River Cruising Wasn't What I Expected. Here’s Why

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when a friend told me he was thinking of
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trying a european river cruise instead
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of his usual ocean cruise i had to sit
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him down and running through the series
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of things that had thrown surprise and i
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had really not been ready for when i've
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been river cruising things that i want
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to share with you
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as so many people i meet on river
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cruises come up against these same
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issues and so it's worth knowing about
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them too if you're new here welcome
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aboard i'm gary bembridge and it's my
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goal to make it fun and easy to discover
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plan and enjoy unforgettable cruise
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vacations very quickly once i was on my
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first river cruise i realized it had
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very little in common with ocean
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cruising it was much more like escorted
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bus tours that i've been on for example
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around florida or even around tanzania a
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river cruise feels much more like
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escorted touring by river than cruising
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on a river
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why is it so similar to escort touring
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well first of all size it's a smaller
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more intimate group you have a hundred
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maybe up to maximum of 200 or so
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passengers everyone gets to know who you
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are everyone gets to know you as you
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would on an escorted tour so it's
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definitely less good if you want to be
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left alone or don't really like mixing
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that much the format and structure are
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reminiscent of escorted tours that i've
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been on it's regimented there's a strict
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fixed daily schedule with kind of narrow
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windows of time to do everything
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and limited choices everyone does the
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same thing at the same time eating
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tours briefing and so on let me run you
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through a typical river cruise day to
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illustrate you have an announcement in
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the morning to get you up and that can
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be early around 7 30 to 8 in the morning
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so it's not particularly good if you're
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a late riser
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you then have about an hour or so for
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breakfast and then you're off on your
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first included morning tour
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there may be a choice of tours by the
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way and you normally split into groups
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there'll be a slow walk option and so on
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you then head back to the ship for lunch
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which you then have about an hour to do
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as well and then you then sail for the
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to the next port or you'll go off on
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another tour or you're simply just
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sailing
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then in the evening before dinner you
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have a briefing session on what's going
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to happen on the next day
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you then of course have dinner and there
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may be some local entertainment board on
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board or more normally you just got the
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onboard pianist playing a couple of
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tunes
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and you then basically repeat that whole
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process some days it could be a full-day
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tour so for example when i was on a
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viking danube cruise who went to brazil
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that was a whole day tour because it's
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kind of far away from where we were
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docked on an ocean cruise you're free to
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plan and do what you want when you want
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there are of course options and choices
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in a daily program on an ocean cruise
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which is packed full of activities with
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lots of choice throughout the day you
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can opt out you can opt in but on a
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river you don't have that degree of
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choice there are very limited things to
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do on ocean cruise you don't have to
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stick to the dining schedule for example
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on a river there's usually only one
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dining venue there may be
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a restaurant for example and some sort
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of informal option for example in the
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bar there might be a light lunch served
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there for you to take advantage of
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food though is only available on a river
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cruise at these dining times there is no
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room service so for example i got a
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complaint just this week from someone
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who'd done many ocean cruises now she
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went on a river cruise and was so
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frustrated to find that she could only
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get food at those set periods of time
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breakfast lunch and a dinner there was
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no way of getting food outside of those
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times of course on a river cruise you
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could self-explore if you want to but
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it's not very common to do so so for
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example i decided i wasn't going to go
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on one of the tours when i was on an
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avalon brine cruise they actually came
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to find me to find out why i wasn't
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going on that included tour you go on a
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river cruise to be part of the program
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part of the group so the first
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realization i had was that river cruise
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is not cruising as i knew it it's an
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escorted tour that happens to be on a
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river rather than on the road
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there are a couple of other key
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differences to ocean cruising i
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discovered through river cruising that i
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hadn't thought about enough
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nor probably the consequences of them
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some of the differences are pluses so
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for example embarking and disembarking
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on a river cruise is really simple it's
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fast it's easy unlike when you go on an
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ocean trip it's pretty much like
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checking in and out of a hotel really
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fast there are no lines there's no
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check-in hoo-ha
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it's much more flexible in terms of the
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time you need to arrive and so on of
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course a new river cruise ship is
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dramatically smaller than an ocean
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cruise ship but i hadn't fully
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appreciated the knock-on effects that
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come with that
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unlike ocean ships all river cruise
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ships are basically the same
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and they all have the same limited
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facilities they are the same size and
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shape first of all because they're
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constrained by the height of bridges
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they need to go under and the width
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because they need to go through the
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locks along the river once you're inside
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they're all basically the same too
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unlike on an ocean ship where there's
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lots of variety lots of differences in
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decor and layout on a river cruise ship
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you have a lounge or a bar area where
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you have your drinks and your briefings
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that i was talking about earlier you
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have the restaurant which i mentioned
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earlier which can seat everybody at one
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time you're going to have a little
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reception desk then you have a sun deck
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which may have a hot tub or a plunge
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pool in many cases
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there are no entertainment facilities
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like a casino
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shops no specialty dining venue no
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choice of bars no production show area
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or theater there's not entertainment
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every night
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i like to work out but found that most
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didn't even have a fitness room or if
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they did it was tiny with a bike a
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treadmill and a rowing machine they
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don't have a spa though some actually do
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have a little massage room
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so that was the big shock the
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realization having been cruising
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that i was used to all these facilities
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all that choice which you won't have and
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don't have on a river cruise cabin
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choices are also limited basically it's
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all about location you either go under
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the water line
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or above the water line under the water
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line is the lowest level of cabins and
