River Cruise - Germany

I think you'll experience the culture more if you reside in smaller inns and hotels rather than in small cruise-boat cabins on a boat shared with mostly foreign tourists.

We are booked on a river cruise with Viking. It's a Christmas Market cruise. Obviously, the river boats are smaller than ocean cruise ships. You don't mention what cruise line you are researching. Try researching this on Cruise Critic, too. This is our first river cruise. We are usually independent travelers so this is a departure for us. We are going with friends who have taken a river cruise before and loved it.

I have not done one but a friend just came back from a Viking cruise down the Rhine and Danube and raved about it - definitely the Ritz rather than Motel 6!

I've also had a friend who has gone on several Grand Circle river cruises and loved it.

Thanks so much for all of your responses! We are looking at the "Gate One" company. I have seen and heard more about the Viking company so I think I will check them out as well.
Thanks again :)

We did a Christmas Market Cruise last year with AMA and it was amazing! Thought it was a great way to see so many different cities (Budapest to Nuremberg) and the cabin, crew, experience was a 5 star def NOT a Motel 6! :) It was our first time doing a vacation like that and would do it again. Have a lot of fun, you'll enjoy! Going through Germany will be wonderful!

We just booked a 14 day cruise/tour of the Danube with Gate 1 for next May. If you look at their website, they have photos of all their ships. While many people consider Gate 1 to be a "budget" cruise line, the tour we booked has included tours of all the cities that we stop in except for one. The hotels used pre and post cruise are well located and 4*. My travel rep (I used Vacations to Go to book my cruise) says she has a lot of repeat customers for Gate 1 cruises and tours.

Hi Louise...thanks for your comments. The Christmas Markets sound wonderful. Did you go at the begining of December and how was the weather? I would love to do that so I was excited to hear from others who have experienced it! Betty, your trip sounds great! I am feeling better about the River Cruise idea as well as the Gate One experience. Happy travels!

Hi Kris,
That's terrific..I will pick up a copy. Thank you for sharing!

Nancy, Ditto the previous poster's recommendation re: the current issue of Conde Nast.
My experience....we did our first/only river cruise w/ Tauck. Tauck has very nice private-labeled river ships as they call them (I kept wanting to say barge), but they are very nice. Having been on large regular cruise ships and smaller high-end cruise ships, various land-based group travel (large and small groups), then finally a river cruise, it would not be my first choice for future travel.....and I say that comparing land-based Tauck Tours with their river-cruise tours. I far prefer land-based, because I enjoy staying in high-end/interesting hotels, dining at different wonderful places. On the river cruises, the 90% of meals are on the ship....while nice, I really missed the varied dining experiences of past tours. The river cruise tended to pull a much older crowd...probably a good 10 years (on average) older than the land-based travel. Also, there are many more people vs. one bus of 38 or 20 (if on a small group tour.) The benefit I kept hearing from many repeat fellow travelers is that one only has to unpack once. Personally, I would rather pack up every couple of mornings and be able to experience more. Also river ships "stack up" next to one another.....that's normal in busy locales. So, your wonderful floor-to-ceiling window that offers a fabulous view of Amsterdam when you arrive, might look into the room of a different brand river ship the next morning when you throw open your curtains....that doesn't happen w/ hotels. And, the ceilings are not as high, due to the ship needing to go under bridges, etc. Some people love them. I say do it, if the itinerary is more efficient via river cruise, otherwise, I'd go land based.

Hi Margaret, Thank you for your thoughtful response. You made many good points...some I was concerned about and some I had not even thought about. At 55 years old my husband and I are finally in a position to really travel several times a year now. I went to Europe for the first time :) in May and of course just loved it. I planned and booked the entire trip with help from this forum and it was near perfect. I have not done any "cruising" as yet and honestly, it has never been on the top of my list. The river cruise idea sounded fun, but I really wanted to hear other peoples points of view. I am very comfortable as an "independent" traveller so the appeal for me was more of seeing things in a different way as opposed to not having to really participate in the planning. The age range for the groups that you mentioned is not exactly what I would have hoped for either..love this age group..but I am not quite ready for that pace as yet! So much to see...I would love to hear about some of your favorite places or trips...I am open and ready to see the world!
Thankl you again!

