River Cruising

[notamermaid]

14 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

I have been researching Feenstra Rijn Lijn (Netherlands) as an add-on to our Avalon cruise.  It looks quite nice.

Indeed. I would say from researching the company over the years and seeing the ships on the Rhine (where I am based of course) that this is a mid-range price company, a perfect fit for those that do not look for luxury onboard but an overall very nice cruise experience. They have older, well-maintained ships and there may be a slight problem with language with some ship staff. The descriptions of the ships: https://www.feenstrarhineline.com/over-de-schepen/

 

I gather they could be similar or slightly under the experience in quality I had during my cruise, which I loved. I personally would give the Dutch a try for myself.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

3 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The disadvantage of CroisiEurope for me (and it is a big disadvantage) is that there is no choice of main course at dinner; everyone gets the same.

Ah, yes thank you for pointing this out. I meant the culinary experience as such, but you need to be a little adventurous as regards the chef's ideas and the fact that they automatically think you the passenger will like it. Being omnivorous works best on CroisiEurope.

 

notamermaid

 

[*Miss G*]

7 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The disadvantage of CroisiEurope for me (and it is a big disadvantage) is that there is no choice of main course at dinner; everyone gets the same. The only option is to discuss it the night before and hope that something you like might be available. With a choice of options on the other lines that I have travelled on, I have rarely had a problem choosing something.

 

One of the drawbacks, for us, was the prevalence of smoking onboard.  (It is French, after all. lol)  It wouldn’t prevent us from sailing with them, but it is certainly a deterrent.

[CastleCritic]

39 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The disadvantage of CroisiEurope for me (and it is a big disadvantage) is that there is no choice of main course at dinner; everyone gets the same. The only option is to discuss it the night before and hope that something you like might be available. With a choice of options on the other lines that I have travelled on, I have rarely had a problem choosing something.

 I would die...Im a picky eater.

 

One thing I like about Amawaterways, there is always the "tapout' menu of steak, chicken and salmon if you don;t want what is on offer for dinner.  (and the normal menu will always have meat, fish, and vegetarian as main course offerings).

[Wings55]

On 6/27/2022 at 2:19 PM, Bxianesq said:

We've been on 7 traditional cruises so far.  We know a few people who have done some of the river cruises over in Europe, and we'd like to investigate river cruises for possible future trips.  We've cruised on RCL (cool stuff but too many people for us), Oceania (really enjoyed our cruise with them) and Holland America (where we have spent most of our time-al good experiences). I'm trying to figure out the best way to learn about river cruise lines and itineraries in more depth. Our cruise agent recommended the following, in order of least to most expensive: Viking, AMA Waterways, Uniworld. In terms of our interests, food and wine are up there. Any advice would help. 

 

@BxianesqLike you we were familiar with ocean cruises with our favorite lines being HAL and Celebrity. When we booked our first river cruise, we expected it to be a one-time experience. after MUCH research and lots of spreadsheets we decided to splurge and booked a Scenic cruise. It was amazing! Later we sailed twice with Uniworld and those were also excellent experiences. Last year we enjoyed two AMA itineraries; they were great, but we felt they didn't measure up to Scenic or Uniworld.

 You've already received a lot of great advice. Obviously, price is important but be sure to factor in the passenger count, quality of the excursions, onboard service, food options and extras like prepaid gratuities, drinks etc. Everyone places different 'value' on these things and only you can determine the best combination for your situation. Good luck, enjoy the search and have a great first river cruise!!

Paul

[TakingFlight]

I have sailed on both Ama and Viking river. There are many, many positives for both lines. I must say that the Viking longship design is truly brilliant. They have engineered the ship such that they are able to have a large outdoor area in front of the lounge with tables and chairs for dining and relaxing, enjoying the view. The equivalent on Ama was a tiny area with four very small tables, one of which was designated for smokers. I really missed having this space on a recent Ama cruise. And the dining room on Viking was huge, light and airy. On the Ama ship I felt like I was dining in a cave, dark and crowded. So it’s not all about the number of passengers. I felt more crowded on Ama with 120 passengers than I did on Viking with 190. That said, I am no longer booking with Viking due to their payment policies. I have an Ama Douro cruise coming up and am looking forward to it.

[Gretchendz]

On 6/27/2022 at 3:19 PM, Bxianesq said:

We've been on 7 traditional cruises so far.  We know a few people who have done some of the river cruises over in Europe, and we'd like to investigate river cruises for possible future trips.  We've cruised on RCL (cool stuff but too many people for us), Oceania (really enjoyed our cruise with them) and Holland America (where we have spent most of our time-al good experiences). I'm trying to figure out the best way to learn about river cruise lines and itineraries in more depth. Our cruise agent recommended the following, in order of least to most expensive: Viking, AMA Waterways, Uniworld. In terms of our interests, food and wine are up there. Any advice would help. 

