rowdytxgirl

I am considering a Christmas Market Tour via a river cruise sometime in the next few years.

The idea of a cruise sounds awesome.

Has anyone done a river cruise in Europe? I would love any information on what you liked, disliked, what operators you liked or didn't!

I am a young 50 and most of the advertisement pictures I am seeing in the booklets show people in their 60's! Are the folks on the cruises mostly older? I love older and wouldn't mind being the baby on the boat!

Thanks!

Rowdy

Paul1950

Look carefully at the schedules of the cruises if you do decide to try it. Sometimes the amount of time they allow at each stop is insanely limited.

I'd never do one--well maybe when I'm in my 80s and mobility becomes a problem. I detest the thought of having to eat what the cruise line wants me to eat instead of picking local places to eat on my own (or paying for ship meals that I don't eat if I choose to pick restaurants on shore). Plus, the cruises are so much more expensive than I can do on my own.

I also like being able to hang around a place longer than planned if I want to--or leaving quickly if it doesn't turn out to be something I'm interested in.

But it's your time and your money--what I dislike someone else might well love. Just a matter of personal preference.

kfusto

We are booked on a Christmas Market cruise this season. We chose it because we love the markets and the area and because the days in port are long. Generally we visit Europe once a year and travel between cities by train. We wanted to experience something different so we are trying a 5 night port intensive itinerary and flying into Berlin on our own for 4 days pre cruise and the ending in Prague on our own for 2 nights.

We are 53 and 64 and very fit and active. We will head out on our own and also dine off the boat when we have evenings in port, which is 3 nights of the cruise.

As for cost, with the promo prices this year and the cost of the Euro, I think it's a wash, but then we alsays stay in 4 star or better hotels and enjoy nice dinners with good wine. Wine is included on the line we chose so that is also a cost factor.

When we go to Europe (about once a year) we plan our itinerary in advance and make a good number of day trips by public transport and this will be no different.

And the river cruise lines, unlike mass market lines, bring in fresh provisions daily and their menus reflect the itinerary. I have seen the menus from this cruise last year and it helped us decide to make the ship as there was a very nice choice of local cuisine. It is also open dining so we sit where we want and with whom we want, unlike a mass market line.

From my (younger) friends who have taken a river cruise aboard the newer ships, I am quite certain we will enjoy ourselves.

This site is very weak on providing info on river cruising so if you are really interested in what the experience is like, check out the River Cruising Forum on cruisecritic.com for tons of info.

rowdytxgirl

Thank you very much for the responses and the website! I think I like the idea of a cruise because then I would not have to make the decisions of where to eat, where to go, what to buy, etc!

When I take friends or family along, they tend to let me make all the decisions, which gets to be overwhelming sometimes! A cruise might be what I need!

Rowdy

Suspaul

I took a Christmas Markets along the Danube several years ago with Grand Circle, it was a spur of the moment solo trip as my husband was tied up with work, it was a great trip. We lived in Germany in the early 90's and return usually twice a year, several times we've done the Christmas markets on our own but I thoroughly enjoyed the river cruise aspect. rowdytxgirl,like you said, no decisions to make, very easy indeed. We were given a walking tour of each town we visited then had free time to do as you wanted, I thought that the time was adequate in most instances but maybe it's because I've been to those towns previously. We did a river cruise in France the following year but the timing wasn't very good, the cruise, again with GCT, was fine but we traveled two days after Christmas thru the first week in January and found many things closed and a little too much down time. On that note, we leave in 2 1/2 weeks for a river cruise with Uniworld, Castles along the Rhine beginning in Amsterdam and ending in Basel Switzerland, we're be in Amsterdam for several days before our cruise and Lucerne after but these we've booked on our own. I'd give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed. rowdytxgirl, where in Texas do you live? We live in Seabrook, about 20+ miles south of Houston.

Virtualgirl

My all time favorite spot for Christmas market was Cologne, Germany, right on the Rhine. No one does Christmas like the Germans. Cheers!

pauljagman

suspaul, when you are back from your Uniworld cruise please post a review. We are doing an Avalon cruise on the Rhine next year but I was close to signing up with Uniworld. I'm interested in knowing if you were happy with thier service. I guess the reason I didn't chose Uniworld was the price of the airline with Uniworld. Avalon had a promotion on air. Not a good reason I guess but....

We are doing our first river cruise because my wife is not one for changing hotel rooms and I thought this would be a good way of seeing more of Germany without worry of traveling. I hope she catches travel fever like I've got it. I would love to backpack thru Europe but she would never go for that.

Rowdytxgirl, good luck with your decision on cruising. Don't let the thought of older people on the cruise deter you from trying this. We are in our late 50s, but active and spry for our age. If the shore curises are slow and boring we intend on going our own way.

Paul

Suspaul

pauljagman - will do. As stated this will be our first river cruise with Uniworld but the reviews I've read are very positive. We got a great 2 for 1 deal with Uniworld and used FF miles for our R/T open jaw tickets, also used Priceline Name Your Own Price for the hotel in Amsterdam so it's a relatively inexpensive trip. The only downside with doing airfare thru your cruise company, in our case with GCT, was that the flights they booked us on were very inconvenient with 3-4 stops each way and it took us forever to get home. For us it was a better choice to do our own airfare.

Will let you know more when we return.
Susan