http://www.sonesta.com/NileCruises/

I guess it boils down to where you might want to go. I've always wanted to do a Yangtze River cruise before the valley gets flooded from the dam.

[ 07-29-2009: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]

We looked at river cruises but could not find the right itinerary.

What I learned from the Med; cruises are best for smallish ports that can be done in one day.

2 half days in Istanbul was inadequate, climbing the trail at Santorini took a better part of the day and not having enough time to see the black sand beaches on the other side of the island. There is the constant pressure of missing the ship.

All of the Carribean islands are similar. You seen one, you seen them all. There either I stay on the ship or elbow through the shopping mob scene of 6 megaships in port for a few hours on the beach and back to the ship early.

I love cruising but it is not the best venue for every travel situation.

I can honestly say that after aome 15+ years of cruising and moving from Big to Small ships - this was right up my alley. Since I last sailed it would appear that Uniworld has even stepped up its game even more and is now one of the Top 10 TRavel and Leisure small ships (along w/ a number of other river cruise companies).

They have anice misture of North American/ UK and Aussie travellers (being owned by the same company that own Trafalgar Tours and Insight) and have a delightful European staff.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
What amazes me about this thread is how totally different trips to totally different destinations are compared as if they it were the same just because they are 'river cruises'.
It's a bit like comparing a short three day 'booze cruise' from Florida to the Bahamas with a month long expedition cruise aboard an icebreaker to Antarctica.

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Originally posted by Jekyll:
I have done the following Uniworld River Cruises:

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I did not really know what to expect on mine but it was absolutely superb.

Uniworld, incidentally, is as far as I know no longer selling (or will soon stop selling) cruises through its "sister" tour operators. Apparently this was only ever meant to be something temporary. As it is the connections to the other companies were always kept very discreet though that with the Red Carnation Hotels is being played up (and smartly I think).

Anyway I think it is an excellent company and one whose cruises I would very highly recommend.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
What amazes me about this thread is how totally different trips to totally different destinations are compared as if they it were the same just because they are 'river cruises'.

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If we imagine Frosty as a first-time cruiser and remove the word "river" from the post and replace AMA with, say, Royal Caribbean, I don't think anyone would feel remotely qualified to answer that question because it is just too vague. We have probably all heard, "I am thinking of taking a cruise. You go on a lot of cruises - which one should I take?" But I at least would never answer that. Rather like being asked, "I am thinking of buying a car. You drive a car - which one should I buy?"

From the mention of AMA I took it that the intended topic was European river cruising, hence my suggestion of Uniworld. In my defense I will say that Uniworld is a direct competitor of AMA and I would indeed recommend it to an English-speaking passenger seeking a European river cruise. I can't say that its competitors aren't equally good but it is certainly excellent. Without that mention (and so, to me, a suggestion of a particular type of cruise being considered) I would never have answered the question as it would be too broad.

Anyway, unfortunately I think as long as awareness among ocean cruisers of river cruising remains very limited, it will tend to be seen as a single undifferentiated mass. And the awareness is very limited. At least here in the US, the travel industry does not even seem to know whether to consider it a cruise or a package tour (like a bus tour)!

This is not really anyone's fault in particular - certainly not that of people who are considering a river cruise and don't realize that like ocean cruises, river cruises come in all different types.

I agree with what you said, completely.

Whenever people ask me about a river cruise, I tend not to respond to them in the same manner in which I would reply when asked about an ocean cruise.

For me, I tend to talk more about the concept and essence of a river cruise (specifically Europe) more than I do about the specifics of the lines. Let's face it, the US focused lines which service Europe: AMA, Viking, Uniworld, Scenic, Avalon to name some all offer some very high calibre product and one can not gowrong with any (although the hardware of Scenic is definitely some of the nicest -not sure about service/ onboard delivery).

Once one understand what a river cruise is like, it is easy to extrapolate that experience to China or the Nile (Russia is a bit of a different experience and not as consistent).

With that said, the itineraries - Europe/ Nile/ China/ Russia are vastly different and no comparison can be made.

Just a word of caution when selecting an itinerary in Europe. While it is good tomake a decision based upon the published itinerary (as each line offers slight variations on the same programme), it is important to remember that water levels can change the itineraries even up to the time you are on board and about to enter a city. Be prepared for variations in what is expected. If there are changes though, the lines dowhat they can to minimize the inconvenience to the guest.

I think it is great that this style of cruising is gaining prominence.

It was also a ferry and carried mail. The small towns along the coast can be seen in a day. Since it is a ferry many locals come on board along with the cruise passengers.

Activities? not much since there is a port a day and always new people to talk to.

It was made very clear that it is not a cruiseship in the traditional sense.

I recall going from one side of the ship to another seeing the beautiful Norwegian coast. This cruise was in July so I stayed up to watch the midnight sun.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
My closest to a river cruise was the Norwegian Hurtigruten on the 1960 Harald Jarl.
[...]

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Our next trip is not a cruise but a train/walking vacation to the Hapsburg capitals: Prague, Budapest, and Vienna.

(...)
If time allowed a ship would be my only way to cross, train it in Europe for a few weeks and sail home again

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Lucky you, Desirod, this is one of those "virtual dream voyages" I've always loved to do. very interesting.

Try to find an antique pre 1914 "Badeker" on the Austrian-Hungarian empire. It surely gives a fascinating insight in the circumstances then.

The empire was more than Wien/Praha or Budapest : there is also Krakow, Lviv (Lemberg), Transylvania, Zagreb (Agram), Laibach/Ljubljana, Bled, and the coast where the Austrian Lloyd sailed : Rijeka, Opatija, Trieste, the great deepwater port of the Empire, and even, for a short time, Venice.

No time enough, but surely rewarding in every aspect. Try to find a "Wallpaper" of ocotber 2000/2001 of 2002 where there is a travel article in these countries by among others Jordi Labanda, the best ever published in Wallpaper !

As for River Cruises : there is big expansion going on. Where Antwerp for example is clearly losing seacruise ships, the number of river cruisers is steadily going up.

As waterways were the prime axes of trade and transportation till the railways, many important and interesting cities are situated on the great (and lesser great) waterways of Europe. I think it can be really rewarding.