River cruise

[white lady]

Has anyone done a river cruise with Tui. Booked for Christmas markets this year & wondering if anyone had any experience 

[FuzzyDuckUK]

I'm not sure that TUI has ever got their river cruises going, was due to launch last year but COVID scuppered their plans. Starts in October I think.

[Wacktle]

On 9/7/2021 at 9:57 AM, white lady said:

Has anyone done a river cruise with Tui. Booked for Christmas markets this year & wondering if anyone had any experience 

If you are on Facebook, there's a dedicated TUI River Cruises private group. Yes, they are already sailing, and, from what I've read, they sound good.

 

[Brummijam]

This video on YouTube all about river cruising is worth a watch.

 

https://youtu.be/mQfzYy9Z8TA

 

[Pensioncruiser]

1 hour ago, Brummijam said:

This video on YouTube all about river cruising is worth a watch.

 

https://youtu.be/mQfzYy9Z8TA

 

Interesting BJ learnt something today 👍

[Brummijam]

Hi PC.

Hope you are well.😉

 

 It is an eye opener, after we watched it we decided its not for us, and we are both able bodied.

I could imagine it might ruin your holiday if you were less mobile.  I think that people that are used to cruise ships may be in for a surprise if they are expecting similar facilities.

another interesting video on YouTube.

 

https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk

 

[Pensioncruiser]

11 hours ago, Brummijam said:

It is an eye opener, after we watched it we decided its not for us, and we are both able bodied.

Ditto, think the phrase 'regimented' did it for us. 🙄

[edinburgher]

 Having done many many ocean cruises wih several lines, we booked our first river cruise without knowing much at all about the differences between ocean ond river cruising and especially having no idea of the extent a trip could be impacted by water levels..

 

We went with APT on AmaVerde on a 15 day Magnificent Europe from Budapest to Amsterdam and actually enjoyed much of the entire trip without feeling "regimented".   Yes, you go off with everyone else once docked, but that is the same as ocean cruising arriving into ports. And yes, you do have to be onboard before sailing away but that too is normal.  As we were used to fixed timings like that, we dd not feel "regimented".and we quickly adapted to the fixed meal times which were timed just about right for us. Loved the meals, usually a choice of buffet or off the menu for that meal, (could mix and match)and we really enjoyed the opportunity to sample dishes local to the countries and even the  areas we were in at that particular time.  And  wines and beers from each country.  Who knew that Austrian wine was as good as this?  Also loved the close cruising, (a bit of a novelty for us) and mostly being docked in a central location rather than further out. And the scenery on that itinerary was lovely too.  Being able bodied, "rafting" didn't affect us much although it is true that isn't ideal for anyone, and we did get woken sometimes during the night as we passed through locks of which there are many on that routing. Disappointing too was the entertainment as it simply isn't possible to offer the same variety as on ocean going ships.

We did spend time on the open top deck, but we were mostly ashore in the daytime and sailing at night so not too many opportunities. Having had a good trip we thought of doing another, but researching this time showed us how lucky we had been not to be impacted by too high or too low water levels so we decided we would not risk another as the cost is high compared to ocean cruising.. We skipped a couple of walking tours to do our own thing and others enjoyed cycling tours.

 

What we would advise is that it is not actually essential to book an expensive balcony cabin. Being docked most days means you don't really see much especially if you are rafted with one or two others on one side or both.  And you need to keep your curtains closed for privacy.  And if sailing late evening or overnight when it is dark, there isn't much to see then either. Those tv ads showing couples enjoying fabulous views from their balconies as they sail make us quite cross!

 

More aware at this pointthat that point of "things which could go wrong" we instead booked ,booked a Fred Olsen German Waterways itinerary which had the advantage of being onboard a smaller ocean going shop (Balmoral) on rivers, so we had the advantages of an ocean going ship combined with the close cruising and easy docking advantages of river cruising. Fred used to offer Swedish Waterways too and if still offered, we may try that one too.

Edited September 11, 2021 by edinburgher

[Brummijam]

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

 Having done many many ocean cruises wih several lines, we booked our first river cruise without knowing much at all about the differences between ocean ond river cruising and especially having no idea of the extent a trip could be impacted by water levels..

