My kids are planning a family trip for my upcoming milestone birthday (turning 40 
). My extended family members (brothers, sister, in-laws) have suggested maybe going on a river cruise. D1 said based on her research, it looks really boring and most people look much older than us. My brother-in-law also has his big birthday next year too, so we thought we would combine our celebrations. Two possible dates are the week of Mar 14 or the week leading up to Memorial Day. Mar is really not ideal for the river cruise, but we don’t need it to be really warm.
I would like to get some feedback from you guys.
We did a Tauck cruise on the Danube River in late June and it was phenomenal. Loved it because every day we woke up in a new country with wonderful things to see and do. I highly recommend our experience. And we were worried about seasickness (my DH gets motion sick very easily) but had no problems.
Have fun planning!
Did you find it crowded when you dock? D1 read there could be multiple ships docked right next to each other. She is checking out a Tauck cruise.
My in-laws went on a river cruise and weren’t that thrilled with it. They felt like you didn’t have enough time in the places you stop. I think it was a Viking cruise on the Danube.
H and I were around the Rhine river last summer. I’m not sure if there are many commercial cruises on it, because the bridges are so low. There were definite pleasure boats cruising around, but they had to stay small enough to fit under the bridges. Same with the Meuse river.
@oldfort, no not crowded at all in the places we docked for that specific tour. The ship we were on had a capacity of somewhere around 130 guests (not sure on the crew), and the other ships we saw at the ports of call were similarly sized.
From what I’ve read, Viking boats are more likely to have issues due to high or low water.
When we were on the Rhine a couple of years ago, we laughed at the large number of walkers on the top deck of the boats. We decided then that we’d have to be much, much older to go on a river cruise.
A friend did a boat rental on a canal in France. She loved it. That’s more my style.
We have friends who have been on both River cruises and regular big cruises.
I’ll try to summarize…I’ll start by saying that they liked the regular cruises better.
- The river cruises were better for things like lectures and the like. When my friends took their 30 something daughters, the daughters were less than thrilled about this. Actually the parents enjoyed them...but not every day.
- Food was terrific on both. Different...but terrific.
- Everyone like the smaller size of the river cruise boats.
- They noted that the passengers were mostly those nearing or at retirement age. Not a lot of younger folks.
- Entertainment on the larger ships was more varied, and there was something for everyone...shows, trivia, karaoke, game shows, gambling...whatever. River boats don’t have the same variety of things.
- Activities. Lots more activities for varied age groups on the larger ships. They noted things like the fitness center was nicer, and the spa had more varied offerings.
- I asked them about the ports. They said this wasn’t an issue where they went (up the Rhine). Their smaller boat actually could get to some places more easily.
- This same couple went on a river cruise without their kids...giving it a try with just the parents. They had a couple of areas where the boat could not sail up the river...so they were bussed to meet the boat. I don’t know how common this is...but I sure would ask. It had to do with low water.
With a variety of ages, and interests, I would want something with a larger variety of things going on all the time for everyone. I think I’d like that cruise from Barcelona to Greece. Bigger boat.
We are going planning one for 2021. Our friends who are literally world travelers went on one because of a work obligation and enjoyed themselves thoroughly so good enough for me because they are so well travelled and could have easily poo pooed this type or organized travel. You never know but I value their endorsement.
@oldfort - we did a river cruise with extended family in June of 2017. We started in Prague with a land portion and ended in Budapest. We were 15 of us ranging in age from 19-87 with 7 being young adults. My MIL planned the trip with the help of a travel agent. She ended up with AMA Waterways and we all were extremely happy with the company.
Pros- you get to see a lot of different places but you don’t have to pack and unpack your bag. The food was plentiful and very good. The staff was great. At each location we had multiple options for excursions(all of which are free). There was usually choices for both morning and afternoon. Each location had a bike excursion, a hike excursion and city tours. For the city tour they offer three groups, gentle walkers, regular walkers and active walkers. The hike and bike excursions my kids and H took were definitely physical and you needed to be in decent physical shape. The benefit was that we didn’t all have to take the same excursion. We usually had meals together and it was nice to not have to search out and find a restaurant with place for 15. We had one dinner in the captains dining room when we celebrated my in-laws anniversary. The boat we were on was beautiful and just on its 2nd season and they kept the boat immaculate. We never felt like their were lots of boats at each port. The only port we side tied another boat was in Budapest. Beer and wine are free at meal times.
