Best Rivercruise line for Americans

[kadiebug12]

Hi~

 

We are a party of 4 Americans who are shopping a river cruise for 2008 (castles down the Rhine is one we've been looking at).

 

We have cruised several times with major lines out of FL, CA and even Tahiti. We realize a river cruise will be very different (we hope) than a large ocean cruise, but want to pick a line that we will feel comfortable on. (English speaking, non-smoking dining room preferred, etc.)

 

Any particular lines we should focus on that speak English and offer spacious cabins? We've been looking at Vantage and Viking, but would love to hear thoughts from people who have cruised.

 

Thanks!

[MSEm]

Viking River Cruises is a company with ships on European, Russian, and even in China. Vantage is more of a Travel Agency that buys (or blocks) X number of cabins on a ship. Vantage does package their won USA land trips. Viking River ships marketed to the USA and UK market. Everything will be in English. A Tour or "shore activity" will be included in every port of call. Watch for Viking River 2 for 1 or Free Air or $199 air. Plan to fly in at least 1 day before you are scheduled to board the ship. You may want 2 days before depending on the ship schedule. Also you may want to add on 1 or 2 days after the cruise ends. Flying in 1 day before allows for Air delays. Have a great time.

[annabel2275]

we sailed princess de province, peter deillman line in jun/05. about a hundred passengers. sailed from lyons.

 

english spoken by crew. most passengers german. some brits. a few american and us two canadians.

 

dining room was non smoking. cabins were not spacious. when viewed the web site pics wondered where the beds were. discovered that sofa on one side and cubboard on the other turned into two narrow single beds. matresses were only three inch foam. most uncomfortable vacation bed i have ever experienced. no tv. no mini bar. no room service. no 24/7 meals. no casino. no pool. no activities.

 

the river boat trip, while more expensive, is very modest compared to american type cruise ship. that being said, it is a lovely, leisurely way to travel from town to town. we had swans swimming outside our window most days.

 

good luck planning your trip.

[gas]

We did an Avalon trip last fall, Budapest to Prague. The ship, Poetry, was excellent. The cabins are larger than most others, but the shower is a little small. The food was geared to American taste with local fare always included. Wine free with dinner was always regional. Most passengers were American with some Aussies. Everything was in English even local guides. Avalon is more expensive than the other cruise lines, but well worth it.

[steamboats]

kadiebug12,

 

There are quite a few river cruise lines for Americans:

 

Amadeus Waterways

Avalon

Grand Circle Travel

Uniworld

Vantage (they do operate their own ships in Europe)

Viking

 

There isn´t much difference between those lines. They all ply on the US (or English speaking) market.

 

There are two more upscale companies which do have international guests

 

Deilmann (mainly German guests, on cruises featured in the US the percentage of Americans is much higher)

Sea Cloud (River Cloud I and II).

 

Then there is Gate1 Travel which is quite new and mainly fully charters boats (but also offers cruises on ships of other lines like Deilmann).

 

My advice: Get the brochures of all companies, compare the itineraries of the cruise you like to do (some lines differ in the shore stops), then compare the amenities (which of shore tours are included, which aren´t, do you want to go on the not-included shore toures or no, then some companies offer free wine for dinner, some ships have a whirlpool ...). You will find positive reviews for all the mentioned companies on this board.

 

steamboats

[kadiebug12]

Thanks everyone for the great input! It helps a lot.

[captgeo]

A couple of years ago, we did Uniworld (River Duchess) from Amsterdam to Vienna. The passengers were mostly Americans with one Canadian tour group of about 25. Everyone spoke english, and the tour director (Tony from Wales) went out of his way to be helpful. We thought we got good value for our $$$. We've signed on with Uniworld again this October to cruise the Douro River through Portugal.

Best wishes and Happy Cruising!

captgeo

[paul929207]

We have traveled with Uniworld (b2b - Black Sea to Amsterdam) and GCT (Egypt including 1 week Nile Cruise).

 

Both companies market only in North America. Everyone on both trips was Canadian or American. All tours, ship announcements, etc were done only in English.

 

Dining room on both was non-smoking. Only smoking area was on the top deck, outside.

 

Both included most shore excursions.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed both.

 

Paul

[MrsDave]

Since this is our first river cruise...(Uniworld) can someone tell us what is expected in terms of tipping.

Thank you all...for all the great info on this site.

Tina

[bcrcornet]

Since this is our first river cruise...(Uniworld) can someone tell us what is expected in terms of tipping.

If your Uniworld river cruise is for Europe (I assume it is, since most of the messages in this thread have been about Europe), you can view a PDF file of Uniworld's tipping guide on Page 13 of their "Grand River Cruises - Europe 2007 - Cruise Companion" by clicking here. Uniworld will be sending a hardcopy of this booklet to you along with the "ticket" in your cruise documents.

If not Uniworld in Europe, let me know, and I'll post the link for the appropriate "Cruise Companion" booklet.

[bcrcornet]

If not Uniworld in Europe, let me know, and I'll post the link for the appropriate "Cruise Companion" booklet.

MrsDave/Tina: Oops! Sorry! I just figured out that you're going on Uniworld's "River Royale" in Southern France. They have a separate "Grand River Cruises - France 2007 - Cruise Companion" booklet for this cruise, here.

[ChiroCruiser]

Do children go on these river cruises? I would like to take my family on a Christmas Market river cruise- Germany, but cannot get any information about age requirements. My youngest will be 8 y/o.

[WIT]

Do children go on these river cruises? I would like to take my family on a Christmas Market river cruise- Germany, but cannot get any information about age requirements. My youngest will be 8 y/o.

ChiroCruiser - We did the Budapest -> Prague Christmas Markets Cruise last December on Amadeus' Amadagio. Our 120 passengers were mostly 55+ but one 3 generation family seemed to do just fine. Their children were under 10. Some days the parents would take the daily tour while the kids and grandparents played cards. Please note that on a river cruise the boat is more a hotel that follows your land tour and is not much of a destination in itself. The Amadagio is a new boat with two lounges, one dining room, a fitness room, but you will not find extensive or varied entertainment on the boat as you would on an ocean cruise. You can see photos and video clips of our cruise at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski

 

Good luck selecting your cruise.

 

WIT

[steamboats]

ChiroCruiser,

 

As WIT stated river cruises aren´t tending to families and kids. The only entertainment for kids you might find are jigsaw puzzles and board games or the TV in your cabin (but mainly CNN as English channel).

 

Anyway it depends on the kid. We are cruising with our DD (now 7y) and she has done 9 river cruises so far. Care for your own entertainment. Be aware that most of the included tours are not really interesting for kids (which kid loves to go on a 3 hour walking tour just to see some old dumb houses and churches :) ). Food usually shouldn´t be much of a problem. Most chefs are willing to prepare something extra for the kids.

 

Some cruise lines do have an age restriction. As far as I remember Viking doesn´t allow kids younger than 12y (no restriction for the German Viking ships). Uniworld is offering some family river cruises for the first time this year. These are selected dates with special shore tours for families (restriction 8y and up). I have seen two kids on the Amadagio (Japanese families and I was told that both of the kids were excellent piano players who entertained the passengers). On our Deilmann cruise there were two more kids aboard (3y and 5y).

 

Kids are rare on a European river cruise ship. With a bit of extra homework it can be done. Anyway I wouldn´t advise a river cruise ship for a family reunion (one or two families with kids might be fine but a crowd of kids entering the ship might disturb the other passengers).

 

steamboats