European River Cruise in Spring 2019?

[stephenson]

Hi ALL. On our way to Italy but thinking of the next trip! I’ve heard a lot of great comments about River cruises in Europe. Looking for some recommendations for routings, interesting cities to visit before or after the cruise and your specific information about which ones you chose and why.

Was there anything you would not do again?

Thanks!

 

[misanman]

We took the Viking Grand European Tour (Budapest to Amsterdam) two years ago and had a great time. I recommend a search for other threads that discuss European river cruises in detail.

 

[braumeister]

There have been several discussions of these here in the last couple of years, so do a little searching.

We did the Viking Amsterdam to Basel cruise a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Spent a few days in Amsterdam beforehand, and then took their extension of a few days in Lucerne afterward. It was a great trip. A year before, we had taken the Viking Paris to Prague but the river levels didn't cooperate so we had to spend way too much time on buses. Viking, to their credit, compensated us with a huge discount on another cruise which is why we did the Amsterdam to Basel.

 

[OldShooter]

We did Moscow-to-St. Petersburg with Viking in 2009. OK, but not great. The one thing that we did that substantially improved the trip was to hire private guides both in Moscow and in St. Petersburg.

In Moscow we used Daniel Petrov (danpetrov74@gmail.com) and he was great. He met us at the wharf and we zipped downtown on the metro while the Viking buses were laboring for an hour in traffic. We went to places we wanted to go, ate where and when we wanted to eat, and were back to the boat on schedule. All arranged, including checking references, via email ahead of time.

In St. Petersburg we extended a few days and had arranged with our hotel to book a guide. Said guide broke her collarbone the night before our date, so we ended up with the hotel owner as a guide. He was fantastic. Again we went where we wanted, when we wanted, ate at places and time of our choosing, etc.

So, wherever you go I strongly recommend avoiding the bumbling herds on the boat-arranged excursions and instead booking private guides.

 

[Totoro]

So, wherever you go I strongly recommend avoiding the bumbling herds on the boat-arranged excursions and instead booking private guides.

+1 on that.

Amazed with the subpar experience cruise ships got compared to 'normal' tourists, even in Amsterdam. You pay a lot for the convenience, and I'm not only talking about finances, also in quality of the experience.

 

[Karl]

Be cautious on the Danube. Know of 3 people who had trouble with locks (us), water levels
and strikes. I checked a site (can't remember it) that rated the cruises and most were in the 90's while Danube was in the 70's. We enjoyed it but spent a lot of time on buses - that meant early mornings and lots of forced marches through cities that could have been much more enjoyable at a leisurely pace.

 

[f35phixer]

Be cautious on the Danube. Know of 3 people who had trouble with locks (us), water levels
and strikes. I checked a site (can't remember it) that rated the cruises and most were in the 90's while Danube was in the 70's. We enjoyed it but spent a lot of time on buses - that meant early mornings and lots of forced marches through cities that could have been much more enjoyable at a leisurely pace.

+1 on water levels on all European rivers, cant remember the site either, Pretty sure Viking shows the water levels. Spring has melting snow so would be high water issues. just make sure you get a good cnx guarantee.

 

[Ticker]

just got back from Prague to Paris via Viking. great service, caring wait/cabin staff, good entertainment, lots of wine at lunch and dinner. We skipped several tours to see the cities ourselves. No issues with water levels. We enjoyed ourselves more on our jaunt through the Dordogne region, staying a an air bnb, renting a car, and exploring on our own. The biggest advantage to us on the cruise was that our luggage was handled for us.

 

[FireFool]

Had very positive experience with Viking's Rhine river cruise (Amsterdam to Basal). We went in October and had no problems with river levels - and it was perfect moderate sightseeing weather. Spent a three days in Amsterdam beforehand on our own and it was the perfect amount of time to see the sights there. There's also the option to fly off afterwards to any of the major Europe cities using one of the discount carriers so London, Paris etc. become options.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We did Viking’s Lyon to Arles this past September on the Rhone. We enjoyed it very much. I think it’s worth the extra $$ to book a Veranda room with the exterior deck. Food was very good, not gourmet, a step below, but very acceptable. There were a lot of locks on the river. I’d estimate 8. No trouble with water levels. Tours were well organized.
We did not do the pre trip stay in Paris, but did the 3 day post trip in Nice. Nice is a wonderful city.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

We ended our Rhone cruise with a trip on our own through the Camargue, a natural area in the Rhone River delta. It's home to France's unique Gitano culture. Visiting that region was a real treat. Here's an article: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/mar/26/saintes-maires-gypsy-festival-camargue

And a video:

Sad to say we were not in town for the Gitano festival. If I were cruising the Rhone in spring, though, I wouldn't miss it.