Some Internet Articles Spread Confusion About Europe River Cruises
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
We almost exclusively specialize in European River Cruises and European travel. It often has us researching every aspect of river cruising.
Lately some press articles published just are not effective in helping you decide which river cruise to take, or even if you should use our services.
I guess I’m going to call out some really smart and good intended authors, but in my humble opinion, their focus is either misguided or misses the crucial reasons to take a Europe River cruise.
Let me be clear—it is excursions first and last. I’m going to shout it out-- Focus on Excursions to Decide Which Europe River Cruises is Right for You!!
A Professor Tells You Travel Agents Are No Longer Needed
In an article published on 23 March 2024 in Fortune, Andrew C. Spieler, a distinguished professor in business and finance at Hofstra University, compares real estate agents to travel agents. He said, “You just don’t need them”. His reasoning—the internet provides all you need.
Perhaps he is right for simple trips but let me counter this with facts from our 50 clients booked on Europe River cruises in 2024—35 have never been on a river cruise, and all told us the same thing—the information about river cruises in Europe was so confusing, they wanted help to decide how to get the best value for a trip that costs at least $10,000 to $20,000. And when they learned we don’t charge any fees, as the commission we receive is already built into the price, they are getting our unbiased advice basically for free.
So, Mr. Spieler, the 35 first-time cruisers and our 15 long-term clients, disagree with your bold statement as to our value, as do we. Great Headline but a disservice to professionals who do add value.
Dr. Spieler, you are a distinguished real estate expert, and I only graduated from West Point and also have two master’s degrees, but I learned critical thinking skills in these schools, and your flippant statement is not worthy of a man of your stature and academic skills—in the real world many folks need our expertise and help.
The Points Guy
In an article yesterday (2 April 2024) from Gene Sloan, on a free trip from Avalon Waterways, extolled the virtues of Avalon Alegria (their new ship in Portugal) for their bed facing view, spacious showers, and different colored towels in the staterooms (his and hers). While I totally agree with their lovely staterooms (all their ships in Europe have the same bed facing view), he avoids the critical decision point for taking a river cruise—the excursions.
Perhaps in fairness, since this is a 4 day PR cruise event, the excursions experiences were not his subject matter. However, read on—you will learn more about my thoughts on this bed placement room arrangement.
A great example of an Avalon Panoramic Suite with the large glass window.
Actually, the hype about the bed facing the view is part of Avalon’s key selling points. I cannot support this point of view. First, the amount of time spent lying in bed, watching the river scenes go by is minimal at best or should be minimal. Second, a slight turn of your head on different river cruise ships provides the same view, perhaps not as comfortable as the Avalon stateroom, but even that is a stretch. Mr. Sloan writes constantly about these staterooms, and I respect his opinion and 30 years of experience writing about cruises, but I differ in their overall value in selecting a river cruise line.
I should also point out that an opposing river cruise line told travel advisors in the 2023 River Cruise Expo that their line did not use the window view concept used by Avalon because it makes the guest feel the river more than other bed placement options. Having sailed on a ship with the bed facing the balcony window (the AmaMagna), I promise you this is a myth, as the stateroom ride was similar to our other 22 Europe River Cruises.
If stateroom is the only criteria, I’d still be torn between several lines, but my guess is that Avalon and Uniworld would fare better than we rate them overall.
An Interesting Interview with the President of Avalon Waterways
I just finished reading an interview in Travel Market Report about Avalon’s Pam Hoffee today on 3 April 2024. She is the president of Avalon Waterways. I got a chance to meet her briefly last year and found her very warm and personable. What caught my eye about this interview was her advice to travel advisors about who to target as potential clients. She said, “River Cruisers, when they pick a brand, tend to stick with that brand.” “There are very few that switch between brands, but most are very much entrenched in the brand they love.”
I realize this is just another reason we are so valuable to our clients—we match them to their preference as first-time river cruisers by knowing which line will probably be best for them. It just further reinforces our thoughts that all river cruise lines deliver a great vacation, probably the best trip most folks can take as part of a Europe vacation, but the initial choice may be more important than many feel it is.