 

 

 

AMA!  Definitely over Viking--and most of the others for that matter.  They include so much! They have some terrific wine cruises. They keep winning awards from travel agents for their exemplary customer service.  Currently offering free economy air for 2022 cruises.

 

My main beef with Viking (Ocean and River) is their payment policies are much more restrictive than industry standards. (as @TakingFlight noted).

Edited July 1, 2022 by Gretchendz

[Gretchendz]

BTW, I just remembered this very helpful comparison chart:

 

https://www.rivercruiseadvisor.com/comparisons/

[Canal archive]

Interesting an up to date one will save for future reference thank you Gretchendz

[SnorkelAway]

Having just cruised on AMAMagna from Budapest to Vilshofen (June 12 to 19) with pre-cruise in Budapest and post-cruise in Prague, I do not think that you can do better than AMAMagna for a Danube river cruise.  The double wide size of Magna makes for a fantastic ship and AMA did a really good job with excursions and guides for our week.  I have some issues with mobility and the AMA "gentle walker tours" were perfect for us - I could not keep up with "regular" walkers on those cobblestone, uneven, up and down paths in the towns and cities along the Danube.  I can wholeheartedly recommend Magna over the others for a Danube cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, SnorkelAway said:

Having just cruised on AMAMagna from Budapest to Vilshofen (June 12 to 19) with pre-cruise in Budapest and post-cruise in Prague, I do not think that you can do better than AMAMagna for a Danube river cruise.  The double wide size of Magna makes for a fantastic ship and AMA did a really good job with excursions and guides for our week.  I have some issues with mobility and the AMA "gentle walker tours" were perfect for us - I could not keep up with "regular" walkers on those cobblestone, uneven, up and down paths in the towns and cities along the Danube.  I can wholeheartedly recommend Magna over the others for a Danube cruise.

And ending these itineraries in Vilshofen insulates AMA cruises from most of the low-water issues on the Danube.

[RobInMN]

6 hours ago, SnorkelAway said:

Having just cruised on AMAMagna from Budapest to Vilshofen (June 12 to 19) with pre-cruise in Budapest and post-cruise in Prague, I do not think that you can do better than AMAMagna for a Danube river cruise.  The double wide size of Magna makes for a fantastic ship and AMA did a really good job with excursions and guides for our week.  I have some issues with mobility and the AMA "gentle walker tours" were perfect for us - I could not keep up with "regular" walkers on those cobblestone, uneven, up and down paths in the towns and cities along the Danube.  I can wholeheartedly recommend Magna over the others for a Danube cruise.

So great to hear that! We have the Grand Danube on AmaMagna booked for Mar/April 2023 with the pre-Prague, post-Brasov. We are very excited.

 

To the OP:

We are Royal Caribbean fans. Currently on the last day of the Arctic Circle on Jewel, and staying on for Iceland & Ireland. We very much enjoyed doing Rivers & Castles on AmaDante, which is why we booked them again. There were 10 of us, parents, us, daughter, and my sister's family of 4. Kids were 13-19. There seemed to be people of all ages and activity levels. And at least 2 other families, with some kids younger than our group's.

 

Our other river cruise experience was back in 2005 on Vantage with my parents (they paid, their choice) and my sister and her husband. The 4 of us "kids" were the youngest passengers on the ship by a good 30 years, with each of the daily itineraries listing the number of steps (climbing, not distance) the day's excursion would have!!

 

BTW,

My parents think most ocean cruise ships are too big with too many people and refuse to even consider them. I calculated that an Oasis class ship, with 6600 passengers and 2200 crew actually has more airconditioned square footage per person (~183 sq. ft.) than a typical river cruise ship. 🙂 

[Gretchendz]

And one more positive for AMA--they have announced to TAs free economy air on most 2022 sailings from US and Canadian gateways. I don 't think it's on the public site--so call a TA 🙂

Edited July 1, 2022 by Gretchendz

[CastleCritic]

42 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

And one more positive for AMA--they have announced to TAs free economy air on most 2022 sailings from US and Canadian gateways. I don 't think it's on the public site--so call a TA 🙂

slightly hidden but its there

 

https://www.amawaterways.com/20thanniversaryoffer

 

And to the chorus I have the amamagna budapest->Bucharest on the schedule for next may.

Edited July 2, 2022 by CastleCritic

[notamermaid]

19 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

And ending these itineraries in Vilshofen insulates AMA cruises from most of the low-water issues on the Danube.

