I have just returned from the 10th CLIA River View Conference in Budapest, where I was able to stroll up and down the Pest side of the river visiting 10 river cruise ships, and enjoy bed, breakfast and evening meal hospitality on 3 very different products.

It is true to say that there is a river cruise for everyone – with different budgets, interests and even ages. There are cruises with butlers, some aimed at families, others offering themed cruises like art, wellness, wine, gourmet and history, with cruises line offering their own specific levels of inclusion.

Each of the river cruise ships I stayed on have their own unique selling points (USPs):

VIVALDI (176 passengers) is one of 55 ships owned by Croisi Europe.

The company is family owned and was started by Gerard Schmitter over 40 years ago. Ships are either 2 or 3 decks high and standard or premium class, with a rolling programme of upgrading of the cabins and other facilities on board. The cruise line offers over 170 itineraries on all the main European rivers (and beyond) and uniquely on rivers like the Loire and Elbe (where the ships have paddle wheels to cope with the low draught). They also sail on the Oder and Havel and are one of the few cruise lines, along with Uniworld, to sail in Venice (offering some of the most competitively priced (floating) hotel accommodation in the city centre). Itineraries have durations from 3 nights (a long weekend), through the standard 7 nights up to 29 night trans Europe, multi river itineraries. Croisi Europe also operate river cruise ships in Egypt, South East Asia, Southern Africa (and Russia), as well as barges in France and coastal ships.

Sailing on Croisi Europe river cruise ships offers a quintessentially French experience: French is the main language spoken on board, although announcements (and signage) is in both French and English.

Meals are ‘plat du jour’ style – a set French style menu, although dietary dislikes are well catered for. Typically, English speaking guests will be seated at the same table (when we travelled with Croisi our table was made up of 3 Brazilians, 2 people from England (ie us), a Scots woman and her Swiss husband). Drinks are all inclusive on Croisi ships, but excursions are at an additional cost. One of the benefits of a river cruise is being able to get off the ship in a city centre and wander around on your own. Not every guest wants to take an organised trip. However, Croisi Europe do offer a range of excursion packages, including classic (touring) or discovery options, should you prefer.

You may find that Croisi Europe ships are also used by other touring type companies to provide the river cruise element of their tours.

MS Vivaldi is one of Croisi’s older premium standard ships. Many of the top two decks of cabins on the newer premium ships have French balcony cabins and beds facing the river, but on Vivaldi, the two top decks of cabins have large picture windows (nearly floor to ceiling) with a sliding top section and beds at right angles to the window.

A stand out feature on Croisi ships is that ALL lower deck cabins have large windows at a sensible height for sightseeing (a similar height to ocean view windows on ocean ships), not the more traditional high river view windows. To my mind this is a huge plus point.

The cabins themselves are functional, varying in size from 100 – 145 sq ft, depending on category, the bathrooms are compact, plug sockets are minimal and complimentary toiletries adequate (so you may want to bring some of your own to supplement). Croisi ships do not have a gym, hairdresser or spa facilities. But I do feel that the food served on board ‘punches above its weight’. We had pumpkin soup (that I could have eaten more of), a palette cleansing smoked salmon roll and then beef fillet with Parmesan polenta and vegetables. This was followed by cheese in grand-ma style (a cheesy puff pastry parcel) and Baked Alaska, all washed down with enjoyable French wines. As you might expect the breakfast croissants were particularly good.

A cruise with Croisi Europe ‘does what it says on the tin’, there are no pretensions on board and it does not claim to be anything it isn’t. With a range of different itineraries to other cruise lines, adequate cabins, attentive service and decent food it offers a good cruise experience at a competitive price.

Our second night was spent on board AMA VERDE (162 passengers), one of 26 ships operated by AMA Waterways on European rivers and in Egypt and SE Asia.

AMA Verde is one of several ships in the fleet (including AMA Bella, AMA Prima and AMA Certo) which feature twin or double balcony configurations – where one side is a French balcony with floor to ceiling doors that open and the other side has an actual (step out) shaded balcony with chairs to sit out on. These cabins are located on the top two decks and vary between 215 and 235 sq ft, depending on price point.

One of AMA Waterways’ strap lines is ‘oceans take you to places, rivers take you through them’ and on an AMA ship this is enhanced by their detailed attention to the food and wine served on board and their range of shore excursions, all experienced in comfortable and stylish surroundings. AMA Waterways are known for their innovations: they were the first river cruise line to carry complimentary bikes (24 on each ship) on board, the first to offer Wellness instructors on every ship and the first to build and sail a double width ship on the Danube. The emphasis is on a high standard of food and service– not only in our 5 course evening meal (baked coconut shrimp cake, beef consommé with a pancake roulade, lemon and peppermint sorbet, pan fried sea bass fillet with lime butter sauce and poppy seed raspberry parfait with a mini pistachio muffin), but also in Erlebnis the alternative 24 seater restaurant at the back of the ship, a chefs table style eatery with an open kitchen setting.

