Seeking Advice for Planning a First European River Cruise

homerp,
Try cruisecritic.com for info.

Those Viking River Cruise commercials are mighty tempting. But check this out:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/viking-river-cruise-not-worth-the-time-or-money

I agee that your first step should be a look at the River Cruising forum on Cruise Critic There is a 'sticky' thread about how to select a river cruiseline.

Another good resource is YouTube. In particular, the Tips for Travellers channel. Do a search for Tips for Travellers river cruises. He has several where he discusses the pros and cons of several of the mainstream lines.

homerp:
I also recommend you view the YouTube videos and look at the Cruisecritic website. I also considered a river cruise for Sep of 2024 but after a lot of research, I decided the river cruise was not an for me. The first reason was the cost. For less than 1/2 the price of a 7 night river cruise, I will be taking a 14 night Med cruise in a balcony stateroom on a premier cruise line. The second was the very structured nature of the cruise itself. My travel style is very fluid-I do not want to have my mealtimes dictated. That aspect of river cruising might have actually been the real dealbreaker. The third was the uncertainty of river levels and the risk that where you really wanted to go might not be available or might be significantly altered. The fourth was the "stacking" of ships at port so even if you did book a balcony room your view might be the side of another ship.

You mention you have never taken a cruise of any kind. How do you typically travel? All inclusive resorts or independent travel? Have you been to Europe before? What do you consider "fun on-shore outings"?

There are sooooo many cruise lines (both river and ocean) that are not well publicized in the US. You really need to take the time to see which line fits your travel style. Other river cruise lines to check out: Avalon, Emerald, Gate1. For Mediterrean cruises, the lines vary in both quality and price. The smaller the ship, generally the higher the price. Good luck and have fun.

I’m looking at Douro River cruises for a friend and me. Neither of us have been on a cruise. So far Tauck and Amawaterways look the best, for amenities and inclusives. But they are the most expensive. Needing two single rooms above the waterline makes it unaffordable for us (we can’t share a room and still be friends). [Note: I am not asking for recommendations as this idea is now on hold.]

Compare their cruises and the others for what’s included: excursions, drinks, food quality and availability, other add ons, plus room cost and extra days before or after the cruise. Look at reviews for people’s experiences.

The link to the Viking cruise thread had a post about more cruise companies. As already mentioned cruise critic has information about cruise lines. Let us know what you decide.

Anything offered by Tauck will be outstanding. They are the premier tour company in my opinion. You will pay for it, but you will be pleased with what you get.
Do check Cruise-critic to see what others say.

As recommended view u-tubes on river cruising. Gary Bembridge at Tips for Travelers has some excellent tips and reviews on different river cruise companies. You can see videos by cruisers for which ever rivers you are interested in. Vacations to Go has discounted river cruises. I use them for a beginning price point and check the actual cruise companies to see if they can match the price point (or come close). We are taking our first river cruise on Emerald in 6 weeks. They do include gratuities and e-bikes and optional hikes in their prices. We will see if we like river cruises. FYI we travel independently, with land tours and ocean cruises. This will be a new experience.

Many take river cruises and love them, but like others have said, do some research, read reviews, watch YouTube videos so you have realistic expectations.

The biggest issue in recent years has been water levels. Rivers used to run fairly even throughout the season, but drought and reduced flow from sources has meant that nearly every year, for some portion of time, your leisurely river cruise becomes a bus trip for sections, changing boats, maybe a hotel on shore. It is hit or miss, the cruise lines skirt around the issue, downplay it, but lots of people grumble about the experience.

There are other parts the commercials do not show, like boats docked side by side for the night, so your view is another stateroom, and the fact that the "Scenic Magical Rhine" is about one or two days of cruise.

The food I can not speak to, but many do complement the quality, not sure if it is really local cuisine, but very good none the less. The daily regimen is pretty set, up at a certain time, breakfast at a certain time, off to a tour as a group, back for lunch or dinner. It is not just relaxing around and deciding on a whim to do something, very similar to other guided tours.

But, you do see some prime sights, many complement the guides and programs that the cruise lines have, the ships are small, so you get to socialize with others. While I may come off as somewhat negative on taking a cruise (and honestly, I decided they are not for me) if you want to have a happy, successful, enjoyable cruise, you need to be forewarned and educated. The various lines have thousands of happy passengers each year, people who have a once in a lifetime experience, you likely will be one of them.

I got curious so I did a little googling about river boats on the Danube being canceled because of low water. I got some fairly old hits. I am guessing that river boats coping with low water isnt entirely a new phenomenon. 2003 (21 years ago) a part of the Danube was at its lowest level since 1840.

