Hi, While doing a some research on a possible future European River Cruise (Amsterdam - Budpest) intenary, I noticed that there are 2-3 companies (different boats) that offer the same trip, leaving on the same day and stop at almost the exact same locations. Are the waterways actually that crowded with the river cruises all going to the same places at the same time? Just curious!

JR

I have heard that when you dock it is often 3 or 4 abreast.
I don't care though. I want to go and have booked a river cruise Budapest to Amsterdam for next summer. I was told it is better to go in this order to have the best chance at good weather.

Hi,
I'm looking to take same tour except Amsterdam - Budapest
in the Spring 2008. Just curious, which cruise did you decide on? Did you book direct with them.

Jeff

I am going with Avalon because I have traveled with Globus several times and they always did a great job.The Avalon reviews are all good.Avalon is owned by Globus. Check out the special section on river cruising on www cruisecritic com for more info.I booked through Affordable tours and just called the toll free number on this web site.Look up above.They offer a much better deal than you can get if you deal directly with Globus/Avalon.The discount was substantial.

Think about going Budapest to Amsterdam as you can get better flights and sail right through any bad weather as the weather systems move north to south and west to east.That way you would go through bad weather instead of it following you the whole way. This was the idea of someone smarter than me on these boards but I thought it made sense.Also the flight times are better going into Budapest and out of Amsterdam.

G'day everyone

I too have been wading through the maze of options for our first ever Cruise and we have decided on a European River Cruise and I wonder how others make their choices?

My approach was to first choose my route.. .. .
Amsterdam to Vienna for us because although we have travelled widely in Europe we haven't been to those two ciities.

Then I looked for the Boat that sounded best.. .. .
We chose the River Countess because its fairly new but we don't understand why there are so few photos of the interior and the different cabin classes? We would like more information about the reasons for the significant cost differences between the different decks?

Then we chose the date which suited our plans.. .. .
We decided to begin on 02 Aug 2007 becuase we want to be in Italy late August.

Now I am trying to choose which company to make the bookings with and this is where the difficult decision appears to be.. .. .

Are we locked in to Uniworld or are there others that will book us on that boat?

Can we book directly with the boat? If we book through our local travel agent will they just palm it off onto Uniworld or ?

Uniworld don't do air travel from Australia so we would have to do our to and from bookings separately?

Anyones experiences with this boat or with this Cruise or with Uniworld would be most welcome and seriously considered.

Mike.

Check out Avalon and Amadeus for some other options on River Cruises. Both companies get really good reviews on www cruisecritic com.

The Amadeua sounds pretty good, I'll put it on my short list of two.

Thanks

Mike.