River Cruise

If you provide more information, such as where and when you are wanting to travel and any budget ranges (cheap (I do not think there are any cheap ones) mid-priced or price is not issue) you may get better responses. Also what you consider as "best" and what responders consider is "best" is a real crap shoot. By "best" did you mean "price" or "first class"?

Well no budget established yet. I was looking at the Rhone River or the Rhine River cruises. Would like to see Paris so was leaning towards the Rhone, but the Rhine appears to be more interesting?

Sig, I don't know if they are the "best", but you might have a look at Viking River Cruises. Have a look at These Reviews for further information. Cheers!

Sig we are doing an 8 day Castles on the Rhine cruise with Uniworld departing Amsterdam on 8th April to Basel. Not sure when you are looking at travelling. Will post my thoughts at the end of April on our return if this would be helpful. This is our first cruise of any description.

You can always arrange to spend a few days in Paris either before or after whichever cruise you decide on.

We went on two riverboat cruises on Uniworld. Very nice but very expensive and the crowd quite elderly.

Best is hard to define. We have taken a Viking River Cruise and found it excellent. There are fancier and more expensive cruise lines but how much do you want to spend. The passengers on our cruise were mostly in their 50s and 60s but some were much younger and some were older but they were all well traveled and mostly hooked on river cruising. I would not hestiate a heart beat to choswe Viking afain, the ony problem is that we also figured out that we are independent travelers not tour travelers. I would definitely take the Rhine cruise over the Rhone and just spend a few days in Paris coming or going. Doing Paris on the return leg would probably be best since you will be very relaxed and not jet lagged when you get to there.

Several friends have done European river cruises with APT, Scenic and Avalon. These river tours have a high number of Aussies on board. One of the main reasons we travel is to experience different cultures. Hopefully our Uniworld cruise will give us the opportunity to engage with people from other parts of the globe.

IMO, the "best" river cruises are down the Rhine or the Danube. I'm partial to Viking. You should be able to find message boards that are specific to either an itinerary and/or a cruise company at Trip Advisor.

Picked up an Azamara brochure a couple of weeks ago, newer and nicer rooms than many river cruises. Uniworld seems to be an excellent if expensive choice.My agent thought Azamara was marketing to a younger set. Viking also well established, popular and has a substantial following.
There are guidebooks that specialize in different lines, but in this case a qualified travel agent would be useful to match you up with the one that would be your "best".

Azamara does ocean cruises; not river cruises.

Speaking of cruises - I wonder how bookings having been going at Costa Cruises lately.

I did the Danube last October on Grand Circle. I've also had friends recommend Gate One. I rarely hear people talk about Dresden, but that was the highlight of the trip, along with Budapest.
I'm sold on river cruising because you are traveling with your hotel room and sightseeing rather than spending time packing, unpacking and finding places to stay.

Hmm, Kat, Dresden is on Elbe River. You had to take bus or train between Elbe and Danube.

Check out AMA Waterways. http://www.amawaterways.com/ We haven't done a river cruise yet, but I am pushing hubby to consider one in the near future. We saw a program about the building of one of their newer ships and it did catch his interest. Many, if not most, of their cruises include a short (3 day or so) land stay at the beginning or end. I checked their website and saw at least one that included 3 days in Paris with a cruise from Luxamborg to Amsterdam.

Take a look at www.cruisecritic.com
They have member boards much like this site. Once you are into the boards, there is an entire section devoted to River Cruising. You will find a lot of helpful information. I'm booked on my first river cruise on Avalon at the end of May. We're going from Basel to Amsterdam.

Thanks to all on the input, very helpful.