New to river cruising and my head is spinning!

[ChrisB123]

I'd like my husband to get a wee bit of a look and feel of Germany due to his genealogy. 😍His father's background is Bavarian, Austrian and German. Looking over the different routs the ships take, I can't figure out which one to take/book. 🤪 I'm really looking forward to a River Cruise as it seems just what the doctor ordered.  We're kind of burned out on Ocean cruises. 😅 

[*Miss G*]

Welcome to River Cruising @ChrisB123!  I took my first river cruise on Avalon in October and we’re hooked!  I think the biggest hurdle was narrowing down which line but we were spot on with our choice of Avalon.  I did a “Live” review if you’re interested:

 

 

[TMLAalum]

@ChrisB123

You might have to take 2 river cruises- the Rhine and the Danube.

 

We've only cruised the Danube on Avalon which gave us many German "ports"- started in Nuermberg, then to Regensberg and Passau. We overnighted in Vienna Austria before ending our cruise in Budapest.

 

Our Rhine cruise on Avalon is in 7 months and friends who'd done this route previously liked it so much they wanted to do it again and convinced us and another 6 couples to sail along. It starts in Amsterdam and ends in Basel with mostly German city stops.

 

We'd previously done a DIY land tour to Germany and we spent time along the scenic castle section of the Rhine. Based on our experience there AND the fact that our friends who'd cruised the Rhine on their own and then the Danube with us, wanted to do the Rhine again, that would be my suggestion for your 1st river cruise!

[JerseyGem]

Read the "Stickies" at the top of this Forum (New to River Cruising, What to Expect, River Cruise Lines, etc.); you'll find a wealth of information.  You already have an area in mind ( Germany and Austria rather than The Netherlands or France, etc.); the next decisions will be how long, which line, what time of year.  Some lines have 7 or 8 day cruises, but many are longer. Obviously you'll see more on longer cruises, but your schedule may not allow that.

 

And then there's price.  We are retired on a fixed income, so we go with one of the less expensive lines.  But while I do recommend them, several times I've suggested that friends go on other lines because I know they want a more upscale experience.   Finding a travel agent who specializes in River Cruises can help you narrow down the choices.

 

Good luck!  Planning is half the fun of cruising.  Lynn

[ChrisB123]

Thank you so much for your insight!  It really helps. 

[CPT Trips]

A number of lines have longer (days and distance) that do the lower Rhein, the Main, and the Danube. 
Our (JersyGem and me) first river cruise was 16 days on “The Great Rivers of Europe,” Vienna to Amsterdam, with Grand Circle Travel. Currently they have May and June departures for this itinerary at a discount under their “special offers.”

[Canal archive]

Our first river cruise a few years ago now was for 8 days at the end my DH decided never again, from then we have always cruised for as many days as we possibly can on one cruise, it’s very very addictive in the nicest possible way.

[RobInMN]

We took AmaWaterway's "Rivers and Castles" in 2019. It went from Nuremburg to Luxemburg. Starting on the Main-Danube Canal, then the Main, then the Rhine. We did 3 days in Munich before the cruise. I highly recommend it, regardless of who you book it with. We also just did a Christmas Markets cruise (Grand Circle - wasn't my choice) that also started in Nuremburg (2 nights here was part of the cruise), ending in Vienna. Didn't actually get to see any of Vienna due to flight home, but loved the cities we visited, which was mostly in Bavaria.

If your husband's genealogy is rooted in Bavaria, I would recommend spending a few days in both Munich (Dachau, Neuschwanstein) and Nuremburg in conjunction with a river cruise.

[ChrisB123]

21 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

We took AmaWaterway's "Rivers and Castles" in 2019. It went from Nuremburg to Luxemburg. Starting on the Main-Danube Canal, then the Main, then the Rhine. We did 3 days in Munich before the cruise. I highly recommend it, regardless of who you book it with. We also just did a Christmas Markets cruise (Grand Circle - wasn't my choice) that also started in Nuremburg (2 nights here was part of the cruise), ending in Vienna. Didn't actually get to see any of Vienna due to flight home, but loved the cities we visited, which was mostly in Bavaria.

If your husband's genealogy is rooted in Bavaria, I would recommend spending a few days in both Munich (Dachau, Neuschwanstein) and Nuremburg in conjunction with a river cruise.

GREAT tip!  That's exactly what I was looking for. 😍

[notamermaid]

24 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

We took AmaWaterway's "Rivers and Castles" in 2019. It went from Nuremburg to Luxemburg. Starting on the Main-Danube Canal, then the Main, then the Rhine.

Yes to the river cruise direction from me. Love the itinerary stops (not done the cruise but this would be in my top five to choose from if I booked) Highly recommend those rivers. If you would like to see Austria as well why not fly into Vienna and go by train to Passau or Munich and make your way to the river cruise from there.

 

notamermaid

 

[whitbob]

14 hours ago, RobInMN said:

We took AmaWaterway's "Rivers and Castles" in 2019. It went from Nuremburg to Luxemburg. Starting on the Main-Danube Canal, then the Main, then the Rhine. We did 3 days in Munich before the cruise. I highly recommend it, regardless of who you book it with. We also just did a Christmas Markets cruise (Grand Circle - wasn't my choice) that also started in Nuremburg (2 nights here was part of the cruise), ending in Vienna. Didn't actually get to see any of Vienna due to flight home, but loved the cities we visited, which was mostly in Bavaria.

