River Cruising In Europe

Golden sunsets

Golden sunsets

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Hello folks: I'm interested in the good, the bad and the in between of this method of travel, which seems to have become ubiquitous. To be clear, I believe we meet the age criteria for such a trip, so not expecting a young youthful group. My interest is in hearing some of the great, good, not so good and OK... negative stories of those who have gone. Any tips on making the most, or ignoring the bad parts of this type of travel? Not so interested in the economics of river cruising. I recognize, it's not the most frugal way of travelling. And would you do it again? Thanks in advance?.


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There's an "age criterion" for river cruises? Gee, I thought the only criterion was "can you afford it." LOL

I do have a friend who took one when she was 60 and her husband was 70. Her husband felt like the other passengers could be his parents (and based on the FB photos, they looked it, too). They just thought it was funny. They loved the tours. They got to see a lot of sites you might never find on your own.

Golden sunsets said:
To be clear, I believe we meet the age criteria for such a trip, so not expecting a young youthful group. O
Click to expand...
 
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No river cruise experience here, but look forward to the responses you receive.
 
I have not been, but an acquaintance recommended Avalon is a better, more upscale experience than Viking.
 
Two years ago, we took an 8 day bike/barge tour with VBT of The Moselle River. Average age was mid-50s. Great experience. 19 passengers

Others have taken Viking on the Rhine and Danube. Bigger ships. All reported liking them.
 
We did a river cruise through Avalon in 2014--actually it was exactly four years ago today!

I was 56 at the time and I was the youngster! But the crowd (all 150-ish of them) was much different than the huge ships--more refined, well-traveled, etc.

A few nickel and dime things that bothered me. Wine and beer are free with dinner but if you get a glass 15 minutes before in the lounge it wasn't free. And the made-to-order omelettes--really about one teaspoon of finely-chopped veggies. So they were the "bad" things.

We had a good tour every day, everyone was very nice. We got a standard room. On ours they had French balconies--just a couple of feet wide, not wide enough for a chair, etc. Plus if you are "double-parked"--like in Budapest, all you will see is the Viking, etc ship next to you.

I thought Avalon at the time was a step above Viking but maybe that has changed. In Budapest we had to walk through a Viking ship to get to the dock (we were double-parked) and I noticed the carpet was worn, etc in the 30 seconds I was on it.

Make sure that you have extra days/weeks to go to other cities/countries on either end of the trip before you head home.
 
We took our first river cruise on the Rhone in 2004, just when Avalon was getting off the ground. It was less of a luxury experience than we had on Uniworld about 7 years later, and IIRC, was not as expensive as our 2011 Uniworld trip on the Main River. We chose basic cabins on both cruises, and found the cabin on the Uniworld boat to be a bit claustrophobic. The bed in particular seemed smaller than even full-sized, and I'm an XL person. Food on the Uniworld cruise was exceptional, less so on the Avalon boat -- but again, Avalon was just getting started at the time.

In light of our basic-cabin experiences, perhaps, I look at 8 days to be the maximum time I'd want to spend on a river cruise. I find it pleasant to pair that with some unstructured exploring -- after our river cruise we rented a car at Marseilles and spent another week exploring the Camargue (the Rhone River delta, home to a nature preserve and the hub of Gypsy culture in France). Appended to our Main cruise was a week in Prague, which included a couple tour-affiliated excursions but was mostly spent looking around on our own.

Of course, the cruise lines like to promote grand, weeks-long excursions -- to go that route, I'd want their top-of-the-line lodging, and I can't see spending that kind of money on a package tour.

One thing common to our experience on both boats -- we connected with another couple on the tour and got to know them pretty well over the course of the cruise, sharing a dinner table, etc. We still get Christmas cards from our cruise buddies in Germany.
 


Viking River - Amsterdam to Basel about four years ago. We were the youngest ~55 then. Spent three days in Amsterdam prior. Wonderful river and wonderful city's we stopped at during cruise. You got to have extra time to walk around after your tour for the day. Last year we did Lisbon to Porto in and Out. three extra days in Lisbon and Porto loved both, the Douro River city's not so much, But the river is relaxing and that's part of it for us. Don't remember which cruise we initially were going on, but be cautious of LOW and HIGH waters cancelation, or they will bus you from one stop to another. Viking is well organized, picked up and dropped off at airports, You can certainly do that on your own. We had balcony rooms, love that part!!!





Food was great, beer and wine at dinner and lunch, We smuggled a bottle or two on ;-))) for other times....





We will be doing others, same Viking company or try a different TBD...

 
We're taking a different tack on river cruises later this year. We'll travel around Europe by train, but take a river cruise in most of the cities we visit. Some are ride the boat and gawk while someone narrates the sites. Others are a day out and back excursions to another town. Third flavor (so far) is a hop on-hop off just like the bus tours.
 
We did the Viking Grand European tour (Budapest to Amsterdam) 18 months ago and thought it was great.
 
Interesting that when we did the Moselle, the water was so high that the Viking cruises were cancelled and we got to use their docks. They could not navigate under the bridges.
 
We have had a number of friends take river cruises in Europe, and they love them. I don't hear any complaints online or on Rick Steve's travel forum.

We spend about a month a year on ocean cruises, and just returned home from a repositioning cruise NYC to Southampton a week.ago. For the price of one week cruise on the river, we can take 3 complete European trips including airfare.

They would be great for many older travelers. But we like to move just a little faster. And we have visited most of the cities in the river cruises already.
 
OP here. Thanks for your responses. I went ahead today and confirmed an 8 day cruise on the Rhone in a Veranda Room with a Balcony, with a post 3 day in Nice. We visited this area (Avignon/Nice) about 15 years ago when we we were able to rent a [emoji594] and do all sorts of side trips. We no longer feel as though we can take on the adventurous side trips, but want to re-create a fond memory of Southern France.
 
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Any advice on the Rhone river cruises would be much appreciated.
 
Golden sunsets said:
Hello folks: I'm interested in the good, the bad and the in between of this method of travel, which seems to have become ubiquitous. To be clear, I believe we meet the age criteria for such a trip, so not expecting a young youthful group. My interest is in hearing some of the great, good, not so good and OK... negative stories of those who have gone. Any tips on making the most, or ignoring the bad parts of this type of travel? Not so interested in the economics of river cruising. I recognize, it's not the most frugal way of travelling. And would you do it again?
Click to expand...

We've done two Viking river cruises so far: Basel to Amsterdam (8 Days) and Amsterdam to Budapest (15 days). Both were terrific.

Definitely set off on your own if you feel like it. The various excursions we took varied from excellent to so-so. It depends on both the destination and the guide. Likewise if you are tired, you don't have to participate in everything. Take a "day off" if you like and just take a short walk around the area near the boat - most stops are right in the center of everything.

Last winter we were talking with my aunt and uncle. They had never been out of the country and had heard about river cruising. After sharing our experiences with them they signed up for the Rhine trip this summer on Viking. It's a good first experience - only 8 days (not too long) and the Rhine is arguably one of the more reliable river for getting under bridges and such.

Give it a try!
 
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