I can't seem to find much out about river cruises in Italy. I have found one on the gobarging site aboard La Bella Vita for seven days. This seems to be the only one I've come across. Does anyone know of others? We're living in Prague for another eight months or so (maybe more!!) and are thinking about this trip in April or May 2012. Thanks for any guidance you can provide.
Terry in Prague
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23650 posts
My first thought is that you need big rivers for cruises and I cannot think of a big river in Italy equal to the Rhine, Danube, etc. You need big mountains and lots of water. I don't think I have ever seen a river cruise offered in Italy.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17572 posts
As Frank noted, the rivers of Italy are too short and/or too fast. The Adige, for example, is a lovely river where it wraps around Verona, but it is still a river of rapids at that point. There is a day cruise on the Brenta canal, but it doesn't sound like what you are looking for. You might consider a Mediterranean cruise that stops at various Italian ports of call. Or put together your own " cruise" on the Italian lakes, but you would not have overnight accommodations on the boat; you would have to find hotels ashore in the various towns.
Posted by
Centennial, CO, US
2191 posts
If you're interested in a drive-it-yourself barge, check out the Venice itineraries on the Locaboat.com website. I was looking at these yesterday; it sounds like fun to me to drive my own boat down the Grand Canal! They have several options, starting at 7 days.
Posted by
OP
Ashland, OR, USA
16 posts
Thanks everyone! I did have an inkling that the rivers in Italia aren't quite conducive to river cruises. We will continue with our planning, probably having to revamp a bit.
Terry
Posted by
London, UK
479 posts
Hi Terry, this is something I was planning to do as well - maybe towards the end of 2012. I had found a French company that does this, with a boat called MS Michelangelo. It is used by some UK based tour companies (Page & Moy I think - if you check their website there may be more information).
If you do go on a boat trip in April/May 2012 please do report back to the board with your experiences!
Posted by
Alta Loma, CA, USA
1446 posts
We took a river cruise in 2003 along the Po River with Uniworld, but I believe shortly thereafter they discontinued the cruise because the Po River was becoming dangerously shallow in various places. I remember that even our river cruise had a tough time navigating the river due to this reason. I just looked on-line & I saw several companies that supposedly offer a Po River cruise but then when I clicked onto them a few said that they don't offer any Po cruises at this time so I'm assuming they've been discontinued.