First River Cruise...planning & overwhelmed!

[flyboyswife]

Greetings all! My husband and I have decided to try a river cruise and I have just begun my research. I thought this would be easy as we wanted high end and were of the impression that Viking was our best option. However, after looking at several of the posts here, I’m wondering if we should be looking at AMA, Uniworld or Scenic. We’re looking for a departure on July 30 (2023) for 8 days - our daughter will be on a school trip in Europe so we’re treating ourselves!

 

Ideally love to find something with food/wine related excursions or culinary programs onboard. My husband likes a room with a balcony on ocean cruises, so I’m feeling somewhat pressured to get him the same experience. However, many of the trips I’m looking at are already showing no availability for balconies!  From the posts I’ve read here, it seems like we would enjoy more all-inclusive lines and not be limited, for example, to only wine and beer at lunch or dinner. I could see us coming back from an excursion in the afternoon and wanting to grab a refreshing cocktail.
 

We are in our mid 50s and somewhat active, we could certainly hike or go on a motorized bike excursion. In the past for our ocean cruises, I have typically booked with a travel agent who only sells Uniworld, so I just want to make sure I’m selecting the best line for us! Welcome your guidance on what might be the best fit.  TIA!

[hoosier2017]

Is there a particular river you are looking at? If so, I would narrow it down to see what lines have dates that fit your schedule.   River cruising is very different from ocean cruising.  We have been on 2 AMA cruises and loved both.  But the Danube and the Rhine are very different.  We felt the Danube was more active, the Rhine slower paced.  Happy to help if you have questions as I’m sure others on this site will be. 

[Daisi]

Firstly, congrats on planning a cruise, that's 1/2 the fun. If you haven't done so already, I suggest reading the "stickies" on the main page, there is lots of valuable information in them.  Also, I would suggest finding a TA who is knowledgeable about river cruising, and sitting down to discuss what you expect and they will help you sort out what line suits both you and your budget.

 

Unfortunately, the bad news is that July is a bad season for water levels, not every year, but chances are greater during the summer months. As long as you are prepared to do ship swaps or some bussing, you can still have a great time. I think the only rivers that don't have much problems with water levels are the ones in France, or the Belgium/Netherland cruises. 

 

As for balconies (french or regular), they are nice to have, but since most of the time when you have something to see, you will want to be on the top deck or in the public areas, not necessary. I prefer the balcony just so we can have fresh air in our cabin, but that's me. A lot of times, when you are in port, you can and most likely will be either docked up against the port wall, or another ship, so no view there. Don't forget that the ships are all the same width due to the size restraints of locks, so the regular balconies are actually deducted off of the square footage of the room, while the french ones are just the wall of the cabin as glass that opens.

 

I know Avalon will be having a free happy hour in 2023 for those after cruise drinks, however you will have to pay for one after dinner. They also have active cruises where you can bike, kayak or hike included in the excursions, depending on the river you choose.

 

Everyone will have their favourite cruise line, so be prepared to have a lot of comments on what is best. Do your research, and have fun.

[notamermaid]

There is a lot to consider, so I also recommend reading the stickies. Gourmet Gal mentions the size of the rooms. If you want larger than standard river cruise cabins, have a look at the Amamagna on the Danube. But seeing that you do not spend much time in your room usually and are likely to be mostly on the ship in the lounge, dining room and on the top deck, a French balcony room can be very much sufficient.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[TMLAalum]

You will not be in your cabin on a river cruise to the extent you are on an ocean voyage. I suggest Avalon for their amazing panorama cabins. And as Daisi posted alcoholic beverages in addition to the usual wine/beer at meals is now included at certain times.

 

Consider that you may be “buoyed” up to other river boats which could mean your balcony vista is that of the cabin on the boat next door.  When we had to cross a Uniworld boat to get to shore, I was not impressed with its decor!

[Gourmet Gal]

I do know you’ll never see a separate bill for alcohol on Tauck or Uniworld.  Assume that applies to Scenic as well.   On my recent Tauck cruise I saw Bloody Mary’s at breakfast and lunch while under way.

[Canal archive]

Must admit never seen a Bloody Mary at breakfast or lunch on Scenic  and they are all inclusive, except for for some high end beverages which I have yet to find. Breakfast does include Verve Clicquot for that essential Bucks Fizz or as the Americans would say Mimosa. On one of our cruises toasting a good touring day became a morning ritual and I don’t think I saw a straight champagne once.

[pontac]

5 hours ago, Canal archive said:

 Breakfast does include Verve Clicquot 

 

Maybe it did when you took your last trip with Scenic, but not on my cruise in August.

 

Click below for my post on Scenic's magic Champagne bottle

 

[Canal archive]

Poor you!