If your husband's genealogy is rooted in Bavaria, I would recommend spending a few days in both Munich (Dachau, Neuschwanstein) and Nuremburg in conjunction with a river cruise.

RobInMN, hello!  We are booked on this cruise for May.  We are also starting a few days early in Munich.  We have been on Rhine and Danube river cruises, so we wanted to visit some different areas this time.  A few questions if you do not mind.

What did you do in Munich that was a must see?  How did you get to Nuremberg? We are taking the train to Prague for the pre cruise tour, so I am interested in learning firsthand how easy the experience is to board and transfer trains.  
 

What was your opinion of the cruise?  Any tours that you felt were better, or things that are not to miss on the cruise?  
 

Thank you in advance for your thoughts,

 

Whitbob

[Second seating]

Very easy to get from Munich to Nuremberg by train!

 

Second seating

[RobInMN]

6 hours ago, whitbob said:

RobInMN, hello!  We are booked on this cruise for May.  We are also starting a few days early in Munich.  We have been on Rhine and Danube river cruises, so we wanted to visit some different areas this time.  A few questions if you do not mind.

What did you do in Munich that was a must see?  How did you get to Nuremberg? We are taking the train to Prague for the pre cruise tour, so I am interested in learning firsthand how easy the experience is to board and transfer trains.  
 

What was your opinion of the cruise?  Any tours that you felt were better, or things that are not to miss on the cruise?  
 

Thank you in advance for your thoughts,

 

Whitbob

First, I'll say that we stayed about 3 blocks or so from the Munich Central (Train) Station. Pre-cruise, was just my wife, daughter (19), and me. The cruise was us, my sister, her, husband & their 2 kids (10 & 13?), and my parents.

We did all of our tours through Radius Tours. I'm sure there's others that might do same/similar tours, but we were very happy with Radius, and would recommend them. I think all the tours met at the train station which was then very convenient.

We did:

• Munich Bavarian Beer Tour. We did this the night we arrived. We felt this was a perfect thing to do after a day of traveling, and as an introduction to Munich.
• Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site Tour
• Third Reich Tour – Munich’s cruel history (Same day - immediately after)
• Neuschwanstein Castle Tour (long, all day tour)

The next day we went to Nuremburg

 

I would say that Dachau is an absolute must. If you are remotely interested WW2 history, the Third Reich Tour should be on your list. I love castles, cathedrals, forts, and ruins, so I really liked Neuschwanstein, but if that's not your thing, easily skipped.

 

The one thing we did not get to due to timing and days it's open is the Munich Documentation Center. It is a 3 or 4 story building that houses the Munich and National Socialism exhibit. It came highly recommended, but we just could not fit it in without arriving 1 day earlier.

 

And you need to go to the main Hofbräuhaus and also the Augustiner-Keller Beer Garden, it's right near the train station. If you do the Munich Bavarian Beer Tour, you will end at the main Hofbräuhaus. The Third Reich Tour will stop there to explain it's historical significance, but not eat/drink.  

 

like @Second seating said, the train was super easy. In Munich, we walked with our luggage to the train station (you'll see lots of people doing this). Train station is very easily navigable. In Nuremburg we caught a taxi right outside the station that took us to the port/dock. 

 

We were very impressed with Ama, and actually have them booked again for the Grand Danube on AmaMagna. The ship were were on was AmaDante, and it's not necessarily the newest, but nice. Crew was great. Only two negatives. The first was that 2019 was abnormally hot (everywhere), and the ship's AC was not designed for such heat. I feel this was probably a common issue regardless of ship/company that summer. They tried their best, and had everyone try to keep the curtains on the sunny side closed as much as possible. Second was also not their fault, and that was leaving Mainz, there was a barge was beached on a sand bar blocking river traffic as they tried to free it. This delayed us from leaving by a few hours, which meant that it got too dark for us to see the castles along the Rhine River Gorge earlier than planned. We got to see many, but not all that you would normally get to see. 

 

Anyway, if there was a castle or Roman ruins tour, I took it! Different family members sometimes chose different tours. No complaints about any of the tours from anyone. In Tier, my sister's family and us actually left early and walked up to to the Roman Amphitheater and Roman Baths on our own before joining up with the actual tour group at the Basilica of Constantine. If I remember correctly, the actual tour was just going to do a drive-by of the Amphitheater and Baths and we wanted to go in them. Ama had no issue with that. The Castle Hike in Wertheim was cool, and has great views! Probably the biggest issue with excursions is picking one over the other. Don't have time to do them all.

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by RobInMN

[whitbob]

Thank you RobInMN and Second seating for the quick responses.  I will be checking out Radius Tours next as your tours look great.  We will have 2 days, so we can spend one in Munich, and focus on a longer tour outside the city for the second day.  

 

We have been very impressed with AMA.  This is our 4th cruise with them.  AMAMagna looks to be a fine ship which we hope to try in the future.  Enjoy your next cruise.  Thanks again.