River Cruise Boats in Europe

As you can see from the following list, many tour operators in the USA, the UK and Australia use the same river cruise boats for their European trips but package their deals in a different way. Many of the older boats have been refurbished in recent years and the standard of boats is much higher.  Look at Scenic Tour’s “space ships” for instance. So if you like the boat but not the deal, check out other choices (note: our list is not exclusive)

When we went on our Amsterdam-Budapest river cruise we booked direct with Avalon (Globus) who operate the MS Poetry on which we travelled. But there are some good deals going which incorporate add-ons such as extra days at the beginning and/or end of a trip, free airfares or two-for-one offers which you may find worthwhile.

OUR ADVICE: concentrate on the ship you want to travel on and the route you want to travel, rather than the tour aggregator (of course, there's also price!). Be sure to check out our "Things to watch for" page too!

Here is a list of European river boats and the companies that own and/or charter them. As you can see, the same boat is frequently used by different tour aggregators:

UPDATE: The German company Peter Deilmann stopped operating river cruises at the end of the 2009 summer season.

Note to operators: if you're not included on this list and want to be, please contact us.

Next page:What is a River Boat?