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.
