We've looked into river cruising in Europe, but the prices are so high. For the price of one week, we could take a 2 week ocean cruise around Europe.
And the river cruises are just so slow. And we've already visited many of the major cities on the rivers.
If I didn't catch a break on the price, I might not have gone, but I just got back from a southern France cruise on Viking.
And for the price of a 1 week river cruise, we could take 3-4 seven day ocean cruises. Or, we could take two vacations to anywhere in the world for the price of one week's European river cruise.
I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip to Paris. The more you smile while in Paris, the nicer the locals will be to you. The beauty of the Eiffel Tower is simply overwhelming with it's strobe lights flashing at sunset from across the river.
Yes, the price of river cruising is a bit steep, but I managed to make it not as much as I thought it might be. But I do think we got a good deal; about 40% off the usual mailing price. That worked out to about $285 per person-day (French balcony, beer and wine included in meals and included shore excursions). I backed-out the airfare from that price (had to estimate it because it was a 'free air' deal). That, as compared to, say, a balcony Panama Canal cruise on Princess cost me about $160 per person-day, plus tips, drinks and shore excursions. I figure apples to apples is about $200 per person-day on the Princess, but that depends upon how many shore excursions you buy, and how much you drink, lol! So, given a good deal on the river cruise and just an OK deal on Princess (or similar), I'd say comparing my last ocean cruise to this river cruise, the latter was about 50% more expensive. That was worth-it for me to have done a river cruise.
I've seen the river cruises going up and down the Rhine River and the Danube. They always looked so slow, serene and restful. And those cruises are quite popular. Although I may be retired, I prefer to travel a whole lot faster.
Not only that, but the ship is only underway about 25% of the time, only about 10% of underway hours aboard are during waking hours and not in, or waiting for a lock (locks are slimy dark places...only the first time through is interesting). So most of your waking hours, you're docked, sometimes at a very non-picturesque location or out on a shore excursion. I'd say we had about 1/3 of our meals where we were cruising and not predominantly waiting for or in a lock. It's nice to watch the scenery go by, but, as you say, it changes very slowly except in the rare case when you're cruising through towns and cities. From a shore excursion perspective, we did have a few walk-off city tours, there mostly climb aboard one of four huge tourist coaches. Then they often dump you out with the entire shipload of tourists. Not my idea of an optimal experience, although I must admit to being engaged in what I was seeing much of the time, despite the crowd.