River Cruises

[horseshoes]

Have any ABers been on one? If so, what did you think of it?

[boxtops]

My mother did a Rhine cruise, she liked it very much, except the gangplanks were too steep for her to disembark if the tide was low :-(

My brother did a Nile cruise, they enjoyed that, too.

[carrust]

Cruises .......prison with the risk of drowning:-)

[jno]

several and I've loved them all. Europe, Nile, Russia. You just pull up in the middle of town in the morning and go and explore at your leisure.

[horseshoes]

Thanks Boxy. We like cruises, but I was thinking that if it was raining while you were on board, the river boats don't look big enough to have a lot of entertainment on them. I think the Rhine cruises look fab. They also seem quite expensive compared to sea cruises.

[horseshoes]

Oops, and thank you carrust and jno. You weren't there when I thanked Boxy.

[jno]

the trick is to go in summer. It is difficult predicting the weather in Europe these days but it's generally more settled than here. River boats tend to be much smaller than ocean cruisers (they have to fit through locks and under bridges), so they don't have the same scale of entertainment, though I think one or two have pools. It's more about relaxing and enjoying the scenery. Most cabins have balconies, though they're often more like French windows without room to actually sit on them.

[horseshoes]

Thanks jno. Perhaps we'll give it a go in 2015.

[jno]

you should aim to pay a lot less than the brochure price, the lines are always discoutning. Get yourself on the email list of someone like Viking and they'll let you know when they're offereing special deals (in their case it's usually earlier rather than later.

http://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/?gclid=COr82_zc5bwCFUcTwwod6koA6Q

Sign up top right corner. There are lots of lines, some cheaper and some dearer, but I've enjoyed Viking. I'm pretty sure they're already selling 2015.

[Canary42]

River cruises don't need the vast amount of entertainment than ocean liners do, because they don't spend days and days with no outlook except acres of empty ocean - there's always something to see on a river cruise.

[horseshoes]

Thank you.