Recommend a river cruise line for us please

[capriccio]

We did Avalon Tapestry 11 last summer and absolutely loved it; it was our first river cruise after about 16 ocean cruises on Celebrity' date=' Holland; Princess...this summer we are doing Uniworld...people have said it is more formal...can someone tell me where it is more formal? I am not planning on packing a dress or my DH a sports jacket...Avalon we were fine in slacks and collared shirt for him and slacks and tops for me...thank you.[/quote']

 

We have taken 2 Uniworld tours (Grand France and European Jewels). The two nights when people dressed up were the welcome and farewell dinners. I wore a simple long skirt and sweater, my SIL and her mom wore sundresses, my DH wore a sport coat, collared shirt, tie and slacks, and my DB wore a collared shirt and slacks. We all fit in perfectly and I didn't hear any snide comments or see any dirty looks directed at anyone :p. The other nights it was sundresses or slacks and blouses for the ladies and collared shirts and slacks for the men. You will be fine!

Edited June 13, 2016 by capriccio

[CPT Trips]

Sport coat? There's no sport coats on river cruises! :p

[JVilleGal]

Sport coat? There's no sport coats on river cruises! :p

 

 

Agree and that was one of the reasons mine agreed to go!

[lpw500]

We just returned from a Scenic cruise on the Danube from Nuremberg to Budapest . It was our first river cruise and it was great. All inclusive, so we had no out of pocket expenses. The butler was awesome, together with all of the other staff members. Based on our experience, I would highly recommend Scenic.

 

 

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[capriccio]

Sport coat? There's no sport coats on river cruises! :p

 

Agree and that was one of the reasons mine agreed to go!

 

DH wears his when traveling; he likes all the pockets. I think it is a hold over from his international travels (Europe every other week) before he retired. Who am I to object :confused:. And maybe it is just a change from south Florida where long pants and shoes (as opposed to flip flops) is considered dressy!

Edited June 13, 2016 by capriccio

[Second seating]

I have been on 5 Uniworld cruises you will see some but no big deal. My husband will wear his if it is there, a lot of our European travel is after work for him. We have two cruises coming up soon with no work prior, so no sport coat!

 

Second seating

[jpalbny]

On Uniworld, sport coat and tie are optional. You will not feel left out whether you wear one, or whether you don't. I have brought them on past cruises, but we cruise in March or April when the weather makes them a nice option, and they are very comfortable in the cooler evening weather. I would not bring one for summer cruises. I probably wouldn't take a summer cruise either, but...Have fun either way!

[Hydrokitty]

Agree and that was one of the reasons mine agreed to go!

 

Here too....both DH and I had to dress for work every day and when we retired he gave all his suits to Good Will and I donated mine to a "dress for success" program. I have one black dress that I wear for funerals and that's it. Now our designer of choice is LLBean!!!! I find black pants with a lacy top and black flats fine for dinner and he wears khaki slacks and a collared sport shirt. I wear the same thing on ocean cruises for "casual chic" night and I've never been asked to change my clothes.

[katmu]

I would love to get some feedback on this itinerary from the experts. I like the fact that it includes a couple of overnight stops.

 

http://www.crystalcruises.com/river-cruises/budapest-to-amsterdam--7D09

[JVilleGal]

Here too....both DH and I had to dress for work every day and when we retired he gave all his suits to Good Will and I donated mine to a "dress for success" program. I have one black dress that I wear for funerals and that's it. Now our designer of choice is LLBean!!!! I find black pants with a lacy top and black flats fine for dinner and he wears khaki slacks and a collared sport shirt. I wear the same thing on ocean cruises for "casual chic" night and I've never been asked to change my clothes.

 

 

I used to have a closet full of Talbots & Brooks Brothers suits.... Glade to say I also donated everyone of those ---- suits!

