Watched Dream Cruises tonight on AWE network

[xpcdoojk]

It was an episode from 2017, the year of my last river cruise.  I believe the ship was a French Crosi-Europe cruise.  Started in Berlin ended in Prague.  The ship was a double stern paddle wheeled ship with a very shallow draft ( a river cruise boats have a shallow draft, but this seemed very shallow).  Is this a typical style ship for the Elbe?  I have only cruised with Avalon twice on rivers, and while I was unimpressed with the entertainment, the Crosi-Europe ship seemed to be particularly bad.  The other concern was the very limited menu.  Seemed like there was one item on the menu and special orders for allergies.  Is this accurate or just the case of a bad tv show?

 

Looked like a lovely place to visit but the water seemed really small compared to the Danube, Main, and Moselle rivers we have cruised in Europe.

 

jc

[notamermaid]

Indeed, the style of ship is typical for the Elbe, or rather it was and CroisiEurope have gone "back to the roots". The paddle wheeler is the original steam ship design for rivers. The first one on the Elbe was the "Lady of the Lake": https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronologie/Juni-1816-Der-erste-Raddampfer-faehrt-auf-der-Elbe,dampfschiff158.html 

 

They used to be all side wheelers, CroisiEurope had decided to have stern wheelers built. The shallow waters necessitate adapted designs, Viking have done it with the new ships (hull and engine adapted), older ships have adapted hulls. The Elbe still has excursion boat side paddle wheelers.

 

I have not cruised with CroisiEurope, but I know that their focus is certainly not entertainment and they pride themselves on adapted French cuisine with a small menue that is adapted for you if you have special requests or dietary needs.

 

The Elbe in the upstream part is narrower than the Rhine or Moselle, for sure. On the itinerary you mention they will have sailed the Havel river and narrow canals as well. I do not know what the Vltava river towards Prague looks like.

 

notamermaid

 

[ljandgb]

We did a Croisi Rhine cruise.  It was very nice, but there was little to no entertainment.  A mediocre keyboard player in the lounge, one night of party games, and a crew talent show that was actually pretty cute.  That's all fine by me, since I don't river cruise for evening lounge entertainment.  The food was good, but very European local.  Most dishes you could substitute a chicken breast if you did not care for the meal, but they needed to be notified prior to sitting down for dinner.  If someone is a meat and potatoes eater, they might not love the overall menu.  The ship itself was also spotlessly clean, but not over the top fancy.  We docked next to a Tauck ship and had to cross thru it.  My initial impression was "shiny!"  All that marble, brass, etc.

 

I quite liked Croisi and would sail them again, but at the same time, I just told my husband I would not recommend them for a first time river cruise for a group of local friends that had never traveled to Europe before.  I suspect the very French approach to service and food would be off putting to someone not used to it.