Hi, All,

I have been researching Europe river cruises for next summer and have mainly been looking at Gate 1 (cheapest), Viking (middle range), AMA Waterways (slightly higher). I am leaning toward Gate 1, mainly because I don't think I will use the many extras included in Viking or AMA (which include things like a sundeck pool, liquor at lunch and happy hour, more than 3-4 choices at dinner ...). I am curious to see if anyone has done a Gate 1 cruise lately and what their impressions were. And, French Balcony upgrades appear much more affordable.

Would love feedback on Gate 1 from any folks who have taken a cruise in the last few years. Thanks! (I have posted this in the Cruises forum as well)

John H

Look at Vantage - cheaper than Viking but with the same sorts of amenities/inclusions.

I have a friend who does 2 or 3 Gate1 tours every year but her travel style and mine . . . let's just say Gate1 sounds a bit more cattle car-ish than I would enjoy. I am NOT a tour person but did take at Vantage Main/Rhine river cruise in Dec '18 and enjoyed every moment of it.

We felt the extras offered by AMAWaterways gave us a much better cruise than ones we have taken with Viking.

Thanks for the responses. Vantage looks quite interesting as an option.

John H

The included tours were very good -- all were broken into smaller groups and they also set aside 1 or 2 groups in each port for those who were less mobile so those of us who were more active were not held back to the 'slowest common denominator' - Maybe all cruises do that, I don't know because this was my first river cruise but it was a big plus. The food and service were much better than I expected - especially the dinner service/choices/wine steward and the cabin crew - very personal/personable. I had a single cabin so no balcony but all the larger cabins looked very nice

Viking/Ama might be posher and have even better service and definitely might be worth the price - but for the much lower cost (and especially the low nonexistent single supplement) I didn't have a single complaint.

Thanks so much for that feedback!

Friends like Gate 1 a lot. Took Danube and Amsterdam cruises and Really enjoyed them.
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