First River Cruise- What Do We Need To Know?

Parent Cafe
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We took our first river cruise in May - we did a Viking river cruise in southern France. I had an absolutely fabulous experience. Here are some comments, in case they’re helpful:

  1. Most of the passengers were retired (we’re not yet) so the average age is older, however, we weren’t the youngest on the boat. There were some adult children (24 and 30) with their parents and they were definitely the youngest. They had been on river cruises before and were delightful. There were other couples who appeared to be our age or younger. Plus a few young wives with older husbands.

  2. Tipping was not included but it was spelled out in the information received ahead of time so you knew the guidelines.

  3. You could purchase an additional liquor package if that’s your thing - we didn’t, and just opted to have wine with our meals (which was included). We’re not huge drinkers so it would have been an unnecessary expense for us.

  4. A choice of a daily excursion was included. An optional, extra $ excursion was also offered most days (at a time other than the included excursion). We did most (but not all) of the optional excursions, because they interested us, but would have had a wonderful time if we had not. However, by doing so many excursions, the trip wasn’t as leisurely as it could have been. They had excellent guides and the excursions were interesting.

  5. The food was incredible. The portion sizes were fairly reasonable (not massive). There were always multiple choices available. Seriously, the food was amazing.

  6. The crew was wonderful - very service oriented. They also had very nice entertainment. For example, one evening they had some local musicians/opera singers perform.

I felt like I was truly on vacation - every detail was taken care of, I just had to show up and enjoy/experience everything.

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Just had a conversation with one DD about considering an AMA Tulip tour next spring.What weeks are you going @runnersmom and @HImom ?

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Water levels that are too low can create problems but also water levels that are too high. During some years, portions of towns can actually get so flooded that they are inaccessible, even by motor coach.

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@mominva, we are booked on the April 14 sailing of the AMA Stella. Would love to have my D with us, but it doesn’t line up with her spring break. She’ll be a 3L, but can’t really go away for a week in her last quarter of law school :frowning:

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We figured out that what we think we want is a barge cruise – 8-12 passengers, meandering around a smallish area with a bike for every passenger. Anyone been on one? We found the bargelady.com site helpful, but we’re still trying to pick which one for next spring.

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When I was at the Keukenhof, incredible tulip garden in the Netherlands, I happened on a small group that was doing a “bike and barge” trip. They’d ride their bikes every day from place to place, and their barge would be at the end of their ride. I think they said there were 20ish guests on their barge, and they all seemed to having a great time. The cycling sounded pretty easy to me (but I ride a lot, YMMV). VBT was the company. That’s a more active vacation, for those who want one.

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These all sound fun to me. Will have to coordinate withbD and H and maybe S. :wink: