Confession time – although have spent countless days sailing on cruise ships at sea, I have yet to experience the joys of river cruising (apart from a couple of days on the Thames, which don’t really count).
But river cruising is booming, growing faster even that ocean cruising. Almost 134,000 UK passengers chose a river cruise last year; mostly in Europe on the Rhine and the Danube, but there are other rivers such as the Douro and the Elbe, and others travelled further afield to Russia and the Far East, to cruise the Yangtze and Mekong.
My friends at Cruise International and Viking River Cruises have got together to produce a handy guide to river cruising which you can read online.
And the Passenger Shipping Association would like to hear what you think about river cruises, so please find a couple of minutes to complete their survey.
About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
Hi John,
Another area that has high interest for river cruise is Australia.
I followed your link to the other post, very nice guide produced for Viking
John Morgan
I can’t believe that the Cap’n hasn’t done a river cruise. You’ve got to get out there —
River cruises are amazing – you get to see so much of a country. Get yourself on one of those lovely new ships too!
Dear John, I applaud your love of cruising as I’ve recently retired from 14 years with a UK based cruise line. I now dedicate my time to publishing a free on-line travel magazine. We are introducing our readership to the myriad of river cruises available as well as the more unusual ocean cruises.
Keep up the good work.
Tim
Apart from the Five Star river cruises the budget ships such as Arlene, Amsterdam and Lady Anne are very popular.