landfree1

My husband and I want to take a trip next fall to Europe. We have seen some countries, but are interested in Germany, Austria, and maybe Switzerland. I have been looking at tour companies as I am tired of all the planning. A friend mentioned a river Cruise to see the area. Has anyone done this or taken a tour by land? The boat looks really pricey, but there is the advantage of not moving around and getting all the meals on board. They apparently have a guide to go to certain places along the way. If anyone has done either land or river, would you let me know the company name and what you liked and disliked? We are 70 and 73, but in good physical shape for walking. One River boat company is running a special now if we book by the end of the month, so would like some input soon. Are there any hidden fees I should know about?

adrienne

Why not give links to both the river and land tours you're look at an people can give comments. Even if someone has not taken these tours there are some travel savvy people here who can look over the itineraries and advise.

I've not taken a river cruise but the drawback to me is not enough time on land. I like to wander around, especially after dinner and look at the towns in a different perspective.

Hidden fees? No. There is full disclosure otherwise it would be false advertising. But you do have to read the tour information and not just look at one page.

Any specific questions should be directed to the tour company as they are the most knowledgeable about their product.

Mimar

I looked into river cruises but was put off by the same thing Adrienne didn't like: too short a time at each stop. They only stayed one day in each city, really part of a day, which is not nearly enough for the larger places.

We do our own planning (well, I do it) and pick up walking tours at our destinations. But I loooove doing the research, finding the nice places to stay.

adrienne

Another drawback, although you probably won't encounter this in the fall, is if the river water is too high the boats can't run and you'll be taken by bus.

kalnalcl

I took a river cruise through Germany and Austria and was skeptical for the reasons discussed - not enough time in each place, possibility of needing busses. I went in May. It was lovely. I would say most passengers were in your age group. The only large city we stopped in was Vienna and the boat was docked there overnight so we had 2 full days there. The smaller towns I found I had enough time to explore. I really enjoyed not having to pack/unpack, all meals on board if you wished, and travelling in between destinations was very relaxing - a slow pace passing beautiful scenery. There are advantages to both methods, but I thought I'd share my river cruise experience.

landfree1

Thanks for your responses so far. I was concerned about the River Cruising for the reasons mentioned. I have always done ALL the planning for our trips, even our adventures in Italy a couple years ago. We have traveled extensively out West to the majority of National Parks. We have thoroughly enjoyed our trips, but I think I am ready to let someone else do the planning this time. I did see a tour offered by Go Ahead Tours of the regions we are interested in seeing. The reviews were good.Has anyone actually booked a tour with them or another land tour? Their web is:www.goaheadtours.com/europe

drchris

My husband and I have not done a river cruise but we have several friends who have and they loved the experience. It can give you a taste of the places you visit and you may decide to return to some of them for longer stays. Do make sure how much of the sightseeing is covered as sometimes there are extra costs for some land tours. Also, it you are on land during the day, you may not want to return to the boat for lunch and that will be an added expense. You may also have the cost of admission to sights you want to visit that are not included.
You could also consider something like a Monograms tour, for which the hotels and travel from place to place are booked for you but you have the freedom to do whatever you want once you are in a particular place. http://monograms.com/
Enjoy your travels!

greg

I get river cruise brochures all the time. I can't remember a time where they were not running "limited time specials" that seem to go on and on until the departure date

I think what you see are somewhat a self-fulfilling recommendations. Those who have done it like it, and those who haven't or were hit one of those high/low water foul ups don't like them. If you read numerous Cruisecritic posting on river cruises, each companies deal with foul ups in different ways. The low end companies seem to pretend cheap bus tours at remote budget hotels to be acceptable substitutes when the river turn not navigable while high end companies would outright cancel them.

I run into river cruise people all the time whenever I visit attractions along Danube or Rhine. The age group of the people I see wearing "so and so Rivercruise" name tags are about your age.

Getting all the meals on board is a mixed bag. If your trip goal does not include having local specialties at local restaurants, then it would be an advantage. Do read fine prints about meals. Unlike ocean cruises where meals are inclusive while shore excursions are not, the river cruises are the opposite. They seem to provide inclusive shore excursions while providing only a part of lunches and dinners, of course, depending on companies.

neckervd

I suppose you know the average age of river cruise passengers.

WeisserTee

My friends took a Uniworld river cruise about a month ago. They enjoyed it very much -- their route included the Rhine, then the Main, and from Nuremberg a bus trip to Prague. They enjoyed it all, especially staying on the river boat (they said the food was very good). Prague they found too crowded.

We're thinking of doing a European river cruise some day. We're holding out for the right operator to do the newly opened special route from Ascona to Venice on a small canal boat. http://stresasights.blogspot.ch/2009...-one-boat.html

Mimar

WeisserTee, that boat tour from Ascona to Venice sounds great. Do you have a link to the tour operator?

WeisserTee

No, I can't find one at the moment. I'm waiting to see if one turns up. My understanding is that the only ones who've done this route (beyond the inaugural tour I linked to above) are people with their own boats or who've charted a boat specifically for the trip.

MarthaT

I have no experience with GoAhead tours but also check out some of the other big ones, Trafalgar, Globus and Insight.

cobbie2

We did an Avalon Waterways cruise last summer, right after the huge Danube floods. It was our first cruise and we loved it. We started with 3 days in Prague then were bussed to Nuremburg to begin the tour. We ended in Budaoest where we had 2 nights on the ship. We spent an extra night in Budaoest. We met some wonderful people and saw lovely sites. Wine and beer is free with dinner. We stayed in a lower level "aquarium" room and were very pleased.

We enjoyed it so much we are booked on another Avalon cruise next July.

Check out the River Cruising section on Cruise critic.

neckervd

ASCONA - VENEZIA BY RUBBER BOAT:
May be you have a look at http://www.tcs.ch/it/viaggi-camping/...na-venedig.php
http://www.asconavenezia.org/fileadm..._Touring_I.pdf

WeisserTee

Neckervd, thank you but no. We've been on rubber boats and that is not the "cruise" experience we want. And before you get the idea that we're too wimpy for a rubber boat, we've done plenty of canoe trips.

neckervd

You are free to do whatever you like and I would never criticize that.
I just couldn't believe that it could be possible to go by "normal" boat from Sesto Calende to Cremona without running into serious problems and did therefore some research.

landfree1

Am thinking of doing the Globus Alpine Countries Tour next August or Sept. Has anyone done this Globus tour? We will be gone 15 days and see some of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I think this time around, I am ready for a tour rather than try to get around on our own. There are several excursions we can see on our own: Linderhof Castle in Munich: Heurigen dinner in Vienna; Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore; Temmelbach Waterfalls in Interlaken; Gornegrat in Zermatt; Mt.Pilatos in Lucerne.If anyone has done this trip to these countries, how was the weather? August better than Sept? Thanks for all the advice so far!