Any US or Canadian Residents Sail CroisiEurope?

[Roz]

I've been looking at the itineraries offered by CroisiEurope, and they're quite a bit different than those offered by Ama, Uniworld, Viking, etc.  Has anyone in this forum sailed them, and what was your experience?  I'm guessing the passengers are mostly Europeans, especially on the shorter itineraries.  I see that both French and English are spoken onboard and by tour guides.  Anything in particular I need to know about this line?  Do US residents have to book directly with the cruise line, or are there US travel agents who can book with them?

 

Any information or insights are appreciated.

 

Roz

[notamermaid]

Hello Roz,

 

last year I went to an open day on one of CroisiEurope's ships. It was docked in Koblenz. They do this every year in a few towns to attract customers. It was interesting and I was able to ask a few questions. Here is my report: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2515614-croisieurope-open-day-on-the-ms-symphonie/

 

I also asked about the passengers and one crew member told me the majority across the fleet is French. The age group around 70 dominates (I think he meant among the French).

 

I have noticed that the German and French itineraries can differ from the North-American ones.

 

One thing that has been mentioned by CroisiEurope themselves in a reply to a poster last year is that the menu is French-European with special food catered for upon request. Multiple dining appears not to be an option.

 

The ships are all 110m or shorter as I have mentioned in my report.

 

CroisiEurope do react to posts occasionally so perhaps they will be here to help you soon, as well.

 

I hope this helps.

 

I am sure past cruisers from the US will add some info, too.

 

notamermaid

 

[franski]

Hi there -

 

Have actually been looking at CroisiEurope as their itineraries are a bit different (we have sort of run out of "regular" itineraries in Europe...).  I contacted their US office and they sent me a brochure.  Prices listed are in US dollars.

 

 https://www.croisieuroperivercruises.com/information/croisieurope-agency

 

Fran

 

 

[Roz]

Thank you, Notamermaid and Fran.  Very useful information.  When I went on their website, one thing I discovered is they offer a reasonable single supplement.  I'm pretty well versed in French, so sailing with mostly French passengers would not be an obstacle.  I'm 66, so the age demographic would fit, although that's not really an issue with me.  French food would be wonderful.

 

Roz

[Roz]

If anyone is interested in this topic, I found the following CC article to be full of good information:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2387

 

Roz

[FuelScience]

22 hours ago, Roz said:

Thank you, Notamermaid and Fran.  Very useful information.  When I went on their website, one thing I discovered is they offer a reasonable single supplement.

 

Roz

Roz,

You might check with Avalon. If I understand the info at the link below, they will waive the single supplement on 5 cabins per cruise on their 2019 sailings.

 

https://www.avalonwaterways.com/Specials/Solo-Traveler-Deal/

[notamermaid]

38 minutes ago, Roz said:

If anyone is interested in this topic, I found the following CC article to be full of good information:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2387

 

Roz

Thank you Roz,

that is a very informative article.

 

notamermaid

 

[RTLS]

We booked with Avalon for a Sept/Oct Danube trip because we were able to get one of the cabins we wanted without a single supplement. We are so pleased that we booked early because now that deal is not available for the sailing we chose.

 

However there are lots of other sailings where it's still available. The "no single supplement" deal on Avalon allows any grade of cabin to be booked up to a limit of 5 on the sailing. I've noticed that other companies usually offer only the lower level cabins.

 

I was told that this offer has a limited time frame but maybe that's incorrect. I'm not sure.

[Roz]

Thank you for the info on Scenic, RTLS.

 

I put in a request for a brochure from CroisEurope, and got a very nice personalized email response from a gentleman in their New York office telling me to be on the lookout for the brochure in the mail, and asking me to contact him with any questions.  I was impressed. 

 

Roz

[pacmom]

We have sailed with Croisie 3 times as part of Road Scholar.  We are going on another from Berlin to Amsterdam in June.  This  was booked thru their US office.  We will not see the Rhine, but sail a northern route to Amsterdam.  

Breakfast is buffet style.  Lunch and dinner are single seating and a plated meal.  Menu is published ahead of time, so if it is something you do not eat they will prepare something else.

