River cruising - a good value or not?

[peterdkiwi]

We have travelled from NZ to Europe or USA 10 times in the last 16 yrs. if we don't fly business class, trips usual cost NZ$1000 per day per couple. This is about the same cost of the river cruise just completed in July this year and same for one booked for next year. On our 8 day cruise we only spent 250 Euro in total for everything in 8 days including a couple of extra tours. That's very cheap travelling in Europe, and yes we didn't need to pack and unpack each day.

[Hydrokitty]

Hydrokitty, Imo you hit it out of the park! River cruising is a GREAT value as one gets older and rejects bus travel. We were always independent travelers and now for our 50th anniversary are going to do one more with the family in the Dordogne. Our opinion, however, is it is a lot of work and either river cruising or ocean cruising are our preferred choice.

 

Thank you for the kind words New London and congrats on your 50th (we did ours last April through the Panama Canal) You will lOVE the Dordogne and be sure to try the cassis ice...it's delicious!!

[patrickmoran]

We have booked our first river cruise for December. As a newbie researching river cruises what struck me was how much expansion the river cruise lines have made in the last few years. The fleets have more than doubled!:eek: River cruising is growing but not that fast. I think there will be some incredible deals available next year and in 2015 so they can fill those ships.:D Reminds me of the cruise lines 10 years ago. I am paying less now for my Carib cruises:cool: than I did then. We got free air from Viking for our cruise plus the price was $100 less pp than in high season! So those shoulder seasons can be where you will save $$.

[Ship's Wake]

We took our first river cruise way back in 2005, with Uniworld. If I recall correctly beginning category pricing for the Rhine Christmas markets was $1799pp, before any discounts and pricing gimmickry. Our out the door price for two all in cruise only was approximately $3100.

 

That same cruise in 2014 with Uniworld during the same week now has beginning pricing at $3049pp.

 

Granted that Uniworld in 2014 will include gratuities and cocktails in the fare, and their 'discounts' and early booking/pay in full discounts may have changed somewhat. It's entirely possible that Uniworld has decided to reposition their line more upmarket and the pricing is reflective of that.

 

I have not compared pricing across the board for other lines - sounds like I need to look at other river cruise lines more closely.

 

We love to river cruise, we also love to travel independently and actually enjoy the planning and logistics part of the trip. Sure they are different types of trips, but we have not seen hotel rates, train travel/rental car and the cost of meals increase in price by 70% over the past 8 years, as they have with Uniworld.

 

That's what prompted my initial post - are they a good value for the money. By reading several responses, in appears that many posters are inelastic to pricing increases and recognize what a great way river cruising is to travel and find them to be a good value for what they receive.

[caviargal]

Our favorite way to travel in Europe is independently by train when we are traveling as a couple. I would rather have a root canal than take a bus tour, anywhere.

 

River cruising for us is something we choose when (1) we are traveling with my mother, who is 83, (2) there is a particular area we are interested in visiting that makes exploring on the river easier.

 

We always look for promotions and travel in the off season and 90% of the time we do a week in Europe on our own in conjunction with our stay.

 

We quite enjoy theme cruises, especially the wine cruise we took with AMA a few years ago. That is why we are booked on another next year with a group of like minded friends and my mother to Provence. We have taken my mother to Europe a half dozen times so far and river cruising is by far her favorite and gives us all the opportunity to go at our own pace.

 

We are not fans of ocean cruising overall, and the mass market lines are something we avoid as we do not enjoy the crowds, the nickel and diming, the regimentation and the constant pressure to spend more money.

 

Since we will not drive in Europe and with our interest in food and wine, the Provence itinerary and wine theme has a lot of appeal to us, especially the overnight stays in port.

 

This year, AMA had a wonderful promotion on their holiday cruise that make it a very affordable choice for us - and we love spending the holidays in Europe.

 

We will not travel to Europe in high season due to crowds, heat and prices.

 

Whether they are a good value depends on what you value and what you personally enjoy. For us, it is dependent on the itinerary, price and who we are traveling with.

 

With Viking churning out boats at a rapid rate, I have to wonder if today's river cruise pricing can be sustained. There will be more and more berths to fill and IMO the more popular (common) routes may see more promotions and specials to fill these new builds. Time will tell.

[newlondon]

Excellent post caviargal:)

 

I agree with you about mass market ocean cruising but Regent and SS work for us. We did 6 weeks with Regent in SE Asia and despite some major disruptions truly enjoyed it.

 

Travelling value is always in the eye of the beholder--or user. We are willing to pay to be well taken care of and I guess are one of those who the law of inelastic prices applies to. (BTW what bad grammar)

 

Despite all this your comments are right on; the convenience, the service-only imo with the upscale lines, and the ability to take things as one wants them makes for good value; and as you point out with Viking's attempt to overwhelm the market the value may get better.

 

My major problem is the diversity of itineraries and overall the shortness of the cruises. Not all of Europe is new to us, so many trips are repetitive. We also want more than a 7-8 night cruise which eliminates most of the shorter rivers.