So, what should you focus on after reading these 3 points of view? Excursions during the Cruise!
Destination and Itinerary of the Cruise—You First Consideration
With good route options available to our clients, the most important factor we find is what they will see and experience during their river cruise.
River cruising is all about the destinations. Even though I have been traveling to Europe for over 52 years and we have led several group tours, I could not do what the river cruise companies do in one week—these folks are experts in showing you the best sights in the least amount of time.
It is truly a unique way to see the interior of a country. It is different from a land-based tour and different from an ocean cruise.
You usually dock very near or right at the destination of the day and there is a tour or place to see every day—no sea days like on a big ocean cruise ship. Being near or in the center of the city, town, or village you are about to explore is a big advantage. In five minutes, all guests are off the boat and seeing the sights.
Most lines also offer different groups during the tours—regular, active walkers or gentle walkers, so your desired way to see the destination is matched with your tour.
So, now you know what route appeals to you, what should you also consider? Extra Charges for Excursions!!
Excursion Extra Charges—A Real Negative for River Cruisers
To me, this is a charge that should be included in the fare, although some charges are understandable and reasonable, in my humble opinion.
Only Scenic and Tauck do not charge for any tours available to their guests.
AmaWaterways only charges for the Vienna concert in their Europe cruise routes (I was told that they were losing money by making reservations for the nighttime concert when too many folks decided not to attend after signing up to go either from being too tired or having a bit too much to drink with dinner). To me that is reasonable. These 3 companies get our best rating for quality and quantity of excursions.
The quality of the excursions offered and the quantity at each port is also a key factor in selecting your river cruise company and is also as important as the price. When you see charges that seem high for more exciting tours, it causes one to muse that the price is not what it seems to be on the advertised cruise fare.
We have now completed 122 different day-by-day route descriptions with our pictures on our website for the 7 different lines we follow, so you can really evaluate the differences between lines. You will see some of the sample slides as images in this blog. Many have over 50 to 100 slides in the day-by-day descriptions along with our pictures—we use the cruise lines descriptions to provide an balanced, comprehensive description of the route.
Uniworld and Viking make my worst offenders list.
Uniworld, which promotes itself as an all-inclusive line, has some significant charges on its Rhine Route for example, but at least they are up front and specify the amount of charges online. On another route in Holland and Belgium, they actually charge extra to go to Kuekenhof Gardens to the tune of $81.00 per person, which is the highlight of most Holland cruises during the 6 weeks in Spring the gardens are open. To me this is just a charge that gouges clients.
Uniworld Extra Charge to see Kuekenhof Gardens—should be included in our opinion
They also sometimes describe a feature on a tour, that it is impossible to determine what you will actually see (like some proof—in Brussels on one tour they emphasize waffles over and over, you will drive by 3 sights, but it never mentions if you will go into the square of guild houses, that most consider the prettiest in all Europe, or if you will visit Manneken Pis, the child fountain statute who wears constantly changing costumes). Here is the slide:
After reading this, do you have any idea what you will actually see? We don’t!
Part of what you could to see in the main square in Brussels
Manneken Pis, the child fountain statute who wears constantly changing costumes—here he is as a patient. Photo Anne Schrader
Viking, however, is the worst offender in my opinion—for example, on each cruise they include only 6 excursions on an 8-day cruise and the rest result in extra charges. To make matters worse, it is extremely difficult to ferret out these charges—most guests receive a printed sheet in their stateroom of the optional charges which can add as much as 500 to 1000 euros to a fare.
Here is an example from their Rhine cruise:
This is a sample of what you would see on a Viking port stop in Strasbourg. Note there is one included tour and two optional tours.
This is a sample of what might be charged to a guest on a Rhine Cruise. Usually we don’t know how much they charge for an optional tour.
