First time river cruiser looking for the right cruise line

[tfred]

what ocean cruise lines have you sailed on?  The river cruise lines have the same separation of delivered experiences - they really are not the same.  Carnival is not Celebrity once you are on board

 

we like Crystal - a lot.  We have done the Rhine and the Danube Xmas cruises

 

some things to consider as to value.  Once you see what it costs for actually want to do, you would be surprised.  Not enough to put you off the idea, but just to see what you are paying for.  At that point the Crystals, Ama and Uniworld look attractive

 

you will be on excursions almost every day.  River is more excursion oriented than ocean.  You are in an actual city with history - not always easy to do on your own.

 

the size of the room will make a difference.  Some of the Viking room are very small.  Rooms with a veranda/balcony get expensive.  We had a window that went down to allow it to be a 'half wall" that allowed a breeze.  I don't think that there is really enough time to "enjoy" the veranda since there are no sea days.  Also since the Rhine offers views off both sides, sitting in a room really narrows your perspective

 

Liquor depends on what you like to drink.  We like cocktails before dinner and maybe a cognac after.  We aren't boozehounds, but those can add up

 

Crystal allows anytime dining with plenty of tables for 2.  No group meals or set times.  Food quality is subjective, but I can tell you that Crystal is very good.  It would rival most land based restaurants

 

All the ships are the same size, what changes is the number of cabins and therefore the number of pax. On Crystal there are about 100 pax.  Others have upwards of double that amount - it does make a difference 

 

Look at others and add up all the extras and see where they end up.  Probably closer than you think

 

 

[TheKingD]

I totally echo tfred's comments.  I have been on AMA and Crystal, and we were supposed to be on Crystal on the Danube this week.  😞  We did the Rhine (Basel to Amsterdam) last June on Crystal, and it was better than our expectations in every way. 

 

Tfred mentioned the ships are the same size, and Crystal has less than 100 guests, so you have a chance to meet most of the people, and that is really fun.  We spent a lot of the cruising time on the top deck where there are very comfortable lounging areas and a bar, and the panoramic views are much better than trying to see it from a cabin.  It is better being up higher, plus you can see both sides of the river.  

 

All the cabins have the same size windows, even though some of the cabins are smaller.  The entire wall is a window that either opens with a screen or opens entirely from the top to half-way down.  I love a veranda on an ocean ship, but I can assure you that you do not need that on a river ship.  Our cabin last year was near the back of the ship, so we were very close to being able to walk outside directly from our deck, and a little seating area was a great spot to be in the morning or almost any time.  It was like our own veranda, and the view was much better.

 

The gratuities and most excursions are included, and there is usually a special evening concert in a famous venue that is just for Crystal and that is also complimentary.  The drinks, wine and beer are included, with maybe some exceptions for really high-end spirits.

 

The food is prepared to order and is as good as top-notch restaurants.  Room service is also available as are 24/7 snacks in the Bistro or coffee area.

 

Crystal has a complimentary self-service laundry room with high-end washers and dryers and everything you would need to do laundry.

 

Crystal has pre-cruise and post-cruise hotel options, and they are at really nice hotels and are a bit pricey, but they include transportation to and from the airport to the hotel.  At the end of a long night of being in airports and airplanes, sometimes it is reassuring to get your bags in the airport and see someone holding a tablet with you name on it!

 

We started our Rhine cruise in Basel, and our pre-cruise days were in Zurich, and Crystal picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel, and then they picked us up at the hotel and took us to Basel to board the ship.  There were three of us traveling together, and the transportation was in a nice Mercedes passenger van with just the three of us and the driver.

 

Our TA has scored us some shipboard credits, and those are rarely needed on Crystal River since everything is included, so we had the destination manager on the ship help us arrange a private excursion one day and that was the most memorable day we had.  I think it cost us about $25 over and above our credits, and the kind young man who helped us arrange it apologized about that!  We had a driver, a guide, and the three of us in a Mercedes passenger van, and we went to some local vineyards off the beaten path, a lavender & herb farm, and a lunch spot up on the side of a mountain accessible by a chair lift.  I'm sure we were the only tourists in the restaurant.

 

We are in our 60's, and we had our 32-year-old son with us, and he was not the youngest person and we were not the oldest, but maybe close.  I would say the average age was 50's - 60's.  There were plenty of groups of 4 or 6 or even larger, and there were plenty of couples.

 

I encourage you to look at the Crystal offerings, and you will not be disappointed.

