Compare River Cruise Companies

I am thinking of cruising the Rhone River in the Burgundy-Provence area. Which of these 3 Cruise Lines would you suggest? Uniworld, Ama Waterways or Avalon. What are the pluses and minuses of each?

Uniworld and AMA are pretty comparable...

Those are the 3 that we narrowed down to. We ended up with Avalon and we were very happy. Can't compare as Avalon is the only river cruise we have done. We have booked another Avalon cruise for the spring.

We have done AMA and Avalon. Uniworld is a quality river cruise line but the old world, heavy decor is a turn off so I do not think we will be trying them anytime soon.

Avalon's boats are very well maintained, contemporary and the staffs on our 4 cruises have all been excellent. Their new beds are wonderful, the best we have experienced on a river cruise. We do not take many of the included tours but the few we did were well organized with good guides. The lines responsiveness during a challenging travel time (we were aboard a cruise where there was 22 inches of snow in a few days time, crippling airports, skewing water levels and generally making things as difficult as they could for river boats) was impressive.

AMA boats are also immaculate, well maintained and have great crews. We had a very young Captain and CD on AMA and they were both outstanding. Our Captain navigated us through water which in some areas was less than 6 inches deep, while other river boats were parked and guests were bussed to the next port. We were there during the time of extremely low water levels last fall and they did not miss a beat. The cruise was a lot of fun, which is not a word I would normally use to describe a river cruise. Just an overall vibe that we very much enjoyed and excellent attention to detail that was noticeable on our AmaDante cruise.

We found the demographic younger on AMA, and that was reflective in the entertainment and onboard personality. They have bikes on board for guest use, as well as guided bike tours. We enjoyed the many regional specialties offered in the dining room as well as their signature cheese board, which was outstanding.

They have an onboard massage therapist which we enjoyed very much. There was more to do on our AMA cruise and since we are in the younger range of river cruises, that was great for us.

I have only cruised with AMA thus far and they were super in every department. I have chosen Scenic Tours for next year in Burgundy/Provence for a few reasons, and their only competitor was AMA (I don't care for the old style decor of Uniworld). They are all inclusive, nothing to pay when you leave; it is a 12 night cruise with no overnight cruising so the evening can be spent onshore in the local 'culture'; I wanted a post cruise in Barcelona and very few do that. You will find everyone has a different opinion of every cruise line so it is best if you first decide what things are important to you and research all the lines to see who gets the most check marks. Not all lines are equal.

We just finished AMA's Burgundy and Provence in May. It was great. I have never been on Avalon. Suggest you get into the weeds and find out what each cruise includes and balance with the cost. Also, we had a great cruise with Vantage in Russia last year.

Also, suggest you read some member reviews. Here is mine.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=103733

None of the above. We just got off a cruise on the MS Rembrandt from Arles to Paris and loved it. It is a small ship, with only 78 passengers. Vantage will be bringing one of their bigger river ships around next year.

In a week or so, I will be posting the story and pictures on our website.

How about Vantage ???

Why do you rule out Tauck? It's close in price to those you mention and includes much more and is considered by most top of the line.

Interesting discussion about not just these three lines but also Scenic and Tauck (interestingly no mention of Viking?). What's intriguing and confounding about the river lines is that each one is different and distinct from the others and yet their marketing makes 'em all seem similar.

I think the first thing you have to figure out is what your budget is, then go from there. Scenic, Uniworld and Tauck are all on the higher end, AMA's sort of in the middle, and Viking and Avalon are more cost-friendly.

We're getting ready to re-launch our brand new river cruise section and I'm working on a story for it in which we ask: which hotel chain is ... and which mainstream cruise line (luxury or mass market) is...

Curious: How you would describe the lines you've traveled on in those terms?

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

I am thinking of cruising the Rhone River in the Burgundy-Provence area. Which of these 3 Cruise Lines would you suggest? Uniworld, Ama Waterways or Avalon. What are the pluses and minuses of each?

Thanks Carolyn, I look forward to your article.

Carolyn, So glad you are going to try and relaunch. Don't know whether it will be by price point or area. All I can say is; it's very frustrating to log on to river cruises and be overwhelmed by threads about which I have no interest. My choice would be by line as with ocean cruising, but I believe that has been shot down. Why?

Regarding Viking, I have no experience with their new ships; but when cruising with Tauck we moored 2-3 times next to one of the older Viking boats-YUCK.

In addition their service rep leaves something to be desired. Mind you I have no experience-it's only hearsay.

Love Your Product!

Bill

Hi Carolyn,

I'm looking forward to viewing your new river cruise section!! I agree with newlondon as to having sections for each river cruise line as you do with the ocean cruise lines.

