need info on below waterline cabins

[screwsmcernst]

We are new to River Cruising, and we are planning on a Christmas market cruise either on AMA or Avalon in 2025.  Our TA priced a balcony cabin for us.  I'm just not sure I want to spend all that money on something I might not enjoy.  

 

Can someone who has sailed in the below waterline cabins please share with me their thoughts on that type of cabin?  would we really spend so much extra time in our cabin that the big window would be necessary?  I really would appreciate any and all information about the lower level cabins.  😃

[mskaufman]

At least on Viking the cabins have windows that are above the waterline.  We did not spend time in the cabin other than sleeping or getting dressed and it worked out fine.

[screwsmcernst]

20 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

At least on Viking the cabins have windows that are above the waterline.  We did not spend time in the cabin other than sleeping or getting dressed and it worked out fine.

 

I was thinking the same thing, Sleeping and dressing.  The rest of the time will be either in other parts of the boat or on excursions.  I assume we can hang out in the lounge areas if we want to watch the scenery as we sail.  Correct?

[sharkster77]

The best viewing spot when scenic sailing is either in the lounge, which normally has floor-to-ceiling windows, or up on the top deck, weather permitting.  You really are only in  your cabin for sleeping and changing up.  Even in port, if your ship is rafted to another, your view out the higher-priced balcony cabin would be into someone else's cabin, as the ships are only inches apart!

[CDNPolar]

We have sailed in what I call the "basement" cabins, french balcony, and balcony.  

 

We as a couple spend only necessary time in our cabin and that is sleeping (#1), and showering/changing (#2).

 

Consider these things also.

 

* Many river cruises sail at night - not all, but many - so it is dark when you are looking out your window.

* When you are docked, you are often docked or rafted 2, 3, or even 4 ships deep and you have to walk through these other ships to get to shore.  What does this mean?  Often you look out your window when docked and you are arms reach to the next ship.  You have no view anyway, unless you are lucky to be on the shore side of the first ship, or the water side of the outermost ship.

 

In both of these situations your balcony or window are useless anyway.

 

We are on the top or sun deck often very early (5am, 6am) to see the sunrise and see 360 view which you don't get from your cabin.

 

We are on deck for docking.

 

We are on deck for departure.

 

Spend your money on other things and not on a balcony.

[Host Jazzbeau]

If your cruising style is to spend little time in your cabin, the cheapest cabin on a river ship will be just fine [although maybe stay away from the rear-most cabins as they get engine noise when the ship is at speed; and be aware that all lowest-deck cabins can get noise from scraping the bottom in lower water].  

 

But DW and I prefer to spend a lot of time in our cabin – it's our retreat.  We socialize on the shore excursions and at dinner, but other times of day we want our privacy.  So a middle deck French Balcony is our minimum: quiet with cabins above and below insulating us from noise, and a wall of windows giving lots of light and views much of the time and fresh air when desired.

[Daisi]

I can't speak for AMA, however we've found lots of places to "hide" outside our cabin on Avalon, and I'm sure AMA is the same. We can even be alone in the lounge as you can sit at 2 seats tucked away if you wish. 

 

Since you are traveling in the winter, you should be fine in the aquarium cabins, as you probably wouldn't be opening the window on the upper decks. That is the only reason we go for the 2nd level, as we like to have the window open for the small amount of time we are in our cabin.

 

 

[pontac]

What the others have said, we used room only for sleeping and changing clothes. But my wife is shorter than me and she decided after we  had had waterline cabin on two cruises that she didn't want to stay in them again as she was too short to see anything  out of the window other than the sky.

 

I'd suggest a veranda is not worth the extra as it'll be too cold to sit outside at Christmas. 

[YoungDubFan]

I sailed in an aquarium class cabin for my Tulip Time cruise last April on Avalon. I agree with the comments above. I am tall & was able to see out  the window but as mentioned, we were often rafted, so no real view. A nice feature of this window is that it serves as additional storage. For a Christmas market cruise, I’d go with the aquarium class cabin. I was only in the cabin to get ready & sleep. Even when I was reading or relaxing, I was in one of the lounges or out on deck - either the small deck just in front of the lounge or up on the sky deck. Save your money & upgrade your flights to premium economy. 

