Comparing All-Inclusive River Cruise Lines—Riverside, Scenic, Tauck and Uniworld
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
In 2024, we had 3 exceptional experiences sailing on Riverside, Scenic, and Tauck. All are amazing, fall in the all-inclusive river cruise category, and will provide you with a great vacation experience. We would like to share what we have learned about these 3 river cruise lines and tell you about the other all-inclusive line, Uniworld.
Our opinions are based on extensive knowledge of the river cruise industry, but please remember they are only our opinions, so please use your critical thinking skills to evaluate what we write and look for any biases we might have in this comparison blog.
Let us be clear--the only thing that matters after reading this blog, is to match your personal travel style to the experience provided by these lines, not our opinions.
Full disclosure, we paid full fare on Riverside and Scenic, were invited for free on the Tauck cruise (our first free sailing in 30 years in the business) and have never sailed on Uniworld, so these observations are only a starting point for your consideration of which line to choose.
All 4 lines are all inclusive and have great features, but there are some important differences, and we would like to talk about our experiences and the vibe we got from each of the 3 cruises we took this year and provided information on Uniworld based on selling them to clients, their feedback and our industry knowledge.
To help organize my thoughts, I chose to put them in alphabetical order, and it has no other meaning than a consistent organization method. We are also only comparing their product in Europe.
So, let’s examine these 4 lines in detail, so you can see which one might be right for you.
The Fleets
One reason the comparison between these 4 lines is valid, is that all these lines have a relatively small fleets of ships sailing in Europe, which is a smaller number compared to other lines we follow. Also, 3 are family owned and one is owned by a corporation/equity fund which may create differences in their approach to river cruising.
Here are some facts about their ships, for a good starting point.
Riverside Luxury Cruises
Riverside has only 3 ships sailing in Europe and this is a real challenge for you to get a route that matches your desired itinerary, as they offer a large number of options and sailing days and may not repeat a cruise for a while. We still believe they should be considered even with this limitation for your vacation river cruise.
Riverside has two 135-meter ships and the double wide Mozart. Riverside started their entrance into river cruising by acquiring the double wide Mozart. Here are some pictures of the Mozart from our 2023 River Cruise Expo tour:
Palm Court Riverside Mozart. Photo Anne Schrader
Wine Storage Area Riverside Mozart. Photo Anne Schrader
With the bankruptcy of Crystal River Cruises, their four 135-meter ships were purchased by Riverside. Then, Riverside (a German Company), added 2 of these ships to their double wide Mozart, which can only sail the Danube. The Ravel sails the Rhone, and the Debussy sails the Rhine, Main Moselle and part of the Danube. The other 2 ships have been leased to Uniworld and are charter ships only.
Here are some pictures of the 2 135-meter ships, which hold 110 guests:
The Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
The Riverside Ravel in port in Viviers. Photo Anne Schrader
The next 3 pictures are the Riverside Debussy in port in Cologne:
The Riverside Debussy in port. You can see the Pop-up Bar on the top deck. Photo Hank Schrader
The bow of the Riverside Debussy in Cologne. Photo Hank Schrader
Bikes ready for the guests of the Riverside Debussy. Photo Hank Schrader
Scenic
Scenic has 11 Ships in the Fleet. The nine 135-meter Ships are: Sapphire, Diamond, Ruby, Pearl, Jewel, Jade, Jasper, Opal, and Amber. These ships carry 149 to 163 guests.
Their 110-meter ship the Gem sails the Seine and has 124 guests.
The 262 feet Azure sails the Douro and has room for 96 guests.
Scenic ships have a modern, sleek feel and look. Scenic owns their ships. Here are some pictures:
The Scenic Opal we sailed on in 2015. They use differnt ebikes now. Photo Anne Schrader
The Scenic Jewel and the ebikes they use in 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
The Scenic Jewel we sailed on in 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
The Atrium Area of the Scenic Jewel. Photo Anne Schrader
Tauck
Tauck has 9 ships sailing in Europe. There are four 135-meter ships: MS Inspire, MS Savor, MS Joy, and MS Grace. These 135-meter ships sail with room for 130 guests.
The Tauck Savor in port in Frankfurt. Photo Anne Schrader
The Atrium Area of the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
There are four 110-Meter Ships: MS Emerald, MS Sapphire, MS Esprit, and the MS Treasures. These ships all have space for 98 guests.
The MS Emerald in port in Macon, France. Photo Anne Schrader
The reception area of the MS Emerald. Photo Anne Schrader
The newest ship is the MS Andorinha which sails the Douro and has room for 84 guests.
