Dennis, one of our clients from Colorado, recently suggested we write an article about how to choose a river cruise line. Like many of you, Dennis and his partner have done a ton of ocean cruising – mostly on the premium lines (Celebrity, Holland America & Princess), and have recently begun experimenting with small ship ocean cruises and river cruises.
His questions about the different river cruise lines were good ones, and ones we commonly hear from others.
Comparing ocean cruise lines is an easy discussion. For example, if you’re choosing between Carnival and Holland America, you’ll be very happy on one of those cruise lines and extremely unhappy on the other (depending on your age, and what you want to get out of the trip).
River cruise lines are far less differentiated, so the conversation is less definitive.
All the river cruise lines we work with provide an elevated level of food quality, service, and amenities. In many regards they are all very similar. However, there is certainly differentiation amongst them, so here’s a crack at defining what is different about the river cruise lines our clients book most frequently.
Note that all these cruise lines include airport transfers, a shore excursion in each port of call, beer/wine with meals, and wifi on the ship. Additional inclusions are noted under each.
AMA Waterways
- A Wellness Coordinator on every sailing, with fitness and yoga classes, as well as more active shore excursions.
- Happy Hour where your drinks are included every night for an hour or so before dinner (beer/wine is also included with meals).
- A choice of included Shore Excursions at each port (including the more active ones noted above).
- Gym and pool on board the ship.
- Trip Extensions – All the cruise lines offer trip extensions. AMA offers some unusual extensions, and the same cruise manager from the ship also travels with you pre/post cruise.
- Free Flights on 2022 Europe & Mekong departures. If you want to travel in the next few months, AMA will throw in the air as part of your cruise fare.
- Skews to slightly younger demographic.
Avalon
- Rooms – Avalon has a slightly larger room size than competing river cruise lines, and they orient the beds to face out the window.
- Shorter itineraries – Avalon is the only one of these cruise lines to offer itineraries of less than a week. This could work well if you want to combine a river cruise with another vacation in Europe.
- Land tours – Avalon is part of the Globus family of brands, so it’s easy to connect a river cruise to a Globus or Monograms trip.
Tauck
- Land extensions – Tauck is originally a luxury land-tour operator and have only gotten into the River Cruise business with their own ships in the past few years. If you’re looking for high-end land tours, Tauck certainly offers this.
- Inclusions – Tauck has all the standard river cruise inclusions and also includes beverages at ALL times, as well as gratuities for both onboard staff and local guides.
- Exclusive experiences – Tauck puts their extensive experience on land to good use when planning exclusive shore events for river boat guests.
Uniworld
- Boutique ships – Uniworld positions itself as a floating boutique hotel, and they do a very good job of it. Each ship is unique and decorated and adorned to reflect the region in which it sails. The Tollman family’s personal art collection is on board the ships as well, so each river boat is a bit like a floating museum.
- Trains – on some voyages, Uniworld allows guests to do pre/post trips by luxury train. There are some very interesting itinerary options.
- Inclusions – Much like Tauck, everything is included in the fare (open bar, all gratuities)
- There is gym and a spa on board Uniworld ships
- Incentives – a number of their 2022 itineraries are showing at 50% off right now, which is incredible value for such a high end product.
- “Other” Rivers – Uniworld operates on all the standard European rivers, and also travels to a few spots others don’t go: The Po River in Northern Italy; the Ganges River in India; and the Amazon headwaters in Peru (with extensions to Machu Picchu). We have a new video on our YouTube channel about the Po River Cruise – here’s the link: https://youtu.be/QRIHi6SED6g
Viking
- Scale – Viking is larger than everyone else combined, and in many cases this gives them a price/cost advantage.
- Air Program – Viking’s extensive air program makes the value that much more compelling. The air add-ons give people cost certainty for air travel – a big advantage – especially right now when air travel is such a huge variable.
- Departure Dates – Viking has about 80 ships in Europe, so on many itineraries, there are more than 20 departures per month. If your dates are tight, Viking probably has a sailing within a day or two of your preferred departure.
The above river cruise lines account for the majority of the North American market, but there are several other more minor players out there as well. The biggest mistake people make when assessing a river cruise line is comparing to their ocean cruise experiences – the two have very little in common.
REMINDER: If you missed our note last week about the special discount on Oceania Cruises, here’s link to that article: https://pamperedcruiser.com/the-1-best-time-to-book-an-oceania-cruise/. Remember we have a very tight window for booking with this incentive, so if you’re thinking about it, we need your instructions fairly quickly.
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Sue Bradley
Sue Bradley
