A Condé Nast Traveller Reader’s Choice of the Best River Boats:
Cruising is a huge industry. If you’ve ever wondered how many people choose cruising holidays, it seems that some 13 million travellers boarded cruise ships last year, 70 percent of whom are Americans – think Caribbean cruises.
Each year Condé Nast Traveller magazine conducts a readers’ poll to vote for the best passenger ships. This is the eleventh year of the magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Survey and for the first time this year, river boats is included as a new category.
The Condé Nast Readers’ Choice Survey rates each river boat based on seven criteria: itineraries, shore excursions, crew/service, cabins, food/dining, activities/facilities and design/layout. Each river boat is then judged on the highest overall score. Only boats that receive the required minimum number of responses were eligible to be included in the rankings.
Of the Top Ten river boats selected by Condé Nast readers, five are from Uniworld River Cruises, 4 from Grand Circle and 1 from Viking River Cruises. Here are the results:
| Riverboat | Operator | No.of Passengers | Overall Score | |
| 1 | River Beatrice | Uniworld | 160 | 94.7 |
| 2 | River Duchess | Uniworld | 134 | 93.2 |
| 3 | River Concerto | Grand Circle | 140 | 92.2 |
| 4 | Provence | Grand Circle | 46 | 91.4 |
| 5 | River Countess | Uniworld | 134 | 91.0 |
| 6 | River Queen | Uniworld | 132 | 90.9 |
| 7 | Viking Neptune | Viking | 150 | 89.9 |
| 8 | River Baroness | Uniworld | 128 | 89.3 |
| 9 | Chardonnay | Grand Circle | 46 | 88.9 |
| 10 | River Harmony | Grand Circle | 140 | 88.7 |
Congratulations to Uniworld and Grand Circle for their clean sweep of the river boat poll.
Do YOU have any ideas on this? Please comment.
I simply have a question for any of you seasoned riverboat cruisers. A few articles I have read comment on the thin un-soundproofed walls between rooms. We are taking our first riverboat cruise in May on the Beatrice. We have secured a Jr.Suite. Do you suppose we will encounter this on this particular riverboat. We are so looking forward to the trip, but have a few concerns if we will be dealing with getting to know our neighbors better than we wish. Has anyone experienced such problems?
Thanks,
Edwina
Edwina,
We’ve been on three riverboat cruises and noise from neighbouring rooms has never come up as an issue.
We’ve not travelled on the Beatrice but the fact that it got voted best riverboat in the Conde Nast poll says a lot about customer satisfaction. Below are some further reviews by past passengers for your reading.
http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=535
Uniworld’s boats are really classy and I’m sure you’ll have a great time. But just in case you’re unlucky enough to have a very loud neighbour, can I suggest that you take some ear plugs with you to ensure a good night’s sleep. They’re always handy on planes as well. You’ll find that during the day, most people are in the lounge or on the sundeck enjoying the magnificent sights.
Cheers and have a great holiday.
Helen