River Cruises

I have taken three Grand Circle Travel river cruises [Vienna - Amsterdam, Budapest - Black Sea, and Rhine-Mosel which started in Basel and ended in Antwerp] and enjoyed them very much. I was traveling with my mother who is in her 80s so appreciated the somewhat slower pace, and the fact that you only have to unpack once!

Our ships held about 130-140 passengers and about the same number of crew. Very good meals, good range of activities, nice people. The boats are not luxurious but perfectly adequate with reasonable-sized cabins with comfortable twin beds [which are made up into sofas during the day]. There's no onboard pool but I think there's a small fitness room on most ships; I did enough walking during the day that I never worried about getting more exercise.

I believe some other river cruise lines have more amenities, but that sends the cost up... we had a great time with Grand Circle and would happily cruise with them again.

I took a Russian River Cruise 2 1/2 years ago and it was amazing! I've known several people who have taken them, all with various companies and haven't heard of any negative experiences. They pretty much all have the same itineraries, the difference in costs between the high end and low end companies comes down to the newness and luxuriousness of the ship and the amount of included activities vs. "optional" ones. I was completely sold on the RC experience and would love to take one through Germany one day!

We did a Viking cruise in France a few years ago. There were 150 people on the boat. For shore tours, we were broken into smaller, more manageable groups. Most of the locals guides were good, just one who appeared to be ill or tired. We wish we would have taken advantage of all the additional shore excursions - the prices were reasonable in light of what we received. The rooms were surprisingly large. Food used regional ingredients, but not regional cuisine. For now, we'll stick with RS tours, as we enjoy the activity level, the commaraderie and regional cuisine.

We took our first River Cruise this past July on Uniworld on the SS Antoinette that cruised from Amsterdam to Basel. Many believe that this particular cruise going down the Rhine is one of the most scenic and perfect for first time cruisers. As you're cruising through the Rhine Gorge with castles dotting the hillsides on both side of the river is a wonderful experience.

If you would enjoy touring castles, cathedrals, wine tastings, beautiful villages, etc... then this would be a great start.

Most find it difficult to choose a cruise line. Uniworld is all inclusive with unlimited alcohol, tips on and off the boat, transfers, excursions, etc... The food on Uniworld is spectacular. We are sailing with them again this coming December from Budapest to Passau for a Christmas Markets cruise and in 2016 to Italy.

If you go to cruise critic forums and go to River Cruising there is a tremendous amount of information on all the different lines(as well as reviews)

Most of the lines ships are between 130-150 with Viking longships being closer to 200

My wife and I took an Avalon River Cruise from Budapest to Nuremburg last April. We have different travel energy levels and she thought it might slow me down, which it did a little. You do lose the opportunity to spend evenings in the places you visit (although we did have an overnight stop in Vienna and went into town after an early dinner). It can be hard not having the chance to linger - that part is really hard for me. Some of the stops you can see pretty well in the time allotted though. We thought it was a great experience and a great route to sail. There are included tours at every stop, the food is great, and the wine flows at dinner. It would have been nice to have more free time in the various stops, but the included tours are generally worthwhile. We stayed over in Budapest before and Nuremburg and Munich after. We had been to Budapest and Munich before, and Nuremburg only very briefly. Mostly the ship docks at the place very convenient to the city center, but for Nuremburg getting into town required a bus ride (due to the city being a ways from the river). Our fellow passengers were friendly and good conversationalists. I was forty-eight at the time and definitely on the younger end of those on the ship. The whole trip had a very upscale vibe, overall a great luxury travel experience.

Hi
We took an Avalon Cruise in 2013 Vienna to Amsterdam these are smaller than others Viking for example . We did take a suite giving a bit more room and on the upper deck.

Cruisers were...American, Canadian, Mexican and Australian. Organised tours where excellent, Optional Tours weren't pushed on anyone, Food service was also excellent and finally a crew that were caring and liked what they did. The cruise was certainly relaxing and effortless.

We took a TAUCK Christmas Market River Cruise last year and it was our best vacation ever. We have traveled with TAUCK many times in the past, so we knew we were in for a treat. Tauck is a family run tour company out of NewEngland.

The cruise is truly ALL INCLUSIVE . . . no extra charges at the end. All excursions, all meals, port charges. ALL tips, unlimited regional wines. The morning breakfast buffets were AMAZING! Lunch was usually in the towns. Dinner was 5course with multiple regional choices for each course (plus you could always get steak or chicken) - dinners with unlimited wines from the area you are visiting.

Each stop/town was so amazing. They hire local guides for the tours . . . and they teach and show you so much about each area. Groups are broken down with 8-10people, so it's easy to hear/ask questions. Plus, the TAUCK guides are with you too. We were SO well taken care of. After the morning tours, our afternoons were free to explore on our own . . . there were shuttles through out the day to take you back to the boat.

AAA recommended Tauck or Uniworld to us. But since we had done tours here in the US with Tauck, we stayed with them. We plan to take the other Christmas Market Cruise in 2016.

We did a river cruise on AMA Waterways in the fall of 2013. The cruise started in Nuremberg and traveled through several small towns in Germany, and then ultimately ended in Luxembourg.

We are not "cruise" people. I refuse to get on one of those giant cruise ships. However, we thought that the river cruise would be a nice way to see a lot of different places throughout Germany without having to pack up our suitcases every night. We LOVED the trip and are looking to do another river cruise through Spain/Portugal next year.

We were very impressed with the rooms. They were a decent size and did not feel claustrophobic at all. We had a room with a sliding door that opened. There was no sort of balcony that you could go out on, but the sliding door made the room feel open and let in fresh air and light.

The amenities on the ship were fantastic. Unlimited beer/wine was included with both lunch and dinner. If you want drinks after dinner, you have to pay (and they are not cheap). However, you are also permitted to bring wine on board, so we would often purchase bottles while we were in port and have a glass in the room.

The crew was absolutely fantastic. The crew to guest ratio is quite high, so the level of attention you receive is great. The ships are small, so the crew gets to know you quite quickly. We were constantly being asked if there was anything they could help us with or anything we needed.

The only complaint I have is that I wished we could spend more time in many of the ports. In some of the ports we felt very rushed. We would typically go on the ship excursion/walking tour and be left with "free time". However, the "free time" was usually very short and really limited what you could do. I would have preferred to have the opportunity to do some dinners in town, etc.

All in all, we had a great experience and I would definitely recommend it.