They do assign tables according to language.  Am sure if you tell them you are comfortable with French speakers they will accommodate you.  The cabins are not the most luxurious.  but are immaculate and serviced twice daily.

On our June trip, we board the boat in Bad Spandau just outside of Berlin. The tours of Berlin are conducted from there. This will be a different itinerary and looking forward to visiting the more northern area of Germany.  Pat

 

 

[notamermaid]

Just now, pacmom said:

We have sailed with Croisie 3 times as part of Road Scholar.  We are going on another from Berlin to Amsterdam in June.  This  was booked thru their US office.  We will not see the Rhine, but sail a northern route to Amsterdam.  

Breakfast is buffet style.  Lunch and dinner are single seating and a plated meal.  Menu is published ahead of time, so if it is something you do not eat they will prepare something else.

They do assign tables according to language.  Am sure if you tell them you are comfortable with French speakers they will accommodate you.  The cabins are not the most luxurious.  but are immaculate and serviced twice daily.

On our June trip, we board the boat in Bad Spandau just outside of Berlin. The tours of Berlin are conducted from there. This will be a different itinerary and looking forward to visiting the more northern area of Germany.  Pat

 

 

Pacmom,

 

This could possibly be a first on cruise critic, anybody doing the Elbe towards Hamburg and then "cross country" to Amsterdam. Great! The sailings are few and far between so I am glad you will be able to do this. I am sure you will have a great time again with CroisiEurope. Hanover is supposed to be really interesting, I have not been there yet. I enjoyed Groningen on a land trip a few years ago.

 

Have fun.

 

notamermaid

 

[Roz]

Thank you for the first hand info, Pat.  That is very helpful.  Glad to hear you had a good experience with both Road Scholar and Croisi.  I kind of figured they would put English speakers together.

 

Roz

[ural guy]

Groningen is a really nice city.  Big pedestrian area, and a big church tower to climb for the ambitious.  Lots of college students that gives it a lively feel.

 

I stayed in a hotel a 3 minute walk from the main square that had a restaurant on the premises that baked their own bread.  There would be 4 different types of loaves for you to cut up.  They also had a great big fireplace and outstanding coffee.  The Hotel Schimmelpenninck Huys, reasonably priced, if anyone gets a chance.

[ljandgb]

We sailed CroisiEurope last year, though it was with an organized RoadScholar group.  We were on the Rhine, from Amsterdam to Basel. We were on the MS Lafayette.  This was our one and only river cruise so far.  The ship was spotlessly clean, a bit worn on the edges for things like upholstery in the lounge, with nice accents like contemporary large fresh flower arrangements in the entry and a really pretty chandelier in the stairwell.  One lounge, one dining room.  The top deck was very basic, with a shaded area directly behind the wheel house and lounge chairs, tables and chairs.  The staff seemed young, but very friendly and enthusiastic.  Our group was 26 Americans, the remaining 50 passengers were predominantly French, with a few Canadians, and a small group from Brazil.  Dinner was a set menu, though if you gave them a heads up that morning, they would substitute if you didn't like fish, etc.  It was uniformly a chicken breast from what I saw.  The food was good, though meat heavy.  I love veggies, and found myself scrounging garnishes from my husband's plate sometimes.  Breakfast and lunch were buffets.  Dinner was often locally themed as well.  One of the German nights was a huge plate of sausages and meats.

 

After a few days, they began to put a coffee urn out in the lounge maybe an hour before breakfast, when the Americans complained there was no coffee available until the dining room opened.

 

Our stateroom had plenty of room, and I liked the the bed faced the window.  It was nice to lay in bed and watch the world go by.  About halfway thru the trip, we rafted next to a Tauck ship, and I was surprised at how different the interior was.  I'd describe it as "shiny" - lots of brass, marble, glass, etc.  So, if that's what you're used to, you may find at least this CroisiEurope ship a bit drab.  Our interior was white with shades of purple and grey accents.  I caught a glimpse of one of the single rooms.  It abutted the dining room and was tiny.

