A friend went on a river cruise and I thought that sounded fun. So I did some looking up. They’re not cheap at over £400 day, the Danube is more expensive than the Rhine; some prices exclude the journey there and back. Food and drink is often included, but they have several ways of getting more money from you, a single’s supplement and room size being the obvious ones. One week is cheaper than two. 😆 This is going to have to wait.
- Rhine River Cruises from Viking; they changed their site for 2023
- The Rhine from Avalon in 2023, £2,117 for 8 nights plus travel.
- River cruise price comparisons from River Cruise Advisor, still waiting for 2023 prices
- I watched a couple of videos and learnt the following things, they can be very active, particularly if the excursions are included, Viking is 5*. Avalaon has good cabins, or Croisie Europe, a French company although their travel is unbundled. Top tip, the lower cabin deck is on the waterline and only has porthole windows, no sitting on a balcony sipping cold whites while the river goes past.
- Or Riviera Travel, who offer Rhine & Moselle, Rhine, Strasbourg & Hiedleberg, and Cologne to Basel, with a coach trip to Lucerne and back via the Bernese Oberland, all 8 days, all 2023, includes travel, by train, and discounted upgrades and in some dates with no singles supplement. They advertise their boats on their site.
Or I could consider canal rental,
- In France, with Le Boat, they have a number of bases, including the Camargue and Alsace
- And https://www.locaboat.com/en/boating-holidays/france/, similar locations.
A Eurostar to Amsterdam in Nov 2022, cost about £275, £215 by plane from LCY, 7 days in a month, on inter-rail, , £265.