Creating Unforgettable Experiences on a Europe River Cruise

By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

www.dreamdestinations.com

Travel is an amazing learning experience. Even after 48+ years traveling to Europe, I still get to experience new places and learn more about the people who live there and their customs.

In many ways, Europe river cruising has help Anne & I have new experiences and opened our eyes to things we never knew were available during our travels.

So, I thought I’d write today about how to create unforgettable experiences on Europe River Cruises—are you ready to go with me?

Always Think about the Route First

To create Unforgettable Experiences on a Europe River Cruise, the first step is to determine the right route and itinerary. River cruising is about the destinations and what you will get to see and experience on your European river cruise. The wrong destination, or wrong theme can make the trip less valuable, or at the extremes, may even ruin your vacation.

The port stops on the cruise will provide you access to great experiences, if you choose wisely. Some questions to ask yourself—Do I want to visit somewhere new or go back for a more in-depth look at a place? Will my cruise make it easier or harder to get to see and experience my desired place or experience? Does the line have something special I can take advantage of—maybe a unique venue, or event or festival? Should I first visit to get a quick overview and then return later on my own or in a tour for a more in-depth look?

There is a difference between folks who are new to Europe River Cruising and experienced cruisers. Just your first Europe river cruise alone can be the unforgettable experience—the luxury floating hotel, the food and wine and included tours—I was blown away in 2009 after my first river cruise on AmaWaterways—it was easy, fun and so many new and wonderful places I never knew existed. I can see some of your reading this and thinking about your first river cruise nodding your head in agreement with me!

**Residenz Würzburg Palace—a new place for us in 2009!**

A lot of that had to do with the route on my first river cruise—even though I had spent a lot of time in Germany, and even visited the Moselle River before (my first cruise was the River & Castles Route with AmaWaterways on the Moselle River, a small part of the Rhine River and the Main River), it was not as in-depth as the river cruise route was and many of the ports were new and wonderful.

**Cochem, Germany—a unique feature our first river cruise was tour of the castle in English**

As you get more experienced or revisit the same route, your focus will change—what on the itinerary will provide me that unforgettable experience?

So, the next step is to educate yourself!

Now Educate Yourself

The more you know about a destination, the better chance you will get better and often unforgettable experiences. A good starting place is Our Europe River Cruise Routes Guide Page.

The importance of this page is clear to me--river cruising is about the destinations and what you will get to see and experience on your European river cruise. This page will help you quickly learn about the major routes available to you and to help you decide which might be best for your vacation.

Here is the link: Europe River Cruise Route Guide

Next, after seeing a route that appeals to you, ask us to send you our port guides for that route (we have 51 available). This will provide you a much more in-depth look at the ports and may peak your interest and help create an unforgettable experience for you.

Here is the link to one of our request pages—it covers the Rhine, the Moselle and the Main Rivers—please try some—they are free! Get My Port Guide

What are Your Special Interests?

It makes sense to me that thinking about your favorite items, like food, wine, castles, dramatic landscapes, festivals history, art or cultural events—the list could go on and on. If you can narrow your focus a little, it will greatly enhance your chances of an unforgettable experience.

Here is a great example of how we created an unforgettable experience on one trip, inspired by our previous river cruise trips. I have always liked castles and their dramatic perches, protecting something. Maybe it’s the turrets, keeps (highest, most protected part of the castle), the defensive systems, or just images of knights, lords and damsels, but probably it is all in a somewhat romanticized idea of a castle in the “prison walls of my mind” (this is from the lyrics of the song Over You by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap). I’m really not that much into the early castles, or stone cold ruins, but really like the castles you can tour and see rooms and their living conditions. This is especially true for Anne—piles of rocks and stones in ruins are among her least interesting things to visit—who can really blame her!

We decided to visit 3 castles prior to our 6th Europe River cruise—all allowed us to tour inside the castle. We chose to visit Burg Eltz, Stolzenfels and Marksburg. We based in Koblenz, at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers, after a brief visit during a river cruise introduced to this town—we liked some of the old town area and it provided easy access to our 3 target castles. Stolzenfels and Marksburg castles are quite visible during the stretch of the Rhine River Gorge and inspired us to want to tour them. Burg Eltz is not visible from the Moselle.

