Waiting to Book Your Next River Cruise in 2025 Might Be a Mistake!
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
We hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and got a chance for some down time, rest and rejuvenation. We certainly did! Now, to this week’s blog.
While it is really hard to pin down the exact trends in the river cruise world, there is one trend that stands out to us. Folks are booking earlier than ever before and some of the best staterooms and dates are filling up quickly.
So, let’s examine what we are seeing based on our booking results and how this might affect your decision of when to book, if you are considering taking a river cruise in 2025 or 2026.
River Cruise Lines Had Record Sales in 2024 and 2025 is Booming
All lines we follow have reported in travel publications higher sales than in the past. While it often is difficult to really know the exact numbers, now that Viking has gone public on the stock market, it is a good indicator of what is happening in the river cruise industry.
They reported that 70% of their inventory is sold for 2025 in a recent earnings statement to investors. Considering that they have about 90 total river cruise ships in their fleet of over 100 total ships and about 76 in Europe with 45% of the total river cruise sales to North America for Europe, this is an excellent indicator that river cruise sales are booming and booking windows are growing longer. Their other competitors lag behind in total sales (AmaWaterways is next with 15%) but remember it is not the quantity of sales; it is the quality of the experience and there are many differences, and all lines have far fewer ships than Viking.
What Does Our Data Say?
We have had a record year with 55 river cruises sold in 2024 (this is an exceptionally high number of sales for a 2-person operation, and even many larger agencies don’t have these high numbers of sales). There seem to be several reasons for this increase.
First, there is a lot of pent-up demand when just a couple of years ago no one could travel due to the world-wide pandemic. Second, a lot of new folks are entering retirement age, as the last of the baby boomer generation are retiring, giving them the time and resources to afford a river cruise vacation. Third, most folks find satisfaction from experiences rather than buying things with their disposable money.
While these are good reasons for the increase, it is, in our opinion, not the key reason.
Our Key Factor for Increased Demand from Our Clients—the Great Value of a River Cruise
We have written so much about why a river cruise is such a great value, that I will just try to summarize the key points.
· One consistent factor cited by our clients is the upfront price, as almost all is included (the accommodations, great food and drinks, and excursions). This helps to make river cruising a special, hassle-free vacation.
· Our clients like the luxury floating hotel concept where you pack and unpack once, on a smaller ship, causing the vacation only to get better.
· They also enjoy the luxury travel style, paring this with exciting excursions. The excursions are often so carefully crafted, in the most efficient way to get a great sampling of ports you want to see, or places that are difficult to reach on your own, or sometimes new places you never knew existed, and you have scored a touchdown in travel experiences (sorry the old football coach always seems to throw in a football reference in his writing!).
What Are We Seeing For 2025?
We clearly see an increase in earlier booking windows for river cruises.
Perhaps, to us, the most interesting trend, is increased bookings in Spring (April and May) and Fall (September and October). There are not many cruise sales or inventory remaining during these months, as more desirable staterooms are sold out. This is relatively new, as in the past the shoulder season was a great value.
We anticipate about the same level of bookings as we had last year or perhaps slightly more—maybe a new record number of bookings for 2025. Our current sales are on track for these results.
Many river cruise lines report that folks are taking longer cruises (14 days instead of 7 days). Most of our clients prefer 7 day cruises with a pre and post, either on their own, or with the land packages available from the river cruise companies. Our more seasoned clients have expressed a preference for longer cruises. Clearly, most folks think that spending 2 weeks in Europe is about right, but they differ in staying with the ship or taking a land extension. We find airfare costs are driving this trend.
Our past clients seem very loyal, taking a river cruise again about every 2 years and we have a good mix of new clients, most who have never taken a river cruise before. One item is consistent—both our new and past clients highly value our advice and often ask in-depth questions to ensure they are getting the best value for their money and the vacation matches their expectations.
While many travel advisors report challenges finding new clients in surveys, we seem to avoid this problem. We are firmly convinced it is due to extensive knowledge of the river cruise industry, routes, and company differences, but more importantly our ability to match potential new clients to the best trip for their river cruise. We really care about the quality of your vacation and not how much money we make.
Our Role to Help You Get the Right River Cruise for Your Next Vacation
We can play an important role in your vacation planning by matching you to the best river cruise route and line for your travel style.
The top concern of travel advisors is competing with our suppliers, where people can book directly with the river cruise companies. While a slight concern for us, you will never get the same unbiased advice we provide or take the time we do to help you. The river cruise companies’ top priority is to get the sale as quickly as possible, while we can take all the time necessary to help you make sure you get the best value for your money. Their products are sometimes limited, and we have other vendors which can enhance your overall trip, if a single vendor is not the best solution.
When you consider we do not add any fees to the advertised price (we are paid on commission and earn every penny of it), so if you don’t chose to use our expertise, the river cruise companies just keep the commission they had planned to pay us. If you find this a little unbelievable, Viking in their second quarter earnings statement said they were working to increase profits by eliminating travel advisors, if possible, in their distribution channels and they emphasize direct bookings. I’m sure you can figure out why this was not well received in the travel agent community.
A recent report in an industry publication cited that 61% of travel advisors do not have any certification (I have 2 major certifications, and Anne has 3 major certifications), we have 155 day-by-day routes from the 8 different companies on our website and have written over 100 blogs about river cruising—will a direct call to a specific cruise line, tell you about other options? Here is a sample of what you will find our our website (this is from the AmaWaterways page):
Roman Colosseum in Arles, France
Chalon-Sur-Saone to Arles 7 Nights AmaCello
We have been on 28 different river cruises (paying for 27 out of our own pockets) unlike those in the press who go for free or create so many categories in awards, that all lines will win something, it’s just hard to find impartial thoughts about a company or route when your revenue comes from an advertising vendor company—it is only natural they tend to represent them in the best possible manner in their publications. There are no restrictions on us at all or even thoughts about this for us when we state our opinions.
Our Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the trends going on in the river cruise world for 2025. There is one primary trend that is true—the inventory is going quicker than any other time than we have seen in the past.
We strongly advise you, if you are considering a river cruise trip in 2025 or 2026 (we already have bookings for 2026), it would be to your advantage to book sooner rather than later. Your cabin options and preferred route depend on this!
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
