luxury river cruising

[jstroose]

- we are new to river cruising. We like luxury however- our last cruise was Regents Scandavian. My husband really prefers a balcony - he gets claustrophia in small cabins and the balcony helps. Can anybody suggest the most luxurious boats - we are thinking Danube probably - not France - for summer 2008. Also, we are late 50's Americans - would like to find some English speaking travellers.

[steamboats]

jstroose,

 

There aren´t any real balconies on river cruise ships. Many river cruise ships offer French balconies but those are mainly doors you can open but you can´t sit outside. The only one which comes into my mind is the Viking Primadonna which has some sort of tiny balconies. But this ship is only offered on the German speaking market. The main reason for having no balconies is space. The size of a river cruise ship is limited by the locks (mainly on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal) and no cruise ship plying the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers is wider than 11.40 m.

 

The most upscale river cruise companies are Deilmann (www.deilmann-cruises.com) and Sea Cloud (River Cloud, www.seacloud.de). Both companies do offer a 5 star experience with excellent food. Both companies are German but do have international passengers.

 

steamboats

[annierie]

I suggest you read this CC review about the new Tauck ships. We will be on Swiss Emerald this year.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/cruiseline.cfm?CruiseLineID=105

 

No balconies, but 300 square foot suites are quite large. Can your husband stay in hotels with no balconies but floor to ceiling windows? If so, this may work.

 

They are a family run business catering to English speaking tourists. We have encountered many lovely people from the UK, Canada, Germany, NZ and Australia on some of our tours in the past with them. The German couple on our Canadian Rockies trip did speak excellent English, since the entire tour was conducted by English-speaking tour directors.

 

You will find a very interesting mix of people, not completely Americans, and almost all very well traveled. We have done 5 tours with them. All very well run.

 

We normally cruise on RSSC, so we are happy with the Tauck experience as being in that level of service and product.

[AWED23]

I suggest you read this CC review about the new Tauck ships. We will be on Swiss Emerald this year.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/cruiseline.cfm?CruiseLineID=105

 

No balconies, but 300 square foot suites are quite large. Can your husband stay in hotels with no balconies but floor to ceiling windows? If so, this may work.

 

They are a family run business catering to English speaking tourists. We have encountered many lovely people from the UK, Canada, Germany, NZ and Australia on some of our tours in the past with them. The German couple on our Canadian Rockies trip did speak excellent English, since the entire tour was conducted by English-speaking tour directors.

 

You will find a very interesting mix of people, not completely Americans, and almost all very well traveled. We have done 5 tours with them. All very well run.

 

We normally cruise on RSSC, so we are happy with the Tauck experience as being in that level of service and product.

:) Well said. We too have been on many Tauck tours and always enjoyed them. INTRAV is another American owned company who uses the Sound of Music...Built for 156 but reconfigured to only 98 passengers. They are a completely "Luxe" in every phase of their operation...Either company is definately a step up for we Americans abroad....My opinion, but that is the one I live by.....:D

[ChefPeg]

I suggest you read this CC review about the new Tauck ships. We will be on Swiss Emerald this year.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/cruiseline.cfm?CruiseLineID=105

 

No balconies, but 300 square foot suites are quite large. Can your husband stay in hotels with no balconies but floor to ceiling windows? If so, this may work.

 

They are a family run business catering to English speaking tourists. We have encountered many lovely people from the UK, Canada, Germany, NZ and Australia on some of our tours in the past with them. The German couple on our Canadian Rockies trip did speak excellent English, since the entire tour was conducted by English-speaking tour directors.

 

You will find a very interesting mix of people, not completely Americans, and almost all very well traveled. We have done 5 tours with them. All very well run.

 

We normally cruise on RSSC, so we are happy with the Tauck experience as being in that level of service and product.

 

Hi there,

 

Thanks for posting this link. I hadn't seen this before.

 

My Dh and I are sailing with Tauck next August. It is hard to find any information on them from past cruisers, so this was nice to read.

 

Peggy