Best Way to Book a River Cruise

Want to know the best way to book a luxury river cruise?

River cruising has become very popular over the past decade with luxury travelers. Like an ocean cruise where you only have to unpack once, a river cruise allows you to explore a region from the inside rather than skirting around it from the outside.

River cruise ships are considerably smaller than ocean-going vessels and generally hold fewer than 200 people. The ship’s smaller draft allows them to drift along the world’s great rivers while offering passengers unparalleled access to fabulous cities and highly scenic vistas as they pass by castles, vineyards, and gorgeous pastoral scenes.

And just like cruise ships, river cruise ships come in various flavors and price ranges, offering wonderful lodging, cuisine, and shore excursions that will satisfy the desires of the casual traveler all the way to the most discriminate of luxury travelers.

Our Favorite River Cruise Brands

We have now booked thousands of river cruises around the world. Furthermore, Carol and I just sailed on our 8th personal river cruise in the fall of 2019.

We have sampled most of the major river cruise brands, have sailed on most of Europe’s most sought-after rivers, and have much to share with you. We know river cruising like few others.

While there are many river cruise brands to choose from, three of them have earned our “go-to” cruise brands:

4-Star: American Cruise Lines. Small ship river cruises in the U.S. To read our review, please CLICK HERE.
4-star: Viking River Cruises. Carol and I have grown to become the #3 booking agents for Viking in the world. We’ve sailed with them numerous times and know them very well. Viking has the uncanny ability to create raving fans of its brand. With very few exceptions, our clients come home happy and ready to book another Viking cruise. Viking dominates river cruising with more ships sailing than anyone. By far! With their massive buying power, Viking’s cruise fares include air (if you like) and present one of the best values in river cruising. Viking’s longships hold 190 passengers, and we’re confident that you will enjoy the experience. Further, we often have additional perks to add to your booking.
4.5-star: AmaWaterways. AmaWaterways is another favorite. We give them 4.5-stars as their ships hold fewer passengers on the same size ship (150 passengers). You will also find their food and beverage to be a notch up, and they offer their guests complimentary shore excursions all day instead of just a city tour first thing in the morning. Further, the typical passenger on AmaWaterways trends a little younger and more active. Onboard, you will enjoy complimentary bicycles, a small pool and hot tub, a small gym, and even a spa to get your nails done or your hair styled.
5-star: Uniworld Boutique River Cruises. Uniworld is one of our favorite 5-star river cruise lines. Everything aboard the ship is another notch up in quality. If you’re a foodie, you will love the cuisine offered by Uniworld. Furthermore, Uniworld is a completely all-inclusive experience. You will find it difficult to spend any money on a Uniworld river cruise; their ships are floating works of art, there are electric bicycles for you to use, and everything is absolutely the best of the best. If you are a 5-star traveler, this is the river cruise line for you.
5-star: Tauck River Cruises – We have yet to sail with Tauck River Cruises personally, but our clients have, and they rave about the experience. Tauck has considerably fewer ships than other river cruise brands but brings a 5-star experience full of unexpected delight, some of the largest staterooms in the industry, and an all-inclusive experience.

We Help You Plan the Perfect River Cruise Experience With Complimentary VIP Perks!

Uniworld’s La Venezia Suite

As your personal river cruise travel advisors, we can help you in the following ways:

Help you choose among the literally hundreds of available options to find the ship and itinerary that best fits your desired destination and travel style.
We’ll bring you the best available rates.
We’ll take care of all the details of getting you to the ship. If you like, we’ll help with air and ground transportation.
If you like, we’ll help you plan pre-cruise and post-cruise stays and itineraries to make your vacation even more fabulous.
And with the power of our connections with the Virtuoso Travel Network, we’ll get you to the most sought-after destinations with special perks that you won’t get on your own.
Think about it; we’ll help you make the destination decisions and handle all the details. Your job is to dream about it and have fun!

Through our Virtuoso Travel Connections, we have every major river cruise line available, and we stand ready to help you plan an unparalleled river cruise experience.

How to Book a Fun River Cruise

As I mentioned above, the price of a river cruise is the same as booking it yourself or using our expert advice.

Plus, we will generally have perks to add to your booking.

Therefore, the best first step is to reach out to me and let’s have a conversation.

The call is free, there’s no obligation, and I’m confident we’ll teach you something you didn’t know to ask.

For more information or to book a fun river cruise, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here) and we’ll reach out to you.