We are beginning to look @ River Cruising in Middle Europe. We have only been on Ocean Cruises on 3,000 passenger ships. I see the River cruise ships are a lot smaller. It appears that one may need to book a cruise a year or more in advance if you want to get the trip & type of cabin you want. It also appears that the Summer months command the highest prices. What would be ideal would be to find a cruise during the ‘shoulder seasons’ when the prices are lower & they provide some incentives like free airfare. My question is: when do you go & still have fairly decent weather? April, May, October, November?
Posted by
11218 posts
May, October.
Middle Europe? Please be more specific. What countries are you interested in?
Danube, Rhine,Rhône, Seine, Moselle are a few.
Good companies are AMAWaterways, Uniworld, Avalon.We had a bad experience on Viking and won’t ever go on a trip with them again. There are short trips, Paris to Normandy, and longer trips such Amsterdam to Budapest.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4922 posts
I agree that you need to be more specific than "middle Europe". What is that? Better to name the rivers you are considering.
The Cruise Critic website has a forum specifically for river cruising, than leans heavily towards European rivers. You might want to have a look there.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
18136 posts
You had better find a site that talks about river levels. I know the Danube has issues every year and hoards of people end up on busses.
If I had to make a WAG, I would say April would be the safest bet for water level combined with weather and September might be the worst. But a WAG at best.
Based on nothing but comfortable weather: 15 April until 1 June and 15 September until 15 October (a little dryer than the Spring)
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I was thinking about the Rhine & Moselle Rivers.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8961 posts
Well, so far this 1st half of April we have had a lot of rain in this part of Germany and not very many sunny days. Trees have been blooming though and turning green and all the daffodils, etc. are pretty much finished. So, late April-early May would be best. Fall is gorgeous of course, but you do risk the low water.
Posted by
Australia
887 posts
We did a Uniworld Rhine cruise (Basel to Amsterdam) in the first week of November and had perfect weather. The grape vines had their autumn colours and it was beautiful. Prices were significantly less than mid summer. The only impact of going late in the season was that the cable car at Koblenz had stopped working for the season.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
18136 posts
The weather I experienced in Europe two weeks ago is about as relevant as the stock market value on those dates vs the value on the same dates next year.
Read the averages, some are detailed enough to give you probability above and below the stated averages; then take your best guess.
But do check water level statistics as being put on a bus I think would be a bigger deal then a little rain or a cool day.
Posted by
44 posts
We were on an Amsterdam-Budapest river cruise June 20-July 4. The days were were very long and the river was still high. Good weather, the cruise company booked our airfare at a lower rate than I could find on my own and allowed us to stay an extra week before returning back to the US.