Sheila

Hi Carolyn,

 

I'm looking forward to viewing your new river cruise section!! I agree with newlondon as to having sections for each river cruise line as you do with the ocean cruise lines.

 

Sheila

They did this a few months ago. You must have been gone. Most people did not like it and they switched it back.

Sorry, duplicate post!

Hi, Bill, thanks for the nice words!

Great question re why the forums lump everything into "river cruising" and don't go by line or river. We went back and forth on this -- and may well change some day -- but the cruise lines themselves said they felt that as river cruising was developing and growing, most folks search first by river, then by cruise line, and didn't want to separate out the cruise lines. Now that could change but at the moment...that's one of the reasons why we haven't broken it out.

Would it be more helpful to break it out by river? I.e. Mekong Delta, Rhine, Nile, etc.? I hope y'all will share your thoughts as we're tweaking in the final stages.

Beyond the forums, we're also relaunching our editorial section on river cruises (our existing version is here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/cruisestyles/area.cfm?area=21. The new one will start out with a page that allows you to click on which river you want and then move into individual ship reviews (both editorial and member-submitted) that will help you narrow your choice of cruise line.... It's hard to explain, but I look forward to your feedback when it's up. We'll give you a heads up on the date here in the river cruising forum.

Viking's an interesting company and as with many of the big ship lines, which ship you choose really will impact your experience. It's important to note that it's not a luxury river line -- it's not priced that way either, it's probably the most value-oriented of all of them. The new longships (there are going to be 10? 12? I've lost track) feel like Seabourn's Odyssey class onboard, they're just gorgeous. The middle aged ships, like Prestige, are very nice, with a lot of creature comforts (some of the nicest cabins on the rivers) but nothing out of the ordinary. And the older ones don't have the mod cons or modern designs so maybe not so appealing. That same principle applies to many of the lines' older ships and I think we'll see, as they're all in a building boom, the older ones getting rotated out of fleets so there's more consistency.

But it all depends on what you like....and what your budget's dictating. And again, shop for line, sure, but also make sure you research the ship....

My sense is Viking's really working on its service, both onboard and in sales reps, and it needs to, but otherwise, an excellent way to go. So is Avalon. So is Uniworld, AMA, Scenic, etc. And Tauck, which I cruised on last summer, and adored.

Can you tell I'm a huge fan of rivers?!

CSB

Carolyn, So glad you are going to try and relaunch. Don't know whether it will be by price point or area. All I can say is; it's very frustrating to log on to river cruises and be overwhelmed by threads about which I have no interest. My choice would be by line as with ocean cruising, but I believe that has been shot down. Why?

Regarding Viking, I have no experience with their new ships; but when cruising with Tauck we moored 2-3 times next to one of the older Viking boats-YUCK.

In addition their service rep leaves something to be desired. Mind you I have no experience-it's only hearsay.

Love Your Product!

Bill

Hi, Bill, thanks for the nice words!

 

Great question re why the forums lump everything into "river cruising" and don't go by line or river. We went back and forth on this -- and may well change some day -- but the cruise lines themselves said they felt that as river cruising was developing and growing, most folks search first by river, then by cruise line, and didn't want to separate out the cruise lines. Now that could change but at the moment...that's one of the reasons why we haven't broken it out.

 

Would it be more helpful to break it out by river? I.e. Mekong Delta, Rhine, Nile, etc.? I hope y'all will share your thoughts as we're tweaking in the final stages.

Given that when one goes into the River Cruising board, one sees after about only 10 or so posts, "yesterday," there is no need to break River Cruising down into sub-areas. There's not enough activity in River Cruising to warrant that. If you went into the ocean cruise boards you would find literally thousands of "today" posts if all the lines were lumped together.

Besides, it's nicer to be able to continue to compare River Cruise Lines in the same area without having to bounce back and forth from Line to Line.

Since, right now, River Cruising boards are used so little compared to ocean cruising boards, it would make it difficult to get information on River Cruising if it were compartmentalized.

Please leave it the way it is unless/until it gets "crowded."

CSB, we just booked a cruise on Viking for 2013. Your thoughts on Viking concern me now, re service, older ships, etc. should I be concerned? CC voted Viking, according to their ads," Top for river cruising " in 2011'' is that not the case?

Carolyn, Thanks for your nice reply. As you can see a relaunch is already creating controversy. I will reiterate, some slicing and dicing would imo be a good thing.

Couldn't agree more; Tauck at this time is the best. They need, however, to add the Seine in France. We're doing Uniworld this summer, I'm sure we'll have a good time; but, Tauck would have been better.

Exactly. You said it better!

