This past Thursday, I returned from France after back-to-back barge trips in Burgundy. To say that my 17 days in France was wonderful would be an understatement.

For starters, we had a fun group of people. They came from Georgia, British Columbia, Alberta, California, Colorado, Illinois and other regions throughout North America. We had lots of laughs, enjoyed long canal-side walks and bike rides, indulged in delightful dinners, sipped sumptuous wines, and so much more. Read the rest of this entry »

CroisiEurope is offering complimentary airfare on select summer departures on Seine and Loire River itineraries. The air-inclusive packages are currently limited to flights in and out of New York City’s Newark Airport (EWR) on select departure dates. However, CroisiEurope has plans to expand these offerings in the upcoming months, providing more opportunities for travelers to take advantage of similar deals.

Earlier this week, AmaWaterways held a special Sip & Sail event to provide details about its new Latin America cruises. Beginning in April of 2024, AmaWaterways will offer a series of seven-night sailings, with optional add-ons, along the Magdalena River. The cruises will operate on two new ships carrying 60/64 guests between Barranquilla and Cartagena. The new ships, named AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia, are wider than those operating in Europe, because there are no narrow locks to contend with on the Magdalena river.

That’s an ominous headline, I’ll confess, but I don’t mean it as apocalyptic or doom and gloom. It’s a concept I’ve been thinking about quite a bit for the past several years. It plays out something like this: Imagine that you are in your last good decade. How would you live it?

The possibilities are endless and dependent on what’s important to you. But essentially, it’s a call to action and a reminder to not put off what you want to do.

Did you know that many river cruise boats carry bicycles on board for guests to use? The bicycles are (or should be) well-maintained and capable of fitting guests of all sizes. Your ship often will have helmets and, of course, a liability form for you to fill out. If you’re squeamish about wearing a helmet that someone else has worn, carry your personal bike helmet. Simply strap it onto the outside of your carry-on luggage so that it doesn’t take up precious space inside your luggage. Or pack a foldable helmet. You’ll need to ask your local bike shop or do a web search for those.

River cruising to or from Amsterdam? Why not do what the Dutch do and straddle a saddle? Hop on a bike and pedal your way through Amsterdam and the beautiful countryside to experience this fascinating region the way the locals do.

Most river cruise companies make bikes available to guests – at no additional charge. All you need to do is ask your ship’s front desk staff to prepare a bike for you. You’ll likely need to sign a release of liability, and you may be required to wear a helmet, which many cruise company provides.

One of my best river cruises ever was one of my longest river cruises ever. In 2016, I spent 15 glorious days cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest on AmaWaterways’ AmaSonata. After transiting the Rhine, the Main, the Main-Danube Canal and the Danube, I was left with one thought: Could I stay on and do the cruise in the opposite direction?

Of course, the answer was yes – from me – but a hard no from AmaWaterways. In fact, AmaSonata was not headed back to Amsterdam but would instead operate a series of Danube cruises. Sigh.

In last week’s post, we talked about the trend toward longer river cruises, longer than seven days, that is. Nearly all of the major river cruise companies now offer long cruises, with some itineraries approaching two months in duration. Two months? That wouldn’t bother our reader Linda at all.

We wondered when it would happen: When would a savvy river cruise company pick up the rest of Crystal River Cruises fleet. Nearly a year after Crystal went bankrupt, Riverside Luxury Cruises acquired the double-width Crystal Mozart. That left four recently Crystal-built river cruisers with an uncertain fate. We worried that with companies recovering from the pandemic no one would be flush enough with cash to purchase these spectacular ships.

In anticipation of wave season, Emerald Cruises will expand its ‘Explore the Extraordinary’ campaign into the new year. This campaign, which runs from December 16, 2022 to March 31, 2023, offers savings on a variety of 2023 and 2024 river cruises, along with bonus offers when guests pay in full.

In anticipation of wave season, Emerald Cruises will expand its ‘Explore the Extraordinary’ campaign into the new year. This campaign, which runs from December 16, 2022 to March 31, 2023, offers sizable savings on a variety of 2023 and 2024 river cruises, along with a new menu of bonus offers available when guests pay in full.

One of my favorite river cruise vessels will soon be back in service, the m/s Mozart. I first cruised on the storied ship in 2008, when she was operated by Peter Deilmann. Aside from being awed by Mozart’s impressive width, nearly double that of a typical river cruise ship, I’d never been on a river cruiser with an indoor pool.

Award-winning luxury river cruise line, AmaWaterways, tells us that travelers can now book unforgettable river cruise vacations on all 2024 itineraries on the iconic rivers of Europe, Africa, Egypt and Asia. With an added reward for early bookings and extended seasons on the Rhine, Danube and Douro rivers, guests have the opportunity to save now when reserving their much-anticipated journeys. Whether celebrating a milestone anniversary, a special birthday or a reunion with friends and family, river cruising with AmaWaterways offers the perfect variety of included tours and culinary experiences to please all ages and types of travelers searching for a more personalized way to reconnect with the world around them.