 

The main cruise staff all spoke flawless English.  All announcements were in French and then English.  Frequently, the transition to English was so smooth I'd miss the first sentence, before realizing it was English.  The junior staff spoke some to little English.

 

I can't speak to excursions, as we had our own, but they seemed to have been arranged by CroisiEurope, as the buses were the same and we saw the other ship passengers in many of the same locations.  The guides were local and most were good.

[Roz]

Ljandgb, thank you for taking the time to post about your experience.  Interior design really isn't important to me.  I know people who won't sail Uniworld because they think it's over the top.  Interesting about the morning coffee.  Europeans drink a lot of coffee, so that surprises me.

 

Roz

[Host Jazzbeau]

52 minutes ago, Roz said:

Ljandgb, thank you for taking the time to post about your experience.  Interior design really isn't important to me.  I know people who won't sail Uniworld because they think it's over the top.  Interesting about the morning coffee.  Europeans drink a lot of coffee, so that surprises me.

 

Roz

 

Europeans drink coffee at different times.  Brits drink a lot of tea, but try to get it after dinner!

[*Miss G*]

Thank you for posting this topic Roz.  I am looking at a CroisiEurope trip this Fall and it is difficult finding info.  I will read the links which were posted in a minute.

 

@ljandgb, thank you for your review.  I am up early and need my morning coffee so that’s an important issue for me.  😅

 

[spokanlilac]

Thanks for posting links to detailed information about CroisiEurope and how they compare to Viking and A-Rosa. We recently came across a vlog post by Cruising with Ben and David. They raved about their experience on the Loire Princess. Because of them, we were introduced to another river cruise line to consider. We’ve never been on a river cruise before, but are seriously thinking about trying it out for our next cruise. I included the video of the Loire Princess in case anyone is interested in seeing what the ship looks like. I think this is one of the recently renovated ships. 
 

 

[dolllover]

Does CroisiEurope allow smoking on their ships? If it's allowed all over the ship that would be a concern.

[Roz]

23 minutes ago, dolllover said:

Does CroisiEurope allow smoking on their ships? If it's allowed all over the ship that would be a concern.

 

I copied this from the Croisi website - "For safety and health reasons, it is forbidden to smoke indoors on board any of our boats, as it is a closed environment. However, smokers are invited to go to the sun deck, where ashtrays are provided."

[dolllover]

7 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

I copied this from the Croisi website - "For safety and health reasons, it is forbidden to smoke indoors on board any of our boats, as it is a closed environment. However, smokers are invited to go to the sun deck, where ashtrays are provided."

 That could be a problem if one wanted to use the sun deck. If it isn't confined to a certain area of the sun deck it could get very smokey outside. Since this is a European line it's something to consider if one doesn't like smoke. 

[Roz]

When we've been docked in port, I've seen crew and passengers on every river boat smoking on the sun deck.

[Host Jazzbeau]

56 minutes ago, Roz said:

When we've been docked in port, I've seen crew and passengers on every river boat smoking on the sun deck.

 

My experience was that smoking was limited to the rear area of the sun deck.  When the ship is sailing, that carries the smoke off the aft and keeps the rest of the sun deck smoke free.  When it is docked, it depends on which way the wind is blowing but we never noticed it drifting to the center.

[spokanlilac]

20 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

My experience was that smoking was limited to the rear area of the sun deck.  When the ship is sailing, that carries the smoke off the aft and keeps the rest of the sun deck smoke free.  When it is docked, it depends on which way the wind is blowing but we never noticed it drifting to the center.

That’s good to know. 
 

[Roz]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

My experience was that smoking was limited to the rear area of the sun deck.  When the ship is sailing, that carries the smoke off the aft and keeps the rest of the sun deck smoke free.  When it is docked, it depends on which way the wind is blowing but we never noticed it drifting to the center.

 

I observed the same thing on Uniworld.  My 3 cruises were all at the end of the regular cruising season right before the Christmas Markets.  The sun deck got very little use due to the cold, so smoking really wasn't an issue, or at least I didn't hear anyone complaining about it.