River Cruise Lines Everyone Is Raving About RIGHT NOW
River Cruise Lines Everyone Is Raving About RIGHT NOW
I’m sceptical when travel magazines or cruise sites list their rankings of the best European river cruise lines. Why? Because I feel, rightly or wrongly, there is a link between the amount each lines spend advertising in those publications. So, I decided to see how today’s travellers are spending their hard-earned money on river cruising are rating the lines on review sites. I quickly discovered the rankings were not as I expected them to be and were different to those of the magazines and sites.
So, I will let you in on the top 8 traveller best rated river cruise lines right now, and why.
Why The River Cruise Lines Rankings Matter
Why should these ratings matter so much to you when considering river cruising?
First, it’s expensive to river cruise, so the cost of you choosing the wrong line is high. There are three broad classes: value, premium, and luxury. But even value lines can cost from $250 / £200 per person per night and luxury lines start from around $450/ £350 per person per night.
As all European river cruising ships on the surface look the same – as the locks and bridges mean they are all the same width and height – they sail the same rivers (like the Danube, Rhine, Douro, and Seine), and stop at the same places, visiting the same sights, it means that the less visible differences that these real cruisers have experienced and rated, like the cabins, service, menus, itineraries, excursions, and who each is best suited for, really count.
I have travelled on most of these cruise lines too, so I’ll also give you my perspective as well as what other travellers are saying. Let’s start at the bottom of the eight and work up to the top rated.
CroisiEurope
A line I have cruised multiple times and currently ranked 8th best with a score of 4.1 out of five is CroisiEurope. They are a well-established line launching in 1976 by Mr. Gerard Schmitter and are still owned by the family.
They have 32 ships, and they seem to cover more rivers than any line in this list. CroisiEurope is also the only value line in the top 8. Unlike the other lines, they have different classes of ships in their fleet which they bill as three, four, and five stars with different experiences.
The ships overall tend to be a little bit more basic than the others in the list and tend to be mostly French or European guests. I have been on CroisiEurope where there’s just two other English speakers. They serve good French food but have smaller menus than the other lines that cost more, but overall, it is a really good value option.
Cruise Critic agree with my assessment as they ranked CroisiEurope as the Best River Line for Unique Itineraries
The next line in the ranking is almost the opposite of CroisiEurope.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
And that is Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, with a slightly higher 4.3 out of five rating. They are at the top end of the luxury category, but like CroisiEurope are one of the oldest river cruise lines, also launching in 1976. At time of writing, they had 13 ships. I have cruised them several times and I do find their ships rather “blingy” and glitzy, décor wise. They do, however, have a very high level of service, which they call “Six-Star Service”. I think they have the best service of any line I have been on, along with excellent food and wines.
Cruise Critic reviews are also good.
Next up is only one of two lines in the ranking that I have not cruised with yet.
Scenic River Cruises
And that is Scenic River Cruises that just missed out on being in the top 5 with a 4.4 out of five rating.
They are part of the Scenic Group and are in the luxury river cruise category, while their sister line, Emerald is in the premium category. More on them shortly.
Scenic promise a luxurious experience and have 12 contemporary looking ships with what they claim have some of the largest suites. As I said, I have not cruised for Scenic, but I’ve toured their ships, and they are very beautiful ships.
Their sister line though just pips them in the ratings.
Emerald River Cruises
Emerald River Cruises gets a strong 4.5 out of five rating. They are a smallish line with just eight ships at time of writing.
I’ve cruised with them only once so far, on their Danube Enchantment of Eastern Europe cruise between Bucharest, Romania to Budapest, Hungary. But, they have three stand out features.
They have spacious feeling cabins. Instead of balconies they have more cabin space with panoramic windows which slide down to let in fresh air and to allow for scenic viewing.
They have many active excursions unlike many other lines, and I felt they were trying to appeal to a younger traveller.
At the rear of their ships is a unique space which during the day is an indoor plunge pool, and in the evening gets covered over and becomes cinema, or hosts events.
Due to having fewer ships than most of the other higher ranked lines, Emerald Cruises offer less diverse itineraries and stick to the major rivers like Rhine and Danube.
I see them as being particularly good for people who are looking for a more youthful vibe and more active excursions.
The next line got the same 4.5 out of 5 rating as Emerald, which really surprised me as it’s one of my favourite river cruise lines and think it deserves more.
