The wife and I are looking at doing a European River Cruise in 2020, and wanted to see if any of you had experience here with different companies and routes. I know it will be quiet with mostly older folks, but we're okay with that.

Suggestions? Must dos? Things to avoid? Best time of year to go?

Thanks!

I really liked the Christmas Markets. It is cold but fun and not that crowded.
A previous good bargain is the Nile cruise. Not sure about now but worth checking out.
I would like to do the Duero River and one that most would not do is the Brahmaputra River.

You may know this already, but river cruise boats are a lot smaller and do not have near as many onboard things to do as the larger ships. There are far fewer guests, but generally these are much higher end than your mass market cruise lines.

Prices do vary between the companies, however many times the higher end ones include many items some of the cheaper ones may not. For instance, some include excursions, alcohol at dinner or alcohol at any time, etc.

I think what I would focus on first is what you want to see. Do you want to cruise the Danube, the Rhine, Rhone, etc.

Whatever starts or goes through Budapest

We did a Viking River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. It was 14 nights on the boat, which is a little too long but we saw lots of great country. That cruise does the Rhine and the Danube Rivers. We have been a another one with friends (Rhine but different part). The one we took with friends was on AMA River Cruises. A little more expensive than Viking but the only difference we could see was AMA had a pool and the rooms were about 8 inches bigger. We liked Viking fine and will use them again. As suggested above, pick out where you want to go first.
It is certainly an older crowd but they are an adventurous bunch most of whom have traveled the world. We really enjoyed it.

Viking cruise was in April so we had some cold weather but not bad except in Budapest. Other one was in July and Europe is very crowded then. We like the off season--shoulder season--as they say.

Mrs. 82 Ag and I did the Budapest-Bucharest Viking cruise in July, 2018.

We travel quite a bit, but this was our first cruise of any type. We absolutely loved it! Small boat, nice fellow passengers, lots of Brits and not that many Americans, and excellent service!

We added the "spirits" package, and it was well worth the extra few dollars to have top shelf open bar for the entire trip.

We're looking at another one in 2020.

I highly recommend it!

So I'm renting my mom's old house while our house is being built and we get her Viking Cruise pamphlets. These things look fun but is it really worth the $5k or whatever they're charging?!

drumboy said:

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So I'm renting my mom's old house while our house is being built and we get her Viking Cruise pamphlets. These things look fun but is it really worth the $5k or whatever they're charging?!

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Well, that is a fair question.

It isn't cheap. It is luxury travel for sure. But, for a special event, or the "once-in-five-year" really nice vacation experience, I would say yes.

Remember, the old adage "you get what you pay for" usually rings true.

The passengers are typically older, I'd say 50+ with some in their 70s. We saw no children and only 2-3 millennials who were with their parents (family vacation). Most of our shipmates were seasoned travelers.

I guess it all depends on your idea of a very nice, luxury vacation.