European River Cruise

[justHB]

Have you taken one? Know anyone who has? Have any insight about what to expect?

We're in the beginning stages of thinking about our winter trip this year and I've been doing a bit of reading about river cruises. They sound good - theoretically - but any brochure and website can make something sound fun.

I read some reviews on Frommers, but really, I don't trust a lot of the nameless/faceless people on travel message boards. I feel like they only post when they hate something or love something and never provide any objective feedback.

[tlew12778]

Do you mean the kind where you rent a barge and float it down the river yourself? Or a real cruise like with Costa or Royal?

[Rosebud]

I haven't taken one either, but I've heard good things from friends who've done this. The benefit seems to be that these are much smaller boats & groups than the kind you would have on the open sea. Therefore, you can go into smaller ports and won't surrounded by a sea of other cruisers tromping around town. Also the emphasis seems to be on cultural exploration, as opposed to drinking and gambling.

I would recommend the Fodors.com boards above Frommers or Tripadvisor. The Fodors boards are frequented by a large and well-traveled community (more sophisticated than your average travelers, IMO)-- they've never steered me wrong. They have a new board on river & barge cruises. I don't know if it's getting a ton of traffic yet, but you should find some feedback there. Also, CruiseCritic has a whole section on river cruises (http://www.cruisecritic.com/cruisestyles/area.cfm?area=21) that looks to have a ton of info. This might be the best place to start. Good luck!

[meatpie]

I looked into a river cruise with my mother and sister to visit the Christmas markets and I agree with Rosebud - check out cruisecritic.com. A ton of good information. I can't wait to do this trip - it's just not in the cards for the next few years with kids, etc.

We have friends who did the river/barge thing in France and loved it. they had their own private boat.

[tenofcups]

I went on a European river cruise several years ago; I want to say at least 10 years ago. I've never been on a "regular" cruise so I can't really compare the two except that my impressions are they're very different kinds of experiences.

I think my cruise was actually kind of modified because it was a business thing, so I believe it only lasted three or four days and it seems that others are longer. Our itinerary was along the Danube from Vienna to Budapest with a stop in Bratislava (Czech Republic) and I believe one other stop in Hungary along the way. The ship I was on was the River Cloud, which is the equivalent of a luxury hotel.

The ships are obviously much smaller than a standard cruise so you don't begin to have the entertainment options (fine with me!). Seems to me that when we were cruising, time was spent mostly in the lounge or outside on the deck watching the scenery. I distinctly remember that there was a tv in the guest rooms that showed a view from the front of the ship so you could also just stay inside and still be able to watch. If I remember right, they tried to move the ship during the night so that we could spend days at the various stops, although I also remember one stop that was definitely at night (a recreation of a medieval jousting match and dinner).

As someone noted above, the focus was on the cultural aspect of the cities we saw than rather than the cruise itself. The feeling on the cruise was more one of being a guest on someone's large yacht than on a cruise per se.

[justHB]

Thanks for all the feedback. Good note on the Frommers vs Fodors message boards. I'll have to check out Fodors. The Frommers boards seem filled with people who love "regular" cruises and like to harrass anyone who doesn't prescribe to this method of travel, so it'll be nice to get additional insight from other folks.