River Cruise Thoughts

I'm sure some on this forum have done river cruises, but you might elicite more responses on the Cruise Critic forum.

Here are some recent discussions on the forum:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/good-river-cruise-lines

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/river-cruise-immersive-or-not

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/river-cruises-in-europe

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/viking-river-cruise-danube

I haven't taken a river cruise, either, but I know from earlier threads here and information encountered elsewhere that you have to accept the possibility (likelihood unknown) that either very low water or very high water will turn part of your river cruise into a bus tour.

Plenty of discussion on here, as mentioned, and Cruise Critic would be a good resource. There are also many YouTube videos out there that weigh the pro and cons, and make suggestions.

Cruising is something you either wind up loving or hating, if you have been on a large cruise ship though and enjoyed it (or hated it) just be aware that a river cruise is a different animal entirely.

I was one that looked at it, and decided it did not fit my travel style, for others, they really enjoyed it.

The main points I would bring up would be:

Pace, if 5 cities in 6 days (not counting the starting and ending day) sound fun, or maybe seems way to hectic, that is a big part of the decision. Despite the concept of a lazy river cruise, there is relatively little time just cruising the river by day, which is fine, because most of the time the scenery is somewhat limited.

River cruises can be a bit more regimented than you might think. Wake-up call is at a certain time, meals at a certain time, tours start at a certain time. Exploring on your own, or eating on your own, usually means forgoing a planned (paid for?) activity. Many of the planned tours, and usually the food on board, are high quality though, so depends on what you like.

Water levels have become a real concern (either too much, or too little). I would try to get a grasp of the frequency and timing of past issues. Certain times of year might be best avoided. Also understand what happens in an event. Might be cancellation, might be your "cruise" becomes a bus tour.

lots of good Youtube videos. check out ‘EECC Travels”

There are some good concerns raised above. I am going to take my first river cruise next July, so I don't have an actual experience yet. However, I think one important idea is to consider the price on a per night basis and what all is included in that price to see if that fits your budget. Mime is a combination bus/river cruise tour. It starts with 3 nights in Prague (hotel) then a river cruise on the Danube for 7 nights between Regensburg and Budapest. This is followed by 6 nights of bus tour (hotels) between Budapest and Bucharest. My price per night comes out to $261.20 This includes all lodging, transportation, some sightseeing, and 34 meals. I feel like this ends up being a good value for me as a solo traveler. I also have the added perks of a congenial group of people to travel with.

I'm going with Gate 1 and their website has this information on it up front:
Know Before You Book - High & Low Water
European river cruising has gained in popularity for very good reason. It's a relaxing and convenient way to experience Europe while enjoying the comfort of a deluxe ship. However, before making the decision to reserve your vacation, please be aware of potential conditions which may impact your cruise. While most of the time river cruises operate exactly as planned, weather conditions may result in high or low water levels which impact a ship's itinerary and, on occasion, render a ship unable to sail at all. On very rare occasions, other events such as heavy fog, a damaged lock, or an incapacitated vessel blocking the river, may impact a sailing. These events typically occur with little or no notice. In the event that a cruise is partially or completely impacted, the itinerary will be operated by deluxe motor coach, accompanied by a Tour Manager, with overnights in hotels. When the option exists, the operator will "swap ships" with another vessel sailing in the opposite direction, retaining the sailing experience. Crew, ship and cabin configuration may differ. The itinerary will include as many of the originally scheduled sightseeing features as possible, considering the travel time and distances required, as well as meals. While it is not possible to recreate the more leisurely comforts of sailings, we will endeavor to provide a comparable itinerary. These alternative services will be provided at no additional charge.

I have been on a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and enjoyed it immensely, I did not pack light and did not look at a RS travel guide.

I agree Cruise Critic will provide the most information. However 10 years ago I took the Viking cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. Pros were: unpack once, sleep in same bed every night, meals good, relaxing pace. Cons for me were: not my style of travel, even though I was in my 60s most of the other passengers were 10-20 years older, mostly couples and being a solo I wasn't welcomed at their table so I ended up sitting with the same 3 other ladies each meal all the trip, was more a luxury trip than I am used to (I like traveling the Rick Steves way.) I would try another river cruise, but not on Viking. River levels can really impact your cruise, but I lucked out on my trip. My last comment was the boat's head housekeeper was very rude, but she was the captain's wife, so putting in a complaint was useless. I won't go into all the details, but she literally had no concept of customer service even when the grey water tank backed up and the odor in the room was very unpleasant.