AmaWaterways
That line is AmaWaterways, which was founded in 2002 by a group of friends, Rudi Schreiner, Jimmy Murphy, and Kirstin Karst. They have 24 European river cruise ships at the time of writing, including the unique AmaMagna, which is double the width of regular river cruise ships.
They’re in the luxury category, so a bit higher end than Emerald.
I think their ships are beautiful inside, and have really good food, with large menu choices, and on most of the ships, there is a second more fine-dining option, called the Chef’s Table, where you can watch the chefs prepare the food.
I like that their cabins have both a Juliet balcony and a regular balcony. Having the Juliet balcony makes the cabins a little bit bigger, but there is still the ability to sit outside on the balcony watching the scenery pass by.
They’re leaning into wellness, with a dedicated Wellness person on board who runs classes and active and wellness excursions. They also have bikes on board for free use in ports.
AmaWaterways is one of my favourite lines because of that mix of great cabins, food, and emphasis on wellness.
CruiseCritic recently rated them as the best line for cuisine and best for range and choice of features on the AmaMagna.
The next line up on the rankings is a totally new line that only came into service in 2023, but already is the 3rd highest rated.
Riverside River Cruises
Riverside River Cruises is currently getting a generous 4.6 out of five rating and is the only one of the top 5 I have not cruised on yet.
The line was created after the owners purchased the Crystal River cruise ships when Crystal went bust. Their ships are the Mozart, Ravel, and Debussy.
Like Uniworld, they are very much the top end of the luxury category, and I think the only river cruise line with butlers. The cabins are plush and fancy, with a focus on fine dining and being pampered.
They are costly, but seem to be the fanciest and plushest of all the cruise lines.
The line that came second in the rankings, also surprised me not being number one as it is the biggest and best known of all the river cruise lines.
Viking River Cruises
Viking River Cruises regularly win many industry awards and did get a strong 4.6 out of 5 rating like Riverside.
They have, by my calculation the biggest fleet of European river ships, with 54 operating on the main Central European rivers, four on the Douro, two on the Elba, and four on the River Seine.
Most of their ships are called Longships, holding up to 190 guests.
The ships have a clean and bright Scandinavian décor with light woods and colours.
They are much more on the traditional side, so unlike AmaWaterways for example, they don’t have a fitness centre or bicycles on board, and tend to aim at and attract a more traditional and slightly older crowd. Viking is the only of the lines in this list that you must be 18 or over to cruise on.
They cater probably better than many of the other cruise lines, I feel, for people with more limited mobility.
They do have some active excursions, so I have been on bike excursions, for example. But they are much more around the on-board experience, like dining and enrichment, and the history and culture of the destination.
Big Plus
One of the big pluses of Viking is because they have so many ships, they have a wide range of itineraries and length of cruises. The food is pretty good and consistent, though some of the other lines in my experience, have slightly better food. But it’s a good solid cruise line, which is why I think it comes in second.
Cruise Critic picks them as the best river cruise line choice for first timers. And I think that’s also probably right, just because they have so much choice, and are consistent.
Now, the line which comes in at a number one, I did not predict before doing this because personally, while I have had great times on board, I probably rate some of the other lines a little bit higher, but most travellers disagree with me, clearly.
Avalon Waterways
With a huge rating of 4.7 out of five is Avalon Waterways.
Avalon is part of the Globus travel group, which includes Globus and Cosmos escorted tour companies and are well-connected in the ports for excursions and guides. They do tend to be very strong on excursions.
They launched in 2004 and, at the time of writing, have 14 ships and are in the luxury category.
I’ve cruised with them on the Rhine and the Danube, and liked that they are focused more on fitness and wellness, with fitness people on board, active excursion options like hiking, and biking, and many wellness food options on the menu.
They argue one of their key advantages and differences are what they call their “Avalon Suite ships”, featuring the “Avalon Panorama Suites”. They say that these are 30% larger than the industry standard cabin, and like Emerald have wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows that slide down, and the beds face the river. It’s surprising how unique it is having the bed facing the river on such scenic routes!
I think they are great for people looking for a more active river cruising experience, and so was not surprised to see that Cruise Critic named them as the Best River Cruise Line for Active Travellers.
Make sure to stop and check out my blog on the river cruise lines to stay clear of and why!
