New to River Cruising

We have had several ocean cruises but friends of ours are wanting to take a Viking cruise sometime in 2012 and asked us to go. Since I am not familiar with the different river cruise companies, I would love to hear what your favorites are and why. The only information I have received in the mail is from Viking but I personally don't know anyone who has sailed with them. Also, what is a good time of year for river cruising?

Greetings from the Upstate.

We have been on several river cruises, but with only two companies. The first was a b2b across Europe from the Black Sea to the North Sea. It was with Uniworld.

The rest were with Grand Circle. A one week river cruise on the Nile as part of a two week tour of Egypt, six nights on the Amazon, and a two week Russian River cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

While the Uniworld trip was nice, we much prefer the GCT trips.

We too, have taken 3 Viking River cruises, and another on the Nile. The river cruise is very different from an ocean cruise.

The river cruise is much more active than the ocean cruise, the individual city tours are included on a river cruise, the meal times are fixed and free time tends to be very limited. Although my wife beats me up over this, the river cruise is a bus tour on a boat. No packing and unpacking with a group of generally well traveled fellow passengers.

We've just returned from an Oceania cruise to Alaska, have 3 more booked- all transatlantic.

But just booked Viking to the Ukraine in 2012.

If a river cruise is just a bus tour on a boat, then it is truly a luxury bus tour :). We found our first river cruise in June (Uniworld's Enchanting Danube on the River Beatrice) to be wonderful. And unlike bus tours, you unpack once for the duration of the tour. And unlike most ocean going cruises, the numbers are much smaller (on ours 143 passengers), which we thoroughly enjoyed. Having done many independent trips to Europe, and now having reached the ages (58 & 60) where we consider slowing down a bit, we found the river cruise to be a perfect combination of travel and touring. Yes, the days are long, but we appreciated the excellent tours and guides to places we might not have chosen to go on our own. I am sure we will be doing more river cruises in our travel future, and we will also be doing independent trips as well. The river cruise experience has merely broadened our travel style, and it was a wonderful trip.

I can't speak to other river cruise companies as we have only sailed with Viking and have been absolutely delighted on all counts. We have sailed Moscow to St. Petersburg, Vienna-Black Sea-Vienna, and Amsterdam to Budapest.

While the Russian boat was somewhat stark, the great food, tours, enrichment lectures and our well-travelled fellow passengers more than made up for it. (We understand that these boats have since been refurbished and upgraded.) The two European river cruises were once again exceptional experiences with rather more upscale accomodations, fabulous food and great tours.

Unlike ocean cruises, these boats allow you to get "up close and personal" with the cities you visit. You usually dock in the heart of each town, disembark and explore on foot. Though some optional tours may be offered, you will see the major sights in each place with a local guide as part of your cruise fare. There is not a lot of free time (for shopping! for which my DH is very grateful) but there is usually enough time to relax at a local cafe with a beer or an ice cream as you people-watch.

Our memories of these trips are wonderful. So many special moments stand out - Moscow's Red Square and Kremlin, visiting Catherine's Palace, the Hermitage and Petroverts, scaling the standing rocks of Belogradchik, visiting Transylvania, Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest, sailing past the "Castles on the Rhine". More than I can relate here.

Yes, we love ocean cruising, but a river cruise is a totally different experience. We have now booked Viking's "Footsteps of the Cossacks" from Kiev to Odessa and I'm sure we will not be disappointed as we watch our history books come alive! Marsha

There are a number of lines that do river cruises. Viking is only one of them. There is AMA, Vantage, Tauck to name a few.

We took 2 cruises with Vantage, one in 2007 and one in 2010 and were very happy with them. The stories and pictures are on our website http://www.stevekathytravels.com.

What you have to do is take a look and see what is included. The cost of airfare, transfers, and excursions have to be factored in. Some have many included excursions, and some may have them as options.

We have travelled with Uniworld, AMA and Scenic. Would travel with them all again - and would make the choice based on itinerary and cost. We do like an international mix of passengers - which you do not get with Vantage or Grand Circle. But that is a personal choice.

We love travelling in the fall - but some itineraries obviously don't work that way. Christmas markets run (obviously) in late November and through December. Tulip time cruises are in the spring.

