Thinking about a river cruise with Gate 1

[kaymoz]

After many years of sailing on small and large ocean ships, We did our first river cruise last fall with Viking.  The entire river cruise experience appealed to us, and we'd like to do more.  We notice that Gate 1 has super competitive prices on what appear to be their own ships.  I'm looking for feedback from those who have sailed with them, how they compare to other operators, what to be aware of, etc. 

[HoneyJan]

I just sailed with them for a Christmas Market cruise in December. We had a great time and thought the ship, Monarch Queen, was excellent. We have sailed on Uniworld and Grand Circle before. Here our the differences I noticed, free wine only at dinner, no special excursions beyond the basic tour of the docked town, limited evening entertainment, and large bedrooms with lots of storage. I would certainly sail with them again as they give you terrific value for your money!

[newbrunswicker]

We too just did a Christmas Market cruise on Monarch Queen in December. This is our 3rd river cruise with Gate 1 and all were excellent. I haven't cruised any other river cruise lines so not able to compare but I have found level of service to be on a par with Celebrity or Princess for ocean cruises. As Honey-Jan said, only free wine or beer at supper but your glass never goes empty. 

[ural guy]

The Monarch Queen use to be Vantage's River Voyager.  We sailed on her twice and really enjoyed it.  Good to hear that you enjoyed yourselves.

[CruiseIreland]

We're booked on Monarch Queen for August so it's great to read these comments!

[latechbulldogs]

We are booked on Monarch Governess in late July 2023.   Our first river cruise - Danbue River!  

[CruiseIreland]

2 hours ago, latechbulldogs said:

We are booked on Monarch Governess in late July 2023.   Our first river cruise - Danbue River!  

Be great if you could report back here on your experience. Have a great cruise!

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 hours ago, latechbulldogs said:

We are booked on Monarch Governess in late July 2023.   Our first river cruise - Danbue River!  

 

3 hours ago, CruiseIreland said:

Be great if you could report back here on your experience. Have a great cruise!

Both in the Reviews section of Cruise Critic, but also right here.  I find there are two completely different audiences within Cruise Critic for the Reviews and the Boards.  Your community is here!

[grapefinale]

We are looking to book a Duro River Cruise with Gate 1 on the MS Duro Cruiser.  We have been on Viking and AMA.  Has anyone been on the MS Duro Cruiser and do you recomend it?

 

[JordanF]

Not this one, but we recently took Gate 1 on the Danube and they did an excellent job.  We have also travelled with Gate 1 to Chine and Iceland, and are going with them to Southeast Asia next month.  So we are fans.  Here is a link to my review of the Danube cruise, fwiw:

 

 

[sjde]

I have done river cruises with AMA, Grand Circle, Teeming and Viking. My next one, if I'm fortunate enough to do another,  will be on Gate 1. I have a friend who loves them and on our last trip, several recommended them. We didn't care for Teeming and Viking and AMA was very nice but much more expensive than Grand Circle and Gate 1. The advantage of Gate 1 over Grand Circle is that Grand Circle only has twin beds.

[CDNPolar]

We are looking at Gate1 for river cruises for the reason of the value in pricing.

 

We have been Viking loyal in both river and ocean since we started cruising and we have done some 10 cruises with Viking now.

 

In other places that I have followed, we have seen nothing but positive reviews of Gate1 river cruises.  We know that there will be differences in some of the amenities, but we have seen only positive reviews of crew and food.

 

The fact is that now prices seem to climb all the time, and as much as we like Viking, the main reason we love river cruising is that you unpack once and get to see many ports in one country with some overnight.

 

If shore excursion options are not as intriguing then we would book privately.  There are always ways to improve the experience without boosting the cost too much.

[Vagabond.rt]

We did the cruise from Budapest to Bucharest with Gate1 last year and loved it.  

[bessinfl]

My impression, after our Gate 1 trip last fall on the Danube from Regensburg to Budapest, is that Viking and Gate 1 are very similar.

 

(The only difference, as many have said, is the amount of wine you're allowed for free. But I'm an enthusiastic wine drinker, and I don't think I paid for more than four glasses the whole week we were on the ship. And the prices per glass were less than $10.)

 

We had one good included tour every day, and sometimes two, and were often offered another at an additional cost. Frankly. I don't think I would have wanted the extra ones (except our trip to Salzburg and the Hungarian folk dinner) because we'd had enough exercise for the day. Often we walked around by ourselves, and sometimes we lounged on the boat. It was perfect. 

[sjde]

I want to take Gate

1 for my next river cruise because of their competitive pricing and a friend has done trips with them and loved them. We have sailed with AMA ( nice but pricey), Grand Circle ( very nice and great prices but only twin beds) , Teeming and Viking ( didn’t really care for them).

[CDNPolar]

We have been pricing Gate1 River for some time now.  We saw a couple of Gate1 River Ships on our last River cruise and thought that from the outside and what we could see of the dining and lounge areas they were very similar to other more "luxury" lines.  This is a possibility for us to try in the future.

 

Now that we have a good understanding of what is important to us, we are confident to jump on another line and try it out.  