All 3 required hikes after arriving at the nearest transportation stop (2 train, 1 by bus), but Berg Eltz required a 3 mile hike to and back to the castle. It was wonderful, memorable walk and the castle was outstanding—the same family has lived there for over 850 years.

Berg Eltz is a beautifully preserved castle, with towers, half-timbered walls, and it is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There are 2 places to visit here—the Treasury (pictures allowed) with a great display of precious items and tour of select rooms (no pictures) which takes about an hour or less. 3 families owned this castle and each has built separate wings. The tour includes an entrance way decorated with weapons, various gathering rooms, bedrooms and the kitchen—all very authentic and used by the families for over 33 generations. Perhaps the most famous room of the castle, is the Knight’s room, where the 3 different families met to celebrate and work our any conflicts that might arise. It is famous for the wall decorations, which served as a reminder to the 3 families about cooperation—a jester mask (representing freedom of speech) and a large rose (representing a code of silence—items discussed in the room need to stay there).

Does that sound like an unforgettable experience to you?—it certainly was for us and originally inspired by a river cruise.

Now Match the cost of a particular cruise line to Your Expectations

At some point, a budget comes into play. Folks who are considering a Europe River cruise vacation, want in-depth information about what the vacation really is all about and whether or not it will be a worthwhile vacation for them. I like to call it Best Value Travel.

Here is a good example of how 2 included features of a cruise line helped make the cost of the cruise worth it for us. We took a Gems of the Danube cruise in 2016 on Scenic. Here were 2 special events that we really enjoyed and fall into the unforgettable category.

Two of unique features when sailing with Scenic are the Sundowners and Enrich excursions. Our Sundowners experience was in a great little wine stubbe in Dürnstein. Although we have visited the small village of Dürnstein multiple times, we had never been inside this wine stubbe and the wine/beer/food party with a band was really awesome. It truly was a great end to the day! See if you don’t agree from our pictures.

Our Enrich visit was an evening concert featuring the music of Strauss and Mozart in Palais Liechtenstein during our visit to Vienna. We started off the evening with a couple of glasses of excellent Austrian Sekt (sparkling wine). The concert hall had great acoustics, was lavish beyond belief and was really a memorable experience. Look at this setting—really awesome!

**Opulent Carriage Palais Liechtenstein**

**Ceiling Painting Palis Liechtenstein**

Finally, look for Experiences where you either see of do something Special

Many unforgettable experiences leap to my mind from our many AmaWaterways cruises. Perhaps the best was when Anne got to cook on one of our several Danube cruises.

**Anne preparing perogies in Bratislava, Slovakia**

Here is just a small sample of some unforgettable experiences we have had on our 17 different cruises with AmaWaterways. Popular options include a Belgian waffle and chocolate tasting in Antwerp, a beer and sausage tour in Nuremberg, or a chance to see Vienna’s hidden treasures, like the romantic Schönlaterngasse. We have done the waffle tasting and the sausage and beer tour—both were awesome! They continue to add to these tours and newer options include knotting a bretzel (German for pretzel) in Wertheim, a goulash cooking lesson in Budapest and sampling Bavarian specialties like pralines in Regensburg.

**Belgium Waffle we shared on our Antwerp Tour**

**Hank on a Beer & Nuremberg Sausages Tour**

We have had clients participate in the Vienna tour and they really liked it (one great benefit for us—we discovered a great schnitzel restaurant which we managed to eat at as a result of their tour—it was the largest schnitzel I’ve ever seen, and just melted in our mouths—a really neat experience and we have returned several time to enjoy this restaurant when we are in Vienna!). Limited Edition Tours are also a great option for a cruiser who is sailing on the same route a second or third time—it provides a new experience that enhances your trip.

**Schnitzel at the World Famous Figlmüller Restaurant Vienna**

My Final Thoughts

So, what does this mean for you—can you enhance your chances of getting an unforgettable experience on a Europe river cruise? My answer is firmly yes—not only is it possible but with some careful though and evaluation, chances are you will succeed.

We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise experts, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations. As you can see, our full service agency can get you to almost anywhere you desire to travel and provide you a great experience and vacation.

When you are spending your hard earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience.

Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 48+ years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:

AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent

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