River Tours

Viking would work. We have been on two Viking tour/cruises and thought there were excellent as to level of food and service. You can stay on all day or all week. I think they all would allow you to stay on board anytime. No point in making you leave. No room checks. No sure if you meant to ask a different question.

The Cruise Critic website has a forum devoted to just river cruises (if that's what you mean by river tours). At the top of that forum page are some stickies that discuss the pros and cons of various river cruise lines. There are also some YouTube videos that cover the same subject.

AFAIK, you can always opt to stay on board, unless there is a water level problem and guests need to be bussed to a different ship. Yes, it happens, but not often.

thank you for these responses

I would second you tube videos. I find them a great way to check out cruises.

"wide mix of levels" - Do you mean physical ability or an additional mix/variety of interest due to age? If considering a family group with children/teens, this will limit your options.

Consider the budget friendly options that are not heavily marketed in the United States. These have the same itineraries, tie up at the same docks, and have nearly identical ships. You pay a premium for those US targeted lines.
Nicko cruises. https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/river
Viva cruises. https://www.viva-cruises.com/en-us/river-cruises
Tui cruises. https://www.tui.co.uk/river-cruises/

We had an exceptional river cruise experience with AMAWaterways. There is always a wide range of local to cruise location foods available.
On the other hand, we did not have a good experience on a Viking river cruise in many ways.

We had a very nice Danube cruise with Luftner Cruises. I've never tried Viking because I want to meet people from different nationalities and Viking seems to be all Americans, plus I can't stand their pretentious commercials on Rick Steves' show. (Sorry, they're not commercials, just acknowledgements of donations I guess.)

Cruise Critic will have a lot more information than this forum.

Well, we love Viking. We’ve done 2 river cruises (plus 5 ocean and 1 expedition) and find the company to be a good fit for us. No kids, no casinos, great itineraries, an included excursion at every port, free internet, included soft drinks, beer, and wine with lunch and dinner, good food, and great customer service.

We’ve met a number of people from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain on board. On a river cruise you can be very active (we jump off as soon as the boat docks and run around all day) or remain on board, enjoy the scenery, and read a book. It’s your vacation. Check out the reviews on Cruise Critic.

AMAwaterways is our choice of river cruises. Leaving in 22 days for my 4 cruise down the Rhine. Basel to Amsterdam.

Feb 2025 will be Egypt. 2026 haven’t decided yet

Kim

Everyone tends, self included, to assume that their trip will be the same for all others -- including bad trips. Vikings no-under-18 policy makes for a very different cruises when compared to larger ships and lots of kids. We done three that worked well and have some credits for a future cruise. Pick the schedule, the ship is "kind of" secondary.

Some of the best interactions with locals were the locals on the various cruises. Remember cruises are not just for Americans.

I've traveled with Viking several times, with family groups of six to twelve passengers. We ranged in ages from 18 to 89. Everyone was able to find activities that matched their needs. The concierge was very helpful when some wished to use public transit and/or taxis for independent "adventures". There was no issue with staying on board for a day.