 

 

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[caviargal]

We did Avalon Tapestry 11 last summer and absolutely loved it; it was our first river cruise after about 16 ocean cruises on Celebrity' date=' Holland; Princess...this summer we are doing Uniworld...people have said it is more formal...can someone tell me where it is more formal? I am not planning on packing a dress or my DH a sports jacket...Avalon we were fine in slacks and collared shirt for him and slacks and tops for me...thank you.[/quote']

 

 

We found Uniworld more "formal" than Avalon in terms of ship decor, service style, and overall ambiance. Much more upscale and higher quality in every aspect of the experience as well. Night and day from Avalon and we were very happy with our Uniworld cruise.

 

Passengers did not dress differently on Uniworld cruise than on any other cruise we have taken. There were two special evenings aboard as well as their alternate dining venue.

 

We do dress up a bit for dinner most evenings and that is personal preference. DH sometimes wears a sport coat but more often dress slacks and collared shirt for dinners and long sleeve button down for the special nights/dinners.

 

He wore a jacket and tie while on our Scenic cruise for the nights where we had dinner at a Chateaux and the dress was cocktail. Almost all of the men wore jackets and ties that evening and ladies were dressed up as well. That the most formal we have ever seen the majority dressed on a river cruise and it was a very nice evening.

 

I do pack a dress and nice slacks with a few dressy tops for evenings on board.

 

We have seen a small percentage of men in sport coats on every river cruise we have taken but it is definitely not the norm.

Edited June 14, 2016 by caviargal

[Tedferg]

Night and day from Avalon and we were very happy with our Uniworld cruise..

 

This is a great thread for us, contemplating our first cruise. My estimate is Avalon $355 per day and Uniworld $480 - that's $450 more per day per couple. Wow!

[caviargal]

This is a great thread for us, contemplating our first cruise. My estimate is Avalon $355 per day and Uniworld $480 - that's $450 more per day per couple. Wow!

 

I am not getting the math at all. If that is the difference per person then Uniworld is $250 total per couple per day. That is easily made up in the included excursions, gratuities, drinks and more IMO.

 

I personally do not think these lines are comparable in terms of quality as well as inclusions.

 

It also depends on your personal tastes and priorities IMO.

[TravelerThom]

I would love to get some feedback on this itinerary from the experts. I like the fact that it includes a couple of overnight stops.

http://www.crystalcruises.com/river-cruises/budapest-to-amsterdam--7D09

Personally I prefer to plan do my own stays at small hotels at the beginning and end of cruises (versus staying in the generally more commercial hotels used by cruise lines). Generally I can find someplace more to my liking at significantly less cost than the river boat per diem, but it does take a modest amount of work to select nice small hotels. Vienna is certainly worth a couple of days. As much as I like Passau as a port stop, my German is not adequate to appreciate an overnight there.

 

Thom

[Tedferg]

I am not getting the math at all. If that is the difference per person then Uniworld is $250 total per couple per day. That is easily made up in the included excursions, gratuities, drinks and more IMO.

 

I personally do not think these lines are comparable in terms of quality as well as inclusions.

 

It also depends on your personal tastes and priorities IMO.

 

You are right - fat fingered calculator :(

 

It is hard as a novice to make fair comparisons without adding inclusions.

 

That is why this thread is so helpful - thanks !

[FuelScience]

You are right - fat fingered calculator :(

 

It is hard as a novice to make fair comparisons without adding inclusions.

 

That is why this thread is so helpful - thanks !

 

I got a similar number (around $200 per person per day) for the difference on my spreadsheet. I didn't add excursions, but I did put in the recommended tips, and I used about 9 euro per day per person for drinks--with free wine at lunch and dinner, we don't drink a lot extra.

 

Personally, we've never spent much over $100 per person for optional excursions on a river cruise for the entire cruise.

 

FuelScience.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Note: cruise critic members have the right to like or dislike any cruise line, whether or not they have sailed on it. There are many objective reasons to conclude that a particular line would not suit -- no need to waste tens of thousands of dollars to 'prove' the theory.

[Tedferg]

I wondered how many lunches people have on-board - aren't they mostly ashore on excursions ?

 

Similarly if most of the sailing is done at night how much value is a balcony ?