The Flammkuchen for 2 with beers costs us 32 Euros which we did on our own—makes the price of the limited tour seem excessive! It’s true we didn’t make it, but many recipes are available to learn how to make this simple dish.
All 16 of the sailing day-by-day sailing routes provided by Viking on our website have extra charges. Usually, it is 2 or 3 every day that have extra charges. Unless you like the one included excursion, or can wander on your own, it is going to cost you extra to take these optional excursions. I have been told by some in our industry that this is a huge money maker for Viking, so it is unlikely that they will change this practice.
Here is probably my favorite example of how Viking uses optional excursion to the max extent possible. On Viking’s Grand Europe Tour in Vienna with a 2 day stop, they offer 8 excursions and there is an extra charge for 7 of these tours. It is quite possible to do some of these tours on your own, since Vienna has a great subway system which allows visitors to get to most of these places on there own. We do it all the time during our river cruise stops. The point of this is exactly the shore excursion mentality of Viking—on their most popular route they work hard to get extra money for tours.
On the first day in Vienna on their Grand Tour route, they offer 1 included tour and 4 optional tours.
On the second day in Vienna, all excursions are extra cost.
Here is the day 13 shore excursions—all extra cost.
Avalon and Emerald do charge extra for some tours, but most seem reasonable if you accept the fact that they will charge extra instead of including them in the fare.
On Avalon for example, I read an article in Travel Weekly that there were 31 options and 23 were included on a Rhone River Cruise and they were priced between $58-$69 per person. They seem very strong in Active and Discovery tour offerings and also have classic excursions in each port stop.
For example, they charge extra to go to Kuekenhof Gardens on one route and for some bike excursions on their Holland and Belgium routes. At least they are clear about extra expenses on their website, without prices, but some like the two above examples just seem excessive and should be included in my opinion.
Here is another example of how you will find out about tours at a port stop and which optional tours have an extra cost.
On the best of the Rhine Route, here is an example of the optional tours offered during this port stop on an Avalon Cruise..
There are 3 optional tours for extra costs—we think the bike tour should be included.
On all of the 22 day-by-day cruise sailing routes provided by Avalon we have completed on our website, all have some extra charges for some excursions.
Emerald charges extra for their DiscoverMore program. Some may have to be pre-booked prior to departure on the cruise. Examples are a beer festival in Passau, a guided tour to Pont du Gard or a concert in Vienna.
To help you determine what costs extra, we have clearly indicated which tours include an extra charges on 14 of the day-by-day sailing routes on our website from the Emerald Brand.
It is clear the 2 DiscoverMore are extra charges on this Emerald Cruise. We just don’t how much they charge
Combined Land Vacations of Pre or Post Land Excursions
The option of adding to their vacation either a pre- or post-excursion is also a key motivating factor for our clients. Almost all involve an extra fee, but sometimes there are promotions that include complementary pre or post options.
We find that most of our clients want a more in-depth look at some destinations and the land excursions options provide just that. There are some great places to extend the river cruise experience and it often makes sense to stay for at least a week either before or after a 7-day cruise or both, which most of our clients choose to do. Long haul flights and flying expenses make a longer stay a better overall value to most of our clients.
Maybe Paris, Budapest, Prague, Lucerne, Zurich, Lake Como, or the Lorie Valley—already you can see the great options directly added by including a tour extension with the river cruise lines or we can help tailor a trip for the more adventurous.
Our Final Thoughts
Wow—some strong opinions here, but I hope we have backed them up with facts. Please don’t fall into the trap of amenities over excursions—you will miss out on the real reason to go and what you will see and experience.
We also hope the extra costs for excursions is a real eye opener. Excursions should be the focus and perhaps this will help you select the line that best fits your travel expectations.
We hope you enjoyed this report, and it helps you to understand why we enjoy helping folks experience river cruising—it packs so much in so little time yet in a relaxed and fun trip that is hassle free.
Don’t you think it is time you went on a river cruise—we would love to help you get the trip you desire!
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@dreamdestinations.com. We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