Cons- you are in each city for just a day so you just get a glimpse of each location.
Aside from our young adults the only other young people were two college students traveling with their parents. The rest of the guests ranged from 40-80. Our kids didn’t mind as they had their cousins. They loved hanging out in the lounge dancing at night and interacting with the crew who were mostly young men from Eastern European countries.
Strangely the young adults loved the cruise and my FIL didn’t love it. It made him feel old. My MIL loved it and would do another.
The best multi generational trip we did was a safari in Kenya. It was a high end safari company and we were are on group and we had a guide who stayed with us the entire time. I tell my kids it was the trip of a lifetime and they should not expect to travel like that again.
The hardest multi generation trip was Paris and the south of France. It was hard to find restaurants and to get everyone on the same time schedule.
Thanks for people’s feedback.
@mom60 - it sounds close to our age range (kids are few years older) and size of our group. Going on a safari trip is on my bucket list.
Friend’s Viking Rhine cruise in Sept was too cold (and she’s hardy.) She loved the Budapest to Germany. Cardinal Fang, I think, did the Amsterdam based cruise, rode bikes through the tulips.
The sights from the ship can be beautiful. Imo, the basic question is to cruise or take a more customizable land tour. Or DIY. Personally, I’m pulling for a cruise for the luxury. But we prefer self structured.
Friends went on river cruise. Think it was the Rhine. They’re 60ish and were youngest on the boat. Husband liked it but wife thought it boring.
We were on a Uniworld river cruise in 2015 from Prague to Vienna. Loved it! The SS Ambassador was our ship. It was one of their older ships but nicely updated. The cabins are tiny. We did not pay extra for a cabin upgrade but our window on deck 1 was still well above the water line. On some ships, deck 1 windows can be partially obstructed when docked. I would cruise with Uniworld again, next time probably cruising on one of their newer ships. The food was the best we have had compared to the larger cruises on Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Viking Ocean (we were on the exact same cruise as the Viking emergency evacuation cruise just in the news in 2016). The more relaxed dining room ambience was nice. Uniworld covers all alcohol. We are not big drinkers so they probably made money on us but I like the fact you can order drinks after dinner without being charged. Loved that we had just 104 passengers on our ship. The entertainment was “minimalist”. Most nights one guy on an electronic keyboard with added percussion, but people were dancing. A Von Trapp family member spoke one night followed by same key board guy. The no-hassle bus loading for our daily excursions was a real delight, and so convenient from the ship! I thought the age demographic was younger than I would have thought. I was about 10 years older than the average— I was 64 at the time.
Enjoy your trip!
@oldfort my nieces were 19 and 21. The other 5 “young adults” were for the most part mid to late 20’s. Something to look into if it interests your group is that on our boat was a Backroads group. They left early each morning and biked to the next destination. They had their own guides and bikes provided by Backroads. What was nice for several of them was that they were able to have both riding and non riding family members.
Don’t book the least expensive cabins. My in-laws booked three levels of accommodations. They had a stateroom plus a sitting room area with a double balcony. The 50 plus members of the family had cabins with a balcony but you couldn’t sit on it. The grandchildren had cabins that were above the water line but just with windows. They got lucky that when we checked in on the boat the captain upgraded them to nicer accommodations.
We did Holland and Belgium on AmaWaterways and it was great. Yes, there was a decent percentage of passengers older than 65 ( was with my mom and I was 59 at the time) but there were many in the 40-65 range, too. I know that’s a little old for your daughters, but when you’re with a large family group it may not make such a difference. That line offered excursions for all activity levels, including bike riding and hiking for those in shape to do them. However, there’s not a whole lot to do in the evening.