Why it is so Hard to Determine the Best River Cruise Company?
By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
In 2016, I wrote a blog about what is “luxury” in river cruising and which lines should be classified as luxury lines. It seems that some version of this question keeps popping up over and over again. It is clear there is a lot of confusion and conflicting opinions about choosing the best river cruise company.
It has happen in our business recently. Several recent inquiries from clients and potential clients want help in deciding this question--What is the best river cruise company line?
The problem is there is no single best line for everyone.
So, I thought maybe we could provide some answers by helping match the features of various cruise company lines to help you make an informed choice.
Snippets from my old Article
In 2016, the Editor-in-Chief of Travel Age West Magazine, a publication for travel professionals, posed this question to his readers and asked for comments from the field. He basically challenged us to explain how we explain “luxury” river cruising to our clients. He also asked if we have any amenities that we feel are mandatory to classify a river cruise line as “luxury”.
Before we begin, it is important to decide what luxury is. The American Heritage Dictionary defines luxury as: “1) Something that is not essential but is conductive to pleasure and comfort. 2) Something that is expensive or hard to obtain. 3) Sumptuous living or surroundings.”
Are there any “Luxury” River Cruise Lines?
We think we cannot define or segment river cruise lines using the “luxury” classification.
We feel that each client has different ideas of what luxury is, so a label of luxury has little meaning to most of our clients, if it does not include what is luxury to them.
Here are 2 important reasons why:
Reason # 1 Most River Cruise Lines are already in the Premium Oceangoing Category—Defining What is Luxury or Not Luxury is Difficult at Best
A problem, when trying to place a river cruise company in the luxury category and trying explain what is luxury river cruising to clients new to river cruising, is that the starting bar is already very high. By 2021 all of the eight major lines that market to US clients (AmaWaterways, Avalon, Crystal, Emerald, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld, and Viking) have good accommodations, free Wi-Fi, wine & beer with lunch and dinner, limited entertainment and tours included in their base fare.
I have said over and over again—there is no bad river cruise, all are very good. Most ocean cruise lines charge extra for many of the included items by all of these 8 river cruise lines.
Each river cruise company offers suites on their riverships, so if a suite moves the needle to luxury, so be it.
This is a suite bath tub on an AmaWaterways suite. Most staterooms on river ships only have showers, so a suite bath tub might move this into the luxury category.
Double sinks in an AmaWaterways suite
Does included all alcoholic drinks make it luxury? Does the quality of wine make it luxury? Does included gratuities make it luxury? Does a butler make it luxury? Does no extra charge for any tour make it luxury?
How about the food?
Seafood buffet on the Scenic Opal—lobster thurmidor is one the menu—one of my personal favorites!
Oysters and Champagne—Anne’s favorites!
Does the breakdown of the nationalities make it luxury—does the guest want to be with Americans or other nationals? Does one factor outweigh the others and make it luxury? Do you have to have a specific number of these factors to make it luxury?—we just do not presume to guess our clients preferences.
Reason # 2 There are no true Luxury River Cruise Ships like there are in Ocean Cruise Ships Due to Lack of Luxury Facilities on Riverships Except the AmaMagna
This is a pretty bold statement, but true.
The biggest reason for this is due to rivership size limitations. The most common rivership size is 110 m (361 feet) or 135 m (443 feet) longships and they are all 11.58 m (38 feet) wide or so. The size limitations are necessary so riverships can fit into most of the various locks in Europe, especially the Main-Danube Canal.
3 AmaWaterways river ships In Vienna.
They also can only be 3 decks tall to fit under some bridges—while there is a roof sun deck 4, all items on the deck, including the navigation cabin can be lowered, so the rivership is only 3 decks in height when passing lower bridges.
The Tauck Treasures river ship. It is easy to see the 3 passenger decks. Level 1 is at the water line with fixed windows. Levels 2 and 3 are French Balconies. At the front is the lounge area.
The Emerald Sun lounge (top level) and dining room below on deck 2.
It was completion of the Main-Danube Canal that was the impetus for modern river cruising—pioneers like Rudi Schreiner realized this canal completion could offer a boat tour of unparalleled experience that would be far better than a bus tour along most of the heartland of Europe.
