The “budget” river cruise lines

[sjde]

RobInMN-

What are the beds on the M/S River Chanson?   I couldn’t find that information but I see they have one itinerary,  in Provence,  13 days , 83 passenger ship , average group size of 38, about $3700 including international airfare.A good deal!  That’s for November. All other dates are +$1000-$2000. 

[RobInMN]

20 minutes ago, sjde said:

I thought twin beds became Kings when pushed together.

Royal Caribbean does not have any river cruises,  do they?

Hmm.. I swear I saw something on the Ama site that said 2 twin beds or queen, but now all I am seeing is "Option A: Two twin beds Option B: One large bed (larger than queen size)"

But while there are some Google results reference a Queen, yes, 2 twins make the same width as a King. However, a King is longer.

Nope. RC is Ocean only. But we do both ocean and river cruises. As our only river cruise references are GC and AmaWaterways, it was the only comparison I could make.

 

11 minutes ago, sjde said:

RobInMN-

What are the beds on the M/S River Chanson?   I couldn’t find that information but I see they have one itinerary,  in Provence,  13 days , 83 passenger ship , average group size of 38, about $3700 including international airfare.A good deal!  That’s for November. All other dates are +$1000-$2000. 

https://www.gct.com/about/leader-in-river-cruising/our-fleet/ms-river-chanson

I believe the picture is of a main deck cabin. The description says: "Main Deck cabins 2-15 feature double beds that cannot be separated". No description of Lower deck cabins

https://www.cruisemapper.com/cabins/MS-River-Chanson-1271

Says that the lower decks have 2 configurations. 2 singles that can become a double. or a permanent 2 singles.

It's a smaller ship that most. Only 86 passengers, 43 cabins.

 

 

[Canal archive]

Luckily in the U.K. so far as I can see we have standard double beds and King sized double beds. The largest double beds I’ve ever had the privilege to use was in a beautiful hotel on Langkawi it was soooo large.

[pontac]

I looked into bed sizes some time ago. I could not find a standard size across bed manufacturers.

 

The only consensus was that Queen size beds are larger than double sized beds and smaller than King size beds.

[pontac]

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I never knew you could have a butler on a river cruise ship

 Well, it depends on what your definition of a butler is.

 

Scenic advertises butler service to guests, but I don't think Lord Grantham would recognise it as butler service. It's a member of staff who supplies a limited range of services to every cabin on that deck. This picture of what the 'butler' does is in @1of4 s trip report Going Live on Scenic "Chef's Culinary Adventure of Belgium and the Netherlands with Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk"

 

And there was an advertisement for a deeply discounted cruise with APT that said some cabins had the services of a 'Private Butler', though it didn't say what cabins or what the butler would de.

[gnome12]

57 minutes ago, pontac said:

I looked into bed sizes some time ago. I could not find a standard size across bed manufacturers.

 

The only consensus was that Queen size beds are larger than double sized beds and smaller than King size beds.

Standard North American mattress sizes

single/twin 39” x 75”

single/twin XL 39” x 80”

double 53”/54” x 75”

queen 60” x 80”

king 76” x 80”

California king 72” x 84”

[pontac]

8 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Standard North American mattress sizes

 

River cruise line boats in Europe are not made or equipped in North America, though. Different countries have different sizes which is what, regrettably, I didn't make clear.

[sjde]

gnome 12- and in the US , double is also known as “full “ size

[CPT Trips]

17 hours ago, sjde said:

RobInMN-

What are the beds on the M/S River Chanson?   I couldn’t find that information but I see they have one itinerary,  in Provence,  13 days , 83 passenger ship , average group size of 38, about $3700 including international airfare.A good deal!  That’s for November. All other dates are +$1000-$2000. 

If you are considering a GCT cruise earlier than November, take a look at their special offers page - https://www.gct.com/ways-to-save/special-offers

 

these offers change frequently, so check back. 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, pontac said:

 

River cruise line boats in Europe are not made or equipped in North America, though. Different countries have different sizes which is what, regrettably, I didn't make clear.

I guess that is the big question with the North-American lines: do they have the supplier equip them with European standard beds or North-American standard beds?

 

Butler service is indeed a rather general term, on my cruise the lady who acted as "butler" just said hello and said we should contact her with any queries. There was only one thing that came up during the whole week and that was sorted at the reception desk. I do not recall seeing a detailed description of what she may have been able to do for us or what was part of her job description. I reckon that on the so-called luxury lines there is a wide range of services, just like you posted, which I assume are more than would have been part of our butler's service. I sailed neither "budget" nor "North-American luxury".

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, pontac said:

Well, it depends on what your definition of a butler is.

 

Scenic advertises butler service to guests, but I don't think Lord Grantham would recognise it as butler service.

I never ask to see my Butler's credentials.  On both my Scenic river cruises the Butler provided a big step up in service compared to what you would expect from a cabin attendant, and made the cruise more enjoyable.

[Canal archive]

I may be opening myself up here but I’ve always over my years cruising with Scenic had the most excellent service from our designated butlers. I expect it comes down to what you’re used to in the long run. If you use your butler you get a much more enjoyable experience, you don’t need them in your face all the time in fact the more you let them know what you require at the beginning of your cruise then the less you will notice them, exactly how a good butler should be. 
An afternoon cocktail on your balcony after a heavy day’s sightseeing early morning tea/coffee you name it because when it comes down to the nitty gritty you paid for it, of course you don’t need to use your butler but he/she is there for you to use so do so. Enjoy!