[mazj]

I agree with all the above comments.  I was on Saga Spirit of the Danube Xmas markets cruise last December and found the lower level cabin absolutely fine. As a solo cruiser the balcony cabins were too expensive for me.  I would definitely do another river cruise in the same level of cabin.

[Kristelle]

Entirely subjective of course - but I did enjoy having a balcony and sitting outside at times .

Weather was warm on our trip though. 

We also did some day sailing and some night sailing and the docking boats thing only happened couple of times in the fortnight. 

[Ritabob]

Save your  money to spend at the Christmas markets.  Remember at that time of year it is dark fairly early so there isn't much to see out a larger window, and you'll be out on tours during the day.

RB 

 

 

 

[JordanF]

We have sailed aquarium class and upstairs as well.  The aquarium cabins were just fine, but having a big window is better, and even better if the weather is good enough to open it.  On Avalon we went aquarium class because we saved $1000 per person for a seven day cruise.  On Gate 1 we had a french balcony because it only cost $200 per person.  I was happy with both decisions.  If the savings is significant, I agree with most of the other posters here--save your money--you will have a great cruise in any cabin.

[screwsmcernst]

Thanks everyone for all your responses.  We have decided to book a stateroom in the "Basement".  We then took our savings and we are adding 4 days at the end and travel to Lucerne and Zurich and still saving enough to not fly economy.  😃 

[pontac]

8 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses.  We have decided to book a stateroom in the "Basement".  We then took our savings and we are adding 4 days at the end and travel to Lucerne and Zurich and still saving enough to not fly economy.  😃 

 

WIN!!!!

[sharkster77]

11 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses.  We have decided to book a stateroom in the "Basement".  We then took our savings and we are adding 4 days at the end and travel to Lucerne and Zurich and still saving enough to not fly economy.  😃 

Well played---we liked Zurich, but LOVED Lucerne, it is amazing.

[Tedferg]

13 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses.  We have decided to book a stateroom in the "Basement".  We then took our savings and we are adding 4 days at the end and travel to Lucerne and Zurich and still saving enough to not fly economy.  😃 

Thanks for your question and all the answers. I was wondering about this, have not done a river cruise yet, Funny that you mention flying economy. I am always tempted but Business class is significantly more than Economy and I feel I can handle the latter.

[franski]

16 hours ago, screwsmcernst said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses.  We have decided to book a stateroom in the "Basement".  We then took our savings and we are adding 4 days at the end and travel to Lucerne and Zurich and still saving enough to not fly economy.  😃 

Good decision!!  We almost always travel aquarium class as we prefer to save money for the next trip.  When we did our Christmas market cruise a number of years ago, some people we met wanted to come and see what an Aquarium Class cabin looked like...  All of them wished they had booked lower category as they realized they didn't get any use out of their balcony (freezing cold the year we went) - and the view wasn't as hoped  due to the early sunset.  I am sure traveling in warmer weather with longer days may make some change their decision.

 

As mentioned above, you have extra storage space with the higher window.  We also will use it as a drying rack (if we hand wash some "smalls" on the cruise...).

 

Enjoy!!  Who did you end up booking with?

 

Fran

 

P.S.  Louisville is a favourite place of mine...  many good friends there!!

[PaulS]

We took a Viking Christmas Markets cruise this past December and had a room in the “basement”. No other rooms were available when we booked, but it really was fine. The major downside was the room temperature. It was very cool all the time, but the weather was very cold and the river water was very cold. Be sure to ask for an extra blanket!

 

Last year we went to Lucerne on our own after a river cruise and loved it. We stayed at the Hotel Schweizerhof. It wasn’t cheap, but it is a wonderful hotel in a great location on the lake.

[ural guy]

8 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Thanks for your question and all the answers. I was wondering about this, have not done a river cruise yet, Funny that you mention flying economy. I am always tempted but Business class is significantly more than Economy and I feel I can handle the latter.

Look into Premium Economy, a nice spot between layflat in Business and regular economy.  In premium, seats are wider, the food is a bit better, and alcoholic drinks are usually included.  Regular economy may have a 3-4-3 seat layout, and Premium and 2-4-2 layout.  A recent flight, Montreal to Barcelona, went something like $800 for economy, $2100 for premium, and $5k for business.