Tauck leases their ships from Skylla—they crew the ship. Tauck has 4 contract employees aboard to conduct the tours and provide other services for the guests that do not relate to meals, cleaning the cabins and sailing the ship.
The Tauck sailing we just took on the Savor had an elegant and refined feel. Here are some pictures of the ship:
The Compass Rose Dining Room. Photo Anne Schrader
The lounge bar on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
The lounge area Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
Uniworld has 12 ships that sail in Europe.
The 5 considered 135-meter ships are SS Beatrice (Danube, Rhine and Main), SS Maria Theresa (Danube), SS Antoinette (Rhine), SS Catherine (Rhone and Saone) and the SS Joie de Vivre (Seine). These ships have space for 150 to 159 guests, except for the SS Joie de Vivre which at 410 feet falls into the 135-meter class, although it is shorter than the standard 443 feet and only has space for 128 guests.
The six 110-meter ships are River Queen (Main, Moselle and Rhine), River Duchess (Danube, Rhine and Main), River Princess (Danube, Rhine and Main), River Empress (Rhine), the SS Bon Voyage (Bordeaux) and the SS la Venezia sails the Po only. These ships have capacity for 128 to 130 guests. We do not recommend sailing the Po, as it a difficult river and most tours involve long bus rides.
The River Royale in port in Bordeaux in 2015. It no longer is part of the Uniworld fleet and has been replaced by the Bon Voyage..
The SS Sao Gabriel sails the Douro with space for 120 guests and 60 staterooms (some of the larger suites can have more than 2 per cabin).
Each of these ships are one-of-kind ships that are “inspired by their destinations” according to their brochure. It is fair to say, our clients either love the ship designs or don’t care for them.
Cabins/Facilities
All ships on these 4 lines have a main restaurant, reception area, fitness room, spa facility, and lounge and bar area. I will highlight any additional, unique facilities,
Riverside
All staterooms in the two 135-meters ships class are above the waterline. The cabin suites range from 194 sq feet to 258 sq feet. There are 2 large suites of 506 square feet. They can be expanded to 764 square feet with an additional on an adjacent connecting room and are reserved as an owner’s suite. Riverside is the only line with king-sized beds, small walk-in closets and double sinks (the majority of the cabins).
Our king-sized bed on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
The bathroom area on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
Many staterooms have a unique open-air feature, which allows it to open halfway and it has a screen to keep bugs out. There is no extra seating, and our stateroom had a small chair and a larger chair to enjoy this area. Here are a couple of pictures about this feature.
The French balcony closed in our stateroom. Photo Anne Schrader
The balcony opened. Photo Anne Schrader
The desk area. Photo Anne Schrader
Inside the desk area drawers. Photo Anne Schrader
Riverside has a pool, a pop-up bar on the top deck (it is very cool) and a guest laundry. There is no gift shop on their two 135-meter ships.
The pop-up bar on the top deck on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
Scenic
The Scenic Space-Ships have a sleek, modern feel. Scenic has waterline staterooms (11 of 82).
Most Scenic staterooms (71 of 82) feature the Sun Lounge by my count. Their balcony staterooms have a glass feature that allows the upper part of the glass window to lower with the press of a button to the halfway point and you can actually sit in balcony area, unlike the other 3 lines in this report who do not feature a dedicated sitting area.
Our bed on the Scenic Jewel in 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
The balcony are on the Scenic Jewel 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
The staterooms are very nice, with a comfortable bed and we like it except for the closet. The closet area was the most awkward in any stateroom we have experienced. Even the butler seemed to wrestle with it during our orientation to the room.
A good view of the sliding door closet from our 2015 cruise.. Photo Anne Schrader
Three ships have a pool.
Tauck
The 135-meter ships have a unique design at the water level. The Emerald Deck (lowest deck) has crew quarters and 14 fixed window staterooms. Unique to all river cruise ships, the 8 loft cabins (225 sq feet, category 3) actually have an innovative seating area on a raised loft that extends up to the second deck. It gives the usually small, cramped staterooms on the first deck, a very spacious and open feeling. The other 6 staterooms are only 150 sq feet and do not feature this loft concept (Cat 1 staterooms).
One of the loft staterooms on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
The bed area of the Loft Stateroom. Photo Anne Schrader
Other stateroom categories are Cat 2 (150 sq feet but on an upper deck), Cat 4 (190 sq feet), Cat 5 (190-225 sq feet), Cat 6 (225 sq feet) and Cat 7 (300 square feet). There are no outside balconies, but upper deck staterooms have a French Balcony set up.
