These state-of-the-art, authentic paddle wheelers can accommodate from 150 to 400 guests, depending on the ship. Most of the Avalon's cabins are Panorama Suites, which offer a wide view of the rivers on which you are traveling. COVID-19 procedures are availablehere. Choose Viking ifyou like dining alfresco. We welcome your feedback. Thanks. We preferred the top floor. Keep in mind that the itineraries are still destination-immersive, so you might not have as much time to use these as you think you will. Scenic: What Are Its Smallest, Largest and Most Common Stateroom Sizes? After experiencing the river cruise lifestyle, I was sold. The ships on both cruise lines offer a wide choice of dishes to suit all tastes, including healthy choices and simpler "always available" dishes. For example, on the S.S. BonVoyage in France, the Le Salon Champagne was inspired by Yves Saint Laurent's home, Villa Majorelle. Typical starting price: $2,309 for 3 nights (per person based on double occupancy $796 per night, all-inclusive), Where they sail:Mekong, Amazon, Indonesia, Amenities (may vary by ship): Pool, Jacuzzi, private or outdoor cinema, sun deck, gym, massage, library/game room, bikes for onshore use, snorkeling equipment and wet suits, scuba diving, laundry, internet (intermittent, depends on location), Inclusions: All meals, beverages (premium selected wines, and beer, non-alcoholic drinks), excursions with local guides, group transfers between the vessel on recommended flights. All told, the fleet stands at 70 (excluding ships not currently operating in Russia). Pros: Adventures by Disney guides add a wonderful touch to each journey with storytelling, educational information, and goes above and beyond to ensure every guest has a great time. Plus, get air rates starting at $599 per person from select gateways. The staff was awesome, and the entire experience was great. On Tauck's four Inspiration ships, you'll find 67 cabins, and 49 on its Jewel-class ships. Expires February 28. Visit a farm along Normandy's Cider Route to taste the region's elegantly crafted apple ciders and calvados, and see how they're made; in Normandy, cider is an art, like winemaking, centuries old. And that is the very essence of our France river cruises. Choose Tauck ifyou like open seating and want the choice of having room service and a true alternative dining venue where you can get casual, hot food. All are butler-serviced river ships with a high, almost one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio. In 1882, Herman Tauck arrived in New York City from CRUISING ELEVATED.Innovative, transformative, original. Visit Salzburg, Austria, the town featured in "The Sound of Music.". Uniworld stands out immediately for its impressively designed interiors; each ship is themed to the areas that ships sail through. They will tend to your needs throughout the journey including nightly turndown service and laundry concierge. The beds in the Panorama Suites are also cleverly placed against the opposite wall so guests may view the scenery from bed. During the trip, Guests will be required to complete a self-assessment daily. On both lines, the excursions will include walking and coach tours of local towns and villages, visits to castles and historic monuments, and experiences such as wine tasting. Activities include educational lectures from visiting professors, and well as local entertainment, and even Broadway-level performances. The itineraries would be suitable for older teens interested in culture and history, and the option of bike tours and independent exploration with the Scenic TailorMade devices mean they aren't forced into day after day of walking or bus tours. The best river cruises were selected based on the following criteria: Typical starting price: $724 for 3 nights (per person based on double occupancy $241 per night, all-inclusive), Where they sail:Danube, Rhine, Seine, Moselle, Mekong, Nile, Rhne, Ganges, Main, Saone, Amazon (Peru), Specialty cruises: Photography, storytellers, wine, beer, culinary, garden, Christmas market, Jewish heritage. On the Rhne sailing, go spelunking in Viviers to underground caves as part of a wine tasting adventure. And above all else, it should be beyond the ordinary. Tauck prides itself on offering off-the-beaten-track experiences in each destination, including multigenerational family tours that are curated to include itineraries for both kids and adults. There are also Christmas market sailings that include tree-trimming, caroling, and a Christmas dinner feast. Many of the staterooms have balconies that offer panoramic views and fresh air. Any input from people on this forum would be appreciated. The iconic river ships of No. Besides stringing words together professionally, Sunny once co-founded a luxury subscription box, curated a whimsical pop-up shop in San Francisco called Treasure Hunters Club, and recently inherited a vinyl-only records store in San Francisco. Although Scenic does not have walkout verandas, all cabins except those on the lower deck have "sun lounge balconies," an