New to river cruising

[Frankie Sue]

We have done several Holland America and Celebrity cruises and are now looking at river cruising for 2012. I am looking at a 15 days Black Sea itinerary (Budapest to Istanbul) with Amawaterways for the Fall of 2012. Anything that you can offer in the way of information or impressions would be greatly welcome. Is late Fall still O.K. weatherwise? Is there any advantage to booking river cruises early?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[caviargal]

Booking early gives you the widest choice of cabins, which is nice.

 

There are often early booking discounts and you can book your air well in advance which is often a good thing IMO.

 

I like fall as Europe overall is less crowded. We travel to Europe between November and March as we prefer lower rates and smaller crowds.

 

IMO, 15 days is a long cruise for a first time river cruise. You cannot compare the experience to that of an ocean cruise. I would start with a shorter cruise unless you know you will be ok with very limited entertainment and lots of quiet time when not in port. AMA does offer bikes and in room movies so there is some activity offered but we were really happier with our first shorter river cruise than with our 11 night sailing last year. Frankly, we were really bored when not in port as there was little to no entertainment (even compared to our shorter cruise) in the evenings and that got old after a few nights. We were on Avalon, fyi.

[MVPinBoynton]

To get an idea of what cruising with AMA is like you can look at our review on our website, www.thepreismans.com. Since that review was for our first Eurpopean river cruise, you might find out some things that will help in your planning.

 

I have to agree with Caviargal about a long river cruise possibly being too much for a first time. But then again you might love all of the free/relaxation time.:)

[Frankie Sue]

Actually it is 15 days but 13 nights really as the first and last days are travelling to and from Europe.

The trip includes a land portion: 2 nights in Vienna, 1 night in Bulgaria and 3 nights in Istanbul. So the cruising part is really 7 nights cruise.

The ship is the AmaDolce.

[MVPinBoynton]

That sounds like a really nice vacation. Have a great time.

[caviargal]

I agree that it is a very nice mix of land and cruising. We loved Istanbul when we visited years ago.

 

This year we are doing a wine cruise with AMA, 7 nights on the ship with lots of extra activities. We will spend another week in Europe traveling independently.

[BPCruiser]

Frankie Sue,

We did our 1st river cruise in Oct. 2010 after only previously cruising big cruise ships. We loved it! Ours was 7 days cruising the Mosele and Rhine Rivers, Luxembourg to Amsterdam with Avalon but with all the pre and post days we were gone for about 17 days total. Never felt like it was too long, in fact we wished we had more actual cruising days. I totally agree with Caviargal that Fall cruising and early booking has many advantages.

We booked our 2nd river cruise again with Avalon for this November on their new ship, Panorama from Budapest to Prague. Booked it the 1st week in Jan. 2011 and took advantage of substantial savings they were offering as well as reasonable (not cheap) airfare which we booked on our own.

You will have a great time and probably get hooked on river cruising as many of us former big ship cruisers have. Best of Luck!

[EmsMom]

We did the Budapest to Bulgaria cruise portion last August. The weather was fine but I would not suggest this itinerary as a first time river cruise. Budapest is wonderful and worth at least a 5 day stay....after that, we thought the trip was not too exciting. This part of the Danube is not the most scenic IMHO. The cruise going the other direction from Budapest is much more scenic and the towns are more interesting. Istanbul is fabulous and is worth several days as well but personally I don't think travelling by bus from Bulgaria to Istanbul is the way to go. Seven days on the river cruise was plenty for us....it was very enjoyable and relaxing but I would not recommend this itinerary unless you have exhausted all other possibilities.

[Dakota Traveler]

To get an idea of what cruising with AMA is like you can look at our review on our website, www.thepreismans.com. Since that review was for our first Eurpopean river cruise, you might find out some things that will help in your planning.

 

I have to agree with Caviargal about a long river cruise possibly being too much for a first time. But then again you might love all of the free/relaxation time.:)

 

 

MIke - Great web site. Enjoyed your story and pictures.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

DT

[Frankie Sue]

Thank you everyone for your opinions and great insight into river cruising. BPCruiser and EMSMon, your comments are noted and will be duly considered. I am also considering the DURO river as Portugal is a place we would like to visit, so maybe we will start with a 7 days cruise and some on land time that we can easily arrange ourselves. Now I just need to convince DH to to give River Cruising a chance as he is totally in love with Ocean Cruising. Wish me luck.

[Hydrokitty]

Our first river cruise was about 15 days, Castles on the Rhine from Budapest to Amsterdam and we loved it and weren't bored at all. There are a few things you should be aware of though: A lot depends on your age. If you're 30 to 50 somethings, you might be bored. We're 60-70 somethings and usually are among the youngest on the ship! The majority of people we've met are retired teachers with some of every other profession thrown in! Evening entertainment would be considered pretty lame compared to the big ships....a piano player every night in the lounge with the occasional local chorus brought in. There is no casino and on many of the river cruises no pool or hot tub and most people are in their cabins by 11 p.m. The pluses? a different port every day with a walking tour and free time. The ships tend to dock near the city center in most ports and will provide transportation if it's not in walking distance (Vienna for instance) The food is usually very good since they're only preparing for 150-180 instead of 3000! And because of the smaller crowd you get to know people on board.

 

FYI: We just came back from our first "big ship" cruise to Alaska and while we loved Alaska and had a wonderful time whenever we were off the ship, we really were very disappointed (spoiled?) with the food and service on the ship!

 

Bottom line: if you're kind of low key people and don't need a lot of glitz and stuff to keep you busy, go for the longer cruise, but if you like to be on the go, look for something shorter and see how you like it. :D

[Hydrokitty]

PS: One can never spend too much time in Istanbul!!!!:D