Welcome to the fastest growing and most popular segment of the cruise industry.
Amawaterways video below
1. Spend more time being there, instead of getting there.
2. Ocean cruises take you to a country, river cruises take you through them.
3. Sodas, beer, and regional wines are all included.
4. Shore excursions included in EVERY port.
5. Higher employee to guest ratio.
6. Ability to bring on local goods and wines and enjoy them freely onboard.
7. No personal wine or liquor restrictions onboard.
8. In many ports you dock right in downtown.
9. All river cruises are not just enlightening, they are educational.
10. Specialty restaurants are included.
Most consumers make the big mistake of comparing the prices of the mass market large cruise lines to these river cruises. YOU CAN’T DO THAT. That is like comparing apples to grapes. Keep in mind that these cruises typically only carry around 120 people instead of 2,500-7,000 people. This means these ships are not crowded. The service is much more attentive, and it’s a more intimate setting. They also include free internet, bottled water, shore excursions, wine and beer with lunch and dinner and more. These cruises also sail through the majestic rivers of Europe so every day you have phenomenal views of castles, monasteries, wine vineyards, and countryside’s. Since these historic cities and towns were originally built on the river banks for commerce reasons you are always just a short walk into town from the cruise dock.
What I really like about the river cruises is the cultural experience you receive while onboard. The cruise lines bring in local entertainers at each port, and the food and wines are matched up with the region of the river you are sailing on. Also these cruises are more free-spirited. They don’t care if you are walking through a local village in town and bring on a loaf of farmers bread, some great salami, local cheese and wine to enjoy on your balcony. As you may know on a large ship all of this would be confiscated from you.
Most river cruises go to fabulous cities and countries that big ships can’t get to like Frankfurt, Munich, Prague, Switzerland, Budapest, Vienna, Paris, Romania, Moscow and many more.
So if you are considering taking a river cruise and want the experience of an agent that has been on a few of these river cruises and have personally sailed on these different cruise lines please give me a call.
I am a river cruise certified specialist with several of these European river cruise companies.