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ncornelius307@gmail.com

ncornelius307@gmail.com

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I just completed my 4th cruise (1 with Carnival and 3 with Royal) and my husband and I want to try something different. We do not want to do a Caribbean Cruise. We are looking more for Mediterranean but we are in the beginning stages and I am just overwhelmed with all the options. Does anyone have any suggestions? My concern is the limited time on the ports. I know with Royal, it is a lot to get off the ship and you worry about making it back on time. Is a smaller ship help with that? Is it worth flying somewhere in Europe and then taking 7/8 day cruise and flying home?

 

 

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Roz Great Review Rare

Roz

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River cruises are on the Danube, Rhine, Moselle, Po, etc. - the major rivers of Europe + other rivers such as the Nile, Ganges, etc. for something a bit more exotic.

 

There are smaller ships that do Med cruises, but they're not river cruises. Even then, they may not be as small as river cruise vessels that typically hold 150-200 passengers.

 

Roz

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$hip$hape

$hip$hape

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Is it worth flying somewhere in Europe and then taking 7/8 day cruise and flying home?

Devin and Tocarra,

We've done Viking River and Med cruises.

Normally we stay in Europe a few days longer.

It depends on your personal preference.

The cruise market is competitive.

We've found, you get what you pay for.

Where is "home" ? USA? China?

If you tend to worry, you should be talking to a Travel Agent.

 

Michael

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$hip$hape

$hip$hape

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Home is USA... I will probably go through an agent.. so many options... we are really just looking for something different.. tired of the Caribbean..lol so I am open.

Be advised. The River Cruises are different.

You get to know/remember both the passengers and the staff.

More expensive, however memorable.

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SuiteTraveler

SuiteTraveler

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Med cruises are very different from the Caribbean. You are in a new port everyday and get off the ship around 8:30 am and don't get back on until 5:30pm or so. The ship becomes essentially a floating hotel. So the ship for the Med cruise does not matter as much as on a Caribbean cruise.

 

A River cruise is a smaller ship on a river - and these are more like barges with one to three levels of cabins - so maybe 200 passengers at most and everyone eats together, gets off the ship together, goes on tour buses together - you can't be late to get back as you are on excursions with everyone else on your river cruise. These ships are quite small and there's no theater, just a lounge. Entertainment might be a combo or a local opera singer or a cooking demonstration. Simple small scale things. No time for bingo, no casino - river cruises are all about seeing sights.

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SuiteTraveler

SuiteTraveler

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Thank for the explanation... that was really helpful. So on River cruises... are the tours/excursions planned for everyone? Just trying to figure out how everyone does the same thing. That sounds nice.

 

 

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Yes, all but 2 or 3 of the possible tours are included in the price of your river cruise. On some lines wine and beer are included with lunch and dinner (like on Uniworld). All food is included although they might offer a special dinner - you don't have to pay extra for it as the food in the MDR is AWESOME!!!! When you board the river cruise ship, they will have a meeting before dinner to explain what tours are optional and if you want any of the optional tours, you can buy them then. Otherwise, they explain how it goes. Basically, everyone gets up and has a buffet breakfast with lots of options and then you board a bus and off you go to your tour (many of which are things that are exclusive that you would not normally see as a tourist in the area.) There are regular tours and "gentle tours" for those who are mobility impaired. You might come back to the ship for lunch or your tour group might have lunch together in a restaurant. One day, we didn't have a planned lunch and there was no way to get back to the ship for lunch so they gave us all money to buy our lunch in the town we would be in at that time. Of course, we were hanging out with other cruisers, so we went to a restaurant together in a town square - it was FABULOUS! If you are having lunch on the ship it is a small buffet with plenty of options to please everyone. It changes each day, so no telling what all will be there. The Captain of the river cruise ship is often present at lunch - I would see what he was getting and get that and it was fabulous! Forget about junk food like hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza - that doesn't exist on these ships! (Thank goodness!) This is a real gourmet experience. On days when you come back to the ship, generally the afternoon tour is an optional one that you pay for or you can wonder the town where the ship is docked or just hang out onboard. Everyone is generally back onboard by 5:30pm and dinner is at 7pm sharp. The food is from the region and the chef actually got off the ship during the day and went into local markets to obtain the food. The free wine selections change nightly and they reflect the region as well. WOW we were spoiled on our river cruise on Uniworld's SS Antoinette. It is an effortless vacation (unless you count the walking around we did which was plentiful) but you don't have to plan ahead or figure out excursions except if you want to do the 2 - 3 extra excursions they offer for additional cost. We did Castles of the Rhine and on the most scenic days where we cruised past so many castles, they had a Wurstfest onboard with all the right foods and it was just awesome! Everything is included. It's just wonderful in every single way! You get to know your fellow cruisers, you get to know the staff, and the things you get to do are amazing. I can't say enough good things about river cruising. On our cruise we had people from ages 28 - 94 and they were just wonderful. It truly was a trip of a lifetime!

 

I'll tell you something funny. I have never liked beer (I'm a wine drinker), but we went to Cologne and in Cologne, they have this unusual ice cold beer that is served in skinny tall glasses and for the first time in my life I actually drank a whole glass of beer! And the couple we were with bought us seconds, so I drank that too! It's totally different than any other kind of beer I have had and it was great!

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SuiteTraveler

SuiteTraveler

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Wow, Suite Traveler, that is a lot of great information! Thanks for taking the time to post that. No river cruise in my immediate future, but it is something I have started researching for my husband and myself.

 

You will love it. I would suggest checking out several different river cruise lines - go to their website and look at photos of the ships inside and the accommodations. Uniworld decorates their ships in an old world style that matches the area in which they are cruising. Viking has modern style on their ships. Tauck is more grand hotel design. AMAWaterways is contemporary style. All of them are known for having really good food. I noticed Uniworld is now doing some river cruises specifically aimed at ages 25 - 45. http://www.ubyuniworld.com

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Joyride37

Joyride37

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You will love it. I would suggest checking out several different river cruise lines - go to their website and look at photos of the ships inside and the accommodations. Uniworld decorates their ships in an old world style that matches the area in which they are cruising. Viking has modern style on their ships. Tauck is more grand hotel design. AMAWaterways is contemporary style. All of them are known for having really good food. I noticed Uniworld is now doing some river cruises specifically aimed at ages 25 - 45. http://www.ubyuniworld.com

 

 

I wish the mobile app had a like button because I'd be all over this. You answered a lot of my questions to. Thank you.

 

 

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