Carolyn

Given that when one goes into the River Cruising board, one sees after about only 10 or so posts, "yesterday," there is no need to break River Cruising down into sub-areas. There's not enough activity in River Cruising to warrant that. If you went into the ocean cruise boards you would find literally thousands of "today" posts if all the lines were lumped together.

 

Besides, it's nicer to be able to continue to compare River Cruise Lines in the same area without having to bounce back and forth from Line to Line.

 

Since, right now, River Cruising boards are used so little compared to ocean cruising boards, it would make it difficult to get information on River Cruising if it were compartmentalized.

 

Please leave it the way it is unless/until it gets "crowded."

Hi, thanks for your insights.

I didn't say Tauck is "the best" -- I can't possibly make that decision for you or anyone else. What's best for you -- budget, ambience, itinerary, comforts, enrichment, service -- is not going to, at least necessarily, be best for me.

I did love the Tauck experience, I'll admit, but I have also had great trips on Uniworld, AMA, Avalon, Viking. I had a good trip-with-a-bad-end on the now-defunct Deilmann (wrote about it when I worked for The Washington Post) but mostly, these days, if you like ocean cruising there's only more to like about the river experience.

Unless the casino and Broadway-esque entertainment matters! (Seriously if it does, you won't like river cruising).

But what I can say is, having cruised on all the lines and understanding and appreciating what they offer, balanced alongside with what their average price point is, what is best for "this kind of traveler". That's why I'd love for you all to tell me, are you a Ritz-Carlton person? Or a Hyatt person? Fill in the spaces between (and beyond) as you please!

Maybe in another life I'd have been a travel agent; I so admire and respect the job that really talented, insightful and customer-oriented agents can do to help travelers find their trips-of-a-lifetime.

I did an AMA cruise this spring on the Rhone -- Arles to Lyon (though I had to get off at Tournon and go back to the office, arghhhh) and was seriously impressed with the experience, especially with the tours. I'm in the final stages of writing the review but will say that one tour in particular (and mind you like most river cruise tours it was included in the price) we did a winery visit. Yeah yeah, bah humbug. But before we went to the winery, the tour took us to the winery's vineyard and let us prowl around, and then the winemaker told us how the terrain (heavily rocky) impacted the flavor of the wine and encouraged us to pick stones up and touch them and smell them and wow, that was special.

CSB

PS My husband and I did Avalon Creativity last summer on the Seine and can I just say -- it was magic. I know I use that word a lot. But we started in Paris, had a night there, had a great activities director (American, married to the director of the Moulin Rouge!), loved the ports. Normandy was especially powerful and the CD went off the grid, bought a lot of roses, and handed one to each of us to place on a grave of our choosing. Powerful.

I can't honestly think of a river I"ve done that I wouldn't repeat, eagerly, though the Danube is a bit of a tease...I want to get off in Durnstein and rent a little villa and just live there for a month. My husband, alas, says no.

Carolyn, Thanks for your nice reply. As you can see a relaunch is already creating controversy. I will reiterate, some slicing and dicing would imo be a good thing.

Couldn't agree more; Tauck at this time is the best. They need, however, to add the Seine in France. We're doing Uniworld this summer, I'm sure we'll have a good time; but, Tauck would have been better.

Carolyn - I enthusiastically agree with Baybear that it would be a mistake to repeat the recent (and, fortunately, rescinded) move to break this forum into sub-forums (sub-fora??) by cruise lines.

It does not appear that any divisions are required at this time. Perhaps at some later time, it might make sense to do so by river, as you noted, as the experience and the boats used are quite different amongst Europe, Russia, S.E.Asia(Mekong), China, and the Nile. Making divisions amongst rivers in Europe would be less useful, as most of the cruise lines use the same boats on various rivers, particularly the Rhine, Danube, and Moselle.

Thanks again for having been so responsive to your loyal CC membership when you reevaluated the previous unfortunate change and rescinded it.

Cheers, Fred

I just found this thread and am very intrigued. My DW and I have just been looking at Amsterdam to Vienna or Budapest, but are not sure of which line. We have met several people who rave about Grand Circle. Has anyone used them and what was your experience?

I just found this thread and am very intrigued. My DW and I have just been looking at Amsterdam to Vienna or Budapest, but are not sure of which line. We have met several people who rave about Grand Circle. Has anyone used them and what was your experience?

We did the reverse cruise on Vantage and cannot recommend it highly enough. IMHO, they are the best to give you the most bang for the buck.

A description of the cruise is on our website

I did not like the change to individual lines, however, I would like it even less if divided by rivers. That would be akin to dividing the ocean cruise forums by destination.

Considering the limited volume of this forum, I prefer to see it stay as is.