[newlondon]

Hydrokitty, Congrats right back at you.

 

We know we will love the Dordogne as we have been there. The rest haven't and we felt it was a great place for youngsters. Not good value for Nana and Grandpa; but great fun for all:)

[Hydrokitty]

Excellent post caviargal:)

 

 

My major problem is the diversity of itineraries and overall the shortness of the cruises. Not all of Europe is new to us, so many trips are repetitive. We also want more than a 7-8 night cruise which eliminates most of the shorter rivers.

 

We have the same problem newlondon....we've done so many cruises and been to Europe so many times that it's sometimes hard to find something that's new.....(and why are we complaining about this:D)....being retired we too want more than a 7-8 night cruise and look for 14 nighters most of the time. I agree with Caviargal, but I sense that she is a bit younger than we are and (kill me for saying this)" when we were her age" we preferred independent travel as well. :)

[Talisker92]

One of the points newlondon made I thoroughly agree with. We are flying from the west coast, and would not consider anything shorter than a 14 day cruise.

[Cary Cruiser]

Is river cruising a good value?

 

We'll be doing our first RC in November so hopefully after that trip I'll have a bit more insight to the answer for that question, but for me that decision is more destination driven.

 

Five years ago we did our first trip to Europe. We wanted to see Italy, and did a 12 night package with Insight Tours called Easy Pace Italy. Spent 3 nights in four different places - the Lake Country, Venice, Florence and Rome. The first day Insight gave you a guided tour and a dinner and the rest of the time you were on your own. All 4* hotels. I liked this format a lot. Good tour guides and lots of free time.

 

We covered a lot and saw a great deal of Italy without too much packing and unpacking luggage. Could we have done this with an river cruise? Obviously not.

 

When it came time to plan the trip we are about to do with Viking, my objective was to see Prague, Venice and Budapest. I wanted to do another land tour with Insight. My wife balked a little about doing another bus trip and I quickly realized we could also see these same places doing a river cruise, which she was agreeable to. She did not like all the packing and unpacking, but as I added the pre and post extensions on to our Danube cruise it became apparent to me that there would be almost the same packing and unpacking as on our Italy trip (I don't think she realizes that yet).

 

To see those 3 cities you could do it either way, land or river. And of course seeing Prague is a land trip in any event.

 

If you want to see Greece and the Greek Isles the best way is probably by ship.

 

If you want to really see the UK the best way is probably by land.

 

So my point is, that depending on where you want to go, river cruising could be a possibility or it might night even be an option.

 

While I am sure I will love river cruising down the Danube, there are places I want to go and see where there are no rivers or river boats going there.

 

Barring becoming an RC "addict" that is what will drive my future travel plans.

[newlondon]

Hydrokitty, Notice you are from Long Island. DW is from Locust Valley, near you?

Won't kill you because we were the same. Much tougher these days but if we stay in USA or Canada we still plan to do independent travel. Next one is the Gaspee Peninsula In eastern Canada.

[newlondon]

Cary Cruiser, Glad you are looking forward to your trip. You will have a great time.

Don't necessarily expect disruption during your extensions. We have done many and most do not involve changing locations. Hope it works for you.

[fred111]

My wife and I have done plenty of independent travel in Europe and really enjoy it; however, we much prefer a relaxing river cruise. Unpack only once, stop in the middle of town and walk around, etc.

 

I found that while you can save money planning the same itinerary on your own, it is a major hassle. You lose too much time packing and unpacking, checking in and out of hotels, waiting for trains, looking for restaurants, etc.

 

That said, we normally do independent travel on both sides of our river cruise. For example, in a couple of weeks we are doing the Uniworld Po river cruise. We will spend a week in Tuscany before and a week in Positano after.

[OnWeGo]

TravelBugM - I am the same as you - I love doing the research of the trip so I know more about the places we will be visiting and what there is to do. I do the planning and research for the trips I take with my girlfriend and two sisters. Our first trip to Europe was to Florence, Siena, Cinque Terra and Tuscany for 8 days. We did it entirely on our own. The next two trips were cruises. This gave us an opportunity to see many different places. Some of which we will likely not see again and others we would love to see again.

 

Our June 2014 trip will be our first river cruise. We are looking foward to doing something different. Cost wise I'm sure it is cheaper to do trips on your own but would we see the places we will be seeing on this trip? Probably not. As they say "don't knock till you tried it".

[Hydrokitty]

Hydrokitty, Notice youre from Long Island. DW is from Locust Valley, near you?

Won't kill you because we were the same. Much tougher these days but if we stay in USA or Canada we still plan to do independent travel. Next one is the Gaspee Peninsula In eastern Canada.

 

Hi newlondon (CT?) I know Locust Valley....DH comes from Brookville. I'm from Sag Harbor. We compromised and live on south shore of LI near Sayville. We do the same thing in US....easier to make arrangements when you can change them at the last minute with a cel phone! We just came back from a riverboat cruise on Columbia and Snake Rivers from Portland OR to Clarkston WA...with a week on our own pre-trip touring Oregon....it was great.