Important factor about the low water issues on the Danube which are more pronounced than on the Rhine. If that is something that one wants to avoid as much as possible, one should start or end the cruise in Vilshofen, Passau or Engelhartszell. Passau and Engelhartszell are the standard embarkation ports with German lines, and also other European lines have made that move, in more recent years the North American lines have been going for this, away from Nuremberg and Regensburg. But Amawaterways it appears was one of the first to really go for Vilshofen.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

If that is something that one wants to avoid as much as possible, one should start or end the cruise in Vilshofen, Passau or Engelhartszell.

To make it precise: when the beginning or end point or turning point is Vienna or Budapest, i.e. a downstream port. From the upstream end an itinerary from let us Frankfurt on the Main to then Nuremberg or Regensburg is good. You could stretch it to Straubing but I think that town is not really used for embarkation. Avoid Straubing to Vilshofen (see Danube thread for info). The low water problem could be a big issue on the Grand European (Amsterdam to Budapest) when both the Rhine and Danube are low. Rarely happens outside of a six weeks window in Autumn - and even then it is pot luck exactly when and in which year. Having said that: it is now July and we had a few days in June that got me a tad nervous, just a tiny bit.

 

If you are completely unwilling to risk low water problems, choose a 110m ship (99 percent guarantee of no problems) or a river itinerary that is entirely controlled by locks.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Bxianesq]

@GretchenDZ, thanks for the chart.  It is very helpful. Really great suggestions from all of you.  I remember news reports about the low water being an issue.  Anyone know if that has ever been a problem on the Douro in Portugal? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

19 minutes ago, Bxianesq said:

@GretchenDZ, thanks for the chart.  It is very helpful. Really great suggestions from all of you.  I remember news reports about the low water being an issue.  Anyone know if that has ever been a problem on the Douro in Portugal? 

The Douro is totally lock controlled, so there haven’t been any water issues in my memory. 

[Gretchendz]

One more point for AMA (if I sound like a zealot, maybe I am) but AMA does the little things...one example, most of the premium lines include airport transfers.  But for most that means, drop the traveler off at the airport and they are on their own. With AMA the driver helps you through the airport, helps with luggage, gets boarding pass, etc.

[pontac]

On 6/29/2022 at 3:44 PM, CastleCritic said:

One thing I like about Amawaterways, there is always the "tapout' menu of steak, chicken and salmon if you don;t want what is on offer for dinner.  (and the normal menu will always have meat, fish, and vegetarian as main course offerings).

 

Ditto Viking

 

Viking have always included air travel from UK, and with 'proper' airlines.

 

And their payment policies are different in the UK; only a deposit is payable on booking. Paying in full at time of booking seems to be a USA thing, presumably because the market accepts it. Probably the  only way to change that policy is not to book with them.

[notamermaid]

16 minutes ago, pontac said:

Paying in full at time of booking seems to be a USA thing, presumably because the market accepts it. Probably the  only way to change that policy is not to book with them.

That is how I see it. I was shocked when I read about this, me coming from European consumer laws. By that I mean I am not even sure that this would be legal in the EU. It is certainly unheard of. Unless you book within a very short time before your cruise. As I always say it would be a no-no for me if I was in the US.

 

notamermaid

 

[pontac]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

By that I mean I am not even sure that this would be legal in the EU. It is certainly unheard of.

 

I don't know if consumer law or the EU affect this. I remember before UK joined the EU no holidays required full payment a year before. If Viking arrived with such a policy, no one here would book them. The package holiday market is cutthroat. 

 

But it appears, from the number of Americans we have had the pleasure of meeting on Viking river cruises,  enough Americans are willing to accept Vikings USA terms.

[notamermaid]

45 minutes ago, pontac said:

I don't know if consumer law or the EU affect this. I remember before UK joined the EU no holidays required full payment a year before.

Interesting. The (package etc.) holiday industry is certainly very competitive. Perhaps it is just something that has become standard practice, i.e. not practice here in the EU and UK. A German company with such conditions? No way. Standard practice is early bird reductions etc.

 

notamermaid

 

[CPT Trips]

The company we usually use for river cruises offers incentives for full payment. They give a 10% discount for full payment a year in advance and smaller discounts are offered closer to the cruise date.

[CJANDH]

25 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

The company we usually use for river cruises offers incentives for full payment. They give a 10% discount for full payment a year in advance and smaller discounts are offered closer to the cruise date.

This is common practice in the USA for ocean cruises too. In today's low interest environment why would you turn down a 10% saving on a big expense. Better return than any bank.