[Kristelle]

I dont think we used our Scenic butler - he did come in when we arrived and explained how everything worked and how to contact him -

 

DH once had his dinner in our room via room service, not sure if the butler brought it/ organised it  or who did   (I went to dining room as usual)

 

We did not contact the butler for anything else. I'm sure he would of given excelllent service - we just didnt really want any service.

 

"Butler service" sounds fancy - but, for us, we enjoyed our cruise perfectly well without ever using or wanting to use one (that  I know of, perhaps there are things  a butler does that you do not notice - but not sure what they would be?)

[Bubbeh]

On 5/14/2024 at 2:31 PM, Canal archive said:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Or even the beerholder.  😉

[Bubbeh]

12 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Butler service is indeed a rather general term, on my cruise the lady who acted as "butler" just said hello and said we should contact her with any queries

Sounds just like a Cabin Attendant to me.  Butler?

 

Not sure if it's because I'm Australian and to a greater or lesser degree we tend to pride ourselves on being egalitarian but, the whole concept of a Butler makes me feel most uncomfortable.  Happy to have a Cabin Attendant but I'll give the Butler a great big miss thanks all the same. 

Edited May 17 by Bubbeh

[Canal archive]

I absolutely agree but and there had to be a but didn’t there, these guys and gals have a job to do if they don’t do it to the perceived requirements they may loose that job. I expect you may have noticed that many of the crews across the river cruising companies are Eastern European and hopefully you can recognise some of the difficulties in that area of the world. In some very small way I would hope that by letting or encouraging them to do their jobs we may make a small dent in the inequalities of life across the globe. May small steps become giant strides, hopefully I said that!

[Kristelle]

I didn't stop them doing their job  - but I'm with Bubbeh, I dont need to be waited on so I didn't  ring my butler for anything.

 

I'm not comfortable ringing to get a coffee or cocktail brought to my room when I am perfectly capable of walking down the corridor to get it myself. 

 

I take the view cruising itself provided jobs for people.

[pontac]

4 hours ago, Bubbeh said:

Sounds just like a Cabin Attendant to me.  Butler?

That was my point. Scenic annoy me with their hyperbole.

 

2 hours ago, Kristelle said:

I'm not comfortable ringing to get a coffee or cocktail brought to my room when I am perfectly capable of walking down the corridor to get it myself. 

 

The only time we asked our cabin attendant to get us anything is was a coffee after we'd seen the very long queue at the only customer coffee machine. We thought the  cabin attendant would be able to get us a coffee quicker. Alas not.

 

Encouraged by @Canal archive though, I will be asking the cabin attendant for several things at the start of the cruise I take next month and will relate my experience back in my trip report.

[Canal archive]

Go for it I certainly hope it works for you as it definitely did for us!

Edited May 17 by Canal archive

[Host Jazzbeau]

This thread makes it clear that there is a place for river cruise lines at every point on the spectrum.  If you don't feel you need a Butler, or you don't feel the Butlers provided on river ships are up to snuff – thankfully there are lines that don't have Butlers.  If you enjoy the amenity of a Butler, there are lines that provide them.  Chacun à son goût.  The only thing I ask is that no one should claim their preference is somehow the only 'right' one.

[1of4]

In my experience, only on Scenic, the cabin attendant cleans the cabin and makes the bed. The butler does everything else. Our butler also worked in the dining room and served at Table La Rive. We called for ice many, many times after my fall and it was mostly other butlers that brought it

 

i wouldn’t book Scenic because of the butlers but it is nice to know they are there if you need something or an unplanned event occurs. 

[Bubbeh]

12 hours ago, pontac said:

Encouraged by @Canal archive though, I will be asking the cabin attendant for several things at the start of the cruise I take next month and will relate my experience back in my trip report.

Will await with bated breath.

[Kristelle]

3 hours ago, 1of4 said:

 

i wouldn’t book Scenic because of the butlers but it is nice to know they are there if you need something or an unplanned event occurs. 

 

 

I agree.  I didn't book Scenic because of butler service, butler service wasn't a pro or con in our decision making.

For us it was a fancy sounding term ( hyperbole if you like) that we didn't need to use.

 

( except one night of dinner room service, not sure if butler brought that) 

[Canal archive]

One has returned TaDah. 
We first cruised with Scenic pre ‘all inclusive’ when choosing our cabin and as it was a special year we decided to (and it was then) to splash out and go Diamond deck! Butler and all. (not available on the other decks) on arrival in our cabin to our surprise there was a bottle of (and yes I can recognise one)an excellent bottle of wine in an ice bucket. As it happened so many things were going on we were busier than being at work we couldn’t get round to consuming our wine much to our Butlers absolute dismay. He contrived to get us into our cabin and relaxing so that he could serve the aforesaid bottle (which was arranged for by some very good friends who recommended us to  try Scenic) A GOOD butler can be an amazing accessory to your cruise if you use him/her well. There have been several I would pack in my return luggage but I think DH might just notice.

[Kristelle]

Clearly some people enjoy having butler service.

 

Just isn't something I want or need for my enjoyment of trips.