 

Good luck,

Cindy

 

[Coral]

I have only done one AMA and one Crystal. I was on my late 30's when I did Ama and late 40's when I did Crystal. I fit in on both demographic wise.

 

I will start out by saying, if you start with Crystal, you will be spoiled for life and probably can't go downwards. Crystal is above and beyond what Ama provides.

 

I also had OBC and couldn't spend it on anything. I did not rent a driver for the private excursion as I was so busy with the excursions the ship had. 

 

The food was outstanding. Service outstanding, room outstanding. We all had butlers (I didn't know what to do with mine). All drinks all the time are included. I don't drink alcohol so this wasn't much of a plus for me but I liked not getting nickel and dimed when I went for hot chocolate or some other drink at odd hours. Did I mention the food was outstanding. Some of the best I have experienced on 50 ocean cruises including a Crystal ocean ship.

 

I can't rave at all about my Ama trip. Even when I walked off the ship, it wasn't one of my favorite vacations.

[wandb]

I seem to be the odd voice here, but I must say that we LOVED our Rhine Getaway Cruise on Viking! The food was wonderful, the crew was wonderful, the excursions were wonderful (we did all included excursions plus one or two outstanding premium excursions). 
We had a VERY active roll call here on Cruise Critic—which was a real help. I would also recommend Rick Steve’s guide books as you plan. 

[Daisi]

wandb, I've heard good reviews about Viking as well.  Not to happy with their year in advance payment, however with the number of ships they now have, if there are water level problems, they seem to be able to act quickly with minimum disturbance, which is something a lot of other lines just can't do.  They also seem to be handling the rebate problems with the cancelling of the cruises rather well...not hearing a lot of complaints about them.

 

I guess if you do a search on Viking cruises, you will find a lot of complaints, however that is probably because they are the largest line out there so have the most passengers.  More people will complain than recommend.

 

[Coral]

26 minutes ago, Daisi said:

wandb, I've heard good reviews about Viking as well.  Not to happy with their year in advance payment, however with the number of ships they now have, if there are water level problems, they seem to be able to act quickly with minimum disturbance, which is something a lot of other lines just can't do.  They also seem to be handling the rebate problems with the cancelling of the cruises rather well...not hearing a lot of complaints about them.

 

A friend of mine was on a Viking ship fall of 2018. It was an 8 night cruise and he switched ships 3x. He said they spent more time packing and unpacking. Due to transit times on the bus, he also felt he missed a lot of time in port and called the trip a bus trip and not a river cruise. It was his worst vacation ever. I am not sure about "minimum disturbance" is what some of the passengers would call it.

 

I know all lines were affected by this. I am not sure if all Viking passengers were pleased with their arrangements. I did speak with Crystal cruisers - they could not get to Budapest via river. They were bussed there and put up at the Ritz Carleton overnight. Viking bussed people back and fourth to Vienna (so spent more time in transit) - saw very little of Budapest.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Coral

[Daisi]

Yet I know people who have sailed the Rhine with Viking when they had to transfer...nice and easy while other lines were doing the bus tour back and forth from different towns.  Every situation is different, and my friends even managed to get a cruise through the middle Rhine with the castles on a public boat, while others missed it all together.  

 

Each line has it's on benefits, and faults.  Our Rhine cruise had 121 passengers on it, only 8 Canadians and we were quickly known.  Everyone was pleasant and it was interesting meeting people from all over the world...had a great conversation with some of the larger Philippine group as they were interested in touring Canada and asking for info.  I think the crew make the vacation, if you have a great crew, no matter what happens, you will probably enjoy yourself.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

Not to challenge the size comparisons above, but to give greater clarity.  Almost all modern river ships are 135m [443ft] long and just under 12m wide – the maximum possible for the locks on the Rhine-Main-Daube system.  Height is also limited by the need to fit under bridges.  So all the ships have about the same amount of space inside.  But the number of passengers that they choose to fit into that space varies quite a bit.  More passengers requires more cabins, which reduces the space available for public areas.  But more passengers also requires more public space, so a ship at the lowest end will feel much more spacious than a ship at the highest end.

 

Here are the passenger numbers for the latest 135m ships on the brands that have been discussed in this thread:

•  Crystal – 106

•  Uniworld – 150-159

•  AMA – 158

•  Avalon – 166-168

•  Viking – 190

 

[Gate1 is in a different category, because they are still using the older 110m ship design.  Their ships have 144-146 passengers, but the shorter ships are always more crowded.]

