Good river cruise lines?

Hi, Bruce ,
Cruise Critic is a better resource for answering your questions. Altho there are cruisers here, it's not a very large group, from my experience. Have fun planning!

We have been on several river cruises in Europe and Asia, used Viking and Amawaterways. Will not ever use Viking again, poor service, rooms. Loved Amawaterways!

I agree with the Cruise Critic recommendation. That being said, we've sailed with Uniworld 5 times, and have not been disappointed.

Here is a link to the Cruise Critic forum specific to river cruises: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/115-river-cruising/

There is also a cruise vlogger with quite a few videos about specific lines as well as a couple that compare them to each other. It's called Tips for Travelers, hosted by Gary Benbridge. Here's one video to get you started: https://youtu.be/QvpVqYfhEXU?si=txw9VycV1i8NtDTc

If I can give you one bit of advice when picking a cruise. Make sure that your cruise is going downstream. Smoother cruise and slightly more time in port. We have done 2 Viking river cruises. The first one was from Basel Switzerland to Amsterdam. The second was from Passau Germany to Budapest. We enjoyed both. Viking includes one excursion a day. You may pay for a second or explore on your own. Food was good, service was great and the staff was very attentive. The first cruise we did with Viking we were on the lower (bottom)of the boat. We were impressed with how smooth they operated the ship. We did not feel them accelerate or stop as we entered or left one of the many locks that you will pass through on the Rhine or Danube. The second cruise (Danube) we were on the middle floor which gave us a door wall (sliding door) instead of a window. It was okay. You have a 50/50 chance of having another ship docked along side of you when docked. We are scheduled to take another Viking cruise at the end of October. We will be going from Budapest to Bucharest. This time we will be back on the lowest level because I thought that was good enough. Another thing that we liked about Viking is that the dining room is open seating. This gives you a chance to meet other people since you are not at the same table every day. If we do another river cruise we may look into AMA or Tauk. Oh, one other thing. Spring or fall is the better bet to go on a river cruise. You have a higher likelihood of having the river levels high enough to travel on. Enjoy!

For years, I've been a fan of Burt Wolf's travel programs.
He always traveled with AmaWaterways and Avalon. He always said they were the tops in European river cruises.
Here's the transcript of his show about his cruise on the Rhine:
http://www.burtwolf.com/program-blog/tt-903
Burt Wolf; European River Cruises:
Cruising The Rhine; Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQlv4FfvdOk
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhnEKhwuum4
If you have never seen his programs on TV, you're missing a treat. Many can now be watched on YouTube.

We have had friends who raved about how wonderful their cruises with Tauck were.

We haven't gone on a river cruise yet, just passing on what I consider to be reliable information.

You may want to watch some of the videos by Tips For Travellers, Gary Bembridge.
He's an authority on cruises of all kinds, and has reviewed all the cruises he's been on, literally dozens.
His latest video, here, about European river cruises:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeaVq59XTuw

Bruce: Check out the many YouTube videos on river cruising. There are a lot of general videos and also many that target specific cruise lines. If you spend a few hours one evening watching them, you'll get a good idea of river cruising in Europe as well as a sense of what each cruise line offers. We have done several river cruises, all with Viking, which we thoroughly enjoyed. However, I also recommend reviewing "Tips for Travelers" hosted by Gary Benbridge who has done quite a few reviews of different cruise lines. In fact, I believe he recently came out with a video explaining which cruise lines were rated in the top 8, with descriptions for each company as well as pros and cons for each. And, in a related video, he described several to avoid. However, each traveler has a particular style and I would recommend that you identify your "style" and try to match a company to your preferences. Also, be aware that several highly rated companies may cater to their particular nationalities, which means the boat may be predominately French or German-speaking and the cuisine may reflect different food preferences than what an American might be accustomed to.

~Darrel

@cjean - Too funny! I was literally watching Gary's latest river cruise videos (best and worst) just last night. It's his latest couple of videos.

But like many others suggest, the OP should hop to Cruise Critic or Youtube for much more "cruise specific" content and feedback. Sadly, that form of travel is less in favor here, so not the best place for info.

There are several European based river cruise lines that are a far greater value than those who promote themselves so extensively in the United States.
Nicko cruises
Viva cruises

Thanks everyone for the for the extremely helpful information! I now have some great resources to get me started on my research.

Ciao!
Bruce

I see that several other posters here are fans of Gary Bembridge!
I'm glad so many forum members are going to his channel for cruising tips, because Gary has taken hundreds of cruises and really knows and shares the important information about them.

please note that the Youtube channel is TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS with the British spelling with 2 ‘L’s altho if you only use 1 L it will still pop up as a choice.

He has recently had 2 videos ranking river cruises. He favors luxury cruiselines. The Very Unofficial Travel Guides channel has done a few more economical trips

As others have noted, Youtube is full to the brim with videos about river cruises. Tons and tons of useful info.

There's also a British woman named Emma who mostly does ocean cruises but did a few river cruises for comparison, look for her work.

We are thinking of maybe the Danube or the Rhine.

A leading provider on these rivers is Phoenix.

This is an interesting comparison of several lines
https://reversing-entropy.blogspot.com/2023/05/river-cruising-with-gate-1-with-tips.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR03CyEBzVFWY4TTxJwVQ2Ztg5FPXYAstnVgIil6tK02v63eDwwYxhpKLG8_aem_N6zeXvhgz21yyS-j68PzWg&m=1

Want to add Gate 1 as a cruise line we have enjoyed. They are a more economical alternative but we never felt like we cheaped out. We did Amsterdam to Basil and Budapestvto Praque adding on the pre and post excursions. We had the French balcony room on top deck and were very comfortable. Ships were lovely staff great excursions excellent as was food. We did a Viking cruise Lyon to Avignon but had to leave the ship after 3 days as dad was ill. But our impression in those 3 days was , while Viking was excellent, it did not surpass Gate 1 and especially not as the cost was much higher.

We loved our Danube River Cruise in July with Gate 1 Travel.
It was top of the line quality and for a great price. I always compare prices before I book a river cruise and Gate 1 is almost always the cheapest.
In fact, our Egypt tour and Nile cruises with Gate 1 two years ago our Gate 1 tour was a little more than half the cost of Viking.
Gate 1 doesn't include tips for the crew, cruise director or tour guides, but that amount is a small fraction of the total cost.

After following Gary Bembridge's diligent cruise reports on Youtube, you can look at the more budget-conscious adventures of
Emma Cruises.

To follow on about Gate 1. If you are a solo traveler, their waived single supplement sale is on through Sept 17. This can literally save thousands of dollars for solo travelers.