 

At this point in time Viking manage to fill their ships and we love Viking, but there is absolutely NO incentive for us as a 10+ time cruiser with Viking to continue with them.  No upgrades, no discount that anyone else is entitled to after just one cruise...  No incentive, so if we can save money and have a similar experience then why not.

 

I have said before, and will say it again, a river cruise is a river cruise is a river cruise.  If the cabin is clean and the bed is comfortable and the food is good, then one brand to the other there is no difference.  IMO

[Canal archive]

I’ve noticed recently that brand loyalty does not seem these days to have any relevance. A marketing ploy that seems have ceased to exist.

[CDNPolar]

23 hours ago, Canal archive said:

I’ve noticed recently that brand loyalty does not seem these days to have any relevance. A marketing ploy that seems have ceased to exist.

 

This must be a challenge for the marketing departments of the cruise lines?

 

With most products or services the marketing department knows their demographic and how to reach them and how to entice them.

 

We know that Viking have a loyal following because they fill their ships, but will they continue to?  

 

I have suggested before that the loyal Viking following is aging and the question is do they need to change their approach to their marketing to bring in a new group?  I don't think that we can assume that the younger demographic will just turn to Viking when they pass 60.

 

Anyway - back to the question.  

 

Try Gate1 and let us know how it is.  I know that I am anxiously awaiting your review.

[Canal archive]

CDNPolar yes I agree, waiting to hear more as they seem to be agreeing with a wider demographic. 

[ural guy]

CDN-  The Gate One Monarch Queen was tied up next to us in Amsterdam before the start of the Viking cruise we shared.  She is the old Vantage River Voyager, who we sailed on twice.  We were very happy with the ship and liked the French Balcony cabin layout.  They were listed as only 17 sq ft larger than a Viking aquarium class, but having the closet in a different spot made the place feel much larger.  Looking through the windows, I could see they kept the old Jazz motif, even had the jukebox (I did prefer Viking having a piano player).  

 

One big difference in layout, is that Viking has the second dining area, the Aquavit lounge, up front.  On the Queen, it is at the rear of the ship (Captain's Club then).  So Viking has the better view.  Vantage had a grill just outside the seating area, and about 2/3 of the meals they had something fresh grilled. 

 

No idea how Gate One will run it, but Viking taking at least 90 minutes every night in the lounge for dinner, with the same menu as MDR, was a letdown.  Vantage, you could be done quickly if you wanted, as they maintained a simpler buffet menu and the grill post Covid.

 

We're on Riviera in October, if a deal came up I'd book a Gate One cruise.

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

Just back from a Gate 1 river cruise (Tulip time cruise) on the Monarch Empress. On the whole we were quite happy with the experience, starting with our cabin was upgraded.

 

We had done two Gate 1 trips before, but escorted land trips, not river cruises. Just like those 40 person trips, we found all other passengers to be very open and friendly.  A friend who has done river cruises on Gate 1 and other lines told my DW that the passengers on other river cruise lines are more snobby and less friendly.

 

The one real complaint I had was that the dinner menu always consisted on 1 meat dish, 1 fish dish, and one vegetarian dish (+always available salmon and chicken), but on  2 nights the fish dish also included meat. Since we eat vegetarian and fish but not meat, the adding of meat to fish dishes caused them to not be something we would pick and severely limited our choices on those nights.

[CDNPolar]

17 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Just back from a Gate 1 river cruise (Tulip time cruise) on the Monarch Empress. On the whole we were quite happy with the experience, starting with our cabin was upgraded.

 

We had done two Gate 1 trips before, but escorted land trips, not river cruises. Just like those 40 person trips, we found all other passengers to be very open and friendly.  A friend who has done river cruises on Gate 1 and other lines told my DW that the passengers on other river cruise lines are more snobby and less friendly.

 

The one real complaint I had was that the dinner menu always consisted on 1 meat dish, 1 fish dish, and one vegetarian dish (+always available salmon and chicken), but on  2 nights the fish dish also included meat. Since we eat vegetarian and fish but not meat, the adding of meat to fish dishes caused them to not be something we would pick and severely limited our choices on those nights.

 

This is odd that they would put meat on a plate with fish.  Often people are picking the fish for dietary or religious reasons and would not want other land animal meat on the plate.  Odd.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

This is odd that they would put meat on a plate with fish.  Often people are picking the fish for dietary or religious reasons and would not want other land animal meat on the plate.  Odd.

I agree wholeheartedly and put it down on the survey they gave us at the end of the cruise as a MAJOR complaint.

 

One fish dish had bacon added and another had some sort of Italian ham. The second one definitely was one I would have picked if not for the meat.

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I agree wholeheartedly and put it down on the survey they gave us at the end of the cruise as a MAJOR complaint.

 

One fish dish had bacon added and another had some sort of Italian ham. The second one definitely was one I would have picked if not for the meat.

This does not even seem to me like a "Europe thing" that they would do this... 

 

Interesting.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

This does not even seem to me like a "Europe thing" that they would do this... 

 

Interesting.

Having been the first river cruise (though we have taken 2 of their escorted tours) with them, I do not know how common this is? Is it fleetwide? Only in Europe? Only this chef? I do not know.

 

But as I said I emphasized with capital letters that I thought it was a MAJOR problem.