luxury river cruising

I know that in ocean cruising, there are different categories: luxury (e.g. Regent), premium (e.g. Oceania), mass market, etc.

If these categories pertain in river cruising as well, which are considered "luxury" lines?

Thank you.

Tauck only.

But even all others have shore tours included, which is more than Oceana (your "premium").

I know that in ocean cruising, there are different categories: luxury (e.g. Regent), premium (e.g. Oceania), mass market, etc.

If these categories pertain in river cruising as well, which are considered "luxury" lines?

Thank you.

There are indeed. This may be helpful: http://pdf.cruisecritic.com/travel-guide/UltimateGuidetoRiverCruising.pdf?et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845

We are Oceania cruisers when on the ocean and choose AMA on the river.

then Tauck,AMA, then on to Uniworld and so on.

This last one was the top of the line on Scenic,so far ,out of 11 others.Booked another for next yr. You DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Relatively new to US,so not as many reviews YET.Best ship,butler,bathtub,room service,extra restaurants,all excursions, airport transfer,free drinks and tips,,I mean,WHat s not?We prefer Regent,Cyrstal,Seabourn,SeaDream and Oceania.Not the same,but it is the best for river, IMO.:)

Thanks for all responses.

Caviargirl: That's a really interesting site. I love the details of each description. One wonders, of course, whether river cruisers who have done trips on two or three of the named companies would agree with the comparisons. I'd be quite interested in knowing that, but no doubt no real way to find out. By the way, do you know the comparable thread about ocean cruising? I'd love to see whether my feeling about Regent (long-time cruisers on that line) coincides with how it's described. Should be fun to find out.

Thanks again.

p.s. I can't imagine why one might need a butler on a river cruise. Actually I have no interest in having one on ocean cruises either, but somehow the notion seems even more odd on these much smaller boats. Now if one of those luxury river cruise companies had king beds instead of queen, that'd be a major deciding factor for us.

We are currently on the Scenic Jade and our bed is huge. We have an Australian Queen size bed at home and this bed is much wider. It is two large singles pushed together as they must be able to turn the rooms into twin rooms if required.

I have no idea what size bed you are looking for but you wouldn't need anything bigger than this.

Stratheden: Would you be good enough to measure the width of the bed for me? (You can ask your butler to do it ;-)

King bed width in U.S.= 72 inches

Australian queen= 60" (I'm pretty sure)

70" wide is fine for us, but have never been comfortable in anything under about 66".

Enjoy your cruise!

(What do you use your butler for?)

Thanks for all responses.

 

Caviargirl: That's a really interesting site. I love the details of each description. One wonders, of course, whether river cruisers who have done trips on two or three of the named companies would agree with the comparisons. I'd be quite interested in knowing that, but no doubt no real way to find out. By the way, do you know the comparable thread about ocean cruising? I'd love to see whether my feeling about Regent (long-time cruisers on that line) coincides with how it's described. Should be fun to find out.

 

Thanks again.

 

I have cruised 3x with AMA and 4x with Avalon. The comparisons to those 2 lines are dead on IMO and IME.

I would certainly include Uniworld in the Luxury category(especially their 3 newest ships). They are all inclusive. I'm looking at Regent and Oceania for my next cruise and from all I talk to that have sailed them find Uniworld on par. I wanted to address your Butler question. On Uniworld Butler Service is part of the perks if you sail in a suite. We chose the suite on the SS Anotinette with Uniworld since it was a good bit larger(about 300 sq ft) and had a walk out balcony that can be enclosed or opened with a touch of a button and also had double sinks in the bath.

What we received with the Butler Service that was included were things like a daily fruit tray(was nice for taking with us on excursions), daily cookies, evening snack, as well as the butlers doing your laundry with it coming back pressed and folded. You also had a special dinner served by the Butlers in an alternative dining venue. With only 8 suites and 2 butlers they were always finding us on the ship to make sure we had a drink if needed or any other needs or requests. They also serve breakfast in the room. We did take advantage one morning with an early excursion. It ended with a special bottle of wine to take home at the end of the trip.

I certainly wouldn't book a suite to get a butler but if you want the extra space anyway it certainly is a nice perk.

Thanks for all responses.

 

Caviargirl: That's a really interesting site. I love the details of each description. One wonders, of course, whether river cruisers who have done trips on two or three of the named companies would agree with the comparisons. I'd be quite interested in knowing that, but no doubt no real way to find out. By the way, do you know the comparable thread about ocean cruising? I'd love to see whether my feeling about Regent (long-time cruisers on that line) coincides with how it's described. Should be fun to find out.

 

Thanks again.

 

p.s. I can't imagine why one might need a butler on a river cruise. Actually I have no interest in having one on ocean cruises either, but somehow the notion seems even more odd on these much smaller boats. Now if one of those luxury river cruise companies had king beds instead of queen, that'd be a major deciding factor for us.

I have been fortunate enough to take several river cruises and have traveled with Uniworld, Tauck, AMA, Viking, and Avalon. Based on my experiences, I would say that the reviews are pretty accurate. However, I have also learned that reviews like this are generalizations and there can be differences among experiences on the same line. Overall, I prefer Tauck and Uniworld. I have found everything about them to be first-class and I like the fact that they tend to have fewer passengers than the other three lines on which I have travelled. That being said, I have never had a river cruise that I did not enjoy.