[notamermaid]

@Non Partisan Cruiser

The past posters have given you an idea of the level of disruption that is possible due to low water levels. 2018 has been the worst year ever for that. Please do not let yourself be put off by it. But the possibility of low water is high in early Autumn. The Rhine tends to a bit better than the Danube. The Moselle is regulated and has virtually no problems. At the moment it looks like there could well be a similar scenario to last year. We have had a very dry April. The problem area on the Rhine is unfortunately in the middle of it, meaning at least 80 percent of itineraries go through it.  Things are completely different if you choose to go in Spring on a tulip cruise, which has a very different focus and only straddles Germany, spending some time on the Rhine and some on connecting canals and sometimes on the IJsselmeer.

 

On the Rhine in standard low water river cruise lines do quite well, in the drought of 2018 all but a few struggled to keep any itinerary going.

 

notamermaid

 

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

6 hours ago, Daisi said:

I would also recommend checking out the forums on Amsterdam for ideas as to what you may like to see while you are there.  We landed and got to our hotel around 7:30 am Amsterdam time.  By 8:00 we were downtown walking around trying to overcome our jet lag.  Had a great day just walking the streets.  We lucked out with great weather, and at that early time, not to many tourists wandering around.  We took the train up to Enkhuizen the next day for another great day of wandering around the open air museum up there.  This was great practice to get us up and running for the walking on the tours.

 

If you are going in springtime, and can manage it, I highly recommend going to Keukenhof, it was our first the day we boarded the boat and very well worth it.

 

Keukenhof looks amazing.  I guess spring would be the best time to see it.  Will add it to our to-do list.   Thanks!

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

If you would like a bit more info (the thread is a bit long now...) you can read this:

I think you will find more people recommending the river . If you do not sail with Viking you will be on the Moselle actually - when docked in Koblenz. 95 percent of the ships (Viking excluded) dock at the Moselle part of town. From there is is just a few kilometres upstream to the first vineyard. Oh, and Rick Steve's favourite castle is on the Moselle, it is Burg Eltz. Unfortunately, the village at the foot of the valley that leads to Burg Eltz has no dock and the castle is part of very few itineraries. One can order a taxi to get there, doable on some itineraries as a DIY excursion, i.e. time permitting.

 

The question of which season to sail in has been mentioned briefly. That is also important for water levels, as you will potentially encounter high or low water on the Rhine. You can read some info on that among the stickies and jazzbeau has also put a sticky leading to threads that deal with such issues at the top of this page.

 

Have fun planning.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thanks for the link to the Moselle thread.  I will definitely read it.  Funny you mentioned Burg Eltz.  We love castles and have previously pinned ("starred") castles on Google maps that we would like to visit.  Small world, Burg Eltz is one of them.   I have been reading up on water levels.  Since it's unpredictable, finding a cruise line that has a good policy on dealing with water level issues seems important. 

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, tfred said:

what ocean cruise lines have you sailed on?  The river cruise lines have the same separation of delivered experiences - they really are not the same.  Carnival is not Celebrity once you are on board

 

we like Crystal - a lot.  We have done the Rhine and the Danube Xmas cruises

 

some things to consider as to value.  Once you see what it costs for actually want to do, you would be surprised.  Not enough to put you off the idea, but just to see what you are paying for.  At that point the Crystals, Ama and Uniworld look attractive

 

you will be on excursions almost every day.  River is more excursion oriented than ocean.  You are in an actual city with history - not always easy to do on your own.

 

the size of the room will make a difference.  Some of the Viking room are very small.  Rooms with a veranda/balcony get expensive.  We had a window that went down to allow it to be a 'half wall" that allowed a breeze.  I don't think that there is really enough time to "enjoy" the veranda since there are no sea days.  Also since the Rhine offers views off both sides, sitting in a room really narrows your perspective

 

Liquor depends on what you like to drink.  We like cocktails before dinner and maybe a cognac after.  We aren't boozehounds, but those can add up

 

Crystal allows anytime dining with plenty of tables for 2.  No group meals or set times.  Food quality is subjective, but I can tell you that Crystal is very good.  It would rival most land based restaurants

 

All the ships are the same size, what changes is the number of cabins and therefore the number of pax. On Crystal there are about 100 pax.  Others have upwards of double that amount - it does make a difference 

 

Look at others and add up all the extras and see where they end up.  Probably closer than you think

 

 

 

We've cruised Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, MSC and Carnival.  Our favorite cruise line is Norwegian and least favorite is Carnival.  But we are not loyal to any cruise line.  We like Norwegian's Freestyle concept.  Such as the ability to dine when and where we want.  We are not foodies so we are fairly easy to please if there is decent variety.

