First time doing a river cruise

[Topgun44]

Hello,  Iam new to the Cruise Critic Community and we never did a river cruise before. We are from Illinois, close to the St Louis area. We have done ocean cruise 6 of them and really like them. A friend of mine said we need to try a river cruise. I think we will like this. Seem like you will see more scenery as the boat sail where on the ocean you hardly see anything. The one we are doing is the Danube. Starting in Budapest and ending in Passat Germany. We are also doing an extension in Prague.  All the stops look lovely so looking forward to this adventure. Larry

[RobInMN]

Welcome! Like you, we did a number of ocean cruises before river cruises, of which we've done a few now.

Budapest to Passat is a good stretch, and Prague is awesome.

If you're looking for info, this is the right place, 

What company did you book with? What ports will you stop at? Is the Prague extension on your own or with the ship?

 

My main piece of advice would be to make sure you know what you are getting and what you are not. Don't expect it to be very similar to ocean cruising. About the only similarity is that you are on a floating hotel and and your room travels with you, so you only have to unpack once. 🙂 

We like both for what they are are and will continue to do both ocean and river.

[Topgun44]

Hi RobinMN,

                       We are doing Viking.  Some of the ports are Linz, Vienna, Passat, Budapest, Bratislava.  The Prague extension is with Viking.  I like since you only unpack once. I think we will like this type of cruise. Thank you for the reply.  Larry

[Host Kat]

6 hours ago, Topgun44 said:

Hello,  Iam new to the Cruise Critic Community and we never did a river cruise before. We are from Illinois, close to the St Louis area. We have done ocean cruise 6 of them and really like them. A friend of mine said we need to try a river cruise. I think we will like this. Seem like you will see more scenery as the boat sail where on the ocean you hardly see anything. The one we are doing is the Danube. Starting in Budapest and ending in Passat Germany. We are also doing an extension in Prague.  All the stops look lovely so looking forward to this adventure. Larry

 

Hello @Topgun44 and welcome to the Cruise Critic website & message board!

 

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Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[mskaufman]

I've started putting together videos of pictures from ports we've been to.  So far for this itinerary, I only have Budapest.  Here is the link. Stay tuned as I slowly get to more.

 

[sharkster77]

Be aware, most sailing is done at night while you sleep.  Particularly scenic stretches of river, of course, are sailed during the day.  It's often said here that  ocean cruising is all about the amenities of the ship while river cruising is about the ports.

[Topgun44]

3 minutes ago, sharkster77 said:

Be aware, most sailing is done at night while you sleep.  Particularly scenic stretches of river, of course, are sailed during the day.  It's often said here that  ocean cruising is all about the amenities of the ship while river cruising is about the ports.   Hi Sharkster, Glad you mentioned about the night sailings. It would be nice to view those pretty city lights. 

Hi RobinMN,

                       We are doing Viking.  Some of the ports are Linz, Vienna, Passat, Budapest, Bratislava.  The Prague extension is with Viking.  I like since you only unpack once. I think we will like this type of cruise. Thank you for the reply.  Larry

 

[CDNPolar]

11 hours ago, Topgun44 said:

Hello,  Iam new to the Cruise Critic Community and we never did a river cruise before. We are from Illinois, close to the St Louis area. We have done ocean cruise 6 of them and really like them. A friend of mine said we need to try a river cruise. I think we will like this. Seem like you will see more scenery as the boat sail where on the ocean you hardly see anything. The one we are doing is the Danube. Starting in Budapest and ending in Passat Germany. We are also doing an extension in Prague.  All the stops look lovely so looking forward to this adventure. Larry

 

To us, River Cruising gets you closer and more intimate with one country as you may stop in many cities in one country.  You often - but not always - are docked right at the city centre and can simply walk off the ship and explore.

 

Note however, and I don't want to be the "downer" here, but many people don't realize that River Cruising CAN have its challenges.  High water levels, and low water levels can impact the sailing.  Water levels are unpredictable any time of the year.  You can also read much about this as you will notice in the River Cruise forum there are lots of topics about water levels.  I just think that I have encountered so many people that are unaware of these challenges that it should be better understood.

 

We consider ourselves very lucky in all the River Cruising we have done we have not experienced having to swap ships, but it can happen.

 

Last year we were one week after the river was closed to traffic at Cologne because the water levels were so high.  Again, lucky, because we sailed straight through our itinerary, BUT there were several ports that we had to dock outside the city in more industrial ports because the docks were flooded in the city centre.

