Insight Guides - Insight Guides River Cruising in Europe & the USA (Berlitz Cruise Guide with Free eBook)

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This River Cruising in Europe & the USA e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your next river cruise, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

About River Cruising in Europe & the USA

The book is divided into two main parts: the first one the introductory section helps you to define what you are looking for in a river cruise holiday and how to find it; it provides a wealth of information, including a look at life aboard a rivership and how to get the best from it. This e-book concentrates on the established river cruise companies, whose cruises can be purchased through specialist travel agents and tour operators, and on the key rivers in Europe (including the Danube, Rhein, Elbe, Rhne, Seine, Bordeaux region and Douro), with a rundown of the destination highlights.

About the Ship Ratings

The books main section profiles 364 river-going cruise vessels, from budget to deluxe, using the unique ratings system. The ratings and evaluations are a painstaking documentation of the authors personal work. The world's foremost authority on cruising, Douglas Ward has been travelling the worlds oceans, rivers and inland waterways for more than 50 years. All evaluations have been made objectively, without bias, partiality, or prejudice. In almost all instances, the riverships have been visited recently by the author or one of his team in order to assess current status. Passenger comments are taken into account in the final evaluations.

Most of the statistical information contained in the ship profiles was supplied by the river cruise lines and rivership owners. Any errors or updated information should be sent to the author at .

Please note that Douglas Wards constant ship inspection schedule means he is infrequently on land and is no longer able to answer letters. However, every comment received will be studied and will help maintain the authority of the next edition for the benefit of all.

From the Author

Rivers were here eons before roads were created and have always been vital to human settlement and survival. Among the many of Europes great cities that grew up on the banks of a river are London (Thames), Paris (Seine), Cologne (Rhine), Frankfurt (Main), Prague (Elbe/Vltava), Budapest (Danube) and Vienna (Danube). Rivers have long been used as lifelines by which nations conduct commerce and organise the transportation of goods. They are used for drainage, irrigation, water supply and the production of hydroelectric power. But they are also sources of adventure and romance. Note that rivers are natural entities, and Mother Nature can be unpredictable. Variable conditions mean that nothing such as the depth, the current or flow of water is guaranteed.

I have been travelling the worlds oceans, rivers and inland waterways for more than 50 years and in this guide I have concentrated on the established river cruise companies, almost all of whose cruises can be purchased through specialist cruise booking agents and tour operators. This book is in two sections, covering river cruising in Europe (Part One) and the USA (Part Two). It covers destination highlights in both of those distinct geographical areas before reviewing and rating over 364 riverships. Our Insight Guides rivership and US steamboat ratings are based on amenities, cuisine, service and the overall river cruise experience.

Part One: River cruising in Europe is about visiting destinations (you literally flow through history) and is very different from cruising aboard large ocean-going cruise ships, where passengers can number in the thousands, and embarking, disembarking and security queues can be an exercise in frustration. The maximum number of passengers per rivership is around 200, so any tours are done in much smaller groups, or individually, and on a personal scale.

River cruising in Europe has grown dramatically in recent years, with over 50,000 beds available. Riverships vary from the equivalent of a waterbus to what some think of as eau couture . The hassles of ordinary travel are eliminated in one pleasant package, with someone else doing all the cooking and driving. There are no worries about motion sickness, either its all smooth sailing. Budgeting is easy, because you pay in advance, so you know what you will spend on your holiday, without any hidden surprises. Its all low-key there are no casinos, knobbly knees contests or other potentially irritating parlour games (unlike on an ocean cruise), and organised events are geared towards culture. And, when your rivership docks, you simply walk off. You never have to take a tender to go ashore, because most riverships dock close to the centre of a destination.