innovation that is an integral part of the room. For each, passengers are divided into groups (around the same size on both lines) and have individual audio headsets that make it easy to hear the commentary without having to cluster around the guide. A WORLD OF WATERWAYS The Rivers of Avalon Viking has more weeklong cruises than Tauck and sails in more places and on more dates. Catching up with Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection - What's it Like On Board Evrima? Lower deck Standard Suites are 160 square feet, and Balcony Suites are between 205 and 250 square feet. Pros: Tauck boasts exclusive cultural experiences that are truly unique. Typical starting price: Starting at $2,299 per person for 7 nights (per person based on double occupancy $328 per night, all-inclusive). Choose Tauck ifyou're fine with a French balcony and want a larger standard cabin. Whats the Best Choice for a Elbe River Cruise? The big differences are between the type of access to the outdoors and butler service. AmaWaterways operates the finest fleet and provides all-inclusive river cruise vacations on the great waterways of Europe, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia. Typical starting price: Starting at $3,499 for 7 nights (per person based on double occupancy $499 per night, all-inclusive). Cabins with French balconies are 135 square feet and standard cabins with a true balcony are 205 square feet (balcony inclusive). Pros:The boats have a small number of guests so they feel very intimate. Viking does seem to pay a little more attention to making sure dishes are regional in nature. Thanks for all the input. They are owned by Globus and do a fantastic job. While on the Danube, take a dip in legendary thermal baths in Budapest, Hungry. We have done 2 cruises - Paris/Normandy with Uniworld - and Blue Danube Discovery with AMA. Choose Tauck for an all-inclusive river cruise with structured tours and concierge-style service. Scenic attracts more passengers in their 40s and 50s than you'll find on many vessels and, being Australian-owned, is not dominated by travelers from the United States. Its ship have suites with pullout sofas to accommodate third or fourth passengers. These are all decorated in a modern, contemporary style and feel airy and spacious due to the liberal use of mirrors and reflective panels. Viking River Cruises: What Are Its Smallest, Largest and Most Common Stateroom Sizes? While both lines have bikes onboard, Scenic utilizes them more, offering guided bike rides in most ports. We handle our own travel arrangements by choice and prefer to book our own hotels and make our own way to the boat. Another difference is that Tauck ships are actually owned and run by Scylla, a Swiss-owned company. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. In addition to food and drink with carefully curated cuisine reflective of the areas being visited many river cruises include land excursions, which is a huge advantage that adds tremendous value. While many cruise lines have a strict dining schedule, these ships offer several different onboard restaurants. These excursions are all included in the price of the cruise and are considered part of the river experience, although they aren't included for the sole domestic option on our list, the American Queen Steamboat Company. Avalon Waterways My cabin (#312) aboard Avalon Tapestry II on the Seine River in Normandy. Is there a way of getting a discounted price with them? While other river cruise cabins shove your bed against a wall for a view of the other wall, our Comfort Collection Beds SM beds face the widest-opening, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows in river cruising. Otherwise, most welcome children but don't offer extra programming for them, and Viking doesn't allow children at all. Choose Viking ifyou want lots of itinerary choice. On both ships, there's a "secret cellar," with better vintages available if you ask. Tauck moved up two places in T+L's 2021 rankings to grab the No. One nice perk: heated floors in the bathroom. Dinner is served to the table and, on both lines, staff are very attentive. Viking has built its name on destination immersion, and the company doesn't provide extras such as gyms, spas, bikes or pools on its ships. Featuring modern luxury ships, with floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors, our clients love Avalon, and some of their river itineraries are our biggest sellers. The core passengers for both lines are Americans, Canadians, Brits, Australians and passengers from other English-speaking companies, aged 50s to 70s. (Scenic has. Both Tauck and Scenic are at the high end of river cruises, in terms of price and inclusions. Visit the Amazon Rainforest with Aqua Expeditions' naturalist guides. They even pay the public restroom fee for you. Every cruise line considers dining to be a priority and serves fresh well-balanced meals served alongside regional wines, beers, and beverages. Scenic also offers cruises inRussia,Vietnamand Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). We