The “budget” river cruise lines

[Kristelle]

7 hours ago, pontac said:

 

It's a choice one takes but it's a fact that when you book an excursion you cannot also go on the other excursions running at the same time. They have a cost - the guide at least, maybe coaches, admittance fees .....

 

 

well of course one cannot go on 2 excursions at same time and of course excursions have costs - not sure what point your are making here?

[steamboats]

15 hours ago, sjde said:

I read with surprise about ( most) German river cruises not including alcohol.

 

No beverages are included - alcoholic or non alcoholic.

 

steamboats

[pontac]

12 hours ago, Kristelle said:

well of course one cannot go on 2 excursions at same time and of course excursions have costs - not sure what point your are making here?

 

The only point I have been making in this thread is to ignore luxury/budget labels and decide what is wanted. Anything included by a cruise line that is not on the want list is a cost to the cruise line that is reflected in the passenger fare, so why pay for what is not wanted?

 

Of course, sometimes discount offers give one the opportunity to book a cruise that offers more cheaper then one that offers less. 

[Kristelle]

I'm still not sure what was the point of stating the obvious: ie that one can't be on 2 excursions at the same time or that excursions have costs. 

 

Or why you quoted me to say that. 

 

Oh well, never mind.,

[franski]

On 5/11/2024 at 11:33 AM, Roz said:

I didn't realize Emerald is a budget cruise line. 

It might be considered than when compared to Scenic...  I always thought of Emerald as "Scenic's Little Sister"...  Comparable itineraries, although Emerald may have some excursions that you would need to pay for if you wish to go on them. And Emerald doesn't have butler service for all cabins.  Not that butler service is a huge perk for me - never used it when I have sailed with Scenic!!

 

Emerald includes all gratuities, and airport transfers even if you purchase your own air.  I hardly consider that "budget".

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

On both the River and Ocean Yacht segments, Scenic is the top line of the company and Emerald is the 'budget' line.  This doesn't necessarily make Emerald a 'budget' line in the overall cruise industry.  This is especially clear with the Yachts:  not having helicopters and submarines hardly makes a ship 'budget' ...

[Canal archive]

When Scenic first introduced Emerald it was advertised as being for a younger age group with less frills.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

When Scenic first introduced Emerald it was advertised as being for a younger age group with less frills.

IIRC it was also called 'Evergreen' at first.

[Canal archive]

Evergreen was the first river cruise name for Scenic and I’m pretty sure was only completely dropped a couple of years ago. I think it was also the original name of their land tour company.

[Rebel54]

On 5/12/2024 at 5:15 AM, notamermaid said:

The emphasis is on the almost. It is worth comparing the German lines to the international ones, for sure. Viva Cruises includes many alcoholic drinks but not excursions for example. The info is here: https://www.viva-*****/en/onboard-abc

 

notamermaid

 

I am booked with them for 2025 and I am told that there are now some included excursions too.  Even if not, for the price, I'm ok with that.

[Canal archive]

Enjoy I look forward to hearing your assessment.

[reeves35]

It is a bit meaningless to just try to categorise river cruises as either just premium and budget.  It is far more nuanced than that with a number of possible categories such as Premium, Luxury, Comfort and Budget and that is before you introduce the regional overlay with some cruise lines being solely targeted at particular language groups or countries. 

 

This is one area where river cruise lines are not that different from ocean cruise lines even down to some companies such as APT and Scenic running a multibrand strategy across different categories.

[Canal archive]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

[ural guy]

11 hours ago, Rebel54 said:

I am booked with them for 2025 and I am told that there are now some included excursions too.  Even if not, for the price, I'm ok with that.

Rebel 54-  Please do post your thoughts post-cruise.  We're open to trying any line.

[Rebel54]

2 hours ago, ural guy said:

Rebel 54-  Please do post your thoughts post-cruise.  We're open to trying any line.

My cruise is Christmas 2025 so it is a ways off but there are a couple of YouTubers that have done some reviews on them that make them seem to be a good line to try out:

https://www.youtube.com/@watchuswander/videos

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19CPVPLFDYE

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Zr7suyPX0

 

[pontac]

18 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Scenic is the top line of the company and Emerald is the 'budget' line

 

With Emerald when you buy their most expensive drinks package (Platinum) you can choose wines from the wine list that cost up to €25, and get Prosecco by the glass.

 

On Scenic you don't have to buy a drinks package as drinks are included, and you can have Champagne.

 

Also if you like a breakfast Bucks Fizz or Mimosa you're out of luck with Emerald as no alcoholic drinks are served before 10am, whereas Scenic have a couple of bottles of Champagne on self pour at their breakfast buffet.

 

But if you don't drink or don't want Champagne this differention doesn't matter.

[reeves35]

Using the term budget for a cruise line like Emerald is nonsense.  Emerald's product basically mirrors what you get on Viking which, given their size, is probably the benchmark for how European river cruise lines are measured.  Emerald's ships are bespoke with some features even Scenic doesn't have such as their signature aft pool. 

