European River Cruises

[kisaltydog]

Hi,

Thinking hard about a river cruise in 2015. Would love to hear members thoughts on which cruise line they prefer. There are many to choose from and not sure which one to pick.

Thanks

[Shmoo here]

Hi,

Thinking hard about a river cruise in 2015. Would love to hear members thoughts on which cruise line they prefer. There are many to choose from and not sure which one to pick.

Thanks

 

I suggest you head over to the River Cruising forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=191

 

There's a great STICKY there for beginning cruisers.

[marco]

We have done several, more then one each with GCT, Vantage and Viking. I would recommend any of those 3 in a heartbeat!

[kisaltydog]

Thanks, I have looked at Viking. Will check the other two.

[MacBraces]

Hi,

 

My husband & I did a Viking Cruise up the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. Very nice but very different than Holland America, Princess etc.. If you have ever been on the big ones be ready for a whole different experience.

 

On our Viking cruise the whole ship, ours was about 200 passengers I think, goes on the excursions all at the same time. Hop on buses and off you go. This is all planned out for you although they did have a few extras you could pay for. Excursions were usually in the mornings and you were back by lunch time. After lunch if the ship was still in port you could go back into town or do whatever you wanted to do. Most ports are right next to the towns your visiting. When you're floating down the river our ship was so narrow that you could just go from side to side to take your pictures on the top deck. No elevators because the ship is just a few decks.

 

Breakfast and lunch are served buffet style and dinner is sit down. Our cruise there was no assigned dining room sitting. Also no eating all day long like on the big ships. The only extra I noticed was a fruit bowl and a fancy type coffee machine.

 

If you have any other question I might be able to answer please ask.

 

MacBraces

[puppycanducruise]

We have only done 1 river cruise - Amsterdam to Basel on Avalon.

I would recommend them.

Our boat had about 140 passengers. Meals were tasty with lots of wine and beer (and I didn't see any drunks). The boat docked right in town and shore excursions were well organized. Plus there was lots of free time to explore on our own.

We met some very nice people to share meals and conversation.

Someday, we may do another river cruise, it's very different from a big ship cruise, but wonderful too.

[kisaltydog]

Well thank you for the info on Viking. I am kind of leaning that way. We especially like the Amsterdam/Basel trip. We have sailed many times on the big ships so I will be expecting something very different.

 

Thanks

[kisaltydog]

Wow. So many nice responses. Will check out Avalon also. It sounds like a 'must do' trip. It is certainly on my wife's bucket list. So I better get going and lock something in. Happy wife, happy life.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Check out the River Cruising forum:

[Hlitner]

We first cruised on Viking (a 14 day Amsterdam to Budapest cruise) many years ago when it was a relatively small company. Although we thought that we were a bit too young for European river cruises at the time, we thought that Viking was an exceptionally high quality product. Since that time, Viking has grown in a very big way to become the largest (by far) of all the River cruise companies...and is now entering the Cruise Ship industry. We feel comfortable giving them a strong recommendation. That being said, once they get your name and address you should be prepared to get flooded by brochures. Sometimes we get several pounds of their stuff every week :). If they stopped mailing all that stuff they could reduce their prices.

 

Hank

[marco]

Amen to what Hlitner mentioned about getting brochures!!!!! We get several a WEEK!!!!!!! from all of the lines we've sailed with. Apparently, they do share mailing lists as we've gotten some from a new outfit called "Ted". I once said they could offer these trips for $100 if they didn't spend what they do on brochures and mailing costs! (Well.....maybe not $100, at least not including the airfare) LOL

[superoma]

I can finally say all the brochures have stopped coming. I sent emails to customer service to stop mailings, unsubscribed from emails, sent letters, etc and my mailbox, virtual and physical, has been empty of cruise literature. Viking was one of the worst offenders but princess was not far behind. HAL and rccl stopped fairly quickly when asked. At one time even carnival was sending info (probably from the HAL mailing list) even though we have never sailed with them. Persistence paid off.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

The problem we have with Viking is that they send us 3 of everything! I get two mailings (one with my middle initial and one without) and DW gets another. When we go away for our long trips (usually about 2 months) we come home to bins of mail. The stuff from Viking can darn near fill half of a bin. We have tried to unsubscribe without success and are afraid that if we push the issue they will start to mail us 4 or 5 copies of everything! What a waste of money on their part.

 

Hank

[lahlah57]

Loooooooved viking for grand european as well as a 2 week china cruise. The best ever!!!

Our trips were recent within the last few years. Do not expect river cruising to be like the ocean liners. Dining is set time and that is it......no room service! Endless wine and beer for lunch and dinner but all other drinks at bar is extra! We had no children and no drunks!

The most exciting thing that happened was the much younger woman with the much older man who did nothing but fight and tear up their room......oh dear!:eek:

[dorisis]

We have enjoyed several European River Cruises. All with Grand Circle. They do a very good job and I would recommend them highly. You dock right in the heart of the city and most excursions are included. The food was excellent and a lot of the entertanment was brought on board from the local area.

[jan can]

Did Viking last year. Went from Budapest to Amsterdam. Thoroughly enjoyable.

 

Funny about the comments of trying to stop Viking and HAL from sending so many promotions. Online I can deal with it, though still a nuisance. Feel guilty recycling the paper brochures immediately. If I'm not in the market for a cruise, I don't even look at them. As said, our fares would be lower if they cut out this wasteful advertising.

 

 

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[dancinman66]

I personally prefer Viking for service and quality

 

 

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[Suzanne123]

Just got back from Avalon's Paris to Normandy and did Uniworld's Provence cruise a couple years ago. Both were excellent.