{"id":1341,"date":"2009-05-12T20:14:20","date_gmt":"2009-05-12T10:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2009-05-12T20:14:20","modified_gmt":"2009-05-12T10:14:20","slug":"river-cruise-choosing-your-europe-river-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/european-river-cruise\/river-cruise-choosing-your-europe-river-cruise","title":{"rendered":"River cruise &#124; Choosing your Europe river cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"float: right\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1009507070974015\";\r\ngoogle_alternate_ad_url = \"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/google_adsense_script.html\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-06-30: TSBlog 300x250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"2928184950\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"FF6600\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"339933\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\n  src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>River cruise<\/strong> season is here again and if you&#8217;re still undecided on whether to do a river cruise, it&#8217;s <strong>not too late<\/strong>!\u00a0 Before the world was turned <strong>topsy-turvy<\/strong> by this economic downturn, it would have been impossible to book a cruise at this time of year as many of the popular cruises are already booked a year in advance. The situation has changed.<\/p>\n<p>These days, there are so many more <strong>river cruise tours<\/strong> available and what with all the <strong>discounts <\/strong>being thrown in at the moment, the choices are <strong>overwhelming<\/strong>.\u00a0 Should you go for the offer of a <strong>free flight<\/strong> for the second person or is the offer of\u00a0 $2,000 price reduction per couple for the cruise a better deal?\u00a0 Mme, how does one go about deciding?<\/p>\n<p>It would be a <strong>mistake <\/strong>to base your decision by discounts offered alone as you may end up going on a cruise that&#8217;s disappointing. If this is your first river cruise and you&#8217;re not likely to do too many cruises in the future, then it&#8217;s <strong>important <\/strong>that decisions are based on what will make your trip an <strong>enjoyable experience<\/strong>, one that exceeds your expectations and one that will give you many years of <strong>happy memories<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4>Which River?<\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_1349\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/travelsignposts.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/poetry500.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1349\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1349\" title=\"poetry500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/poetry500.jpg?resize=300%2C70\" alt=\"M\/S Poetry\" width=\"300\" height=\"70\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/poetry500.jpg?resize=300%2C70 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/poetry500.jpg?w=500 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1349\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">M\/S Poetry<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There are so many different rivers that you can cruise on in Europe, the <strong>Rhine, Danube, Rhone, Elbe, Po<\/strong> and so on.\u00a0 The essence of a river boat cruise is that you do make quite a lot of <strong>shore excursions<\/strong>.\u00a0 Your river boat will be making several stops along the way and passengers will be able to do <strong>sightseeing <\/strong>in the towns and villages along the river.\u00a0 So scrutinizing the itinerary and ensuring that the <strong>places visited <\/strong>are what you want to see is an important consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Would you like a cruise that will take you through a few countries, like the very popular <strong>Amsterdam to Budapest cruise<\/strong> or would you prefer to immerse yourself in the culture of one country only and therefore do a river cruise within that country, for example the <strong>Rhone River cruise<\/strong> within <strong>France <\/strong>only.<\/p>\n<h4>Which company?<\/h4>\n<p>Which company should you travel with?\u00a0 The major players in European river cruising include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avalon Waterways (now part of the Globus Group)<\/li>\n<li>Uniworld<\/li>\n<li>Viking River Cruises<\/li>\n<li>Peter Deilmann Cruise<\/li>\n<li>Tauck World Discovery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Europe river cruising market is very <strong>competitive <\/strong>which is good for ensuring quality for the customers.\u00a0 <strong>Compare <\/strong>the brochures from a few of the above companies before deciding.\u00a0 All the information are available on-line.<\/p>\n<h4>Which season?<\/h4>\n<p>Weather is another <strong>important consideration<\/strong>.\u00a0 You can&#8217;t always predict the weather.\u00a0 When we did our Amsterdam to Budapest river cruise in August, we had such <strong>magnificent weather<\/strong> that even the captain and tour director were amazed. They were amazed because the cruise before ours had two weeks of non-stop rain and the rivers were flooded.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you choose a <strong>winter cruise<\/strong>, which is usually <strong>cheaper<\/strong>, then you can expect to be indoors a fair amount of the trip and it <strong>gets dark early<\/strong>.\u00a0 So choosing the right location and time of year is important for river cruising as it&#8217;s preferable to be outdoors, on the sun-deck enjoying the beautiful scenery along the riverbanks rather than huddled indoors.\u00a0 Some operators may offer you a<strong> free flight <\/strong>for a winter cruise, but the cost of the cruise itself is pegged at the<strong> high season fare<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4>How much can you afford?<\/h4>\n<p>What&#8217;s your <strong>travel budget<\/strong> and what length of cruise are you looking for?\u00a0 The price range of cruises depends on a number of factors such as season, duration of cruise and your cabin type.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the cabin type that you choose makes a big difference to the price.\u00a0 Most river cruise boats are designed so that rooms on both sides of the boats have views, but on some boats the <strong>lowest deck and cheapest rooms<\/strong> are at water level.\u00a0 The <strong>best cabins <\/strong>are those &#8216;<strong>staterooms<\/strong>&#8216; on the upper deck with <strong>French balconies<\/strong>.\u00a0 These are great as you can relax, read or watch the passing scenery from the comfort of your suite if you didn&#8217;t feel like going on the sun-deck.<\/li>\n<li>check to see if the <strong>on-shore excursions<\/strong> are included in the price of the cruise or do you have to allow extra budget for some of the visits that you&#8217;re interested in.<\/li>\n<li>on many cruises, you have to pay for your wines and drinks at meal time, however there are cruises that provide <strong>complimentary wines<\/strong> as part of the package.\u00a0 Look out for these!<\/li>\n<li>port charges and tips for the crew will all need to be considered in your budget.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, as long as you&#8217;ve taken some of these main points into your decision making, you should be on your way to a pleasant cruise.\u00a0 <strong>Bon voyage!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/travelinfo\/rivercruises.php\" target=\"_self\">More comprehensive information on river cruising, click <strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Germany\" target=\"_self\">See our River Cruising photos <strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Destination\/v\/Austria\" target=\"_self\">More photos <strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>River cruise season is here again and if you&#8217;re still undecided on whether to do a river cruise, it&#8217;s not too late!\u00a0 Before the world was turned topsy-turvy by this economic downturn, it would have been impossible to book a cruise at this time of year as many of the popular cruises are already booked [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,41],"tags":[194,575,709,1526,1623,1624,1626,1847,1974,2055],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-european-river-cruise","category-river-cruising-europe","tag-avalon-waterways","tag-cruises-river","tag-european-river-cruises","tag-peter-deilmann-cruise","tag-river-boat","tag-river-cruise","tag-river-cruises-europe","tag-tauck-world-discovery","tag-uniworld","tag-viking-river-cruises"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>River cruise &#124; 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