 

Determining value for a river cruise is a little foreign to us as not knowing each cruise line's costs for drinks, variety of food and quality of included excursions adds so many variables.  But I will look at Crystal, you make a good case. Thanks

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, TheKingD said:

I totally echo tfred's comments.  I have been on AMA and Crystal, and we were supposed to be on Crystal on the Danube this week.  😞  We did the Rhine (Basel to Amsterdam) last June on Crystal, and it was better than our expectations in every way. 

 

Tfred mentioned the ships are the same size, and Crystal has less than 100 guests, so you have a chance to meet most of the people, and that is really fun.  We spent a lot of the cruising time on the top deck where there are very comfortable lounging areas and a bar, and the panoramic views are much better than trying to see it from a cabin.  It is better being up higher, plus you can see both sides of the river.  

 

All the cabins have the same size windows, even though some of the cabins are smaller.  The entire wall is a window that either opens with a screen or opens entirely from the top to half-way down.  I love a veranda on an ocean ship, but I can assure you that you do not need that on a river ship.  Our cabin last year was near the back of the ship, so we were very close to being able to walk outside directly from our deck, and a little seating area was a great spot to be in the morning or almost any time.  It was like our own veranda, and the view was much better.

 

The gratuities and most excursions are included, and there is usually a special evening concert in a famous venue that is just for Crystal and that is also complimentary.  The drinks, wine and beer are included, with maybe some exceptions for really high-end spirits.

 

The food is prepared to order and is as good as top-notch restaurants.  Room service is also available as are 24/7 snacks in the Bistro or coffee area.

 

Crystal has a complimentary self-service laundry room with high-end washers and dryers and everything you would need to do laundry.

 

Crystal has pre-cruise and post-cruise hotel options, and they are at really nice hotels and are a bit pricey, but they include transportation to and from the airport to the hotel.  At the end of a long night of being in airports and airplanes, sometimes it is reassuring to get your bags in the airport and see someone holding a tablet with you name on it!

 

We started our Rhine cruise in Basel, and our pre-cruise days were in Zurich, and Crystal picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel, and then they picked us up at the hotel and took us to Basel to board the ship.  There were three of us traveling together, and the transportation was in a nice Mercedes passenger van with just the three of us and the driver.

 

Our TA has scored us some shipboard credits, and those are rarely needed on Crystal River since everything is included, so we had the destination manager on the ship help us arrange a private excursion one day and that was the most memorable day we had.  I think it cost us about $25 over and above our credits, and the kind young man who helped us arrange it apologized about that!  We had a driver, a guide, and the three of us in a Mercedes passenger van, and we went to some local vineyards off the beaten path, a lavender & herb farm, and a lunch spot up on the side of a mountain accessible by a chair lift.  I'm sure we were the only tourists in the restaurant.

 

We are in our 60's, and we had our 32-year-old son with us, and he was not the youngest person and we were not the oldest, but maybe close.  I would say the average age was 50's - 60's.  There were plenty of groups of 4 or 6 or even larger, and there were plenty of couples.

 

I encourage you to look at the Crystal offerings, and you will not be disappointed.

 

Good luck,

Cindy

 

 

Crystal sounds delightful.  The average age is right around our age.  Additionally, a  lower density of passengers does appeal to us.   I do like the ability to do laundry, not sure how much luggage we can bring.  Is there a dress code?  We don't want to drag formal wear to Europe, plus it's not our style.  Thanks!      

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

4 hours ago, Coral said:

I have only done one AMA and one Crystal. I was on my late 30's when I did Ama and late 40's when I did Crystal. I fit in on both demographic wise.

 

I will start out by saying, if you start with Crystal, you will be spoiled for life and probably can't go downwards. Crystal is above and beyond what Ama provides.

 

I also had OBC and couldn't spend it on anything. I did not rent a driver for the private excursion as I was so busy with the excursions the ship had. 

 

The food was outstanding. Service outstanding, room outstanding. We all had butlers (I didn't know what to do with mine). All drinks all the time are included. I don't drink alcohol so this wasn't much of a plus for me but I liked not getting nickel and dimed when I went for hot chocolate or some other drink at odd hours. Did I mention the food was outstanding. Some of the best I have experienced on 50 ocean cruises including a Crystal ocean ship.

