River cruise recommendations please.

Viking is very good. Beautiful boats and the company itself really looks after everything. There are included and additional excursions but no need to do them. We tend to just disembark and do our own thing. It's lovely landing at little places or in the centre of larger towns and cities.
We've done Rhine Danube, Paris to Normandy, Rouen to Avignon, Douro, and also sailed down to Basel. Douro was our least favourite. Viking is well organised and communication is great.

We like Viking.

Everything is included that we'd care about. Tours, wine, nice staff, knowledgeable guides. We've never had a problem.

I believe we've been on most all except Ukraine, which I suppose no longer exists. The rivers are lovely, nice choices.

Friends of ours went on Viking cruise and could not praise it enough.

Lovely idea- but one word of warning depending on when you plan to travel. Spring should be fine, but two people I know were flown home from Rhine and Danube cruises last summer because the river levels were dangerously low.

MawtheMerrier

Lovely idea- but one word of warning depending on when you plan to travel. Spring should be fine, but two people I know were flown home from Rhine and Danube cruises last summer because the river levels were dangerously low.

Maw is correct.

I believe cruises impacted by water levels is increasing.

The cruise lines do effective land provisions (coaches or smaller lovely boats for a short distance while lowering the now-passenger-empty big ship into the locks). And/or flights home with a refund to future travel.

MawtheMerrier

Lovely idea- but one word of warning depending on when you plan to travel. Spring should be fine, but two people I know were flown home from Rhine and Danube cruises last summer because the river levels were dangerously low.

Aussie friends of ours were transferred by coach for a significant part of what should have been a river cruise, because of low water levels. IIRC this was three and a half years ago now.

And that was in October.

I've been looking to do a river cruise or two in retirement. Viking or Riviera look good. My inclination is to choose a smaller, quieter river first time round, maybe the Moselle? In Vienna last month we saw about 10 boats all moored up togther on the Danube and it was a bit like Paddington Station.

Joseanne

I've been looking to do a river cruise or two in retirement. Viking or Riviera look good. My inclination is to choose a smaller, quieter river first time round, maybe the Moselle? In Vienna last month we saw about 10 boats all moored up togther on the Danube and it was a bit like Paddington Station.

Viking on the Douro is a small boat. Smallest of theirs, I believe.

If you check itineraries, you can see the number of locks and somewhat judge the number of ships in docking spaces to a day. If that is of interest.

We went on our first river cruise in mid September on the Danube with Riviera. Water levels were not a problem, although they had been lower in the weeks before we went, so we had been a little concerned beforehand.

Riviera were excellent and our river cruise exceeded our expectations. They are quite organised but you can do your own thing if you want to. I can't compare them with other river cruise lines as they're the only one we've used. We're now planning to go with them on the Rhine and Moselle in October.

👍 Norah thank you.

Thanks everybody!

I have been looking at these but have been put off by a few things.

What I want is to sit on the deck of a boat and watch beautiful scenery go by - what I don't want is to be herded about to tourist attractions or to finish up moored for the day in some horrible city wharf where it is not ideal for taking a walk. And if it were moored in a stack with other boats I would struggle to clamber across one boat to another.

And I don't like the eye-watering single supplements! Hard to please me!

Anyone know of a river cruise that might tick these boxes!

Lord of the Glens. Fabulous boat. Sails from Inverness through Loch Ness and the Crinan canal and on out towards the islands. It's not huge. Only about 30 passengers and no herding. Good food and good company. Maybe you were thinking more of being abroad though? We've done lots of cruising of all sorts but we really enjoyed this one. Scenery was wonderful.

Thanks for the suggestion. Which company run this?

Here's a screenshot of their latest advertising email. I don't know if that's enough though. Could you Google it?
I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

We enjoyed a jazz cruise on the Douro from Oporto and back with Saga.

Viking cruise including a day at Monet's home is wonderful in spring.

Luckygirl3

I have been looking at these but have been put off by a few things.

What I want is to sit on the deck of a boat and watch beautiful scenery go by - what I don't want is to be herded about to tourist attractions or to finish up moored for the day in some horrible city wharf where it is not ideal for taking a walk. And if it were moored in a stack with other boats I would struggle to clamber across one boat to another.

And I don't like the eye-watering single supplements! Hard to please me!

Anyone know of a river cruise that might tick these boxes!

You don’t have to do any excursions that you don’t want to. Riviera do a selection of cruises especially for single travellers. These don’t attract a supplement.

Titan is cheaper than Viking and very good. We did the Rhone cruise last summer. When we moored alongside another ship we simply walked through our reception area, and then theirs. It was all inclusive, except for tips which are shared across the crew. There was an excursion included everyday and extras if you wanted to pay for them. We moored right in Avignon, Arles, Nimes and Lyons. All in all, it was a great trip.

We’ve been on 2 Riviera river cruises and both were excellent.
The Rhone cruise to Provence would be a great starter but go in June to see the sunflower and lavender fields. Short day trips provided but time for yourself too. You can opt out of trips if you want to make more time for yourself

We did a 7day cruise on the Rhine with Avalon. Unfortunately only 8 Brits with 120 Americans. My ears were bleeding with the noise they were very loud. Would consider another one but with Brits.