ABD Rhine River Cruise vs Viking River Cruise

Not that Travel & Leisure is the ultimate authority but here are their rankings for 2019: https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/river-cruise-lines
Cruise Critic Editors also chose Uniworld as the best river cruise line.
I wouldn't judge a company based on the appearance of one boat. All of the river cruise lines have some older and some newer boats. The trips with the older boats are usually a little less expensive.
 
My daughter and I did the AMA only Christmas market cruise last year. It was wonderful. The ship and crew were top notch, food was great and each day they offered two or three levels of excursions, active to not so. I was very pleased overall and it exceeded my expectations. My husband and I would like to do a Rhine Cruise and we will definitely choose Ama.

You'll love it! The Danube was our favorite but we loved the AMA Rhine cruise also.

Not that Travel & Leisure is the ultimate authority but here are their rankings for 2019: https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/river-cruise-lines

Here are the awards that AMA has won.

https://www.amawaterways.com/explore/award-winning
 
We did a Danube River cruise on Viking last summer, and we loved it! Yes, I looked at the ABD itinerary and I really was torn because many of the excursions looked like so much fun. However, the price difference was significant, and we were extending our trip by a week, so we wanted to save some money. The service was top notch, including the tour guides. As for being adult only, I'm not sure if that is a recent change; our Viking ocean cruise in Jan 2021 is listed as adults only. But there actually were 2 teenage boys on our river cruise. Their mother admitted her in-laws booked (and paid for) the trip. :)
While I look forward to doing an ABD cruise someday, I would not hesitate to recommend Viking.
 
I'm not sure if that is a recent change; our Viking ocean cruise in Jan 2021 is listed as adults only. But there actually were 2 teenage boys on our river cruise.

It's a recent change. They were probably grandfathered in if the cruise was booked before the change took place.
 


Is there a time of year when the water levels are low A time or month we should avoid?
Thank you all for your advice! :thumbsup2
 
I did Uniworld back in 2011 that covered both the Moselle and the Rhine and it was the single best vacation I've ever had. Most river cruises skew to an older crowd (I was 41 at the time and I think I was the youngest person on board).

That being said the food on board was amazing! Literally amazing! The staff was great and the vessel we were on had a 123 passenger capacity but only 92 passengers were on board. I would do it again in a heartbeat!
 
We did a Danube River cruise on Viking last summer, and we loved it! Yes, I looked at the ABD itinerary and I really was torn because many of the excursions looked like so much fun. However, the price difference was significant, and we were extending our trip by a week, so we wanted to save some money. The service was top notch, including the tour guides. As for being adult only, I'm not sure if that is a recent change; our Viking ocean cruise in Jan 2021 is listed as adults only. But there actually were 2 teenage boys on our river cruise. Their mother admitted her in-laws booked (and paid for) the trip. :)
While I look forward to doing an ABD cruise someday, I would not hesitate to recommend Viking.

This is good to hear. We are seriously considering Viking for a future trip. It would be our first river cruise and we are both older (I'm 42 and my mom is 70) and are not interested in traveling with children.
 


I did Uniworld back in 2011 that covered both the Moselle and the Rhine and it was the single best vacation I've ever had. Most river cruises skew to an older crowd (I was 41 at the time and I think I was the youngest person on board).

I stood out like a sore thumb on the AMA-only cruise I took!
 
I've done an ABD river cruise and an AMA-only river cruise. Both wonderful but very different. I wouldn't hesitate to do either of them again.
Can you share what you mean by very different? We are looking into a river cruise for this fall. Thank you.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top