Guests are offered at least one complimentary evening meal there on a 7 night cruise.

Other features on board include a well stocked gym, a large splash pool with a swim up bar on the Sun deck, a walking track and the Observation Lounge with a small library.

AMA Waterways include drinks with lunch and dinner in their prices (including sparkling wine at breakfast), as well as wifi and shore excursions. These encompass a range of styles from classic, standard tours through themed experiences depending on the port of call, to more energetic expeditions on bikes. There are even slower paced tours for ‘Late Risers’, following their delayed breakfast in the Observation Lounge.

A cruise with AMA, whilst not being fully inclusive, guarantees you a thoroughly comfortable experience where every minute detail has been thought of (even down to the long handled shoe horn in the closet), complemented by food and wine of an excellent standard, as you would expect from a river cruise line that is part of the Chaine Des Rotisseurs (the International Association of Gastronomy).

Our last night was spent on SCENIC AMBER (163 passengers) – one of Scenic’s all suite ‘Space Ships’, so called due to the size of their cabins and their slightly futuristic decor palette (lots of sparkling chrome, shiny marble in shades of grey, mirrored black doors and silver streaked furniture).

Unlike many other river cruise lines, all the balconies are effectively full (step out) balconies, with electronically operated drop down glass. In reality they are actually enclosed portions of the suite with glass bifold style doors, masked by floor to ceiling sheer black out curtains and termed Scenic Sun Lounge Balconies.

They house two black padded chairs and plastic tables. Our Balcony Suite was 205 sq ft and Deluxe Balcony Suites are 225 sq ft – with the space difference primarily being in the width as you walk in the door.

Each suite benefits from the services of a Butler (river cruise lines like Uniworld and Tauck also offer butler service, but only for their top suites). This service includes in suite dining, a daily replenished mini bar, shoe shine and laundry services and Concierge style assistance in arranging ad hoc on board and shore side arrangements. All suites have very comfortable queen size Scenic Slumber beds and L’Occitane toiletries.

There are multiple dining venues on Scenic Amber: the main restaurant is Crystal Dining where we ate dinner (foie gras, beef fillet or pan fried Saint Pierre (fish) and somloi galuska) and breakfast Scenic (with an Aussie choice of lamb chops or minute steak and herb butter served with hash browns).

The River Café (similar to on other cruise lines and adjacent to the Panorama Lounge), offers early risers light breakfasts and daytime snacks and Portobello’s is a 32 seater restaurant serving a regionally inspired 5 course menu with paired local wines, situated at the bow of the ship, in the front of the Panorama Lounge and bar. Again, as on AMA Verde and also offered by other river cruise lines, this is complimentary and everyone on board is invited to dine here at least once during their cruise. For guests staying in the top suites (Junior and Royal suites) there is a 10 seater exclusive dining venue – Table La Rive. Finally, there is the opportunity for al fresco style eating on deck at The Riverview Terrace on the Sun deck, again something offered by other river cruise lines, but weather dependent.

In keeping with other cruise lines there is a small spa area, a gym and hair salon on board as well as a Vitality pool on the Sun deck.

Scenic offer a fully inclusive experience (ie drinks all day, not just at meal times) and also include an excellent range of shore excursions in their prices, many of which are exclusive to the cruise line. There are basically two types of excursion: Scenic Enrich - unique cultural experiences like a visit to Michael Schumacher’s private car collection at Motorworld in Cologne or exclusive after hours access to the digital art experience in an old submarine base at Les Bassins de Lumieres in Bordeaux and Scenic Choice. Scenic Choice is an extensively diverse, hand picked selection of options (at least two choices in every port of call) with a key available indicating the activity level required (active, moderate or relaxed pace). There are walking poles in every suite to use, regardless of your preferred speed, or indeed if you just choose to explore by yourself. In conjunction with the Scenic Tailormade App, this not only allows you to access commentary and information whilst off the ship, but also whilst sitting on the Sun deck and watching the riverside float by.

Scenic sail on all the main European rivers and on the Mekong in SE Asia.

Scenic – along with Tauck and Uniworld are probably the most all inclusive river cruise lines currently sailing. Scenic are the only ones offering butler service to all suites though. All of them offer an especially high standard of food and service (nothing is too much trouble – when on a previous cruise with Tauck, the Chief Sommelier decided to hold an ad hoc wine tasting session, which only 12 guests attended. We then asked for some of the wine we had tasted for dinner that evening. In a similar vein, I asked to do a particular (unadvertised) shore excursion and it was provided free of charge).                                                                                                                                                                        

They offer many exclusive and interestingly different shore excursions, organised in small groups (of typically no more than 16-20 people).