's Magnificent Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest is a 14 night on the ship cruise. We did it on the AMA Prima in May 2013 and are doing it again (In reverse) in December 2014 on the AMA Sonata. And we are getting an extra two nights on the boat as it is docked in Amsterdam because it will be New Years Eve. So you get 16 nights on the ship. The price is about half what we paid in 2013 as well. I think there is still room as well.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

AMA's Magnificent Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest is a 14 night on the ship cruise. We did it on the AMA Prima in May 2013 and are doing it again (In reverse) in December 2014 on the AMA Sonata. And we are getting an extra two nights on the boat as it is docked in Amsterdam because it will be New Years Eve. So you get 16 nights on the ship. The price is about half what we paid in 2013 as well. I think there is still room as well.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Thanks for the information. I guess what I get annoyed with is that even with this cruise you have kindly shown me -on the AMA itinerary Day 1 is "board your overnight flight from USA to Amsterdam" my point is Travel/Airfares are not included in this offer so why is the travel time to the departure city included as "day one" of the river cruise? Even the Ocean Cruise lines indicate Cruise/Tour which at least indicates that not all the time is spent cruising but River cruises can be tied to the dock without moving and are allowed to advertise a 7 night cruise as a 14 night cruise. Do you get where I'm coming from? I just think it is wrong and deceitful!!

Best Regards

Dave d

Many folks in the US only get 14 days annual vacation, so in a way this is actually truth in advertising to show them that this trip will use it all up.

Many folks in the US only get 14 days annual vacation, so in a way this is actually truth in advertising to show them that this trip will use it all up.

I agree as to why they may want to ensure that customers are aware that this will fill their vacation time however the fact remains that a 14 day cruise is in fact less than 14 days -if they were to advertise 14 day vacation including cruise I could handle that however it (the 14 days)would still include flying time which is not part of the vacation advertised. You pay for that yourself separately.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but if the cruise companies didn't list the start date as the date people needed to book their travel, I bet they'd see a lot of confused/angry travelers that were flying on the wrong day. I think most of us search for cruises/trips based on the number of days we'll be away. It makes it easier for planning purposes.

I don't see anything wrong with how it's advertised. It's the length of the trip. Anyone booking a trip can look at the day-to-day itinerary and see if it's the type of trip they want.

Many of the China "cruises" are listed as 14-15 days, but only include a 3-4 day cruise on the Yangtzee river. Everything else is city hopping by plane, because there aren't navigable water ways to many of the popular destinations.

As long as you are an "informed" consumer then who cares what they call it. You now know what is typical in this segment of cruising and can compare AMA vs Uniworld vs Tauck vs Avalon vs Scenic vs Viking!

Ok these are all reputable players... Find the itinerary that interests you and then compare all the included or items not included.

Note: Tauck and Uniworld are completely All-inclusive.... All cruiselines will include Airfare if you want.

Extras to considered:

Airfare

Gratuities

Additional tours

Bar bill (some/most include wine with dinner)

Transfers

Laundry

wifi ? (Most incl but wifi is iffy in many places)

PS: China is really a Land Tour/Cruise as there is only so much to see in the Yangtze River 3 or 4 days at most.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I understand your concern ddande, yes they all do this sort of thing as it is often necessary to have a mixture of static and cruise days to get the appropriate time in each location.

My problem is that some of them are considerably worse than others in making it clear if you are even on the ship at the start and end of the 'cruise'.

Tauck are better at this than most as they clearly show which days are 'cruise' days and which are not.

I hate having to read the detailed itinerary just to figure out how many days of your '11 day cruise' are actually on a ship vs in a hotel.

Scenic clearly shows how many days you cruise i.e. moving and how many days your are moored and what days you are travelling they also suggest extra days to recover from jet lag etc they are also all inclusive.

I am really getting tired of searching for advertised river cruises that state "14 days" when in reality you are only cruising for 7 days and actually paying for the time you are flying to the commencement point (airfares are not included in the deal so why should travelling time be included in the 14 days?)Upon arrival (which they consider day Two you sit in the commencement port for 3 days (we're up to 5 now and haven't left the dock)and when you reach the end port you are there for a further Two days sitting in that port that the cruise line consider "sailing" making a total of 7 days where the riverboat doesn't move an inch? If I were to advertise a coach tour and you sat in my garage for 7 days I would quickly go out of business so how come River cruises are able to advertise 14 day "cruises" when essentially they are only 7? Additionally for the prices they charge you (while you are flying at your own expense) you could sit in a five star luxury hotel in the same cities for an extra couple of days. Is there a reputable River cruise company out there which will actually give you a 14 day cruise when they advertise 14 day?

Please list the exact cruise that you think is only 7 days and advertised as 14 days. Post the link to this cruise.

I think you might be exaggerating a little.

It isn't far off the mark.

For example Avalon have a 13 day Danube cruise where you don't get to the ship until late on day 3 and you leave it again at the start of day 10.