 

I can't rave at all about my Ama trip. Even when I walked off the ship, it wasn't one of my favorite vacations.

 

I'm having a hard time not convincing myself to go with Crystal.  You make another good case for Crystal.

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

3 hours ago, wandb said:

I seem to be the odd voice here, but I must say that we LOVED our Rhine Getaway Cruise on Viking! The food was wonderful, the crew was wonderful, the excursions were wonderful (we did all included excursions plus one or two outstanding premium excursions). 
We had a VERY active roll call here on Cruise Critic—which was a real help. I would also recommend Rick Steve’s guide books as you plan. 

 

Viking's price point seems very reasonable and I'm still looking at them.  After perusing Viking's cabin sizes I think we would pay more for the veranda cabin given the french balcony looks quite small. 

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

wandb, I've heard good reviews about Viking as well.  Not to happy with their year in advance payment, however with the number of ships they now have, if there are water level problems, they seem to be able to act quickly with minimum disturbance, which is something a lot of other lines just can't do.  They also seem to be handling the rebate problems with the cancelling of the cruises rather well...not hearing a lot of complaints about them.

 

I guess if you do a search on Viking cruises, you will find a lot of complaints, however that is probably because they are the largest line out there so have the most passengers.  More people will complain than recommend.

 

 

Wow, I didn't realize Viking had a year in advance deposit requirement.  Good thing I'm starting my research now!  I really don't put too much weight on negative reviews unless there is a pattern.  I'm bad about only writing reviews when we've had a negative experience.  After a bad experience I'm much more motivated, but I'm working on writing positive reviews as well.  Still have a ways to go though. lol

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

A friend of mine was on a Viking ship fall of 2018. It was an 8 night cruise and he switched ships 3x. He said they spent more time packing and unpacking. Due to transit times on the bus, he also felt he missed a lot of time in port and called the trip a bus trip and not a river cruise. It was his worst vacation ever. I am not sure about "minimum disturbance" is what some of the passengers would call it.

 

I know all lines were affected by this. I am not sure if all Viking passengers were pleased with their arrangements. I did speak with Crystal cruisers - they could not get to Budapest via river. They were bussed there and put up at the Ritz Carleton overnight. Viking bussed people back and fourth to Vienna (so spent more time in transit) - saw very little of Budapest.

 

That sounds terrible.  Packing and unpacking defeats the purpose of a cruise in my view.  I would hope I could reschedule to a later date? 

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Not to challenge the size comparisons above, but to give greater clarity.  Almost all modern river ships are 135m [443ft] long and just under 12m wide – the maximum possible for the locks on the Rhine-Main-Daube system.  Height is also limited by the need to fit under bridges.  So all the ships have about the same amount of space inside.  But the number of passengers that they choose to fit into that space varies quite a bit.  More passengers requires more cabins, which reduces the space available for public areas.  But more passengers also requires more public space, so a ship at the lowest end will feel much more spacious than a ship at the highest end.

 

Here are the passenger numbers for the latest 135m ships on the brands that have been discussed in this thread:

•  Crystal – 106

•  Uniworld – 150-159

•  AMA – 158

•  Avalon – 166-168

•  Viking – 190

 

[Gate1 is in a different category, because they are still using the older 110m ship design.  Their ships have 144-146 passengers, but the shorter ships are always more crowded.]

 

Great one stop shop info!  Copied and pasted into my spreadsheet.  Your list makes comparing so much easier.  Crystal seems to be heads and shoulders above the rest and Gate1 is now much less appealing. 

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

@Non Partisan Cruiser

The past posters have given you an idea of the level of disruption that is possible due to low water levels. 2018 has been the worst year ever for that. Please do not let yourself be put off by it. But the possibility of low water is high in early Autumn. The Rhine tends to a bit better than the Danube. The Moselle is regulated and has virtually no problems. At the moment it looks like there could well be a similar scenario to last year. We have had a very dry April. The problem area on the Rhine is unfortunately in the middle of it, meaning at least 80 percent of itineraries go through it.  Things are completely different if you choose to go in Spring on a tulip cruise, which has a very different focus and only straddles Germany, spending some time on the Rhine and some on connecting canals and sometimes on the IJsselmeer.

 

On the Rhine in standard low water river cruise lines do quite well, in the drought of 2018 all but a few struggled to keep any itinerary going.

 

notamermaid

 

 

If I understand correctly and I'm playing the odds, going in the spring/early summer is more likely to not encounter water level problems.  I've read that occasionally there are high water issues which I would assume occur in the spring?