[sharkster77]

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

To us, River Cruising gets you closer and more intimate with one country as you may stop in many cities in one country.  You often - but not always - are docked right at the city centre and can simply walk off the ship and explore.

 

Note however, and I don't want to be the "downer" here, but many people don't realize that River Cruising CAN have its challenges.  High water levels, and low water levels can impact the sailing.  Water levels are unpredictable any time of the year.  You can also read much about this as you will notice in the River Cruise forum there are lots of topics about water levels.  I just think that I have encountered so many people that are unaware of these challenges that it should be better understood.

 

We consider ourselves very lucky in all the River Cruising we have done we have not experienced having to swap ships, but it can happen.

 

Last year we were one week after the river was closed to traffic at Cologne because the water levels were so high.  Again, lucky, because we sailed straight through our itinerary, BUT there were several ports that we had to dock outside the city in more industrial ports because the docks were flooded in the city centre.

And then there's the whole rafting issue.  Many pay for a french balcony or verandah cabin and get a glorious view of a cabin of an adjacent ship just inches away!!  That catches uninformed newbies by surprise for sure sometimes. Nothing nicer than opening up the curtains while under-dressed and seeing a stranger, similarly under-dressed....

[cbr663]

 The idea that you will experience more scenery from a river cruise will depend upon the cruise itinerary.  We sailed on the Rhine with Avalon this year and except for sailing the Rhine Gorge there was very little scenic cruising.  The ship sailed mostly at dinner time and evenings when it was dark.  I've actually experienced more scenic cruising on my ocean cruises to Alaska and Norway.

 

As others have said river cruising is not like ocean cruising at all.  We found river cruising to be akin to a group tour.  Your day is heavily scheduled and very regimented and you will spend a considerable amount of your time busing to the ports.  One of the most common complaints about Viking is reliance on sharing tables during meals.  This is a feature that for many of us feels like we are sharing our cruise with others and I wished we truly understood this prior to our Avalon river cruise.

[Topgun44]

Hello, Yes this is our first river cruise. And yes it will be different. I guess we will see Budapest at night, but have not heard about anything else.The countries we will stop at Austria, Germany I’ve never been to. We are doing an extension in Prague and looking forward to that.  

[CDNPolar]

Most of our sailing has been at night.  As well, because we are sailing the Main River and the man made canal, the Sun Deck railings are down and the Sun Deck closed.  Sun Deck has been closed for 5 days now and only reopens in Passau.

 

There is sailing during the day, but Viking stops in the middle of nowhere to put us on a bus for a 30 minute ride to a city centre, when the ship takes 4 hours to get to that same place.  This gives us more time in a city centre.

 

We go through some 67 locks on this journey and these locks sometimes back up with lines of ships waiting.

[Daisi]

@Topgun44, check with your CD to make sure you have the evening cruise in Budapest, as not all do. Friends of mine were just on a Viking cruise and they didn't get one.

 

If you don't, I'd strongly recommend booking one. It's quite the site to see the City all lit up.

[sboh]

Hello! I took my first river cruise this past summer with Viking (Provence to Lyon) after having taken several ocean cruises and I enjoyed it very much. They take very good care of you, the food is good and I found the included tours to be very well done. I had planned that cruise and one for next September on the Danube with Avalon because I wanted to try both lines. I enjoyed my cruise so much I decided to add another one with Viking on the Rhine in April. I still enjoy ocean cruising but am really looking forward to doing more river cruising. I hope you have a nice time.

[Topgun44]

5 hours ago, Daisi said:

@Topgun44, check with your CD to make sure you have the evening cruise in Budapest, as not all do. Friends of mine were just on a Viking cruise and they didn't get one.

 

If you don't, I'd strongly recommend booking one. It's quite the site to see the City all lit up.

Hello, Yes I have a night tour booked so should be all set

[Topgun44]

5 hours ago, sboh said:

Hello! I took my first river cruise this past summer with Viking (Provence to Lyon) after having taken several ocean cruises and I enjoyed it very much. They take very good care of you, the food is good and I found the included tours to be very well done. I had planned that cruise and one for next September on the Danube with Avalon because I wanted to try both lines. I enjoyed my cruise so much I decided to add another one with Viking on the Rhine in April. I still enjoy ocean cruising but am really looking forward to doing more river cruising. I hope you have a nice time.

Thank you and nice to hear you like Viking and glad you had a nice time