 

We went with APT on AmaVerde on a 15 day Magnificent Europe from Budapest to Amsterdam and actually enjoyed much of the entire trip without feeling "regimented".   Yes, you go off with everyone else once docked, but that is the same as ocean cruising arriving into ports. And yes, you do have to be onboard before sailing away but that too is normal.  As we were used to fixed timings like that, we dd not feel "regimented".and we quickly adapted to the fixed meal times which were timed just about right for us. Loved the meals, usually a choice of buffet or off the menu for that meal, (could mix and match)and we really enjoyed the opportunity to sample dishes local to the countries and even the  areas we were in at that particular time.  And  wines and beers from each country.  Who knew that Austrian wine was as good as this?  Also loved the close cruising, (a bit of a novelty for us) and mostly being docked in a central location rather than further out. And the scenery on that itinerary was lovely too.  Being able bodied, "rafting" didn't affect us much although it is true that isn't ideal for anyone, and we did get woken sometimes during the night as we passed through locks of which there are many on that routing. Disappointing too was the entertainment as it simply isn't possible to offer the same variety as on ocean going ships.

We did spend time on the open top deck, but we were mostly ashore in the daytime and sailing at night so not too many opportunities. Having had a good trip we thought of doing another, but researching this time showed us how lucky we had been not to be impacted by too high or too low water levels so we decided we would not risk another as the cost is high compared to ocean cruising.. We skipped a couple of walking tours to do our own thing and others enjoyed cycling tours.

 

What we would advise is that it is not actually essential to book an expensive balcony cabin. Being docked most days means you don't really see much especially if you are rafted with one or two others on one side or both.  And you need to keep your curtains closed for privacy.  And if sailing late evening or overnight when it is dark, there isn't much to see then either. Those tv ads showing couples enjoying fabulous views from their balconies as they sail make us quite cross!

 

More aware at this pointthat that point of "things which could go wrong" we instead booked ,booked a Fred Olsen German Waterways itinerary which had the advantage of being onboard a smaller ocean going shop (Balmoral) on rivers, so we had the advantages of an ocean going ship combined with the close cruising and easy docking advantages of river cruising. Fred used to offer Swedish Waterways too and if still offered, we may try that one too.

Thanks for the review, some good points made.👍

my posts were not put on to be negative but to point out things that we were not aware of when we started looking at river cruises as an alternative to ocean cruises. I always do a little bit of research beforehand  regardless of what type of holiday we are thinking of booking.

Keep well.

Brummijam.

[white lady]

Thank you everyone for advice. Have joined the FB group. Tui have started their river cruises. We are booked for Christmas markets five days. We love Christmas markets & going to different ones each day appealed to us.

[edinburgher]

Brummijam, if anything I actually OVER reasearch. This one actually came about by chance.

 

Saw the advert in the paper, recognised that the namet APT was a quality company,

 

looked online at Amaverdi and the itinerary,

 

almost everything was included including flights from our local airprt  (rare from here)

 

Had excursion choices in most ports and several included "special" events at destinations.

 

and  the price was a fair bit lower  than the norm as they were selling the last 6 or so cabins on that particular sailing

 

Decided just to go for it.

 

APT is primarily for an Aussie market and we were 2 of only 10 or 12 Brits amongst the Aussies, so it was a genuine offer and we are so pleased we did it as it was a really good trip.

 

FRED GermanWaterways  was good too but in a different way.  Especially enjoyed the Keil Canal transit on that one and the sail in to Hamburg. Found major advantage on an ocean going vessel was that we could view from upper decks as otherwise we could have struggled given the number of trees alongside some waterways.  From above we could see for miles.

Edited September 12, 2021 by edinburgher

[Brummijam]

👍

[smithsheff]

10 hours ago, white lady said:

Thank you everyone for advice. Have joined the FB group. Tui have started their river cruises. We are booked for Christmas markets five days. We love Christmas markets & going to different ones each day appealed to us.

We are on a Xmas Market one as well. We normally go to Germany/Austria each year so thought we would try this and get to do more. 

We are slightly worried in case the cruise doesn't suit us but without trying it's hard to say. Not sure if we will like the small boats, but then you never know x x