Cat 7 Stateroom Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
Lounge area, Cat 7 Stateroom Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
The 110-meter ships follow the same stateroom size (some may be slightly smaller than the 135-meter ships), but none have the innovative loft cabins on the lower deck
Uniworld
It is hard to provide exact features on each ship, but some general stateroom features are consistent throughout the line. All ships have waterline staterooms, that they refer to as classic staterooms. Deck 2 is usually French Balcony staterooms. The upper deck has Royal Suites, Grand Suites, Suites and Deluxe French Balconies. None have walk out balconies but use either a sliding glass door or an open-air concept, where the upper part can be lowered halfway.
All have a guest laundry except the ship sailing in Portugal on the Douro.
Standard Cruise Features
Since all these lines are all-inclusive, this is a good topic to note what is and is not included in the cruise fare.
Itineraries/Destinations
All lines except Riverside sail the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle, the Danube, the Seine, and the Rhone and Saone. We have many of these day-by-day itineraries on our website.
Riverside has a unique model—there are 4 levels of fares and only 2 include all the excursions. This a-la-carte approach is unique and often confusing, even to us who study riving cruising daily. I will explain this in more detail in the excursions portion of this blog. Regardless of the package, gratuities and transfers are included. Our pickup at Avignon was by private sedan and transfer to the train station in Lyon was by a taxi.
Riverside only sails in Europe and only in select areas of Europe (no sailings on the Seine, the Bordeaux area and the Douro) so it is hard to pin down the exact number of routes offered, but the model includes 4-,5-,6-,8-, 9-, and 10-day routes in France (11 total), so it is safe to assume that around 33 different sailing routes are available. Part of the problem identifying the number of routes and excursions included, is that the website does not clearly identify the number of excursions but lists the same data about the city to be visited and you have to go to another place on the website to figure out the exact tours offered on that particular route.
Riverside carries e-bikes onboard.
Scenic has 22 different routes in Europe and we have completed 19 of the 22 offered on our website. Gratuities and transfers are included. Our transfer was a taxi arranged at no cost to us to the train station.
Scenic has e-bikes onboard and usually has a couple of guided bike tours during a typical cruise.
Tauck has 26 different routes in Europe and sails 6 summertime family cruises, called Tauck Bridges Family River Cruises. Tauck does not sail in the Bordeaux region. We have 23 of 32 day-by-day routes on our website. Transfers and gratuities are included. Our transfer was in a private sedan from Regensburg to Munich airport.
All Tauck ships have bikes onboard for guest use.
Uniworld has 23 routes in Europe, 2 interesting cruise and rail options (they have partnered with Golden Eagle Danube Express in Europe), and 7 Christmas Markets Cruises. We have 9 of 23 on our website. Transfers and gratuities are included.
The “Let’s Go” features hiking, cycling,, kayaking, and they carry bikes onboard.
Food and Wine
All 4 lines include most drinks but have varying packages. They all have buffet style breakfast and lunch concepts with a sit-down, order off the menu dinner. There is not much difference between the breakfast and lunch menus offerings, except for the lunch special item or perhaps an outdoor cookout. All have some form of a welcome dinner and farewell gala dinner. Some lines have better food than others, in our opinion.
Riverside
On Riverside, where you can upgrade from the full board package to the premium All-Inclusive package (most people who book with Riverside choose this package). Riverside claims they spend more on food and beverages than other river cruise companies and the large kitchen staff and space of the galley tends to support this claim (there is no way for me to verify this). Breakfast and lunch are buffet-style meals with dinner a sit-down order from the menu style.
Riverside Ravel Hot buffet at lunch. Photo Anne Schrader
The dessert Area Riverside Ravel at lunch. Photo Anne Schrader
My first lunch meal on the Riverside Ravel—roast chicken, safforon rice and a tatesty salad. Photo Anne Schrader
During lunch and dinner, unique among river cruise lines, is a pasta station (all made from scratch onboard) available for every lunch and dinner meal—you can see the chef ready to make the pasta in the middle of the hot service buffet area in the attached photo. Typically, there were a couple of meat or fish dishes, and a vegetarian option.
Anne particularly liked the 2 salad bars on both sides of the hot line buffet area. One side of the salad bar was a traditional area with your choice of salad ingredients that is quite common on all lines. The other side had specialty “premade” salad options that changed daily and were quite unique.
