When to book a Europe river cruise

Planning on taking our first river cruise next summer, most likely down the Rhine. When is the best time of the year to make reservations to take advantage of any discounts while having good availability? What is the better month to sail? We would like to stay over a day or two at each end. Your thoughts on a cruise package deal with hotels and air fare. Thanks in advance.

Hi Hazel, Just my opinions.

I like to travel in May/June because the river levels are usually better than later in the summer. Water levels may decline and cause problems for the ships to reach ports later in the year (of course it depends on rain/drought conditions).

Not sure if you've selected a cruise line to go with yet. If you have it makes sense to get in early so that you have a choice of cabins. If you wait too long you may end up with something you don't want. Some people swear by using a TA as they sometimes can pass along discounts.

I think you will probably pay more if you go with the extensions provided by the cruise lines. Yet the convenience they provide may overcome the extra costs.

I would do some homework on where the cruise company will put you vs what you can do on your own with priceline or one of the other online discount hotel providers and then weigh the advantages/costs.

You will no doubt, love river cruises.

I second a lot of what Paulinda said. However, many dates are already booking for next year so you probably don't want to wait too long. You have to remember that there are many less passengers on a river ship (rarely more than 175) so they book up much quicker than ocean cruise ships. I was actually able to put a deposit for my trip in May 2012 on Avalon down in I think Feb. of this year. That allowed me to lock in 2011 prices for 2012 dates. This is when the rates were obviously the lowest. I am also entitled to any price drops or specials that Avalon offers. So far they have had two separate specials for my dates next year, but neither of these were a lower price than what I already had using the 2011 prices.

You may also want to sign up for e-mails from some of the bigger companies (Tauck, Avalon, Uniworld, Viking, Vantage). That way you will be notified of any specials.

Good luck

I would book as soon as possible ...we booked in Feb for June 2012 at 2011 rates

So the deals come early

As for air & hotel packages you can usually do much better doing them yourselves but do check what the cruiselines offer & compare

Do not forget when the cruise lines lists hotel pre/post rates it is PP so adds up to a lot of $$$

I would go May/June Sept/Oct to avoid the summer heat & crowds in Europe

You cannot predict the weather or water levels;)

enjoy what ever cruise you choose

Lyn

got early bird savings,,the cabin category I wanted on AMA,,had only 6 left THEN...so do book as soon as possible for your choice...used online TA,,after checking MANY sites,,etc...if ship leaving from same city,easy to do precruise stay on own,,but if transfer involved..like we have,,just booked with cruise to simplify it...involves 4 hr.busride,,etc...remember to ask for senior discount,past passenger one,,etc...usually cheaper to do air on own,,but check that too...lots of research to get best deal.;)

Agree that the earlier the better once you've pinned down a trip and the company, if you wait too late depending of the itinerary, you may have to book at a higher cabin category than you'd like and you always take the chance that it will be full. We've cruised the Rhine with Uniworld in September 09 and the weather was good, we will be doing the Rhine Getaway with Viking in early December to visit Christmas markets so we won't have the nice days for sitting outside and watching the river. Our favorite times to visit Europe in in May and September.

Just my two cents worth,

Susan

We book our river cruises early for two reasons: 1, Uniworld and AMA, as well as other river lines give substantial early booking and prepaid discounts; 2. Cabins are limited on river boats. We do not want to spend alot of money on a cabin which will will spend very limited time in. Therefore we book early to get the cheapest cabin that meets our needs. These sell out very early.

Several online TAs offer discounts/rebates of 10 to 15%. You can go online and find them. We have been very happy with the cheap travel agent we have used several times to book tours and cruises.

We total enjoyed our Seine cruise on Uniworld and our Danube cruise on AMA. We are book on the Duoro cruise on Uniworld in June.

We are also interested in taking our first river cruise...perhaps the Rhine. Which river/line is most likely to dock within walking distance to the town/city/village? Docking a long way out of town seems like a waste of time, when we might be able to just go into town at our leisure. It this a realistic wish? Thanks

We are also interested in taking our first river cruise...perhaps the Rhine. Which river/line is most likely to dock within walking distance to the town/city/village? Docking a long way out of town seems like a waste of time, when we might be able to just go into town at our leisure. It this a realistic wish? Thanks

They all dock about the same place.

They dock alongside each other so that you walk though up to four to get to shore.

p2burner - IMO the Rhine is a good choice for a first time river cruise. You will get a great sampling of European towns/villages and a good feel for how river cruising works.

Like Donray said, most times the ship will dock near the city centre on the Rhine. The only city I don't think we docked close to the city centre was Strausbourg. Our morning excursion in Strausbourg was a canal boat tour, the canal boat was a very short walk away from our ship. We ended up in the city centre when the canal tour was over and we were bussed back to our ship.

Also you dock in Manneheim but are bussed to Heidelberg (about 45 minutes away). Nothing significant in Manneheim other than the first automobile was built there.

BTW - if you go on the included excursions and any optional excursions you may not have a lot of 'free' time to explore on your own unless you skip the lunches/dinners on board to explore.

You will enjoy your cruise no matter what line you select. Have fun!

If the prices go down do thay give it to you?

If you've already booked with your cruise line I doubt you would get any reduced specials that they offer. When we booked we recd a 2 for 1 airfare 'special'. Later on I tried to upgrade my cabin as a special was being offered. They said ok but my contract with them specified a service charge for breaking the original contract which was more than the savings realized.

in fact,just DID it,,always check the cruiseline website prices right before final payment due,,if lower,,contact your agent,,and ASK for discount,,,have never had one refuse,,,if they did I d never use again...or even cancel and rebook if possible with other agency,,,which I did too...be persistant and you ll get it...best one yet,,,was Seabourn cruise that I got $3000 less,,for 2,,but did with Avalon also...;)

a c - Avalon was the cruise line. We dealt directly with Avalon and not thru a TA. Perhaps that is the difference?

I am booked with Avalon for May 2012. We booked this back in Feb. Since we booked, there have been 3 different specials that Avalon has offered for my dates. I talked with my travel agent and she looked into all of the specials. None of them were better deals for us because we received an early booking discount as well as locked into 2011 prices. However, if any of them were better deals / lower prices, we would have been able to get these.

We have done 2 river cruises and 2 other trips with Vantage. Our first was on the Mosel and the Rhine. I'm not sure that any other trip can beat it. We did it in Sept 2009 and did the Danube in June 2010. May and September are great times to go to Europe-it's not nearly as crowded and the temps are ideal. Summer can be hot in Europe and many places are not air-conditioned. Be sure to check their website before you book. If you are interested in an extra $100/pp discount you can e-mail me for a code to use. There are little videos on their website that show the highlights of the trips.

Valerie (woodeast@sbcglobal.net)

Please let me know how this crtuise went including the ship as we are considering this cruise.

Thanks,

Janis

If this helps at all, the Rhine River cruise is the #1 top seller in all of the river itineraries. They sell out completely very often and up to a year in advance.

The best deals are about 9 months prior to sailing from what I've seen. If I were you, I'd book ASAP - at least the cruise portion. If you're going to do the cruise line air, you can wait for awhile on that. Once you book that, it's non-refundable whereas the cruise deposit is refundable for quite awhile. You can always add the air on later, as it does not seem to sell out as quickly as the cabins do.