I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of
my tips for travellers. In this video, I'm going to explore, and share with you, what I
think are the six best European river cruising lines, and hopefully help you
decide which one of these would be right for your first (or your next) river cruise
in Europe. Choosing a river cruise line in Europe can be quite a challenge
because when you take a look at them they all seem to be the same.
They are constrained by the rivers of Europe and tend to be the
same length, the same width and the same height to be able to sail down the
rivers. So, it's really important that you understand what goes on within the ship,
and what the service is, to help you decide. The other thing that makes it hard to
choose between river cruising lines is all of them talk about all-inclusive
fares. Largely they are all-inclusive and most include accommodation, all
your food, some or all of your drink, many will include
gratuities and excursions will be included. While largely speaking they offer
all-inclusive fares, there are slight differences though when you get into the
detail by a cruise line. Let's take a look at what I think are the six very
best cruise lines. Let's start with Uniworld, which is probably one of the most
prestige and certainly one of the more expensive of the cruise lines
sailing around Europe. I've done a couple of Uniworld cruises and I really
like Uniworld as a cruise line. They position themselves as offering six-star
service, and the point is that they go way beyond what you would normally expect.
The ships are all very different and the decor does tend to be a little bit on
the rich and glitzy side. While they are glitzy inside, they are
beautiful, very comfortable and the bedding, beds, the service and the quality of
everything onboard is phenomenal. The service is really outstanding.
They do cruise on pretty much all of the major rivers and, as I said, they are more
on the premium side, so if you're looking for a particularly luxurious river
cruise with very high degrees of service take a look at Uniworld. If you
like you when you're cruising to travel in five-star upmarket hotels, the next two lines I want to talk about are probably
in this 5-star area. The first of those is a Cruise Line called AmaWaterways.
I really liked AmaWaterways. I think they do offer a great product. They are
owned by a group of friends, and so it's really a family-owned company. It was
established back in 2002 and still run very actively by the families.
They have great quality of ships, of service and food. I really like the
decor as it's quite modern. One of their features is that they have cabins which
have both a Juliet balcony and a normal balcony. The advantage of the Juliet
balcony is that it means the cabins can be slightly bigger. Cabins on board river
cruise ships are quite small, so the advantage of having both is it means
they can allow a little bit of extra space. AmaWaterways are sophisticated terms of
technology and you'll find lots of technology on board through the
interactive television and on devices. The food is outstanding, with huge
choice of menus. They also have a specialty dining option, called the
Chef's Table, where you can watch the chefs prepare the food. They're also
very big on wellness and have a dedicated person on board looking after
a wellness program. They run classes and have lots of wellness excursions.
They have bikes on board too. If you like five-star service with a
contemporary feel and a big focus on wellness, definitely take a look at AmaWaterways. I think they could definitely appeal to you. Probably the best known of
all the river cruising companies is Viking. Viking is incredibly well known,
particularly in North America and in the UK because they do spend a lot of money
on marketing. They have a huge fleet they and at time of recording, I think over
70 ships across all the different rivers of Europe. All the ships tend to be the
same. They have the Longships, which are the bigger rivers which hold on
190 guests, and they have a smaller version of the Longships which operate
on rivers which can't cope with such big ship, for example in a Portugal.
Viking has a more traditional approach, so although the ships are
quite contemporary and have a Nordic feel to them, they do tend to be a
little bit more on the traditional side. So, unlike AmaWaterways, they don't have
bicycles or a fitness centre. They don't have lots of that kind
of fitness activity on board. They do offer some active excursions,
so you will find you can go on bike excursions, but Viking do tend to focus
more on the hotel experience, with the
destination more as the hero. They are definitely well known and on pretty
much every river that you want to go on they will have multiple itineraries.