For me these only work if you love the deck life on the boat, because you will see more of that then you will the cities you stop in. Nothing wrong if that is a part of your enjoyment in life. Someday I may find thats what I want. If the boats sail during the day, its time you wont see in the stops. If the boats sail at night then you see nothing of the scenery. Some of it is good i presume, a lot maybe not.

So, here is the Viking 8 day crusie

Day 1 — Budapest, Hungary
This is the day they let you on the boat, I presume.
Day 2 — Budapest, Hungary
I presuem that at some point in the evening they will sail to Vienna
So you had the equivelent of one something less than 1.5 days to see what most would spend 3 or 4 days seeing.
You need to arrive 2 or 3 days early. Dont book the pre cruise days with the ship company. They use less than ideal (but very nice), hotels and they charge too much.
Day 3 — Vienna, Austria
I assume you are here when you wake?
Day 4 — Vienna, Austria
A bit better than Budaest. Still a whirlwind visit.
Problem is not sure what to do about it. You could fly into Vienna for a few days, then go to Budapest for a few days then sail out, but that seems silly to leave a city, just to return by boat. Nope, just deal with that you wont see much of Vienna. OR!! Do the cruise in reverse order, ending in Budapest. Then after a few extra days in Budapest take the train up to Vienna for a few days and then go home..... still sort of silly to retrace......
Day 5 — Krems, Austria
A day is about right
Day 6 — Passau, Germany
A day is about right
Day 7 — Regensburg, Germany
A day is about right
Day 8 — Regensburg, Germany
They throw you off the boat in the middle of Bavaria.

We're doing our first river cruise next May from Amsterdam to Basel. One of the reasons is because we've never done one. It is the most expensive trip on a per day basis that we've ever taken, so there is some apprehension, but we won't know if it's for us until we've tried.

Since your time is limited to a day in each port I think it's even more important to do some RS style pre-planning to make sure you get to see what you want. Maybe that means skipping the planned tours or lunch on board. I'm not considering those possibilities as a waste of money, I'd consider it a good trade-off to see what you want.

Folks!

My sincere thanks to all of you who took the time to post answers to my inquiry. I really appreciate your insights and advice!

Cheers!

We did our first, and so far only, river cruise just before covid hit in October 2019.

Because we had never done one before we chose a seven night Amsterdam to Basel trip, with Scenic. Like a previous poster it was by far the most expensive per night trip we've ever had.

We did enjoy it, but it was somewhat marred by a couple of things. My husband became ill, just with a cold, but it meant he couldn't really join in much as even before covid, you didn't feel comfortable at communal dining tables coughing and spluttering. I suspect we would have enjoyed it more had he been perfectly well.

The other thing was the constant worry about water levels in the lead up to the trip. Many, many cruises were affected in the months prior to us leaving. I really hate bus tours and this would have been the most expensive bus tour of all time. I had a plan B worked out whereby we could visit almost all of the stops by train, so our plan was if we were stopped with high or low water issues, we'd pull out of the cruise, do the trip by train, and worry about getting any possible refunds when we returned.

Luckily this didn't happen and all my stressing and planning was for nought.

Scenic really is all inclusive, so once on board we literally did not spend one cent.

We had been to Amsterdam before, but really enjoyed it, so we flew in three days early and spent that time exploring things we had missed the first time. The ship also had one full day in Amsterdam, so we had lots of time there. We did the pre-cruise independently and also our flights. I like to be in control, not at the mercy of a cruise company, and it worked well.

The times we had in port on the Rhine were actually perfect. They were all smallish towns so there was plenty of time for our included walking tours and some independent exploration. Could we have used more time? Of course we could, but that is the case for any travel anyway in my opinion.

The lack of packing and unpacking was also very good, but I didn't like the regimentation of the cruise. We are late eaters, but dinner was always at 7pm. Breakfast was also earlier than we preferred. There was very little night time entertainment, although for us, dinner is usually our entertainment, but not when it is at 7 and over by 8.

There was only one stop that we didn't join in with and that was Strasbourg. We were supposed to dock very close to the city. We had visited earlier that year for five nights, but there were still things that we had missed so we were looking forward to an extra day. Unfortunately our Captain decided to dock over 30km from Strasbourg in a small French village, for a reason that wasn't ever properly explained. This involved a bus trip to Strasbourg, which we hate, so we opted to remain on board.

As my husband was still not 100% and I felt I was getting it too, a lazy day, with a short stroll around the village was perfect for us.

After the cruise ended in Basel, we did a self-arranged overnight stay, with a walking tour, before then independently flying to Vienna for a week with some friends, then catching the train onto Budapest for another six days. We also did a daytrip to the Wachau Valley on the Danube, so got to see quite a lot of what we would have seen on the longer Amsterdam to Budapest cruise.