First time river cruisers

We are an active couple in our 60's looking to do our first river cruise. We enjoy Princess & Celebrity for ocean cruises. Thinking of Danube or maybe one of the cruises through France.

Which line do you suggest, and why?

Thanks.

Howdy,

I guess it really depends a lot on you, but seeing that you have cruised with Celebrity I would say Uniworld, Tauck, or Scenic.

Has a lot to do with what you may want as to itinerary and timing.

River Cruises just like that of Ocean Cruising varies in pricing as to time of year. The more popular times are a little more expensive.

We liked Scenic as it is an Australian company, that is breaking into the US and Canadian markets and have an extremely good track record and is one of those All Inclusive river cruises. No Nickle and Diming you. We cruised in one of there new ships the Jasper and was in a Royal Panorama Suite and pure luxury from top to bottom.

Had a Limo to pick us up and take us to our hotel and from our hotel to the ship and the same when we ended our portion of the cruise. Had a Private Butler that took care of pretty much everything, from unpacking to packing, bringing coffee and orange juice in the mornings as our cabin was all the way in the very back of the ship and sometimes setting up breakfast on our balcony. Having private concerts in Vienna and Budapest not like some of the other cruise lines where you are mixed in with other cruise lines.

Our cabin was huge 475 sq ft and we had a Cocktail Party with 14 folks and still had room for more.

The fact that it is an Australian company was nice as on our cruise we had 100 Aussies 40 Canadians and the rest of us was a mix but nice in getting to know folks from other parts of the world.

We enjoyef so much so that we are booked for a river cruise for September 15,2017 Spectacular South of France with Paris and we are adding Nice and Monte Carlo and on their New Ship currently being built the Eclipse for October 18,2018 Cuba in Depth.

Need to book early as these River Cruises have a tendency to fill up fast.

Wishing you Smooth Sailings

Loungin,Laughin, and Libations

Fun for All and All for Fun

Lisa and Gary

LoneStarCruisinCouple

Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

Welcome to the River Cruising forum, dread_pirate!

I suggest you start by reading the sticky New to RIVER CRUISING??? at the top of this forum, especially the downloadable pdf:

http://pdf.cruisecritic.com/travel-guide/UltimateGuidetoRiverCruising.pdf?et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845

which discusses each cruise line and compares them to ocean cruise lines and hotels [this will give you a frame of reference]. The range among river cruise lines that market in the US is fairly small -- but there are differences from the bottom to the top, and the prices don't vary as much as it first appears because the more expensive lines include more things that cost extra on the "cheaper" lines. For information on choosing a river, read the sticky River Cruise Basics articles on Cruise Critic at the top of this forum. I also recommend the book Berlitz guide to River Cruising in Europe by Douglas Ward, which may be found at your public library.

PS -- Did you know that before Johnny Depp was the "dread pirate" Captain Jack, he was in the movie Chocolat as a -- wait for it -- river pirate???

Hi, I am a long time Celebrity cruiser and I took my first River Cruise in

April on AMA Watertways. It was not your itinerary but I would highly

recommend AMA. The service, food, tours, overall ambiance was just

fantastic. I went on a cruise called TULIP TIME...out of Amsterdam.

My sister has sailed with them before and my TA has sailed with them

many times so I had 2 recommendations from folks whose opinion I

value.

I had such a wonderful time I have already booked my 2nd River Cruise

with AMA for next year:) Oh, I am in my upper 50s so near your ages.

Here is a link to my review if you want to read it (I tried to give details;))

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2344645

We are taking our first river cruise in 2 weeks on the Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg. We chose Emerald Waterways which is the sister company to Scenic. We wanted to try them because we liked some of the features they offered (like the pool becoming a movie cinema at night). We also liked the itinerary.

Good luck! There are so many different options as river cruising is becoming more and more popular.

I recommend selecting the itinerary you want then compare the different companies. Our first river cruise was on the Rhine because I was drawn to the afternoon cruising through all the castles, plus the rest of the trip.

Then compare what each company offers/does based on brochures and cruise critic member reviews. Things to compare are: all inclusive, details of dinners, size of staterooms, size of river boat, room service, excursions, length of stay in ports and price.

I recommend using an experienced Travel Agent, and they can also offer things about various river cruises.

Thank you everyone! I'll be checking out all the options you've mentioned.

Welcome to the River Cruising forum, dread_pirate!

PS -- Did you know that before Johnny Depp was the "dread pirate" Captain Jack, he was in the movie Chocolat as a -- wait for it -- river pirate???

:D I did know that, being a Johnny Depp fan, but my name actually comes from another source: Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride (both the book and the film are favorites!).