Does anyone else feel that river cruises are overpriced?

[English Voyager]

As a solo traveller, a major benefit with Tauck is that there is no solo supplement for 'Aquarium Class' accommodation.

 

I cruised with them, from Bucharest to Amsterdam, in 2014, and although expensive I came away from the holiday feeling that I had received excellent value for money.

 

I note that for 2018 the cruise, in 'Aquarium Class', is only marginally more expensive than in 2014.

[OnTheJourney]

Hi. I have to agree with the OP. We did a UNIWORLD Amsterdam to Istanbul trip in 2015. Whilst it WAS the best holiday to date; I too cringe at the price.

I’ve booked another RC for next year. This time with Evergreen.... they had the itinerary I wanted. It’s a BIG year for us birthday and anniversary wise.... I probably wouldn’t be doing this trip otherwise. But I’ve worked out that’s it’s about $1400:00 per night for us. It IS a lot of money. Much more than what we would pay for any other kind of travel.

It’s our decision to do this so we can’t complain, but I agree that the prices have increased dramatically since this form of travel has become popular.

 

I know what you mean, which is why I started the thread in the first place. ANY trip that comes out to something like $1000+ per night, at least for me, is considered a bit on the expensive side. But, as you also mentioned, if you want it you gotta pay for it! The level of popularity of river cruising is undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the cost. They charge that much because they know they CAN, especially the all-inclusive lines. "What the traffic will bear"...and all that.

[OnTheJourney]

As a solo traveller, a major benefit with Tauck is that there is no solo supplement for 'Aquarium Class' accommodation.

 

I cruised with them, from Bucharest to Amsterdam, in 2014, and although expensive I came away from the holiday feeling that I had received excellent value for money.

 

I note that for 2018 the cruise, in 'Aquarium Class', is only marginally more expensive than in 2014.

 

Not sure what you mean by "Aquarium Class"? With Tauck? Our cruise was simply according to what Category level you wanted...one through seven.

[OnTheJourney]

We are not really noticing the cost as a problem, but only because we have shifted our cabin selection from our normal ocean choice of a balcony suite, to 'aquarium class' on the river cruises.

 

We simply don't spend enough time in the cabin on the river to justify paying for more space or a better view.

 

Also the times when you are actually onboard and cruising during daylight hours are so few (in general) that it is easier (... and often better) to be up in one of the lounges or up top on deck if you are actually on the move.

 

This contrasts with ocean cruises where we greatly enjoy the facility of a balcony for the 'sea days' etc.

 

Throw in the high probability of being rafted for a good portion of the time and the fact that none of them are really all that spacious, river cruise balcony cabins don't actually add a whole lot of utility for a considerable extra cost.

 

So when you can avoid paying just for a marginal improvement in cabin utility, the costs really don't get out of hand.

 

Good point....although with two weeks on any ship I like to have a decent amount of room in the cabin. I must say that I expected a bit more 'perks' or some sort of special treatment for being in Category 7. We did get $200 OBC - not sure what people in lower categories got.

[Hoyaheel]

Not sure what you mean by "Aquarium Class"? With Tauck? Our cruise was simply according to what Category level you wanted...one through seven.

 

"Aquarium Class" isn't a real class - it's just a nickname for the cheapest/lowest category of rooms on any ship. Typically on river cruises, the windows are small and/or up high - like looking through an aquarium ;p

[Roz]

I thought my "aquarium class" on the River Duchess was more like being in a front loading washer!

 

Roz

[OnTheJourney]

Good one....LOL

[OnTheJourney]

In regards to Africa for the land and rails 2 week package for two is 24 grand. Now Tauck's Africa is around 15 grand for two. In comparison to my Viking Danube cruise I paid 10 grand for two including air, insurance and 3 day pre and post stays. And this was with a balcony cabin. I just checked out Ama's and they cost more than Viking. I would put them more in line with Uniworld and Tauck in being more luxury but are not all inclusive.