Easy to research when the rivers are generally at their fullest and plan around that if possible. Of course a few months ago in Budapest the river was so high that some boats had to wait for the water to receed a bit to get under the bridges.

https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Rain-in-Europe-washes-away-river-cruising-low-water-worries

https://insighthungary.444.hu/2023/12/29/danube-water-level-at-its-highest-since-2013

We haven't taken a river cruise yet, but just booked one for 2025 - Christmas Markets on the Rhine, I agree with the previous posters, do your research on CruiseCritic & YouTube so you know what to expect and aren't disappointed. I read all I could find about the cruiselines & itineraries on CruiseCritic and watched many YouTube videos. We finally settled on AMAWaterways.

From my research about AMA, the food will be very good, most drinks are included (ex. sparkling wine at breakfast, wine & beer with lunch & dinner, a pre-dinner cocktail hour) & usually 3 choices of shore excursions each day are included. Some cruiselines only offer 1 included excursion a day, usually a city walk. Other excursions you will pay extra for. So make sure to check on that, if that is important to you. We are traveling with another couple & I wanted to make sure we had excursion choices that would work for each of us, without paying extra.

We have taken many ocean cruises, so we know this will be different, but looking forward to trying something new.

We have taken many ocean cruises, so we know this will be different,

That is a similar to a comment I saw over and over in my research. People take a river cruise thinking that it is like an ocean cruise, where there is lots of free time, the boat itself is an entertainment attraction, eating and drinking when you want, what you want, a stop in port is entirely up to you what to do. What they find on a river cruise is much more intimate and structured, much like taking regular tour like a Rick Steves tour. Like I said, you are expected to be up at a certain time, breakfast is only served from X to Y (though most boats have coffee and some other items available), the tour leaves at a certain time, meals are mostly eaten on the boat with a set menu, the bar is only open certain hours, basically you have a schedule.

We have taken several river cruises and love them. We did an Amawaterways cruise 11 years ago on the Rhone/Saone in SE France and it was excellent.

Tauk, Uniworld, and Amawaterways are all excellent lines, but the more expensive lines.

It is best to shop around and compare other cruise lines. There are many more to consider. Viking, Scenic and Avalon are excellent.

We took a wonderful tour with two river cruises in Egypt in January of 2022. Fantastic trip and cruises. I compared Viking and other lines and found a great deal. The company is Gate 1 Travel and the price for our 13 day tour was a little more than HALF what Viking was charging for about the same cruise.

Gate 1 had us in two five star hotels and one 4.5 star hotel that were great. Our cruises were excellent. Our guide for the entire trip was super, she had a university education in Egyptian history.

When we pick our cruise cabin, we always pick the cheapest level of cabin, since on a river cruise you don't spend a lot of time in your cabin. You tend to meet and greet with the other passengers and enjoy the scenic vistas between ports. On the Gate 1 cruises we were upgraded to another level as well.

Also, we have booked another Gate 1 tour that includes a river cruise on the Danube from Regensburg, Germany to Budapest then a 6 day tour of Romania.

There are some great river cruises in Europe on the Rhine, Danube and Douro (Portugal).

We did the Viking River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest a few years ago in the month of April and May and liked it a lot. Reasonably priced, good food and wine at dinner included and the shore excursions were included, and they were actual tours rather than shopping sprees. They did have some other excursions that you could pay for.
I agree you should research on CruiseCritic.com. In my research, Tauck, Uniworld and Amawaterways were much more expensive than Viking. Does paying more make it better? Who knows? One consideration is how much hand holding do you need? The very expensive river cruises will take care of you from when you land at the airport to when you leave from the airport, if that's what you want. If you don't want to do any planning at all, that's fine, the included excursions will take you the major sites (in large groups and big buses) but maybe that's what you want.

MY MAIN CONCERN FOR YOU IS THAT IN JULY AND AUGUST, THE RIVER WATER LEVEL MAY BE TOO LOW AND YOU WILL BE BUSED FROM PLACE TO PLACE. And that would be miserable.

Since this is your first river cruise and as you stated your first cruise of any kind, please review and learn how to travel in Europe.

My greatest criticism of the cruise I went on (and I know I will be vilified for this) was the OTHER people on the cruise. many of the people don't do their homework and think the cruise is going to be like America- and it is not. Several people on the cruise I went on tried to pay for items in US dollars and were upset that the merchants only wanted Euros. They hadn't bothered to get any Euros in advance.
Another couple was upset that the wait staff did not speak very good English and they could not understand them and treated them with contempt and disrespect. On most European river cruises, the employees are Eastern European.
There was other stuff, but you get the idea. Do you research and homework. I'm sure you will find a river cruise that meets your budget and your needs.

