I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my tips for travellers. I'm currently
on a Danube river cruise on Viking River Cruises and i thought this would be a
great opportunity to talk to you about the things that you really need to know
if you are a first-timer to river cruising. First of all, river cruising is
very different to ocean cruising and it's much closer to an escorted bus tour
around a particular region. It's a more curated experience with
less choice and options. Your whole day is more planned and it is a more
regimented and organised experience, similar to going on a tour
around the region or a bus with a guide. You travel shorter
distances than you would on an ocean cruise. Across a week you
might only travel a couple of hundred kilometres,
whereas our ocean cruise you often travel many hundreds of
kilometres every day as you move between the different destinations.
It is a more intensive look at a particular region. It is a very
different experience. Don't think of it as an ocean-style cruise on a river.
Secondly, the way that you choose a river cruise line I think is very different,
and it's very much around always how you'd choose a hotel that you want to
stay at. Do you normally like to travel in a three star, four star or five star
hotel? Do you like to travel in a traditional decor hotel or a modern
contemporary hotel? In practice river cruise ships are largely the same,
and they largely have to be the same because they have to be a certain length,
width and height to go along the rivers. As you look at
the different river cruise ships, they look incredibly similar from the outside
and their structure and facilities inside are very similar.
You have a dining room, lounge
perhaps a small library, some will have a fitness centre and some may have a second
dining room. You're not really choosing a river cruise line based on
the facilities, you're choosing it first of all based on budget and style. Do
you like a very plush five-star experience and do you have the budget
for that, or are you looking for something much more on the value side and
more three star? When you come to choose a river cruise line, you're
choosing it based on your style of travel (three, four or five star travel) , your
budget and then the design and look of the ship once you're on board.
The third really important thing about river cruising is when
people look at river cruising, they think it looks incredibly expensive.
River cruising is a relatively expensive way to travel, however ,you need
to look beyond the headline fare because you'll find river cruising is
largely all-inclusive. You'll normally find on most cruise lines they include your
accommodation, all your dining options and
at least one excursion per port included within the fare. They
will have Wi-Fi included, most of the cruise lines will include wine or beer
with your lunch and your dinner, you'll have 24-hour tea and coffee making
facilities often with all snacks. What's excluded are usually things like
gratuities, obviously on board shopping or if you do go for extra excursions.
They may offer premium excursions. For example, on the cruise
that I was on we had the option of going to a classical concert in Vienna. When
you look at the cost of a fare, bear in mind that a lot of the things that
you're going to pay extra if you go ocean cruising is included in the fare.
People often think my goodness that's quite expensive, but look at the
inclusions. The next key thing that I think people coming to river cruising
for the first time should really focus on when you look at which itinerary you
going to do is to really focus on the places that it goes
to, how long you're going to be calling at them and also take a
look at the excursions that are offered and understand where they're going to
take you and what you're going to see. Are they going to take you to all the
important must-see places? I recommend that you understand to
what degree there is cultural immersion on the cruise. Some cruise lines will
make sure that every day there's a local menu and they'll bring onboard local
entertainment. Again using the example of the cruise I'm currently on, the
Viking Danube cruise, every single day there was a local menu choice
with a starter, a main course and a dessert which was specific to the very
town or place that were going through. They would bring
onboard entertainers from that region who would do singing or dancing. I have
been on other river cruises where it has been less so because it's
speciality is say French cuisine, and that's what they
keep having every day. Very importantly understand the degree of
cultural immersion and what the actual enrichment program is onboard. In my
opinion, first time two cruisers should focus on two key rivers: the Rhine and
the Danube. There are many rivers that you can cruise on around
Europe, but the Rhine and Danube are the two big classic ones. The Rhine is
fantastic because you get great historic stories and beautiful castles,
especially along of the world heritage stretch of the Rhine River. The Rhine
is an absolute must do as it's very rich in beautiful castles and incredible scenery.
Then there's the Danube with the classic trip between Passau and Budapest. It
takes you through some beautiful parts of Europe but, very importantly,
you visit three critical capitals: Vienna , Bratislava and
Budapest. Which of those two rivers are my favourite? It depends which
one I am currently on because I love both of those itineraries! The next thing
is a kind of watch out. I have a whole video which talks about
lots of a watch-outs about river cruising, but probably the biggest and most important
one of all for a first timer to river cruising to understand is
that water levels can play havoc with your itinerary. So, either too much water
or too little water. You'll often find there's times of the year, or even
certain years, when itineraries are thrown all over the place. For example in
2018 there was a real problem with low water and the river ships could not get
very far down the rivers, and sometimes people were being bused to excursions or even
changing ships to get them further down the river. Bear in mind
y the water levels could completely throw your itinerary out of kilter.
Clearly the cruise companies try everything they can but there's nothing
they can do about water levels. The next key thing that a first-time river cruise
needs to know is that the season is relatively limited. The season
starts around about March / April and goes on until about October.
Some cruises keep running after October, particularly in December for the
Christmas markets and some Christmas and New Year cruises. But, between
December and March there's no River cruise ships running in Europe. A really
good time to go, in my opinion, as a first-timer is in
May / June and September is a great time to go.
At these times it is not manically busy. These ships are all calling on the same
places and once you add in the land-based tourists on top, they can be
really packed. At these times you have pretty good weather and
it's not manically busy. The fares will also reflect this. You'll find you're
probably going to get better value fare, and so bear that in mind
when you think about planning. If you're considering a river cruise,
an important thing to note is that it is still a slightly older activity and
you're generally going to find it's people 55+ and you will find lots of
people in their 60s and 70s doing river cruising. Of course it is evolving and
changing. There are some cruise companies who are trying to encourage more
families and in the key summer periods they will do family themed cruises, while
other cruise lines are trying to introduce more themes like wine
or arts to try attract a more diverse audience. In practice
it's mostly people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and above. It is in my view very much an
adult rather than a family vacation option. Most of the river cruises are
going to places which have historic, arts or a cultural slant. They
are getting more active, and there's more cycling and hiking options but the excursions
are more historical and cultural by nature, with there's lots of wine and food
integrated into these. It is very much, in my view, an adult experience. Viking for
have decided to reflect that and all of their cruises,
both river and ocean, you have to be over 18 before you go on them. What about
solo travellers? River cruising is still a real challenge for solo travellers
because most cruise lines don't have single cabins. Some are starting to toy with
those but, generally speaking, as a solo traveller you're going to have to be
quite canny do things like sign up for the cruise lines that you're
interested in newsletters, and talk to your agent and find out when they're
doing promotions. Some of them will do no single supplement
promotions or they'll do low surcharges. Solo travel is still a
real challenge. Most of the time, and in peak season,
you'll find you're paying a surcharge of 50% to 100%. If
you found these tips helpful about river cruising, I have many more videos and
tips and ship tours on river cruising. Why don't you take a look at some of
those to help understand river cruising much more? Please watch
many more of my Tips For Travellers videos as they're designed to help you make the
most of your precious travel time and money on land at sea and, of course ,the
rivers of the world.