Danube River Cruise - Need Help

[highbridger]

Our last few trips were on Celebrity cruises. We have never done a river cruise and would like to try one. Having a very hard time deciding which cruiseline we should travel with. Any help you can give us would be really appreciated. Thank you.

[Talisker92]

Everyone here has their own favorite line-sort of like with ocean cruises. The ones mentioned (in no particular order) are: Tauck, Vantage, AMA,Viking, Uniworld, and Grand Circle.
To get a feel for a river cruise visit either www.thepreismans.com or our website.
I suggest you go to each of the websites and see what amenities each line offers and what your budget can handle.
Aside from the cruise fare, consider airfare, transfers, tours, drinks, gratuities. Make up a chart or spreadsheet and then you can compare apples to apples.

[BPCruiser]

Originally Posted by Talisker92

Everyone here has their own favorite line-sort of like with ocean cruises. The ones mentioned (in no particular order) are: Tauck, Vantage, AMA,Viking, Uniworld, and Grand Circle.
To get a feel for a river cruise visit either www.thepreismans.com or our website.
I suggest you go to each of the websites and see what amenities each line offers and what your budget can handle.
Aside from the cruise fare, consider airfare, transfers, tours, drinks, gratuities. Make up a chart or spreadsheet and then you can compare apples to apples.

Avalon Waterways is probably in the top 4 of many travelers on this board. Research them as well when looking. We have been on 2 of their rivercruises and have a 3rd one scheduled for next month!

[franski]

You should also check out Scenic as well.

Fran

[caviargal]

Since many will seem alike - and they are in certain aspects - I recommend reading as many reviews as you can once you have narrowed the options.

What we found most similar between lines were itineraries, cabin size, boat size and general layout, as well as the quality of excursions.

If you are doing pre and post stays with the line check out the location of the hotels they use as there can be a significant difference in terms of convenience.

We have been on 5 river cruises and our best was last year on AmaDante. Food, service, attention to detail, staff, activities and entertainment were the best of our cruises so far and we are going on their newest boat in just ten weeks. Can't wait!

[highbridger]

Thank you all so much for your replies. This is a totally foreign concept for us, and we don't have friends who have river cruised either. I have already started reading the reviews here.

[Madison Madhouse]

We just took our first river cruise after 18 ocean cruises (Celebrity and Royal Caribbean-Radiance class our favorites) and although our experience is just that -- one cruise -- we strongly recommend AMA. It was such a wonderful experience we have already booked our second AMA cruise for Sepember 2013!

[sippican]

Originally Posted by Madison Madhouse

We just took our first river cruise after 18 ocean cruises (Celebrity and Royal Caribbean-Radiance class our favorites) and although our experience is just that -- one cruise -- we strongly recommend AMA. It was such a wonderful experience we have already booked our second AMA cruise for Sepember 2013!

Thanks for posting. We are researching our first river cruise. We love Celebrity Cruiseline and RCI Radiance class, and are already leaning towards AMA for our cruise. Glad to hear you have been pleased with your experience.

[caviargal]

Originally Posted by sippican

Thanks for posting. We are researching our first river cruise. We love Celebrity Cruiseline and RCI Radiance class, and are already leaning towards AMA for our cruise. Glad to hear you have been pleased with your experience.

When we used to enjoy cruising the mass market lines, we preferred Radiance class on RCI and the smaller ships of Celebrity as well as HAL. For the river, AMA is our preference.

[KCcruisin07]

Originally Posted by sippican

Thanks for posting. We are researching our first river cruise. We love Celebrity Cruiseline and RCI Radiance class, and are already leaning towards AMA for our cruise. Glad to hear you have been pleased with your experience.

We like Celebrity too, and AMA and Avalon were our top choices after reading the reviews. We went with AMA and were very pleased.

[Sea&Me]

Looking at Danube River cruise. Is there much difference weatherwise between Spring and Fall?

[GiannaD]

Originally Posted by Sea&Me

Looking at Danube River cruise. Is there much difference weatherwise between Spring and Fall?

We've been on the Danube both Spring and Fall and prefer the fall. Depending on where you are on the river it can be rainy during either season. Water levels tend to be higher in the Spring and were very low on the lower Danube last Fall.

[pflorio994]

The Danube is a beautiful river to cruise. These are many cruise lines, i.e. Viking, Avalon, AMA, Uniworld, Tauck. As Talisker92 said "I suggest you go to each of the websites and see what amenities each line offers and what your budget can handle". Also do they have airfares included and transfers.

I love Viking and doing the Danube a second time this November with them on one of their new longships and very happy that I have picked them. Budget and scenery is everything.