Hello all not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question but what the heck. River boat cruising in Europe is becoming very popular. We are looking at signing on to one of these cruises in the fall of 2010 and I was wondering if any of you savy travellers have any experience, thoughts, suggestions, don't go there imput, etc as to what we should look for, suggested cruise lines etc. I know this is a general question but do appreciate any feedback. Wayne
Posted by
New Hampshire
182 posts
Hello Wayne
You're in the right place regarding your question.
Depending on what you're looking for, a River Cruise can be fun and worth the $ from our perspective.
My family and I went on a River Boat Cruise during the summer of '07. At the time our daughters were 18 & 20. We took a Uniworld River Cruise - Castles on the Rhine. Great cruise and alot of castles!
A River Cruise has the advantage of allowing you to unpack once and see alot over a wide region. Each day offers you a different location and there are many activities. It's a very relaxing way to travel. Everything is planned for you though you don't have to do every activity if you want to do something on your own. There is usually a fair amount of latitude to go off on your own. The meals on board were excellent, and we never went hungry.
The crews work very hard, including the cruise director and activity director because they are looking for a nice tip at the end of the cruise so the motivation is there. You usually use envelopes to do the tips so they don't know what you've given and they're hands aren't out in front of you.
Some will tell you about the too slow a pace due to the median age of the travelers. This can be true based on what some of the reports I've read, but it was not our experience. I would venture to say that 2/3 of the guests were 55 or over, we had a mixed bag overall. Our daughters met some other in the 18-24 range which was great for them (and us), and there were also a few families with younger kids (but no babies on our cruise).
Overall though, everyone was very friendly. You often sit with different people so you get to meet alot of people. We still keep in touch with a few.
The cabins can be small unless you can afford a suite which some boats have.
We enjoyed our experience and are planning a Holiday Market cruise in the future.
Posted by
Edmonton, AB, Canada
668 posts
While our experience was somewhat different, we had a great cruise from Amsterdam to Basel in 2006 and are booked for next year from near Frankfurt to Budapest.
We went with a Canadian company, Jerry Van Dyke. As you are from Ont. you may want to follow that up. They are from, I think Caledonia, or near there. Google them. All gratuities are included, for the ship and for shore tours. All of the ship is in English - in fact all guests bar 2 Americans were Canadian. Food was good. Tours were good (and included) and there was plenty free time. In our early 69s, we were definitely on the young end of the age scale! This was not much of a problem, except some of the shore trips were slower than we would have liked.
One thing to watch is the height of the boat. If the river is high, a 3 deck ship may not get under the bridges and you may be bussed to another point. The sun deck may also have to be cleared to go under some bridges. Both of these happened to friends who have just come back from a Budapest to Amsterdam cruise.
Depending on your preference, some ships only have twin beds in the cabins, so if this is a problem, make sure you investigate the configuration.
Since we are going back, obviously we enjoyed it. If you have ocean cruised before, it is quite a different experience.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Posted by
Reston, VA, USA
809 posts
I have taken 2 Grand Circle Travel river cruises in Europe - Vienna to Amsterdam, and Budapest to Bucharest. I [in my mid-50s] found the pace a bit slower than I liked, but my mother [80+] really enjoyed both cruises. The crews and program directors were from various countries in Europe, and it was interesting talking with them; all of the program directors [3 per cruise, with 140 passengers] were excellent. Food was excellent, included tours excellent, and we did a few optional tours too which were fun. As others have said, it's wonderful to unpack just once! Having said that, I personally am looking at another RS trip at least while my health and energy are still good; but any trips with Mom are likely to be Grand Circle again and I'll probably transition to them as the years go by...
A few things to look for: Locations and activities that fit your interests [is shopping important? not to me]; most tours included [there will always be some optionals]; passengers and crew [almost all pax on GCT are American but crew is not; other lines boast of all-American crews; European lines may have a greater mix of pax nationalities]. Have a great time!
Posted by
Whitby, Ontario
101 posts
Hi Wayne,
Im down the road from you [well an hours drive at least] Can I suggest you check out a website called cruisecritic.com
It will answer all your questions. Go to the boards/forum section [dont have to register to see those] Its then divided up by the various companies out there plus they have articles on river cruising. Its basically the biggest cruising website out there and always quoted in the media.
Its also free to join if you want to post a question. I used it a lot for my Alaska cruise and got great info. They also have a section on the forum called Ports of Call which is self explanatory.
Good luck
Pete