You'll often find when you go to a port there's often more than one Viking
ship in there, because they have lots of different permutations of cruises of
different lengths.Viking I would say probably has five-star service, they have
good comfortable cabins, good comfortable beds, good quality of service and good food. If you like five-star service with a more of a
Scanda feel to it consider Viking. Also, they have many
permutations of cruises that you can do within Europe and if you're looking for
something a little bit unusual or of different lengths, the
advantage Viking has is they have loads of ships so they have
loads of choices of itineraries. The next two cruise lines, both of which I also
really like, are probably a more in the four-star category if you try
to equate that with what you can expect on land. The first of these is a
company called Avalon Waterways. Avalon Waterways is part of a really big
group as it's part of the Globus Travel Group. So, it has huge resources behind it
and that means in the various ports they have long-established
connections and really great excursions. Avalon is definitely focusing
more and more on fitness and wellness, and on board they have fitness people and fitness classes. They offer active excursions and you can go on
excursions that include hiking and biking if that's the kind of
thing you're looking for. Also reflected in the food is a wellness approach. One
of the things that they talk about with their ships is their
Suite Ships, and they do have great cabins. I really like the cabins on
Avalon as in the cabins the beds face the window, which is a great feature because as
you cruise through Europe there's often beautiful scenery you're often
cruising through. So, that's a small touch but it's a great touch. Good
levels of service and definitely something to look at if you are looking
for something that is going to give you lots of active excursion options, and if
you're the sort person on land who likes a four-star hotels. You like some luxury but you don't want to go to 5-star prices with all the
bells and whistles and extra service that comes with five-star, then
take a look at Avalon Waterways. The next cruise line, which I also really like, is
called Emerald Waterways. Emerald is owned by Scenic. Scenic is probably
more a five-star product, probably a bit more premium, and Emerald is
perhaps a little bit more affordable. Again there is a big big focus on trying
to be active and offering active excursions. They also try to attract a younger type of traveler to river cruising and you'll find that a lot of
the activities they do onboard are trying to appeal to a younger crowd. One
of the things they offer to have bigger cabins is
instead of having balconies they have panoramic windows which are the full
length of the cabin which slide down. So, effectively your balcony is within
your cabin and you have extra space but the advantage is you can
fresh air into your cabin. That's a nice touch. Another feature
that they have at the back of their ships is an area which during
the day is a plunge pool inside, and in the evening they convert that into a cinema.
Emerald Waterways don't have as many ships as some of the other cruise lines,
so there perhaps isn't as wide a range of itineraries but they certainly cover
all of the major rivers that you would want to go on Europe - particularly if
you're going on a first or second River cruise. Emerald is an
interesting line, it's probably a bit more youthful with nicely designed
ships and good all-inclusive fares. So, if that appeals to you and you like a more youthful approach, take a look at Emerald. All of the
cruise lines that are spoken so far operating on the European rivers tend to
be quite English centric and they tend to be have mostly American, British
and Australian travellers. If you want something different, take a
look at CroisiEurope. CroisiEurope is very interesting because they are, I
believe, the river cruising company that's been operating for the longest
across the rivers of Europe. They've been going since the mid 1970s. It's a
family-owned company i's owned by the Schmitter family, and the family still
runs it. I think it's all about the third generation that are currently now
increasingly taking over the reins of the company. It's real core is with
French travellers, however increasingly the ships are becoming more
more international so you are likely to have a much more diverse group than you'll have
on any of the other river cruising lines, and certainly you're going to have a
much more European experience. They focus on providing great French
food and a more European experience. If you're going to cruise through the
rivers of Europe CroisiEurope is definitely something worth considering.
They sail on an enormous range of rivers and they even design ships
specifically for rivers. I went on the Loire in France, which is a very shallow
river, and they had designed a paddle ship specifically to go on that river. So
really interesting and very innovative and pretty much if there's a
river in Europe they sail on it. They tend to be better value and they operate in the more value end. Depending on where you're coming
from, the fares are constructed in different ways. Often you buy a cruise only
fare and you then buy excursions ad-hoc or as packages. If you booked from
the USA they tend to do a more of a bundled package because people
are coming much further. They tend to be more flexible and on the value side. They have regular and premium
ships, so again lots and lots of choice. CroisiEurope are definitely
interesting as a cruise line because it's going to give you a much more
European experience. You'll find it's more multilingual and it's going to
definitely give you a much more European feel. Definitely something to consider.
There are many other cruise lines that operate in Europe but, for me, those are
the six I think you should look at if you're considering your first or next River cruise in Europe. I have loads of videos of tips and advice about
river cruising and ocean cruising, so why don't you watch another one of them
right now?
