River Cruises: Looking for German Line

I do not know if it is German but Croisi is a European line. Check them out.

AROSA Cruises is the only German river cruise line that I know of.

Hi,

If your read German, look under "Flusskreuzfahrten.de" It gives you information of various river cruises offered by German companies on the Danube, Rhine, Oder, etc. Also, look under DERTOUR for information which Germans use for traveling in Germany and also TUI.de. Both provide detailed travel info including cruises (Kreuzfahrten).

Hi

For a German company focusing on just river cruises, check with www.adler-schiffe.de. They specialise on rivers in North Germany, ie on the Weser, Elbe, through the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostee Kanal), through Hamburg.

Curious why you think that Germans would not travel on Viiking.

My mom and I are German and we travel every year or so to visit family. I've been researching Viking for a while now and I asked a question on a FB viking forum regarding food on the ship as to whether it was Americanized or reflected the cuisine of the countries traveled. What I love about traveling is eating the local food. I don't want pancakes and American bacon for breakfast but prefer local fare. Anyhow, the answers were mixed, with most people saying that there was 'something for everyone', American style but also broetchen rolls and local cheeses too.

Two other reasons: a cousin suggested looking at Arosa Cruises as they were quite popular with people he knew. And, on our recent trip to Germany in December, I asked our local tour guide what she thought of VRC. She said 'they are like the IKEA of cruising in Europe', meaning low on quality but quite popular.

So that's why I'm wondering what cruise lines Germans use. I will be researching all the suggestions given so far.

@ Alexandra...From the descriptions and pictures I've seen in the brochures of the link above, the breakfast/brunch buffets offer the traditional German breakfast as well. Basically something to suit everyone. Since it is a German river cruising company, you can bet that the guests are 99.9% German. For a river cruise I would take them over Viking anytime.

Fred: Thank you. I will definitely check into the link!

@ Alexandra...You're welcome. I'll be staying in the Hamburg and Kiel areas in June for a few nights. One of the day trip activities is to take a river cruise through that area, including going through the Kiel Canal, (das Nord-Ostsee Kanal) and the Kieler Förde. Many types of cruises are offered in the brochure, which is all in German. Based on the company, the cuisine at the brunch buffet, the exclusively German guests, you can bet the entertainment is going be German too. Prima!

This is not a first-hand observation, but I have been told by Americans (who did what you have in mind) I met on cruises that they found German tourists to be less interested in meeting new people on their boats than are Americans. In the case of older guests, language-comfort may have something to do with it. I have personally found German tourists to be visibly surprised by the outgoing approaches of Americans they meet on the U.S. oriented boats I've been on. We had some very enjoyable dinners with a young German couple on a recent Windstar (ocean) cruise. But they couldn't get over how friendly/familiar Americans on the ship were. And they both worked for Lufthansa!

@ Alexandra...Here is the phone # for the link posted above, if you prefer talking to them, definitely advantages in calling them up.
Tel #: (0) 18 05/ 12 33 44.