River cruise question

[Charlotte1]

Hi all,

We are trying to figure out if we want to take a river cruise or not.

Can anyone tell me from their experience, how much free time there is? I realize that some excursions are included in the cruises and we are the type of people that enjoys venturing on our own, so with that being said, if we took a river cruise and went on the excursions, is there enough time after to do go out and explore on your own some? Also any opinions on Christmas market cruises vs say an Amsterdam tulip time cruise? Thanks everyone..

[Shmoo here]

Hi all,

We are trying to figure out if we want to take a river cruise or not.

Can anyone tell me from their experience, how much free time there is? I realize that some excursions are included in the cruises and we are the type of people that enjoys venturing on our own, so with that being said, if we took a river cruise and went on the excursions, is there enough time after to do go out and explore on your own some? Also any opinions on Christmas market cruises vs say an Amsterdam tulip time cruise? Thanks everyone..

 

There's a River Cruising board here. You'll get more/better answers if you post there:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=191

 

:)

[paul929207]

Obviously "enough" is subjective, but on our recent 7 day cruise on the Elbe, I felt we had enough time to off on our own. You are not obligated to go on any of the tours, but you do not get a refund for skipping one. On our cruise there were also two optional tours giving you more free time in those ports.

 

There is one catch, sometimes the ship will move while passengers are off on a tour. So if you are on your own, you would need to get to the new location.