 

p.s. I can't imagine why one might need a butler on a river cruise. Actually I have no interest in having one on ocean cruises either, but somehow the notion seems even more odd on these much smaller boats. Now if one of those luxury river cruise companies had king beds instead of queen, that'd be a major deciding factor for us.

Our butler experience on Oceania was exceptional and really enhanced our trip. And our Penthouse Suite was wonderful!

That being said, we spend far less time in our cabin and aboard in general on the river and would not opt for a suite on a river cruise. We are there to experience Europe and prefer to maximize our time in port.

Interesting thread. Uniworld bills itself as a "boutique" river cruise line. We think its great and see no reason to try any other line. While it has all the amenities we could ever want including excellent service the fellow passengers are down to earth. Only time we ran into any kind of snobbery/ self segregation was with a group of Francophone Canadians. Not quite sure why they chose an English language cruise line. Anyway once I spoke French with them the ice was broken. I suppose this is reverse snobbery but I would be concerned that on some other cruise lines I might feel uncomfortable with fellow passengers being too demanding or acting too entitled with staff/crew.

I have much appreciated these very helpful responses.

And I'm hoping that caviargal or others might be able to point me to a website that does those interesting comparisons that one finds on the river cruising site that was mentioned.

Many thanks to all.

There is a compilation of helpful information in sticky at the top of this forum:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046067

I'm looking for something similar about ocean cruising. In large part I'm curious to see whether my feelings about Regent match what the comparison descriptions of other luxury liners suggest. In other words, I want to see how Regent is described (e.g. what kind of people it attracts, what hotel brand it's most like, etc.) I found that comparison "chart" on river cruises interesting (and take it with a grain of salt).

I think "luxury" is very subjective. To me Tauck is the very best of luxury but to others it's not. Many feel that having a balcony on a river cruise is the height of luxury where I think it's a waste of valuable space. Some like the decor of a cruise line and hence its luxury. I honestly don't think you're going to get a satisfactory response to help you settle on what's luxury because that's always in the eye of the beholder.

I think "luxury" is very subjective... I honestly don't think you're going to get a satisfactory response to help you settle on what's luxury because that's always in the eye of the beholder.

Totally agree.

We really enjoyed our one cruise on Regent before it went inclusive but have no desire to return as we prefer to pick and choose where we spend our money. Now Oceania works best for us on the rare occasions when we ocean cruise. We like that the specialty restaurants are included and since we prefer to book private excursions or DIY, it is a much better fit.

For us, Oceania is luxurious enough and we are not paying for things we do not care about as they are not built into the cost.

Having just completed my first river cruise with Uniworld I would place them squarely in the "Upscale Light" category. The CC cruise guide compares the Uniworld vibe with Silversea and the amentities with Crystal. I would say Uniworld is just not in the same category as Silversea and I was disappointed by my expectation of such. The decor was uncomfortable and tacky and the food was particularly disappointing. The included wines were almost undrinkable. The daily tours were also disappointing in that the only accommodation made was for slow walkers but all the tour groups were much too large and very slow moving. Some of the guides were pretty bad, too. Overall, far from luxury. OTOH the personnel were very professional, friendly and well trained.

Having just completed my first river cruise with Uniworld I would place them squarely in the "Upscale Light" category. The CC cruise guide compares the Uniworld vibe with Silversea and the amentities with Crystal. I would say Uniworld is just not in the same category as Silversea and I was disappointed by my expectation of such. The decor was uncomfortable and tacky and the food was particularly disappointing. The included wines were almost undrinkable. The daily tours were also disappointing in that the only accommodation made was for slow walkers but all the tour groups were much too large and very slow moving. Some of the guides were pretty bad, too. Overall, far from luxury. OTOH the personnel were very professional, friendly and well trained.

Thanks for sharing. This is not what I normally read about Uniworld which generally is well thought of.

I do agree with the decor though. We have seen several of their boats in port and they seem very overdone for my taste.

You state this was your first river cruise with Uniworld. Was it your first river cruise or have you others to compare to?

I'm appreciating the continued input.

I very much agree that "luxury" means different things to different folks and that one's druthers are not necessarily another's preferences. In fact, I'm not even real comfortable using the word "luxury," since that's not really what we're after. More like wonderfully comfortable and tasteful (which qualities are also up for grabs, of course).

Ozjohnno: I had been thinking that Tauck would suit us very well (though I prefer a less homogeneous ship, i.e. one which has cruisers of many nationalities). The thing that I think will keep us from giving Tauck a try are all the reports about inferior accommodations in hotels. (We were thinking of doing a half land/half river tour.) Many, many people report that while Tauck uses quite good hotels, they invariably book one of the lowest category rooms for their guests. Also that it often happens that breakfasts, e.g., are not served in the main, very pleasant dining room, but in some little room off by itself. Quality of accommodations definitely does matter to us. Needn't be "luxurious," but when we travel we book one of the upper category rooms, not the lower.

caviargirl: We're at the age/staqe now (80's) that we're very grateful for the included excursions. Definitely do not want the hassle of finding things on our own or finding folks to join up with for tours. Oceania has great appeal for me, but that one detail wouldn't be comfortable for us. By the way, I keep asking, but you don't respond: Do you know of a comparison in ocean cruising like the nifty one you mentioned for river cruises?

seabreezer: Thanks for weighing in. Your report was interesting.