 

 

Edited February 10 by ural guy

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, ural guy said:

Look into Premium Economy, a nice spot between layflat in Business and regular economy.  In premium, seats are wider, the food is a bit better, and alcoholic drinks are usually included.  Regular economy may have a 3-4-3 seat layout, and Premium and 2-4-2 layout.  A recent flight, Montreal to Barcelona, went something like $800 for economy, $2100 for premium, and $5k for business.

 

 

 

We support the Premium Economy for longer flights and especially getting the 2 seats on the side.  That alone is worth it to us.

[greydog]

22 hours ago, Tedferg said:

 I was wondering about this, have not done a river cruise yet, Funny that you mention flying economy. I am always tempted but Business class is significantly more than Economy and I feel I can handle the latter.

Suggest checking airline's offering economy upgrades like Delta Comfort+ or Virgin's Econ-Delight seating.  For more affordable fee than business, get perks like early boarding, extra space/recline, free refreshments, etc. 

 

Even if you use Vik Air+ for custom air preferred flihgts, you can ask what the upcharge is and decide whether to buy. Recent buy of Comfort+ thru Viking Air+ cost extra $300 pp vs $500 pp add-on independently.  GOOD LUCK
 

[screwsmcernst]

On 2/9/2024 at 2:44 PM, franski said:

Good decision!!  We almost always travel aquarium class as we prefer to save money for the next trip.  When we did our Christmas market cruise a number of years ago, some people we met wanted to come and see what an Aquarium Class cabin looked like...  All of them wished they had booked lower category as they realized they didn't get any use out of their balcony (freezing cold the year we went) - and the view wasn't as hoped  due to the early sunset.  I am sure traveling in warmer weather with longer days may make some change their decision.

 

As mentioned above, you have extra storage space with the higher window.  We also will use it as a drying rack (if we hand wash some "smalls" on the cruise...).

 

Enjoy!!  Who did you end up booking with?

 

Fran

 

P.S.  Louisville is a favourite place of mine...  many good friends there!!

 

We ended up sailing with Ama Waterways.  We are originally from Michigan, but we have lived in KY for 29 years.  We really like it as well.  

 

On 2/9/2024 at 7:11 PM, PaulS said:

We took a Viking Christmas Markets cruise this past December and had a room in the “basement”. No other rooms were available when we booked, but it really was fine. The major downside was the room temperature. It was very cool all the time, but the weather was very cold and the river water was very cold. Be sure to ask for an extra blanket!

 

Last year we went to Lucerne on our own after a river cruise and loved it. We stayed at the Hotel Schweizerhof. It wasn’t cheap, but it is a wonderful hotel in a great location on the lake.

 

We will be staying at the Hotel Schweizerhof as well.  I'm really excited about Lucerne and Zurich!

 

 

On 2/9/2024 at 8:11 PM, ural guy said:

Look into Premium Economy, a nice spot between layflat in Business and regular economy.  In premium, seats are wider, the food is a bit better, and alcoholic drinks are usually included.  Regular economy may have a 3-4-3 seat layout, and Premium and 2-4-2 layout.  A recent flight, Montreal to Barcelona, went something like $800 for economy, $2100 for premium, and $5k for business.

 

 

We will either fly Comfort + or Premium Select.  Lay flat would be nice, but it is so expensive that we just can't justify it.  =(

 

[sharkster77]

In Lucerne we stayed at Holel des Alpes.  Just about across the river from the train station, so schlepping bags was not a long trek.  Paid a little more for a riverside room and had a view of Chapel Bridge, Mt Pilatus, and the distant Alps beyond the lake. 

 

Great place for a reasonably priced meal of German 'comfort food' (sausages and rosti, spaetzle, etc) was the Rathaus Brewerie (sp?), in the bottom of town hall (the rathaus).  Cannot say enough about the house unpasteurized, unfiltered beer--only sold on site, as it cannot be bottled--so so so darn good!!!  Ate there in 2019 and again last spring.

[greydog]

 We will be staying at the Hotel Schweizerhof as well.  I'm really excited about Lucerne and Zurich!

 

Recommend getting to morning buffet early before it gets mobbed and seating scarce.  There's a docked 100-yr-old steamship restaurant within a half mile walk that has great ice cream sundae - only had dessert/beer there.