Hank with Rudi Schreiner
Hank and Anne with Kristin Karst of AmaWaterways
River cruising went from pretty sparse overnight accommodations in the early 1990s to really nice staterooms and riverships in the later 2000s.
A typical Scenic luxury balcony stateroom. This ship is the Scenic Opal.
AmaWaterways twin balcony stateroom—looks like luxury to me!
Riverships must use the limited amount of space to decide what to include with their onboard facilities. River cruise ships have smaller suites sizes; are missing many onboard upscale facilities found on oceangoing vessels (casinos, multiple restaurants, multiple shopping areas, huge entertainment areas, several pools and large gyms and large spa facilities) and there are no large entertainment shows.
A small exercise area on the AmaKristina rivership. This Compact exercise room is very small compared to the massive workout areas on ocean cruise ships.
These luxury items are common are oceangoing vessels, and are lacking on riverships. This is one reason the luxury designation is not a good term to use when describing river cruising.
Only AmaWaterways has found a way around this space problem by creating a double wide river cruise ship and sail it on only the Danube River. It was completed in 2019 and is widely accepted as close to luxury available on European rivers by most river cruise authorities.
An artist drawing of the double wide AmaMagna. Image used by permission of AmaWaterways.
Crystal tried this approach by refitting an oversized, older vessel, to get closer to the “Crystal Experience” that their clients have come to expect on their two Crystal oceangoing ships. The Crystal Mozart went into service in 2016 and they finally decided to remove the larger ship in 2019—it had constant maintenance problems and now Crystal sails 4 normal sized riverships with king sized beds, and walk-in closets.
The only problem with this approach to improve the onboard facilities with a double wide ship, is that now the destinations the ship can visit are limited to only the Danube River. It really is not that much of a problem, as there are a lot of smaller sized riverships to cruise the other rivers of Europe.
Our 2020-2021 River Cruise Company Comparisons
This is so complex a subject that only a complete comparisons like our 86 slide 2020-2021 River Cruise Company Comparison Guide adequately address these questions (there are 17 comparisons charts in the presentation).
Here is the link to this Guide:
One Reasonable Segmentation Method: More Inclusive vs. less Inclusive River Cruise Companies
There are 4 more inclusive lines (Crystal, Scenic, Tauck, & Uniworld), but even on these lines, there may be extras, especially on Crystal (helicopter rides, speed launches, private tours, and an extra charge for exclusive dining).
There are butlers on Crystal, Uniworld and Scenic.
Our butler (left) doubled as a waiter at Portobellos on our Scenic cruise.
On Scenic, the butler service increases in relation with cabin category selected. For example, the Diamond category guests on Deck 3 have better butler services, and a unique dining experience (unfortunately in the same main dining room as the other guests).
Often these lines charge $1500--$2000 per person extra for minor perks and clients would come out ahead pricewise on other lines with as good or even a better cruise experience. If a butler and room service is luxury, then that may make it a luxury cruise to some and worth the extra price.
Even more inclusive lines may own or lease their ships—again a subtle difference—Tauck leases its ships and their ships just do not match others in the all-inclusive category.
Each river cruise line has its distinct advantages and disadvantages—it all comes down to the perception of value by each client.
We do not classify river cruise lines—we talk about their advantages and disadvantages, but most of all, what will be the experience for our clients.
Here is a link to one of our most popular blogs about the advantages and disadvantages of a river cruise:
How we help Our Clients Navigate the Maze of River Cruise Companies
This is part of a blog I wrote earlier about the maze of river cruise companies.
“Here is how we start the process. Our first step is to match you with the available options.
We first learn who you are, visit with you by asking lot of questions about what you like and do not like and then find the best options.
We have developed a great Europe River cruise questionnaire that will help us learn what you really want on your river cruise.
We spend our time doing the research for you, so you can spend your time dreaming about the memories you are going to make.”
We never address luxury directly, we address the advantages and disadvantages of each line and what is included and how the line will best match their preferences. Then we discuss value—is the extra price worth the extra perks?