I prefer *not* to travel when the weather is really hot - and prefer to stay away at times when the crowds are thick (ie: summer in Europe...).

Many here have their personal favourites.

If you want to look at other companies other than Viking, sign up on the websites for other companies - and request some brochures.

Have fun planning!!

Fran

Can someone please let me know a bit more about the ships, the accomodations, the food etc. TY

If you go to Vikings website, they have deck plans & photos of the ships.

I was very satisfied with the food we had on the Viking (Helvetia) Breakfast was a hot & a cold buffet, plus you could order many things from your waiter, we never did,as the buffet was more than adequate.

Lunch was often 2 options, Upstairs in the lounge, they would have a more casual lunch, a hot buffet & a salad bar. Downstairs in the dining room, they also had a sandwich & salad bar, plus you could order hot freshly cooked food from the waiter. This is what we normally did. The food tried to reflect the region we were traveling though. For instance, in Alsace, we had quiche, in other more German areas, it was schnitzels & brats etc. One day they had a food fair on the top deck. ( German street foods) but by the time we got up there, there were no seats left, so we went to the DR instead.

Dinner had a choice of appetizers soups /salads etc, & the main course was often, a choice between meat or fish. There was always the standing option of steak, chicken breast, salmon or vegetarian options also. I had the chicken breast one nihgt, it was very good, DH had the steak one night & he said it was not that good. We normally go the cheese plate for desert, but the others I saw with the sweet stuff, looked good. All of the soups we tried were excellent.

ETA: my favorite time of the year to cruise is Spring. I love all the blossoms, & the start of the longer evenings. It is also cheaper.

We are regular ocean cruisers and took our first river cruise with Viking, Bucharest to Passau, this past fall. It was wonderful. One thing I really liked is that all of our shore excursions were included in the price of the cruise. We took only one optional excursion, an evening concert in Vienna, which was great. We are booked with Viking for a China river cruise in October 2012. For our Eastern European cruise, we went in mid-September to early October. The weather was great, river water levels were good, and we enjoyed the fall colors.

We did one river cruise, St. Petersburg to Moscow, with Grand Circle Travel (GCT) in June of 2010. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The cabins are very comfortable with nice sized bathrooms. There are only 200 passengers per ship. As others have mentioned, the tours are included. They split you up into groups of approximately 35 and bus you from the ship to the tour area that way. You stay with the same group and have the same guide the entire trip. The food was excellent--and wine is included with your meal. There is a lot less "nickel and diming to death" on river cruises.

I have taken 7 river cruises with Viking and have enjoyed them for the most part. Some were better than others, but that can likely be said of most itineraries and ships. If you have a specific destination in mind, I could also tell you more about that cruise if it's one that I have taken. River cruising is different from ocean cruising but I prefer it for many of the reasons that others have mentioned.

We are taking our first river cruise on Tauck late Sept - also the Blue Danube as you did. Would love any tips, suggestions, for use of your free time. We are very excited and I agree with all you say about river cruising...

I have been considering a Rive Cruise for next year but was wondering about the typical age range for these types of things? I am in my early 30s. Will I be one of the youngest?

Hi konachloe,

We took Tauck last summer on the Rhine/Moselle rivers and their wasn't much down time. Our friend took a bike ride several days. There are some ports where you can stay in town for a while longer and either walk back or take Tauck's later coach back to the ship. I suggest you go to the Member Reviews on CC and hit on Tauck or go to their website and hit on their member boards. You are in for a lovely river cruise with a great company. Also, go to you-tube and put in Tauck or to their Facebook page.

Sheila

konachloe, Second everything Sheila said. Tauck is fabulous and you've chosen a good cruise. DW and I did AMS-BUD and loved it. There wasn't much extra time, but enough to let you shop or see a site of personal interest; in most cases. Sometimes it was the tour and then back to the boat.

I have been considering a Rive Cruise for next year but was wondering about the typical age range for these types of things? I am in my early 30s. Will I be one of the youngest?

snirp: I would say the average age is probably mid 50's..you will probably be one of the youngest but don't let that stop you if this is something that appeals to you. On my first river cruise last year, I met some people in their 30's and I just returned from a river cruise that actually had children on it!

