European River Cruise for the younger set
 

A friend without internet access has asked me to make this inquiry. I've also posted it on the Cruise forum, but thought more might see it and offer help here.

She and her husband (ages 50) are considering a European River cruise in 2009. On the recommendation of her father, they viewed a DVD from Vantage Travel which showed mostly 70ish passengers. While my friends love interacting with seniors, they would prefer a cruise with a mixture of ages--older, their age, and younger.

Can anyone advise on the age demographics of Vantage or another European river cruise company that might better suit their interests?

Is there a cruise website that compares age demographics of the various cruise companies?

Thanks for your help.

I may be wrong, but is Vantage connected somehow with Grand Circle? If so, would explain the older crowd.
Check out Viking or Peter Deilmann. We did a Deilmann cruise two years ago and the primary crowd was 50ish.. because it was a university alumni tour. Of course, this meant they pretty much interacted only within their group. The rest of us were pretty much long in the tooth-:)
Think you'll find that river crusing is mostlyfavored by the middle aged and up. It's a lovely way to travel but kinda slow for the younger crowd.

Peter Deilmann's Casanova!

Thanks for the answers so far. Anyone else?

One last point. If they want top of the line.... Deilmann is it. It's a German company but all the staff is (at least) trilingual. (sp?)

I took a river cruise with my (70's) parents last summer. I was one of the youngest passengers on board! Although...there were a couple of families. We were on an InTrav cruise. There were several couples in their 50s. I notice that the lines that market to Europeans (Deilmans being one) had much more variance in age on board.

As Grandma says, river cruises attract middle aged and up. It is (lovely) slow, and it may also be more expensive than other options and thus not the first choice for younger people travelling on a budget.

We were on a Danube cruise in 2006 from Vienna to Bucharest. The passengers were Americans and Danes (about half and half). Despite being some of the youngest (we were 48 & 51), we enjoyed it very much. My trip report is at http://www.sitestory.dk/rejser/donau2006/indexe.htm.

Maybe the clientele will be younger if you go in the school holiday season, I don't know, but then one must keep in mind that it can be very hot - especially in central Europe.

Eric

I did a Deilmann cruise two summers ago and the crowd averaged 45-50 from the people I talked to. I was 29 at the time (a German girl my age on vacation with her parents and I were the youngest for sure)but I had a great time.

Check also Amadeus.

If the friend is actually interested in seeing and experiencing some things on land, be sure to check the amount of time the various cruises allow at each stop. The cruise itineraries we've seen allow only ridiculously short amounts of time at many stops.