The usual salad bar with all the ingredients for creating a custom salad. Photo Anne Schrader.
the special salad area with pre-fixed salads and cheeses. Photo Anne Schrader
Riverside does have the best wine options of any of the all-inclusive river cruise lines.
The Bistro is a more informal area to eat during your cruise. It serves late-risers breakfast, and a light lunch.
The Bistro Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
A nice coffee break and late afternoon treat in the Bistro Cafe. Photo Anne Schrader
Among the items offered is a range of specialty coffees and teas and a selection of sweet treats. But the showstopper was the expensive Jamon (a dry-cured Iberian ham on the bone that is considered a delicacy and considered by most as the tastiest ham in the world)!
The dry-cured Iberian jamon. Photo Anne Schrader
Another cool feature is to get up late one day and still get eggs benedict instead of just some bread or sweet rolls as a late riser!
The café area is more a snack venue.
They try to have an outdoor cookout each cruise and it was awesome (the photo shows: On my plate a prawn, pork, sausage, steak, chicken, grilled baked potatoes and mac-n-cheese. Also, bearnaise sauce). Without any hesitation, the best outdoor grill experience on any all-inclusive line.
The Pantry are on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
On a windy day, the chefs grilled outside and created a great meal. Photo Hank Schrader
On my plate a prawn, pork, sausage, steak, chicken, grilled baked potatoes and mac-n-cheese. Also, bearnaise sauce. Photo Anne Schrader
Riverside has the Vintage Room area at an extra cost. It is a 7-course meal with high quality, expensive wines. It is only available if enough guests sign up for the meal.
The Vintage Room on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Anne Schrader
The food is exceptional on Riverside, in our opinion.
Scenic
There are 5 possible dining options onboard. They are 1) the Crystal Dining Room. 2) Portobello’s (or L’Amour in France) Specialty Restaurant, 3) the Riverside Cafe, 4) the Table La Rive and 5) Room Service.
4 of the options are available to all guests. The Crystal Dining Room serves breakfast, and lunch buffet style and a sit-down served meal for dinner. During both breakfast and lunch, there are options to order off a menu. I will say after 27 river cruises, my favorite breakfast was an order of French Toast and 1 Egg Benedict on our recent Scenic cruise.
Scenic buffet. Photo Anne Schrader
The busy chefs creating a great meal. Photo Anne Schrader
Scenic Buffet desserts. Photo Anne Schrader
The Riverside Cafe—a good place for a light lunch meal. Photo Anne Schrader
Dinner is a 4-course meal. Scenic has a set wine offering at lunch and dinner with 6 whites, 6 reds and a champagne and Rose option. Wines are suggested for the meal menu of the day.
A starter salad for dinner. Photo Anne Schrader
A nice salad for me. Photo Anne Schrader
The always available steak and fries. Photo Anne Schrader
Wiener schnitzel dinner entree hunter style. Photo Anne Schrader
A carrot cake with a scope of vanilla ice creasm. Photo Anne Schrader
The specialty dining room is Portobellos (most routes), or L’Amour on French routes. It is for 32 guests and each guest will be provided an opportunity to try this excellent option—since I really like Italian food at the Portobello’s, it is my favorite meal during the cruise. I would have to assume L’Amour would be equally good.
The Portobello’s staff in 2024 explains the meal. Photo Anne Schrader
Portobellos 2015. Photo Anne Schrader
A great dessert Portobellos 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
The Table La Riva is a 6-course meal with paired wines for 10 guests in the evening. It is exclusively for Diamond Deck guests cruising for 10 nights or more and since we were sailing for 7 days, we were not eligible for this culinary experience. There is no extra charge for this culinary experience, if there are enough guests who meet the 10 night or more sailing requirement.
The food is very good but sometimes inconsistent in our opinion.
Tauck
The main dining room is the Compass Rose. In the Compass Rose, you can select from the buffet or order off the menu.
Breakfast is excellent choice of order off the menu and buffet items. Here are some pictures:
Breakfast Buffet Tauck Savor. Photo Hank Schrader
Breakfast buffet. Photo Hank Schrader
My French Toast on the Tauck Savor. Photo Hank Schrader
My Egg Benidect on the Tauck Savor. Photo Hank Schrader
Lunch is offered in two forms. There are items from a buffet line, or some items can be ordered from a menu. There’s a featured suggestion from a special preparation area/carving station.