 

 

I've started to really look more at Collette than Tauck for some of the land tours. Especially places like Africa, AUS/NZ, I think Collette has a really nice itinerary for considerably cheaper cost. We went with Collette for both the last Oberammergau and Floriade and were well pleased. They don't use the top-class luxury hotels that Tauck does, but that's not the main reason I travel anyway.

[OnTheJourney]

"Aquarium Class" isn't a real class - it's just a nickname for the cheapest/lowest category of rooms on any ship. Typically on river cruises, the windows are small and/or up high - like looking through an aquarium ;p

 

Oops....my ignorance abounds

[shipsealand]

On ocean cruises, the differences are in the hundreds for cabin categories but in the thousands for river. Hopefully with more river boats the differences will come down. On other hand with river boats only holding couple hundred PAX's vs 1000's for ocean ships, that could be the reason or excuse for the pricing.

[HokiePoq]

I've started to really look more at Collette than Tauck for some of the land tours. Especially places like Africa, AUS/NZ, I think Collette has a really nice itinerary for considerably cheaper cost. We went with Collette for both the last Oberammergau and Floriade and were well pleased. They don't use the top-class luxury hotels that Tauck does, but that's not the main reason I travel anyway.

 

 

We are going with Gate One to Africa with friends who used them for Egypt and were very pleased. The cost differential was striking. If it's just okay, we will come out ahead on this. South Africa plus Victoria Falls in April....12 day tour including air.....14 days in all.

[waverly]

To OP you pose an interesting question, and one that is somewhat difficult to answer. I've been on three European river cruises, all with Viking. On two of those I received free airfare. Other costs such as transfers to/from airport/ship were included as were a daily tour that may have included admission into a church, castle or other historical site. And of course 3 meals as well as wine/beer with lunch & dinner.

 

I went to a travel booking site and looked at airfare from IAD to Charles de Gaulle and checked current airfare for the first week in April (2018) , about $750 pp, a week in a Paris hotel at $200 a night, and allowed $75 pp per day for food, and came up with $3950. That's about what I paid for our last river cruise (Not including the 3-day Paris extension, gratuities or optional tours). Granted, we stayed in the lowest cabin category.

 

The most I paid for any trip was a 12 day cruise to the Baltics on a major cruise line. I had no idea I was spending as much as I was (And I thought I had gotten an excellent deal on both cruise fare and airfare that I had purchased separately) until I sat down and added up the costs from the cruise, airfare, transfers, independent tour operators, etc. To this day I refuse to tell my husband how much it cost. However, it remains as my all-time favorite vacation.

 

In the end I think its not how much something cost, but how much value did you receive, and that's a question each person needs to determine for themselves.

 

Happy Travels!

 

We have been on three AMA cruises and I just wanted to post a similar calculation you just did and came to the same conclusion. - River cruises are actually not overpriced. adding up meals, hotel accommodation, sightseeing and transportation one will end up with about the same per day costs. We paid $ 2695 (about $ 385 per day) for the lowest price stateroom on a 7 days Danube cruise. Our price included early booking discount of $ 250 and $ 600 discount provided by our agent.

We will keep on cruising !

[Mark_T]

At here are definitely bargains to be found, especially once you start comparing on a like for like basis.

 

We’ve just booked with APT on one of their ‘Luxury’ cruises from Amsterdam to Budapest and by the time you add up the value of all the inclusions it really isn’t bad value at all.

[OnTheJourney]

On ocean cruises, the differences are in the hundreds for cabin categories but in the thousands for river. Hopefully with more river boats the differences will come down. On other hand with river boats only holding couple hundred PAX's vs 1000's for ocean ships, that could be the reason or excuse for the pricing.

 

They can charge what they want since river cruising has become such a substantial part of the cruising industry. You're absolutely right...the difference is indeed in thousands for the various riverboat categories. Same for any small ship cruises the way it seems.