Interesting thread. Uniworld bills itself as a "boutique" river cruise line. We think its great and see no reason to try any other line. While it has all the amenities we could ever want including excellent service the fellow passengers are down to earth. Only time we ran into any kind of snobbery/ self segregation was with a group of Francophone Canadians. Not quite sure why they chose an English language cruise line. Anyway once I spoke French with them the ice was broken. I suppose this is reverse snobbery but I would be concerned that on some other cruise lines I might feel uncomfortable with fellow passengers being too demanding or acting too entitled with staff/crew.

I'm embarrassed to be Canadian when around Francophone Canadians. They are the same way to us fellow Canadians. I feel the need to apologize for them.....:(

By the way, I keep asking, but you don't respond: Do you know of a comparison in ocean cruising like the nifty one you mentioned for river cruises?

 

I did not see that question previously.

I do not but then I am not a fan of ocean cruising these days so don't pay much attention. The lines we will cruise are very limited and include Oceania, Windstar and SeaDream.

Ozjohnno: I had been thinking that Tauck would suit us very well (though I prefer a less homogeneous ship, i.e. one which has cruisers of many nationalities). The thing that I think will keep us from giving Tauck a try are all the reports about inferior accommodations in hotels. (We were thinking of doing a half land/half river tour.) Many, many people report that while Tauck uses quite good hotels, they invariably book one of the lowest category rooms for their guests. Also that it often happens that breakfasts, e.g., are not served in the main, very pleasant dining room, but in some little room off by itself. Quality of accommodations definitely does matter to us. Needn't be "luxurious," but when we travel we book one of the upper category rooms, not the lower.

 

Poss - I have no idea where the many, many come from that report that Tauck reserve the lowest category rooms comes from. Certainly not from what I've read here nor are they inferior. I've just returned from our cruise and the hotel room in the InterContinental le Grand in Paris was of the highest standard. A big room with a large bathroom and great views of Paris. The listed price behind the door for the room was 832 Euros per night. The breakfasts here were first class. At the Fairmont in Monte Carlo even though we were not impressed with the food, hardly Tauck's fault, we were impressed with our room. Again a big room with an outdoor patio that was beside a garden, hardly not low category. Some even had views of the harbour.

If your convinced that no room Tauck books for you will be luxurious enough for you then perhaps river cruising is not for you.

Having just completed my first river cruise with Uniworld I would place them squarely in the "Upscale Light" category. The CC cruise guide compares the Uniworld vibe with Silversea and the amentities with Crystal. I would say Uniworld is just not in the same category as Silversea and I was disappointed by my expectation of such. The decor was uncomfortable and tacky and the food was particularly disappointing. The included wines were almost undrinkable. The daily tours were also disappointing in that the only accommodation made was for slow walkers but all the tour groups were much too large and very slow moving. Some of the guides were pretty bad, too. Overall, far from luxury. OTOH the personnel were very professional, friendly and well trained.

How disappointing! That didn't match our n-of-1 experience at all. A shame that the experience turned out so far from luxurious for you :( I wonder if the ship made a difference? You were on River Queen I think, and that's a 15 year old ship.

We were pleased with the food and wine offerings on SS Antoinette this spring, on a similar route (Castles on the Rhine), and in fact we did think the comparison with Silversea was fairly accurate. I did notice that many if not all of the wine varietals were local, and some of those grapes are not as familiar (we know them from visiting the Finger Lakes in NY so much). For us that's a plus.

We do agree that a few of the tours were too slow (see my comments on Speyer and Marksberg, for example) but overall the quality was pretty good. We normally like to go off on our own and we had ample opportunity to do that which we enjoyed as well. I thought it was a good mix of guided and DIY, and we never felt like we had to stick around on the guided tours (we left Koblenz).

Décor is certainly subjective but SS Antoinette didn't bother us. I certainly wouldn't want my house to look like that but a week on board wasn't a problem, and never made us uncomfortable; it was kind of fun to pretend we were living in a fancy French chateau. It added to our vacation experience, we thought. Though I usually agree with caviargal, and want to grow up like her some day, this is one point where our opinions differ ;)

Definitely agree with you about the staff, though. Everyone from CD on down was great. I will definitely look for another Uniworld itinerary when we want to do another river cruise in the future. Sorry your experience wasn't so great.

That's rather a mean-spirited reply. For one thing, my posting makes perfectly clear that "luxurious" is not really what we're looking for. I wonder why such gratuitous nastiness.

And, yes, I have read numerous times (by people who otherwise like Tauck very much) that land accommodations are often a big disappointment, that they are allotted completely unappealing "standard" rooms in an otherwise lovely hotel.