A NOTE: This book is intended for first-time river cruisers. I don’t want you feeling ripped off by buying it if it is not for you. If you are an experienced river cruiser you already know all this; you should consider Volumes 2 and 3 in this series, which discuss the locations in an eastern Danube voyage in more detail so you can decide whether this specific itinerary is what you want.
For the person considering their first river cruise, it would be a terrible thing to sink tens of thousands of dollars into a vacation only to realize after a day or so that you are stuck for the next two weeks and constrained to doing things you don’t especially enjoy with a bunch of people you have nothing in common with. Unfortunately, deciding to go on any type of packaged tour or cruise, where you are too invested (or too far out at sea) to change your mind, can create that kind of situation.
The author was inspired to write the River Cruising series because an earlier decision as to whether to sign up for a river cruise in Russia was very difficult. For two travelers, as much as $40,000 was riding on random snippets of information from Facebook and YouTube, but it was hard to put the whole thing together to get a sense of what the totality of the experience might be like. Fortunately, one couple had published their journal of that same itinerary, and having it all in a book form made it a lot easier to get that overall impression. (Unfortunately, since the invasion of Ukraine, neither the voyage not the book are available anymore).
This series attempts to provide that same type of resource for travelers thinking of taking a river cruise. The early books in the series describe a voyage on the eastern Danube, which at 1,000 miles is one of the longest river tours available.
This book, Volume 1 in the series, discusses the initial decision as to whether a river cruise is for you (or you are the right type of person for it). Not everyone is. The people most likely not to enjoy it are not complete cruise first-timers, who haven’t formed any real expectations, but veteran ocean cruisers who like things the way they are done on ocean ships. Fair enough. When you’re laying down that kind of money, it should be for something you enjoy.
River cruises and ocean cruises share two common factors: they involve ships, and they are very expensive. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and many people who like one or the other see them in completely opposite ways, depending on their preferences. This book helps you decide whether a river cruise is the right kind of vacation for you.
This book covers:
- Deciding on a River Cruise
- Planning the Voyage
- What to Pack
- Tips About the Ship
The book does not regurgitate materials that are already available on your cruise line’s website. It provide observations about things that weren’t immediately apparent when booking a voyage and only became clear once the author was on board.
The details in the book come from the author’s experience with Viking River Cruises. Other than having been a very satisfied passenger, there is no relationship, financial or otherwise, with that company, and the comments in this book are generally applicable to all river cruises.
Get a PDF copy from the author here, or
Get a copy from Amazon here.