Our European River Cruise Questionnaire
Besides basic contact info, here is the absolute minimum info we need to help our clients get the best possible river cruise—previous cruise experience, days available for the trip, activities (we ask about 14 activities), what you like to see and where you want to go, how many Europe countries previously visited, how important is wine and food, passport data and special meal requirements and any physical mobility problems.
Then we start expanding on these responses until we get the perfect trip described from our clients in their own words.
Then, using our knowledge of all European Rivers, who sails them, and what factors are important to the client, we match them to the right company. Having written 50 Europe city guides, earning 6 river cruise specialist designation from all of the previous 8 mentioned lines that currently offer specialist programs and personally sailing on 18 river cruises, makes this process easy for us. We have also written 51 river cruise port guides that are available to you by request on our website.
Here is the link to our Questionnaire:
Destinations—the Number One thing to Decide on Selecting a River Cruise Company
The primary consideration for taking a river cruise, in my opinion, are the destinations—what you will get to visit and see.
Budapest Parliament Building at night on the Danube River—an amazing destination!
The Roman aqueduct—pony du Gard—difficult to see on your own but easy on a Provence river cruise.
This is a great look at just how large this engineering marvel of thebPont du Gard
Most companies use a pool of similar guides—we have seen the exact same guide led a tour from AmaWaterways one day in Nuremberg, Germany and the next day for Viking—pretty hard to miss a 6 foot 8 inch former pro basketball player holding a lollipop AmaWaterways sign one day and a Viking sign the next.
The real question boils down to what you will get to see and visit and if there are any exclusive tours or experiences that only the river cruise line you are considering to travel with offers.
Here is a unique tour—this is a trained truffle dog finding truffles buried—the guests just loved her! We took this tour on an AmaWaterways cruise on the Rhone River.
At present, only Tauck uses on-board guides, so if that is important, maybe it becomes more in the luxury category.
Does AmaWaterways Late Riser tours or Limited Edition tour make it luxury?
This is our tour guide on a late risers tour on AmaWaterways. There were only 3 of us—it was like hiring a private, professional guide but it was included for free!
Here is Hank on a food tour in Nuremberg with their famous sausage at a brewery. Again an included tour in the cruise fare.
Does Scenic’s Sundowner experience make it luxury?
This is a Scenic special Sundowner celebration in Durnstein, Austria. We had great music from these 2 gentlemen.
Here was our Sundowner meal spread, served with beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages. It was a really fun experience, with tasty food and included at no cost to the guests on that sailing.
How about concerts in an exclusive location, like Tauck and Scenic offer or after-hours access to sights offered by Uniworld—are these luxury?
River Cruise Company Cruise Travel Industry Awards and Brochures Make it Difficult for Consumers to Decipher Claims About who is the Best River Cruise Line
When defining luxury cruise line on ocean going ships, the luxury lines usually have smaller ships (less passengers), offer better food and premium service, may include alcoholic beverages and spend more time in port and there is less emphasis on selling extras—there are more inclusions and they command a higher price point. The problem when trying to apply this to river cruising is that most all river cruise lines already include many of the distinguishing features of luxury cruise lines in their base fare.
Most river cruise lines have won several awards and selected as best in reader polls. Again, this confusion makes it very hard for the consumer to objectively evaluate the highly competitive Europe River cruise companies. Adding in world river cruises like the Nile, Amazon, Africa and Asia adds a whole other dimension to trying to segment river cruises into a luxury category—each area of the world is quite different and the experiences they provide are quite different.
Brochures often claim they are the best but the truth is there is no best river cruise for everyone.
The Bottom Line
Using a term like a luxury river cruise line and trying to put them into distinct categories does not translate well to river cruises—it is such a distinct product, that all lines fall into the premium category at least and most really are pretty much luxury in the Europe market, just different degrees of luxury depending upon one’s personal definition.
We prefer not to segment—we prefer to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each line.
The only thing that works for us is matching client expectations by knowing exactly what they want to experience and having an exceptional knowledge of what each lines offers. This is where we shine—we know Europe River Cruises better than most travel professionals.
My Final Thoughts
We hope this helps sort out a confusing subject—there is no short, easy answer. Focus on features about the varying offerings by the 8 major lines who focus on US clients and it is far easier to decide what is best for you.
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@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 49 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