Nancy, If you haven't visited Italy, the Rick Steves' Heart of Italy group tour is hard to top.....for true value and for the itinerary. I've referred several friends to that group tour, and each has absolutely become a raving fan of RS afterward. Also, Silversea cruises offers a cruise from Athens to Istanbul that we found fantastic. Silversea has small ships (200-600 people), very high end, all inclusive except shore excursions.......and we were very pleased. The Greek Isles (especially Santorini) are wonderful, and we truly enjoyed Turkey (Ephesus and Istanbul), too. We've also been very pleased w/ Tauck Tours...more expensive than the RS tours. We did the Rome/Capri/Amalfi Tour a couple of years ago. What's nice about Tauck is that they provide certain perks, like a private after-hours Vatican/Sistene Chapel Tour, and we also visited a private villa on Capri and heard the homeowner/professor speak about contemporary Italian society (we never would have been able to do that on our own). Also were met by convertible taxis, and toured the island that way in groups of 4. Can't beat that!!
Paris is also wonderful...did a RS Tour there. And, I'm guessing you've done Calgary/Banff/Lake Louise and also an Alaskan cruise. Oh, my list can go on and on...........just depends on what interests you, etc. Antarctica is also on my bucket list, as well as the Royal Scotsman train (maybe someday :) PM me if any specific questions. Keep travelling....great way to make memories.

Hi Nancy! I totally agree with Margaret...keep on traveling! At our age, when you sit down and stay home, your joints rust! Have you looked at the Rick Steves' Europe In 21 Days Tour? It's a good one. The Germany, Austria & Switzerland in 14 Days Tour is on my bucket list. Your river tour sounds like it will be great. Someone else here mentioned the AMA tours. They are the ships in the Burt Wolf travel show on PBS, the episodes where he is on the rivers. Very luxurious; I have not been on one of their trips: however, the Burt Wolf programs showed enough details that you know this is very good quality. I have their travel brochure and plan to go on one of their trips. Also Viking cruises look very good. I would want to stay in Germany after the cruise and do about 2 to 3 more weeks travel so I get the experience of being away from tourist hot spots and get more of staying in small towns and meeting the German people. The river tour would whet my appetite to see more of what was beyond those towns on the riverbank.

We have driven all over Germany the past 10 yrs, concentrating mostly on smaller towns and villages. This will be our first river cruise. We haven't visited but one or two of the towns on this particular Danube River cruise so there is much to look forward to, even though our time will be limited. My husband loves turning over the reins to someone else as well as not having to haul luggage up and down stairs. This will be a different mode of travel for us but one we are excited about.

Hello Ladies! Rebecca and Betty thank you so much for your feedback! There seems to be alot of interest in the River Cruises, now that I'm looking...Viking does seem to have some very interesting trips and alot of good reviews. Keep us posted on hoe you like your cruise!
Thanks again :)

I have travelled to Europe five times now, three times independently and twice by river cruise. I have every expectation of doing both in the future. The nice thing about river cruises is that you unpack once, and your hotel moves around with you. You generally dock near the center of town, and you can get out and walk where you like. Your meals are all covered as well, although there is nothing to stop you from eating in a restaurant when you have a mind to. The disadvantage is that, like any package tour, you go to the major sights in a group. That can be disruptive to the other visitors, and you don't have as much control over your schedule as you would on your own. On the other hand, you usually have a local guide to fill you in on what you're seeing, and you can avoid waiting in line for tickets. River cruises are always on much smaller vessels than ocean cruises. You have maybe 200 passengers, depending on the boat. The boats are simpler, without all of the on board hoopla you find on ocean liners. While it's true that sometimes you are docked next to another boat, you can always get out of your cabin and get a view from the lounge--or just leave the boat and go for a walk in the town.