[SuiteTraveler]

flyboyswife, I think you need to understand that a river cruise bears little resemblance to an ocean cruise with the exception that you are touring in various countries with your hotel moving along with you.  With a river cruise, you are on tours daily from morning and often through the afternoon.  Most people don't go on tours on their own because the river ship may move from where it was docked in the morning to some location that is convenient for picking up guests after touring - for example, on our last river cruise, we left the ship in one city - Bratislava, Slovakia after lunch and went touring via bus, then arrived at the ship around 5pm in Budapest, Hungary!  In addition to daytime tours, there are often optional tours and evening dinner's or shows at some outside location - all for the people on your river cruise only!  It is a lot of fun!  The ships are small, so entertainment onboard is typically a combo or a local performer specially brought onboard. The rivers are narrow and most ships don't have real balconies - they tend to have French balconies or a small alcove that has 2 chairs on it.  Even if you have a balcony, you may not spend much time on it at all because you are off the ship all day or on the river cruising day, you will likely be topside where there will be a party as you cruise some area.  So...if you go with the idea that this will be a completely new and different experience, that would be best.  As to the lines, we've been on Uniworld and Crystal (which went bankrupt during Covid, sadly.) Uniworld's ships are very plush and decorated in Old World style specific to the area in which the ship is cruising with marble bathrooms.  They have suites which are really lavishly furnished and each suite is custom designed with antiques and fine original art (not large suites, but large enough and larger bathrooms that are lovely) and there is a "balcony" sunroom type area which is lovely but we barely used it.  Our home is  Old World style and furnished in a similar manner, so we felt very comfortable with this decor and liked that it matched the area in which we were cruising.  Uniworld's cabins below suites are furnished less originally with each category being identical - so more like an upscale hotel room.   I think our suite had 3 TV's. One for the bed, one in the mirror and one on the "balcony/sunroom."  You get butler service - although we could not find much for them to do.  Still they gave us our choice of various items and brought daily snacks which were much appreciated.  They do try to match the food and wine to the area in which you are cruising, so don't expect American food at all.  They do have some plainer items for those who want them.  I found the food overall quite good - similar to what you would get in an upscale country club, but specific to whatever place we had toured that day.   Uniworld also has special food and wine cruises at various times.  On all river cruises, everything is planned in advance for you, you don't need to do anything to plan other than your flights and pre/post hotels (unless you have the cruise line plan that for you, too). There will be a meeting on the first day where they will explain the touring options to you then each morning, after breakfast (always a buffet) you grab your headset and head out on a tour unless it is the day they are cruising some part of the river, in which case you go up top to see the area you are cruising as it is very scenic.  On all river cruises, attire is smart casual.  There may be one dressy night where you dress as you would for a nice restaurant but you don't need to bring cocktail or formal attire for these cruises at all.  Your husband can wear trousers with a collared shirt most of the time.  Bring a sports coat for the dressier night and if you are going to a Michelin starred restaurant.  You might look at the July 30, 2023 SS Maria Theresa on Uniworld - they have suites available which have the balcony/atrium and are quite upscale. It's a fairly new ship and I LOVE this one in particular!  So very beautiful!  And I also loved our Danube cruise!  I could do that over and over and over again!  And best of all this starts in Budapest, which is a place well worth spending extra time and it ends in Passau, from which you could go to Prague.  So a really great cruise and I think, if you are like us and don't know a lot about this area of Europe, you will be wowed!

[SuiteTraveler]

One other thing I wanted to mention to you, is that on a river cruise, you should come back from a day of touring thinking that the next day couldn't possibly get any better, but it will be!  It was that way for us on both Crystal and Uniworld.  River cruising is just amazing, but like I said, nothing like an ocean cruise!  In fact, I think it is way, way, better!

[Got2Cruise]

I’ve been on both Uniworld and Amawaterways and you’ll be very happy on both. 
 

Uniworld is all inclusive including cocktails and gratuities. Of course the fare reflects that. The decor of the two ships are a bit different so you might want to look at the pics. 
 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

First post edited with OP's permission to remove TA info.  Other posts with TA removed.

 

Remember:  not only can't you name a Travel Agent or Agency, you can't hint at the identity (even by describing the shape of the building!)

[Gretchendz]

On 10/24/2022 at 3:43 PM, Got2Cruise said:

I’ve been on both Uniworld and Amawaterways and you’ll be very happy on both. 
 

Uniworld is all inclusive including cocktails and gratuities. Of course the fare reflects that. The decor of the two ships are a bit different so you might want to look at the pics. 
 

 

 

True. I just came back from an AMA Rhine cruise and loved it. Although technically not as all-inclusive re alcohol as other lines, we felt we had plenty as they provide:

• Wine and beer at lunch and dinner that flow freely
• A one hour pre-dinner cocktail hour
• Plus some special occasion cocktails--on ours they brought out Rudesheim coffee (coffee with brandy) while sailing the Rhine Gorge (so beautiful!)

 

Not that the décor means as much to me as the cruise but I find Uniworld's decorating style a bit over the top. Also, the AMA cabins are very well designed.