[capriccio]

I wondered how many lunches people have on-board - aren't they mostly ashore on excursions ?

 

Similarly if most of the sailing is done at night how much value is a balcony ?

 

On the majority of our days on our two river cruises (each 2 weeks long) we had excursions in the morning and in the afternoon with a return to the ship for lunch in between. Sometimes when the excursion destination requires a longer bus ride (Normandy Beaches, Heidelberg from Frankfurt, etc.) it is a full day excursion and doesn't return to the ship.

 

When the ship is sailing during the day or early evening we are up on the Sun Deck (weather permitting). When docked many ships are rafted together so there is no privacy on a balcony - you are either staring into another room or the exterior or another ship. We personally don't see the need for a balcony but that is obviously an individual's decision.

[katmu]

On the majority of our days on our two river cruises (each 2 weeks long) we had excursions in the morning and in the afternoon with a return to the ship for lunch in between. Sometimes when the excursion destination requires a longer bus ride (Normandy Beaches, Heidelberg from Frankfurt, etc.) it is a full day excursion and doesn't return to the ship.

 

When the ship is sailing during the day or early evening we are up on the Sun Deck (weather permitting). When docked many ships are rafted together so there is no privacy on a balcony - you are either staring into another room or the exterior or another ship. We personally don't see the need for a balcony but that is obviously an individual's decision.

 

That is a good point about the balcony cabins. My main interest in the balcony cabins was that they are generally larger than the non-balcony cabins. I'm thinking we might feel pretty cramped especially with the twin bed arrangement in some of the non-balcony cabins. Since we are looking at sailing during holiday market season, it's not that we're really planning to spend much time on the balcony anyway.

[Hydrokitty]

I wondered how many lunches people have on-board - aren't they mostly ashore on excursions ?

 

Similarly if most of the sailing is done at night how much value is a balcony ?[/quote

 

On river cruises we ate lunch on board when we had a morning and an afternoon excursion. It depends on where you're docked and how close restaurants and cafes are. You'll find the lunch crowd on board much smaller than dinner.

 

As for the balcony....we always have a french balcony, which of course cannot be sat upon. I love it because I'm a little claustrophobic and tend to get squirrely if I can't open the door. I don't know if you would sit outside on a real balcony that much. River cruises, because they're so much smaller, lend themselves to you meeting other people and enjoying sitting in the lounge or on the sun deck visiting....unlike on ocean cruises where I tend to avoid the noise and crowd by the pool and sit on my own quiet balcony.

[FuelScience]

That is a good point about the balcony cabins. My main interest in the balcony cabins was that they are generally larger than the non-balcony cabins. I'm thinking we might feel pretty cramped especially with the twin bed arrangement in some of the non-balcony cabins. Since we are looking at sailing during holiday market season, it's not that we're really planning to spend much time on the balcony anyway.

 

Always check the square footage. On the Viking Longships, the standard cabins (bottom deck) are larger (150 sq. ft.) than the french balcony cabins (135 sq. ft.).

 

FuelScience

[Tedferg]

Thanks for responses on Lunch and Balconies. My question about lunch stemmed from 'Free Wine & Beer with Lunch and Dinner'. I thought Dinner might be the only time this was important. I think all cruise lines include wine with meals - right.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Tedferg

[Hydrokitty]

Thanks for responses on Lunch and Balconies. My question about lunch stemmed from 'Free Wine & Beer with Lunch and Dinner'. I thought Dinner might be the only time this was important. I think all cruise lines include wine with meals - right.

 

I'm pretty sure all of them are including wine and beer with dinner....lunch I think might still be some. This should be easy to find out when you research the lines you're interested in. If it's not mentioned, chances are it's not included.

[JVilleGal]

Always check the square footage. On the Viking Longships, the standard cabins (bottom deck) are larger (150 sq. ft.) than the french balcony cabins (135 sq. ft.).

 

 

 

FuelScience

 

 

Typical sq ft on Avalon French Balcony is 200. Typical passenger load 160

 

 

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