DH and I are mid-50's --> and are usually on the younger end of the spectrum... This doesn't bother us - but if you are looking for people in your age category, you will (most likely) be disappointed.

Hello, I took a Uniworld river cruise in May of 2010, it was wonderful. A fabulous company and we were very well looked after. The river was Rohne and Sohne (Provence France) This river cruise has spoilt me from taking ocean cruises. So much more to see as you glide through such picturesque towns and villages. If you don't enjoy a river cruise then you have to be very hard to please. The food was magnificent, it was all fabulous truthfully. Hoping to take the Christmas Market river cruise down the Danube in November 2011. Hope this helped somewhat.

Hi again,

I forgot to tell you to check out host Sheila's review of the Swiss Jewel under CC's member reviews when she did her Danube cruise on Tauck!

Sheila M.

I have been considering a Rive Cruise for next year but was wondering about the typical age range for these types of things? I am in my early 30s. Will I be one of the youngest?

I would say River cruising isn't for young people. Mostly a retired or yes some that are still working. If your alone, you no doubt will get to know others by eating or doing the tours together. If it is a short river cruise, go for it and decide for yourself. The time you decide to go could make a difference

I would say River cruising isn't for young people. Mostly a retired or yes some that are still working. If your alone, you no doubt will get to know others by eating or doing the tours together. If it is a short river cruise, go for it and decide for yourself. The time you decide to go could make a difference

Would you please elaborate on why you feel river cruising isn't for young people? My DD and I are planning one for summer 2013--I'm taking her to Europe as her HS graduation gift and my sabbatical trip. We're both very excited about doing a river cruise, so I'm interested in understanding more about your comment.

Thanks!

Would you please elaborate on why you feel river cruising isn't for young people? My DD and I are planning one for summer 2013--I'm taking her to Europe as her HS graduation gift and my sabbatical trip. We're both very excited about doing a river cruise, so I'm interested in understanding more about your comment.

 

Thanks!

It is not for young people in my opinion as well. I have been visiting Europe since I was 16 and cannot imagine having been stuck on a river cruise on any of those trips before I turned 50 - and even now it is too low key and slow paced for us and we much prefer land trips. I do hope you have chosen one with lots of port time and overnight stays in at least a few of the cities and that it is a short cruise.

The excitement and pleasures of Europe in my younger days - and now as well - were about staying in the cities and experiencing the local culture and happenings - and not being stuck on a small boat with very little to do when one is on the river. Teens are all different but I would have been miserable on that type of trip and simply bored to death. There is very likely going to be no one her age at all and very little in the way of things of interest for her other than visiting the ports during the day.

It is a trip better suited IMO and IME for a mother and daughter when the mother is 70-80 and daughter 50-60.

JMO but I would not recommend it at all.

The only company I can talk from experience is GCT. They have "program Directors" for each group (not one for the entire ship) which means for each bus, so you will always have your own "guide" plus most of the time a local guide.

It depends on the company and offer wether the tours are included or optional.

Pros for a river cruise:

River cruises are so nice- imagine to sit in your deck chair and the beautiful landscape is passing by ;) ( I know-actually you are passing...) and you have the feeling you could touch it.

Not like on an ocean liner you only have about 140 travellers on board- you really get to know people and the staff.

You get lectures about the upcoming ports and can ask questions - at Costa and NCL we made the experience they only want to sell their tours and are no help if you want to do things on your own.

At some ports you will have local artist or musicians coming on board.

But be aware that over here in Europe we have lots of cobblestones - so it gets tiring to walk a lot. And ofcourse the entertainment is not to compare with ocean cruises at all! Time to chat or read or - relax!!!

My favourite trip ( have gone from Amsterdam to the Black Sea) is the part between Austria and Hungary or all the way to the Black Sea. You get to see different countries= different cultures.

When choosing a company also have a look at what kind of extensions they offer- you might as well stay a little longer after such a long flight!

Try to do the tour that direction that you haver the nicer part ( ship ) at the end of the trip-cities are not for relaxing.