Carbonara lunch—it was excellent. Photo Anne Schrader
Dinner is a 4-course meal. The menu provides choices of a starter, soup, entree and dessert.
Onion soup for the 1st course. on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
A shrimp salad 2nd course. Photo Anne Schrader
Tenderloin with mash potatoes ans carrots entree course # 3 on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
A chocolate dessert final course on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
A good white wine. Photo Anne Schrader
The chefs from the speciality cook station. on theTauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
Each night there are 2 wines, a white and red selection to pair with the meal. They are regional wines. Sometimes, I found the daily wine not to my liking, and the staff was quick to offer another choice.
During our cruise, they offered an outside barbeque that was good and fun.
Arthur’s Specialty Venue
Arthur’s is a more casual dining venue compared to the Compass Rose. It features more American style cuisine, as compared to the European style cuisine of the Compass Rose main dining room.
The chef in Arthur’s. Photo Anne Schrader
Anne’s cheese sandwich lunch in Arthur’s. Photo Anne Schrader
A wonderful steak medallions, baked potatoes and bernaise sauce in Arthur’s. Photo Anne Schrader
Each Tauck cruise has an onshore dinner at a special venue—usually at a castle. This is a set menu (it could offer 2 main course selections but on ours it was a fish course only and not my favorite) and is a special event.
Our special dinner venue. Photo Anne Schrader
The wines were from the vineyards on the estate. Photo Anne Schrader
A great ending dessert. Photo Anne Schrader
The food is very, very good, in our opinion.
Uniworld
Uniworld touts its “delicious farm to table cuisine”. Breakfast and Lunch are buffet-style. Breakfast offers the typical choices of baked items (bread and Danish rolls). Bacon, sausage, eggs. Cold cuts and cheeses—the typical continental or full English Breakfast options.
The lunch buffet offers a variety of starters, salads and homemade soups. There is a sandwich of the day, often a pasta dish and usually 3 selections of entrees. As you would suspect, desserts and fresh fruit complete the meal wonderfully.
Dinner is a served meal as you would expect in a fine dining establishment, consisting of 4 courses. It includes an appetizer to start, a soup course, then the main dish (typically a pasta, or seafood or seafood or vegetarian option). The meal ends with great desserts
Specialty dining options vary by ship, and it is not consistent in the fleet. Some ships offer an al fresco options and the Joie de Vivre has several dining options. In their larger ships, there is often a intimate dinner in the Leopard Bar or Captain’s Club for suite guests only, with a set menu, served by the butlers. Normally, the venues serve as a snack area.
Uniworld is considered a member of the Chains des Rotisseurs, as several executive chefs are members of this invitation-only food society. To my knowledge, the entire line is not a recognized as members.
It is unfair for us to rate the food and wine without sampling it.
Service
All have butler service except for Tauck.
Riverside
All staterooms have butler service. They describe them as polite, discrete, and professional and we found that was true during our cruise.
Scenic
Scenic butler service varies by stateroom category. In each stateroom that comes with butler service, a card describes their services. The 4 butlers cover 67 staterooms.
Tauck
Tauck does not have butlers.
Uniworld
The butlers on Uniworld dress the part—full tails, white gloves and are superb according to all I have read. They are full-time and do not have other duties that are common on other lines. They are only for the suite category staterooms. For example, there are 2 butlers serving 11 suites on the Maria Thersa.
Excursions/Activities
This is probably the most important category for me—the whole reason to go on a river cruise is to see and experience places and new cultures.
Riverside
Riverside has a unique model—there are 4 levels of fares and only 2 include all the excursions. This a-la-carte approach is unique and often confusing, even to us who study riving cruising daily. On our recent cruise on the Ravel, we were able to use this approach and only pay for the excursions we chose, but I was surprised at the cost of an individual tour. For example, I returned to visit Les Baux (we had been there on another river cruise line excursion) and the cost was $108.00 US dollars per person. We did have one excursion cut from our recent cruise, as not enough signed up for the one we wanted that day.
Here are some pictures from the tours I went on during our Riverside cruise:
Les Baux Excursion on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Hank Schrader
Light show that was part of the Les Baux excursion on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Hank Schrader
Tarascon Castle excursion on the Riverside Ravel. Photo Hank Schrader
There is always an included extra excursion, even if you don’t select any excursions. Ours was a wine and cheese tasting at the village of Chateauneuf-de-Pape winery.