[notamermaid]

15 minutes ago, Non Partisan Cruiser said:

 

If I understand correctly and I'm playing the odds, going in the spring/early summer is more likely to not encounter water level problems.  I've read that occasionally there are high water issues which I would assume occur in the spring?

Generally speaking, the high water issues on the Rhine occur in Spring, mostly during snow melt, but can be as late as June. The interruption of river traffic is usually only between a day and six days. The authorities halt traffic in a section of the river. In drought on the Rhine river traffic is never halted, ships will sail as long as they can safely do so. Depending on severity of drought the interruption can be longer than in high water. It affects the large ships (135m) more than the smaller ships, due to the difference in draft.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

 
Keukenhof looks amazing.  I guess spring would be the best time to see it.  Will add it to our to-do list.   Thanks!

Keukenhof is only open for 6 weeks per year generally late March to mid-May.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Coral]

2 hours ago, Non Partisan Cruiser said:

 

I'm having a hard time not convincing myself to go with Crystal.  You make another good case for Crystal.

Crystal gets really good reviews and they deserve it.

 

I personally wonder about them financially right now (along with some other lines). They are owned by a very large Hong Kong company that owns lots of things (resorts, casinos, shipyards, etc....). It is difficult to tell their financial well being. Though I think many cruise lines lines (both ocean and river) are having financial problems. I am still waiting for money from Princess for a cruise that was cancelled the first of March.

[Non Partisan Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Crystal gets really good reviews and they deserve it.

 

I personally wonder about them financially right now (along with some other lines). They are owned by a very large Hong Kong company that owns lots of things (resorts, casinos, shipyards, etc....). It is difficult to tell their financial well being. Though I think many cruise lines lines (both ocean and river) are having financial problems. I am still waiting for money from Princess for a cruise that was cancelled the first of March.

 

I really hope all the cruise lines can survive this, but I fear the longer the shutdown lasts the less likely everyone will survive.  I checked the company that owns Crystal and if I read correctly they had about $595 million in cash at the end of 2019.  I wonder what their cash burn rate is for all their businesses. Hopefully they can weather the storm with their current cash balance or get additional financing.

[tfred]

my guess I that they will all survive in some shape or form.  Companies like Marriott, carnival and Royal, Caribbean are going through the same thing.  They may not bring all the ships back at one time

[TheKingD]

15 hours ago, Non Partisan Cruiser said:

 

Crystal sounds delightful.  The average age is right around our age.  Additionally, a  lower density of passengers does appeal to us.   I do like the ability to do laundry, not sure how much luggage we can bring.  Is there a dress code?  We don't want to drag formal wear to Europe, plus it's not our style.  Thanks!      

There is definitely no need to drag formal wear or even "church clothes" because the daytime dress code is completely casual, and the dining room at night is no shorts or ball caps, and is probably close to "country club casual".  I wore casual dresses sometimes or casual slacks and tops, any my DH wore khakis or slacks with golf shirts or dress shirts without a tie or jacket.  Some men might have been slightly more dressy, but no one seemed to even notice.  I think the evening dress code is collared shirts for men as opposed to just t-shirts, but I'm not sure.

 

We went the beginning of June and were really lucky with our weather and the river levels, with no issues at all.  Every evening was perfect weather for sitting on the top deck before and after dinner.  Some of the afternoons were spent cruising, especially through the picturesque sections of the river, and most of the evenings were cruising, and the top deck was definitely the place to be for that.

 

We had watched the information about river levels the year before our trip, because that was the time that a number of cruise lines had issues.  Crystal does not have enough ships to do the "swaps" so their backup plan is to simply change the itineraries to avoid the low areas.  We are glad we did not experience low levels, but if we had, we would have been much happier with itinerary adjustments as opposed to ship swaps and bus trips.

 

The lower density on Crystal is apparent not only onboard the ship, but it is also really nice on excursions.  Some excursions might have included only a handful of people, and some were maybe 20 or so, but we never felt as if we were being herded around.

 

Even though the single supplement on Crystal is a bit pricey, our cruise definitely had a handful of singles in the mix, because some of the groups of people included some singles, so the 106 capacity ended up being in the 90's since some cabins only had 1 passenger. 

 

Crystal has adjusted their deposit and cancellation policies and they may continue to make adjustments, and their website stays current, so keep an eye out.  We have always used our TA for bookings, because they are very familiar with Crystal, and they keep us informed with plenty of details and suggestions and even last-minute logistical tidbits.