We have been seduced by the Rhine River commercials:). Not sure how to compare companies, itineraries, ships, costs, dates, add-ons, et

It is not hard to compare cruises.
1) How many days- count your cruise days from day you board until day you disembark.
2) Compare ports- If you decide on a specific cruise on specific river, you should generally visit the same ports, but still check and research what you want to see the most.
3) Compare ships- Some ships are a bit larger or longer. Viking ships, I believe tend to be longer. It shouldn't matter much if you ship carries 170 or 120 passengers, but we prefer smaller.
4) Dates- the weather can be a factor, but you want to go in the Summer, so be flexible. Most cruise lines offer many dates during a particular season and they provide the cost for each date on their website.
5) tours from the ship- Most all lines provide free excursions from the ship every day, but some may have optional ones and a price will be listed. Add the additional cost if you want the optional ones.
6) COSTS-this is huge, you will find that quality for all river cruises is generally excellent. We have found that once we pick our preferred itinerary, we go with the one with the lowest cost (check cost per day). Also, check if any meals are extra, usually not on river cruises. Check for drinks, some cruise lines provide one glass of wine with lunch and dinner, others might provide more. Factor that into your cost.

We loved our 3 Viking River cruises. No complaints. All were in the fall. No water level issues. One time water was higher than normal…but able thankfully to get through locks ok and under bridges. We book lowest least expensive cabins. Have tried no other river cruises so cannot compare.

I also recommend Tauck. We've only done 1 river cruise--the Rhine and it was with them. It is all inclusive--tips, alcohol, food, snacks, coffee, excursions. There is no nickel diming. It is 1st class all the way. We are going to France this year with Tauck and doing the Seine. Their customer service is excellent. They also have an airfare deal going on-- I don't have details, but it would be another money and time saver.

Ama is who we are looking at so that we can sample river towns and places without moving our stuff. That said, with so many recent years low river/we had to bus and hotel/not as ideal we have decided winter or spring, not summer or fall for optimal conditions. To each their own- but as others have said do your homework, check out cruise critic, and enjoy!

Much good advice above, especially from Paul and Retired in Vermont. We took a Danube cruise 12 years ago and had a good time, but land travel was much more rewarding and a better value (independently or on a well-run tour). And we do a lot of ocean cruising. If you haven't traveled in Europe before, a cruise might be a good way to get your feet wet (not literally), but follow that with land trips when you can.

If you do a cruise, you might consider one of the lines that will be carrying people from different countries, not just Americans. Cruisecritic might be a source of info on this. Having meals and doing walking tours with people from other cultures is a good way to enrich the experience, even if you struggle a little to understand what you're saying to each other. Lots of travelers will speak enough English to communicate and we can learn some of their words and phrases if we don't know them already.

Regarding cost comparing similar cruises of Tauck and Gate 1 Travel

Tauck 7 day river cruise (Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Bratislava, Dürnstein, Linz) COST PP $5190.

Gate 1 Travel, 7 day river cruise largely over same as Tauck, but starting in Regensburg. COST PP $2099

Gate 1 cruise does have three optional tours that if added would cost about $200 pp. Gate 1 Cruise includes wine with meals, if you order more then add a modest amount for drinks not at meals. Still Tauck is DOUBLE Gate 1.

Wondering what happened with homerp? Did all this info just scare him off? Hopefully not and that he and his wife are researching. I know when I was researching, many of the TAs just listed Viking, Ama and Uniworld. Granted I live in a very rural area so my search for a "river cruise specialist" did not yield me any better info than I found on my own. My AAA rep just listed Viking, Ama and Uniworld. When I asked her about Tauak, Emerald, Gate1, Avalon, Nico, Scenic or others she couldn't comment. Online search for relatively local TAs had the same result. They push Viking, Ama and Uniworld. Ditto with my sister who lives in NJ. She heard about Gate1 while on a cruise out of LA.

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful and generous comments. Your wisdom on this matter has been priceless. We now know that not every moment on these river cruises is as idyllic as the commercials suggest:) We now know that time of year and water levels are important. And we now know there are many more cruise companies than we initially thought. We’re pursuing and weighing all your important recommendations and warnings. Now wondering if a land trip this summer might be smarter and to hold off on a river cruise for a year or two when we’ll both be retired and can travel at any point.
Thanks again, everyone. This is such a wonderful community of fellow sojourners!
Paul

Paul if you are mobile enough, consider a bike and boat cruise. You can choose to bike or ebike scenic parts of the journey, or not. Smaller well rated companies. Danube, Mosel, Amsterdam to Bruges are popular routes.

Or Burgundy - this trip looks delightful:

https://youtu.be/VUHribxXzw4?feature=shared

Paul,
We did Gate1 Amsterdam to Basel on the Rhine and loved it. The Rhine is a very active river and it was fascinating . There is a fair amount of cruising from Amsterdam to the next port in the day light as well as one full day. We also got the " schedule " for any of the locks and went up top to experience those . Had to set the alarm for a couple. We also Gate 1 Budapest to Praque . Danube was lovely but not as active so not as interstate to me. But still a great trip.