We’ve done a number of articles featuring our best river cruise tips. Search our site and you’ll find posts such as Our Top Three Tips For Choosing Your River Cruise, Three Tips For Cruisers Going To Europe, Five Tips For Choosing Your Stateroom, Airfare Hacks: Cheap Business Class Tickets For Your River Cruise, and many more articles designed to provide you with a better (and often, cheaper) river cruise experience.

This week, we turned to Emma Cakmak, owner of A Passport To Travel. Emma just returned from a river cruise in Bordeaux. That’s her in the photo above doing what we often love to do on our river cruises: exploring by bicycle.

News that comes as no surprise to us: Riviera River Cruises is proud to announce that it has received 2022 Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly for its solo traveler offerings. We’re not surprised because we have long touted – and advised single travelers – that Riviera represents one of the best choices when it comes to traveling solo. See Britton’s story, Riviera River Cruises: The Best For Solo Travelers?

This week, Britton is gearing up for her Rhine river cruise on Riviera’s Geoffrey Chaucer. That means arranging for pet-sitters, shopping for new clothes (of course), and finalizing the logistics of her trip. She’s become quite the traveler, something that she began training for early on in life. In fact, she was only approaching her first birthday when she crossed the Atlantic on the venerable Queen Elizabeth 2, the first of many cruises for the now 27-year-old.

Earlier this week, we heard from a reader who was “stuck” in Passau on Uniworld’s River Duchess. Underway now, the ship had been stationary since September 3 due to low water levels on the Danube. “The River Duchess has been impacted by the low water near Passau,” Uniworld’s CEO Ellen Bettridge told us on Wednesday. “Good news is that it is raining.”

The stretch of river between Passau and Regensburg had been impassable until Thursday of this week. This afternoon (Saturday), River Duchess was heading toward Bamberg, doing six knots per hour (~7 mph), according to cruisemapper.com.

For most of us, a river cruise represents a significant investment. First, there’s the investment of planning your vacation and carving out time to do it. If you’re retired or if you have a flexible work schedule, finding a time to river cruise probably isn’t an issue. You still need to plan, though. Planning is likely why you’re here researching on our site, River Cruise Advisor.

Second, there’s the investment of getting to your river cruise destination, and perhaps getting there a few days before your river cruise begins so that you can shake off the jet lag and acquaint yourself with the destination. You’ll spend for getting to the airport, the flight, the transfer to the dock where your ship departs or your hotel. If you’re arriving a few days early, you’ll need to budget for dining out and sightseeing. And if you’re flying in comfort, you’ll need to shuck out extra money for seat upgrades. Before you even get to Europe, you’ve spent a fair amount of money.

Weather.com tells us it’s raining right now in Kaub, Germany. That’s good news for the German town in the picturesque Rhine Gorge. The Rhine is set to rise too, approaching 50 centimeters at the Kaub marker, after having dropped to 30 centimeters earlier this week. The low water levels disrupted most, but not all, river cruises.

Both Riviera and CroisiEurope have continued to sail through the Rhine Gorge without interruption. “On the Rhine, we’ve continued to operate our two main programs:  Amsterdam-Basel and Strasbourg-Remich,” says Michael DaCosta, general manager, North America for Strasbourg-based CroisiEurope. “There has been some rain this week, which helps a lot.  We’re lucky that we have relatively small ships, designed with low water levels in mind.”

The weakness of the Euro (and the strength of the U.S. dollar) is unfortunate for the Europeans. Citizens in the Eurozone appear to have a tough winter and a potentially deep recession to endure in the months ahead. We hope that doesn’t come to pass, but what is clear is that the Euro is in decline, which may, or may not, be transitory.

Earlier this week, the Euro and U.S. dollar reached parity, and in fact, the Euro even dipped slightly below one U.S. dollar on Wednesday. Parity between the two major world currencies hasn’t happened in 20 years, and some analysts posit that the Euro has even further to fall. Read the rest of this entry »

On the heels of AmaWaterways’ beautiful AmaDahlia celebrating the close of her first season on Egypt’s legendary Nile River last week, the company announced it will launch a second ship in Egypt. The second ship, named AmaLilia, after the sacred blue water lily flower of ancient Egypt, will set sail in 2024 to meet the growing demand for this exotic offering.

Like AmaDahlia, AmaLilia will sail the immersive Secrets of Egypt & Nile itinerary, offering an unparalleled 11-night cruise and land experience including a seven-night roundtrip river cruise from Luxor, paired with three nights pre- and one-night post-cruise stays in historic Cairo. Similar to her sister ship, AmaLilia will be thoughtfully designed with regionally inspired décor, spacious staterooms and suites, and a specialty restaurant included in the river cruise fare.

Check out the AmaDahlia photo gallery below. Photos courtesy of AmaWaterways. Read the rest of this entry »