Jewish themed river cruising

[azalice]

We have just noticed (because we have never done a river cruise) that some river cruise lines have Jewish theme cruises. If you have ever done one, please share your experiences and whether they were of value to you in terms of gained knowledge and/or interesting sites.

[Roz]

I'm not Jewish, but I did a Jewish Heritage cruise on Uniworld in 2019.  I took the Jewish Heritage optional tours in all but 2 ports.  It was the first year Uniworld offered this.  I found some tour guides more interesting than others, and there were a few places I would have liked to have spent some more time, such as the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt.  I learned a lot.  I joked at the end of the cruise that I was "mikvaed out".

 

 

[azalice]

Thanks Roz what did you think of Uniworld?

[TFree]

@azalice:  We took the same cruise with @Roz.  We are Jewish, this was our first river cruise, and we did all of the offered Jewish Heritage excursions.  The name of the cruise was Remarkable Rhine.  (It is now offered as a longer cruise, called Remarkable Rhine and Holland.)  We enjoyed it a lot, and we liked Uniworld as our first foray into river cruising.

 

This past May we finally got to take another river cruise on Uniworld, this time on the Danube.  We had planned to take the Jewish Heritage version of the Danube cruise with some friends, but after two postponements during the pandemic, from a scheduling standpoint, the only Danube cruise that would work with our friends was one that was not the Jewish Heritage itinerary.  We also enjoyed that cruise quite a bit, although we did not find the Cruise Director to be nearly as engaging as the one on the Rhine.  

 

In December, we took a Mississippi River cruise with Viking on their brand new ship, our first Viking cruise of any kind, and our only non-Uniworld river cruise.  The decor contrast between Viking and Uniworld could not be more striking, as we had assumed.  Uniworld's decor is ornate to the point of being gaudy, while Viking is of course very clean and Scandinavian.  I can see why people are loyal to Viking, although on this brand new ship they don't have their act completely together yet.  

 

Feel free to let me know if you have other questions about Uniworld, either in this post or by email (my address is linked in the signature file when seen on a laptop or desktop computer).

 

Tom & Judy

[Roz]

@azalice, I'm glad Tom and Judy stopped by and gave you their impressions.  

 

Some people don't care for the decor on Uniworld. I would characterize it as ornate.  I've done 3 cruises pre-Covid on Uniworld,  2 on the Danube and 1 on the Rhine.  All were well done and I was satisfied with the tours, food, and service.  As Tom and Judy already pointed out,  a lot can depend on the cruise director. 

[TFree]

@azalice: I should have added one more thought.  I think either AMA Waterways or Avalon (or perhaps both) also offer a Jewish Heritage itinerary.  The problem is, at least when we were looking into it, I think they only offered it once or twice, in the middle of summer, which is not when we would choose to go just from the standpoint of summer heat.  The nice thing about the Uniworld cruises is that the Jewish Heritage itinerary is available for all or most cruise dates on that itinerary all year long.  So you can take a fall Rhine Jewish Heritage cruise, as we did, or a spring Danube Jewish Heritage cruise (as we had originally intended to take before the pandemic messed around with our schedule).  The Uniworld Rhine cruise is Remarkable Rhine and Historic Holland, and the Danube cruise is Delightful Danube.

 

Tom & Judy

[Daisi]

Avalon has 2, both on the Danube, and both in August, which can be difficult if the rivers are low. I know they have other cruises that will stop at Jewish sites as a alternative or sometimes alternate tours, but haven't taken any of them. I do know the ones who took them on our Rhine cruise did enjoy them. 

[Ritabob]

My pandemic brain is not as sharp as it used to be and some details are getting fuzzy,  but I do remember  our Uniworld cruises .  On one particular Jewish holy day a group of 8 passengers were able to have their meal in private.  The hotel manager set them up in the Captain's Lounge and they were pleased with the set up.

RB 

[azalice]

Very interesting replies everyone. Would someone tell me what time the free excursions usually are. If in the morning, how early. I do worry about early morning being too early for me because I am slow in the mornings to get going. And, are the non-free excursions often in the afternoon? 

[Daisi]

Our Avalon tours started anywhere from about 8:30 to 9:00, depending on what we were doing. If we were going out by bus to a city that wasn't on the river, they would be earlier so we would have more time to tour. Breakfast starts around 7:00 for the buffet, but you can get a continental breakfast brought to your room earlier I believe, or just grab a muffin & coffee usually at the lounge coffee bar at any time.

 

[Roz]

@azalice, a lot depends on the port, but most days there's a morning excursion and sometimes another one in the afternoon.  Agree with @Daisi about the times. 

[MisterBill99]

On 2/5/2023 at 11:01 AM, Daisi said:

Avalon has 2, both on the Danube, and both in August, which can be difficult if the rivers are low. I know they have other cruises that will stop at Jewish sites as a alternative or sometimes alternate tours, but haven't taken any of them. I do know the ones who took them on our Rhine cruise did enjoy them. 

 

I just booked the Avalon Jewish Heritage cruise for this August. There's actually only one cruise, but they sell it with an optional two-night package in Prague at the end of the cruise and list it as two cruises. We have been looking to do this itinerary for a long time, and my wife really wanted to do a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, but I had not found a cruise line that did both. I had been looking at Uniworld since as mentioned above they have a lot of sailings with JH tours. I finally called them this week after seeing their ad in my wife's Hadassah Magazine. Turns out that the Danube itinerary Uniworld does the Jewish Heritage cruises on does not stop in Linz, and that is where Salzburg tours typically start (there are other places you can get there from, but they were further away). I asked on a social media group and was pointed to Avalon, and it turns out that they have an extra-cost Salzburg tour available on their JH cruise.  The timing worked for us, so we booked to get it off the bucket list.

 

Hopefully we will not have river level issues.

[MisterBill99]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:34 PM, TFree said:

@azalice: I should have added one more thought.  I think either AMA Waterways or Avalon (or perhaps both) also offer a Jewish Heritage itinerary. 

 

I just wanted to mention that although AMA has a page dedicated to Jewish Heritage cruises on their website, they only appear to do it when you put together a group of 20+ passengers. They do not have anything scheduled that you can book into, as Avalon and Uniworld do.

 

"With a group of 20 fellow cruisers or more, you can customize many excursions on your itinerary, strengthen your bond with your family and community and celebrate Jewish tradition and culture as you sail along the Danube River"

Edited March 23, 2023 by MisterBill99