cruised Budapest to Amsterdam 2 years ago with Avalon and it was the best vacation,most relaxing we ever. In 2023, they will launch Seven River Journeys which will cover seven rivers and 14 countries over the course of 45 nights (starting at $24,999 per person, double occupancy). When cruising the Nile, ride a camel as you visit the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. Travelstride helps you search and compare 50,000+ expert-planned trips from 1,000+ companies. Scenic has five cabin categories on its 85-cabin Space-Ships. All of the cruise lines selected offer intriguing and interesting excursions that are included in the price (except for the American Queen Steamboat Company), from a private tour of the Louvre to kayaking down the Mekong. Scenic is based in Australia, and about half of the passengers on its river cruises are from Down Under (with the rest from other English-speaking countries such as New Zealand, the U.K., Canada and the U.S.). Solo travelers are still welcome but may have to pay asupplement fee for booking as a single-occupancy rather than a double. Guests dine on four-course dinners, complemented by regional wines. The cuisine served onboard AmaWaterways ships is inspired by regional dishes and made with locally sourced ingredients. One of the best vacations I've ever taken was a river cruise. On all these journeys from the Ganges to the Rhne dining is a big part of the adventure. Learn to paint like Van Gogh at the Ateliers Art Institute in Amsterdam. It depends on what you are looking for in your vacation. In late March, Ange and Angela made a trip to Amsterdam to attend the Virtuoso Forum meeting. CC Help Jenn Cons: Viking is adults only; passengers must be over the age of 18. But it's only because we've taken such pride in bringing you river cruising's only Open-Air Balcony stateroom design, featuring beds with a view. Viking is also an adults-only line, while Tauck was the pioneer of family river cruises through its Tauck Bridges program. For example, guests staying in suites enjoy exclusive dining, priority reservations, and a private Captain's cocktail party, while those staying in standard rooms will lack many special perks. (The amount varies from country to country, but it is generous and enough to buy a meal and drink). On the Danube sailing, see the Wachau Valley from a canoe and visit a hidden beach. Uniworld is also a good choice with an array of added perks for kids of all ages. River Cruise Advisor | Avid Cruiser | About | Terms & Full Disclosure | Privacy | Contact | Subscribe. The River Cafe offers light bites from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for everyone, while Table La Rive is an upscale Chef's Table for upper-deck passengers only. (Most newer river cruise ships in Europe are a standard 443 feet.) As part of its company's commitment to making your time in port seamless without having to deal with worrisome currency issues, the line gives each passenger 20 euros to buy a meal when an excursion spans the lunch hour. Scenic offers butler service to passengers in every cabin, with set services according to the cabin category. In river cruising, you often get what you pay for. Europe River Cruise Company Comparisons 2022-23 River Cruises. Many also have balconies and walk-in closets, and all are above the waterline. The line also hands out cash country if the tour takes place over lunchtime and passengers need to buy something to eat. While in Germany, visit the oldest brewery in Nuremberg for a bratwurst and beer. River cruising is an efficient way to travel visit a variety of destinations and only unpack once. They are also more likely to offer a hike or a strenuous walk than Tauck. Pros: The cabins are large and all have floor-to-ceiling windows. Both Tauck and Scenic boast spacious, contemporary cabins that are among the most comfortable in river cruising. "The itinerary was. The dishes are paired with a selection of wines from the area that is being explored. Aqua Expeditions is all about luxury with a modern take. It should be fun. Tauck's private shore excursions and distinctive inclusions valued at $2,788. These range from shoeshine, concierge service and restocking the mini-bar in Standard Suites, to packing and unpacking, arranging in-room cocktail drinks and even running a bath in the top suites. Onboard enrichment on both lines is based around the destinations visited. Notable Excursions (note, these excursions are not included and involve an extra fee): COVID-19 vaccinations are required for all guests and crew. Viking, Avalon, AmaWaterways, Crystal, Uniworld, U by Uniworld, and Tauck each supplied a ship for the special occasion. When it's open, there's still a buffer, so your hair and food don't blow around. Delivering unparalleled experiences and boundless exploration, Avalon puts you in the captain's seat to navigate your journey, fuel your passions and steer clear of the unexpected as you cruise down the world's most memorable and mesmerizing waterways.
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