New to River Cruising

We have sailed on several ocean cruises, but we are new to river. We are thinking of booking one of the Christmas market cruises. Would that be a good choice for a first timer or would you suggest another time of year?

Thank you for your feedback.

We have sailed on several ocean cruises, but we are new to river. We are thinking of booking one of the Christmas market cruises. Would that be a good choice for a first timer or would you suggest another time of year?

 

Thank you for your feedback.

If you love Christmas (I do!) it would be a great first choice. Europe is fabulous at the holiday season. Suggest Budapest to Vilshofen or The Rhine.

We have been to Europe at least 10x now for the holiday season, both by river and DIY land. It is our favorite time of year to visit.

Your post doesn't show where you're from, but your signature includes pictures of a tropical beach. A Christmas Market river cruise will be pretty much the exact opposite of those tropical ocean cruises! There's a sticky at the top of this thread with lots of introductory information about river cruising.

Christmas Markets are great, but if you go between Christmas and NY, most are closed.

Also, I am not interested in going somewhere where it gets dark at 4:30PM and average temp is in the 40s.

Christmas Markets are great, but if you go between Christmas and NY, most are closed.

 

Also, I am not interested in going somewhere where it gets dark at 4:30PM and average temp is in the 40s.

We were in Europe this year from 26 Dec through 4 Jan. Markets were open in Colmar, Heidelberg, Cologne and Strasbourg. Not as many as I have seen during the height of the season but enough to keep us happy.:)

Since we live in the south and have warm temps and sun year round, we enjoy the change of pace in weather. We had lots of snow this trip and it was delightful!

We were in Europe this year from 26 Dec through 4 Jan. Markets were open in Colmar, Heidelberg, Cologne and Strasbourg. Not as many as I have seen during the height of the season but enough to keep us happy.:)

 

Since we live in the south and have warm temps and sun year round, we enjoy the change of pace in weather. We had lots of snow this trip and it was delightful!

My Son just did Budapest to Nuernberg that same week and all the German cities had closed their markets.

Perhaps the Rhine is from Danube in that regard.

We live in the South as well, and don't want to see snow and ice.

 

We live in the South as well, and don't want to see snow and ice.

And that is why there are dates for every preference.:)

We love Europe in winter and that is when we generally visit every year. Christmas, for us, is simply better there.

Reminder: you MAY NOT post unsolicited offers for referral discounts that benefit the poster, EXCEPT in the two stickies (Viking and non-Viking) at the top of this forum.

Having recently returned from our first river cruise after numerous sea cruises I must emphasis the advice already given that you fully take into account the differences. In particular space is a luxury especially as in our case the top deck was unusable due to high river levels, snow and ice. Thus the remaining in door general public space could get very crowded.

The Christmas Markets for the first few were an experience but this soon became repetitive and some were very crowded. Perhaps for a short cruise to enable seasonal shopping they would be great.

We would have been happy to visit the places we went to in more favourable climatic conditions. However taking into account all the factors this cruise fell into the ok but never to be repeated catagory

My wife and I made a Nuremberg to Frankfurt Christmas markets trip our first cruise of any kind. We loved everything about it. As Caviargirl says it should be a given that you love Christmas. I can't imagine anything to get you more in the spirit.

The poster who pointed out that the temps are in the 40's and it gets dark at 4:30 is right on the mark. We thought the little bit of cold was perfect - even had a dusting of snow on 2 days- and the early sunset means you get to see the markets beautifully lit without staying up late.

We would do the trip again in a heartbeat. here's a link to the pics if you want to get a feel for it.

We did the Viking "Rhine Getaway" in early December 2 years ago and it was absolutely wonderful. I really enjoy Christmas and I remember coming out of the amazingly beautiful Cathedral in Strasbourg, France after our tour - the Christmas market was spread out in front of us, the air smelled of spices and gingerbread, a choir was singing Christmas carols and it was snowing, those big fluffy kind of flakes - I felt like I was inside a Christmas snow globe!