 

Emerald is more of an unbundled product compared with Scenic where you make a significant saving on the headline fare by removing a number of things such as unlimited excursions, full drinks package etc and you can then choose to add back in what you want.  I cruised on Travelmarvel last year which is basically APT's equivalent to Emerald and never felt I was missing out on anything. I was on a newer ship than APT was sailing, received the same loyalty recognition as I would have received on APT, I bought the optional excursions I wanted, I bought extra drinks if I wanted and I still saved over USD1000 compared to the fare on the identical APT itinerary.

 

I don't like the term budget as it implies a cheap product and from what I saw there are few, if any, lines on the rivers that are really skimping on their product.  Some lines are using older secondhand ships so maybe that is a measure if you are trying to group Gate1, Tui etc as a class below Viking etc but speaking to guests on a Gate1 ship that rafted next to us last year, they said they were having a great cruise even if they did notice that our ship looked noticeably more modern than theirs.

 

 

[JordanF]

I have been on GCT (Egypt), Avalon (Rhine) and Gate 1 (Danube and Yangtze).  I agree that GCT and Gate 1 do not feel "budget," but they may be that compared to the more luxurious lines.  I think of Gate 1 as a nice Hilton, while some of the more upscale lines may be more Four Seasons.  But Gate 1 and GCT are definitely not Motel 6.  So I guess it all depends upon the context and meaning of "budget."

Edited May 15 by JordanF
Correction

[sjde]

Jordan F- I agree with you. I have been on Grand Circle, Viking, Teeming and AMA. I loved Grand Circle . AMA too but it was about triple the cost and in my opinion the differences weren’t worth it.

I was thinking my next might be Gate 1 or CroisiEurope thinking they are similar to Grand Circle in cost but without the twin beds.  However , on these boards,  people are saying the food choices are much more limited, so that has me considering waiting for a special offer from ANA, Uniworld or Avalon instead. 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, sjde said:

without the twin beds

Interesting. I had never thought about the bed size before, I am kind of fine with the twin bed set-up. I am not familiar with the American terms so I just say that you would like a double bed without the mattress break/gap? I wonder if one can easily find out from online descriptions what the other lines offer, by that I mean Riviera Travel, Viva Cruises and Arosa.

 

Also, would all cabins be the same on each ship of a company, or could they differ from ship to ship or even on a single ship?

 

notamermaid

 

[sjde]

As far as I know,  only the Clio and Corinthian in Grand Circle’s line have queen beds and they are ocean -going vessels holding 90 to 100 people.
And they are not inexpensive like the river cruises;  they range from $420 per person a night to $600.

Edited May 15 by sjde

[RobInMN]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Interesting. I had never thought about the bed size before, I am kind of fine with the twin bed set-up. I am not familiar with the American terms so I just say that you would like a double bed without the mattress break/gap? I wonder if one can easily find out from online descriptions what the other lines offer, by that I mean Riviera Travel, Viva Cruises and Arosa.

 

Also, would all cabins be the same on each ship of a company, or could they differ from ship to ship or even on a single ship?

 

notamermaid

 

To the best of my knowledge, all the GC cabins on all their river ships have the same bed configuration, with the exception of the newer M/S River Chanson. In this picture, the left side is in the daytime configuration and the right side is the sleeping configuration. Both sides fold down.

Call them pullman, or twin bunk, or what have you, they are both of the size "twin" (~ 38" x 75"), only large enough for 1 person each.

 

Again, to the best of my knowledge, all AmaWaterways cabins (other than the few designated solo cabins) have 2 twin beds that convert to a queen.

 

In a queen configuration, they have been much nicer than the Royal Caribbean beds in queen configuration. In both cases, there is a thinner queen size mattress or pad that sits on top. But Ama's is much nicer than the very thin one that Royal Caribbean uses. I don't even recall being able to tell that I was on 2 twins pushed together, where as on RC it was very obvious.

[notamermaid]

Oh, I see. The gap is "disappeared" by putting something on top. That way the company is flexible with the beds rather than having one large bed. So the twin becomes a queen. In the German brochure of CroisiEurope it says either twin bed or "französisches Bett", which is a grand-lit, i.e. smaller than a double bed. I guess they mean this type: https://www.croisieurope.travel/en/boat/ms-douce-france

 

I am not sure which river cruise line I would call budget. For me apart from a few small ones and a few old Dutch ones they are mid-range to me. But I come from a European perspective to this topic. I never knew you could have a butler on a river cruise ship and food that is tasty rather than "lobster flown in from x or beef reared in fashion y" is fine for me. What I would not want is a bunk bed and a malfunctioning 20-year-old shower. I guess that would be really "budget" and a little less than that to me.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Just to give an idea. Viva Cruises offers this Basel to Amsterdam cruise for 1,995 euros: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/basel-kurs-amsterdam

I can book the S.S. Victoria for 7,109 euros.

I can book an Amawaterways ship from 3,498 euros.

 

With all three I will get different amenities, but all include a bed of sorts and three full meals per day.

 

notamermaid

 

[sjde]

I thought twin beds became Kings when pushed together.

Royal Caribbean does not have any river cruises,  do they?