The included wine and cheese tasting in Chatueaneuf-du-Pape. Photo Hank Schrader
The wonderful wine and cheese tasting. Photo Anne Schrader
Scenic
On a normal cruise, all excursions are included, but in some limited cases, if not enough people sign up for the excursion it will be cut. Scenic uses local guides—usually very knowledgeable, but on our last cruise, twice on excursions, the meeting time and location to leave changed. We were almost left once and had to run back to the bus. Our complaint and very angry reactions were dismissed by the cruise manager, despite others telling us the guide left early, and we were right. Other than this, the tours were fine, but we almost always go off on our own unless it is too difficult to get the excursion destination on our own and we have to take the bus. Bus transport is excellent.
Scenic always has an Enrich feature on their cruises. On our Danube cruise it was a special concert in Vienna and the was a special concert in Trier on our latest cruise.
Palais Liechtenstein Enrich excursion in 2015 for a wonderful concert in Vienna, Austria. Photo Anne Schrader
Ceiling painting of the Palais Liechtenstein which was the venue for our Enrich excursion on the Scenic Opal 2015. Photo Anne Schrader
Here are some pictures of the tours from our Scenic cruise in 2024:
Bernkastel Germany. Photo Anne Schrader
Berg Eltz excursion on the Scenic Jewel. Photo Hank Schrader
Colmar, France excursion Scenic Jewel 2024. Photo Anne Schrader
Tauck
Tours and activities are a little different than other lines in one respect—there are 3 Tauck tour guides on the tours. They use local guides which are accompanied by the 3 tour guides. All tours are included, and they always have a special meal prepared at a unique land location (usually a castle dining venue) for an extra treat (there are pictures of this event in the food section). They call these features Uniquely Tauck.
Here are some pictures of the tours from our Tauck cruise:
Frankfurt excursion on the Tauck Savor. Photo Anne Schrader
Old Town Cologne, Germany. Photo Hank Schrader
Wurzburg Residenz Palace on a Tauck Savor excursion. This is the largest ceiling fresco in the world. Photo Anne Schrader
The tours are generally good but sometimes limited by the ship schedule. If you are out on an excursion over lunchtime, you will probably get 20 Euros to cover a meal, and even coins if necessary to use the bathroom. I certainly would have enjoyed more free time on some excursions on our voyage.
Tauck prides itself on bonus gifts, designed to be surprises and not included in tour descriptions, it is a cool touch!
Uniworld
Although they claim they are all inclusive, there are some optional tours at many port stops that cost extra and are not included in the fare. In my opinion, this is excessive for a line that says all is included in its marketing materials.
They do excel in Jewish Heritage Special cruises, which often sell out quickly. These are not the only themed cruises—they have a Connoisseur Collection of culinary cruises in France and a Monarch Collection which allows you to visit private castles and even royalty in some cases.
Company Dynamics
This category rates their policies, treatment of guests, and booking policies. Since all 4 lines accept direct bookings from clients (not our recommendation, since we can get you same prices and much better service), I think it is important for you to know how they deal with travel professionals, so you know what to expect and if there are potential problem areas.
Riverside
So far, they seem to be very responsive, but this is a limited sample of one booking. Riverside is owned by the Seaside Collection, a family-owned business.
Scenic
Compared to other lines we follow, Scenic is the hardest company we have to deal with-- it isn’t even close to any others, but they are getting better. A key problem is refunds, as they do not keep credit card information on file and send out checks which takes a long time. Scenic is family owned.
Tauck
Tauck is super easy to deal with! The staff is very knowable and eager to help. Tauck is family owned and celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025.
Uniworld
We have sold Uniworld and find them an easy company to deal with. Uniworld is owned by the Travel Corporation but there is a pending sale of the Travel Corporation to Apollo Equity Fund which is planned for finalization in the 4th quarter of 2024. Apollo has promised to improve all the Travel Corporation products.
Value
Riverside
There is no doubt this is a luxury experience, first class in every aspect.
Scenic
Excellent product, and their 2 for 1 sales are their best value but they want their total money upfront for these sales—I’m not a fan of this technique, as your money could be tied up for a year or more.
Tauck
Probably worth every penny—great product.
Uniworld
Solid value but may be a little too costly for the inclusions and too many extra charges for optional tours.
Our Final Thoughts
This is a really long blog, but a good starting point for you. As you read this, think about your travel style and the higher cost of travel on all-inclusive river cruise lines. It is often an elevated experience and makes travel seamless.
We hope you enjoyed this blog—it was a challenge to write it in a comprehensive manner.
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, 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.
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. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
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@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 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