There are many others like this from other lines.

It isn't far off the mark.

 

For example Avalon have a 13 day Danube cruise where you don't get to the ship until late on day 3 and you leave it again at the start of day 10.

 

There are many others like this from other lines.

But the ad is not deceptive. It say upfront you spend time in a hotel in both Budapest and Prague. Not where does it say you spend 13 days on a river boat.

I believe if you check with the various cruise companies, some of them offer a "cruise only" option. I think that you would just join on the day of embarkation.

It isn't far off the mark.

 

For example Avalon have a 13 day Danube cruise where you don't get to the ship until late on day 3 and you leave it again at the start of day 10.

 

There are many others like this from other lines.

But the ad is not deceptive. It say upfront you spend time in a hotel in both Budapest and Prague. No where does it say you spend 13 days on a river boat.

But the ad is not deceptive. It say upfront you spend time in a hotel in both Budapest and Prague. Not where does it say you spend 13 days on a river boat.

This is one of those differences between ocean and river cruises.

A 14 day ocean cruise is going to involve 14 days on a ship

A 14 day river cruise is often going to be 7 or 8 days on a ship and the rest in a hotel.

Yes, you can get to the real length of the cruise by reading through the itinerary, but I do wish they would list it as for example, a 14 day holiday, including an 8 day cruise.

Tauk for example really do go the extra mile to make it clear. Avalon are not the worst either, but none of them let you search based on the actual cruise length.

I've been looking at various options for 2015, and it is very frustrating to keep tripping over the same problem, I don't want hotel stays, I want to be on the boat and a lot of the cruise lines really don't make it easy to find the cruises that are actually in reality 'cruises'.

Every line we have looked at lets you know up front in the itinerary the hotel nights, when you board the ship & the day to day sailings. We did a 15 Day Grand France on Avalon that was advertised as 16 days ...one day of overnight travel, one hotel night at beginning or end in Monte Carlo and 14 nights aboard. All explained in the itinerary. In some itineraries there is a 3 night hotel before & or after. It all depends on where you chose to go. Some people like staying in an included city a few days. As someone said..you can choose to do the "cruise only " option & book your own stays. Basically they are advertising a "14 night vacation " but calling it a cruise.

Order up a bunch of the big glossy brochures from the River Companies websites. It was much easier for me to have several brochures open to similar cruises and compare side by side. Trying to deal with a website is very hard for me.

Get the brochures, fun reading! Pretty pictures too... In the back of each is info on all their fleet and cabin types.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Please list the exact cruise that you think is only 7 days and advertised as 14 days. Post the link to this cruise.

 

I think you might be exaggerating a little.

Donray, first of all I don't lie !! I have no reason to exaggerate either.

I stated in my original post that I was getting tired of looking at websites where it showed 14 day River cruises for sale however when you actually start looking through the details that the actual "cruise' time was considerably less than was advertised and that in fact many counted the time you were in the air to meet the vessel as "day one" and arrival at the airport was "day two" even though airfares were not part of the deal and in fact paid for and arranged by the consumer -so how can it be counted as "day one & two" of the cruise ? that I consider at the best to be misleading. I post on cruise critic as an interested and experienced traveller -not to have my character judged by people like you.

The point was made above that if you buy the full package, including airfare, you get exactly what the 14 days imply.

You also objected to overnights in port as not "cruising." But the most luxury ocean cruise lines are increasingly building overnights into their itineraries because passengers want them.

You didn't mention this one, but we have had threads in the past complaining that "French balconies" are false advertising because they aren't real balconies. If you do your research before booking, you know exactly what a French balcony is. And now it turns out that on the new AMA ships with a mixture of French and real (twin) balconies, the French cabins are selling out first. False advertising -- or giving the people they want?

BUT then again it might just come down to not understanding our language.

I think it comes down to the use of the word 'cruise' vs 'holiday'.

I'm getting extremely annoyed by the huge number of 7/8 day cruises wrapped around with hotels stays that should have been marketed as a 14 day holiday, not a 14 day cruise.

So you are not alone in expecting more appropriate use of language.

The itinerary may well show the number of nights on the ship, but you can't search the available 'cruises' based on that detail.

Donray, first of all I don't lie !! I have no reason to exaggerate either.

I stated in my original post that I was getting tired of looking at websites where it showed 14 day River cruises for sale however when you actually start looking through the details that the actual "cruise' time was considerably less than was advertised and that in fact many counted the time you were in the air to meet the vessel as "day one" and arrival at the airport was "day two" even though airfares were not part of the deal and in fact paid for and arranged by the consumer -so how can it be counted as "day one & two" of the cruise ? that I consider at the best to be misleading. I post on cruise critic as an interested and experienced traveller -not to have my character judged by people like you.

Never said you lied. Why don't you point to the river cruise that you are posting about? Is there some reason you will not do that?

Consider linking 2 7 day cruises together.

Guideline Reminder: do not mention Travel Agents (even by their initials).