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you have a window about three quarters
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of the way up which is just above the
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water level they are my favorite cabins
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because i found them a little bit noisy
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when sailing and they felt a little bit
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enclosed to me
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if you have a cabin above the waterline
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with beautiful windows or a balcony
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because the rivers are busy and they all
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call in the same places river cruise
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ships dock parallel to each other
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so even if you have paid that extra to
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have one of those above those line
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cabins you may find it can suddenly get
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dark and a few feet away from you is
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another ship with somebody basically
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staring back at you the rhythm of
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sailing is very different to the ocean
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ocean ships tend to sell at night and
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spend the whole day in port on a river
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cruise it's pretty different there's no
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set pattern like that some days you may
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call on two places and sail some of the
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day others you will stay in one place
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all day some days you'll sail at night
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and some you don't it's more port
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intensive and so you often call on two
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or even three places in one day on the
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plus side there is scenery all the time
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you're sailing unlike at sea
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and you dark in the heart of the places
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you're calling on so you can basically
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walk right off into the action in that
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village or town or city the distance you
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cover is so much less than my ocean
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it's an intensive look at a region i
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realized just how short the distances
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were where my last viking and emerald
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cruises the tour bus and the drivers and
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the guides were the same at every stop
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but they would actually be going home
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each night and then just driving to join
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us each morning on an avalon ryan cruz i
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had the choice of cycling between the
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two places where the ship was selling
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that day because it was only around 15
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miles away i read on cruise critic that
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a riverboat might need up to 12 hours to
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sell along a distance of a river
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a journey that would only take you two
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hours if you're going there by bus
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on the plus side unlike ocean cruise
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there's no chance of getting seasick
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there's barely any emotion and movement
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on the rivers so for the first time i
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could entice my father-in-law who's
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really obsessed with getting sick onto a
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cruise a river cruise talking about
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sickness there's no medical center
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unlike on ocean cruise ships i actually
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fell ill on an emerald waterways cruise
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between bucharest and budapest and i
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kind of needed to see a doctor i
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discovered the lines though no there are
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no medical centers there are no local
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doctors along the route so they took me
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there and i got sorted out quite quickly
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but on ocean cruise of course if you
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feel ill you have the medical center to
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go to
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all of these i realized
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and all these differences and things
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that make a river cruise difference very
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different to an ocean cruise experience
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also has a massive
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big impact on who goes on a river cruise
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despite where river cruise line ads
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suggests it's still a traditional crowd
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who go river cruising
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the rivers where the bulk of european
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river cruising happens like the rhine
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the danube and associated rivers are
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peppered with old historic towns and
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places
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and the tours in these places are very
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culturally focused and usually our
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walking tours through the town they
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focus on the history the culture
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and often the cathedrals lots of
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cathedrals but all of the stuff appeals
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to that audience much more there is some
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change underway and on more recent river
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cruises i'm seeing more for example food
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and wine tours for example on my last
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crusty europe lua cruz we had much more
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of these included and we also visited
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more chateaus for example on ammo waters
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in avalon i had more active hiking and
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bike tour options and on viking we went
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to see performances in the evening of a
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small kind of opera group in vienna so
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there is change however the places river
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cruises go means they call on historic
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cultural places it's more laid back and
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it of course therefore attracts people
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who who are interested in that
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it's not going to attract young families
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or young couples who want to go out
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partying although some lines like
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uniworld and our trace are trying to
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attract that crowd but it does tend to
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be a slightly older
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more calm crowd separate to age the
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nature of river cruising will
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based on what i've experienced
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always though appeal to a specific type
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of traveler no matter their age when i
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chat to people on river cruises they
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tell me the format of river cruising
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suits them because they like that it's a
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curated highly organized tour all they
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have to do is decide which river they
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want to go on
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when they want to go and which cruise
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line they want to go on and then that's
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the last decision they have to make
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because the rest of the program is
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sorted in great detail for them every
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meal every tour any entertainment entry
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into into attractions it's all planned
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it's sorted out for them river cruises
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as i told my friend are costly
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especially when you compare the day cost
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of a river cruise versus the day cost of
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an ocean cruise now admittedly there's a
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few reasons for that the ships are
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smaller than ocean ships and they can't
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amortize the cost as much and you're
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paying to have a more intimate
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experience and then there are lots more
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inclusions in addition to your cabin and
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all your meals many have some or drinks
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included most will include beer and wine
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at your meal at lunch and at dinner for
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example as a minimum excursions are
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included wi-fi is included often
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transfers to and from the ship are
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included
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i do like to have the flexibility when
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on a vacation and so i find river
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cruising probably a little bit more
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restrictive than often i like and
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although i've enjoyed doing them i don't
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think i would repeat many of the cruises
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i've been on because i found for example
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when it went on my second danube trip
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and my second ryan trip it was a little
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bit too familiar we called on the same
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places the tours were the same we were
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seeing the same things and there wasn't
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as much opportunity to do and look at
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things in a different way
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so though i'm not sure i'd repeat the
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route i would say to you and i'd say to
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my friend it is a fantastic way for
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seeing the interior of europe in an
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intensive and a simple way because it's
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curated
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and certainly for me therefore trying
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new rivers appeals to me i found this
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for example when i tried to trip on
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emerald which went from bucharest to
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budapest i got to see all the former
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eastern european countries that have
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made up czechoslovakia
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and hear their stories find out about
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the history i saw the places that would
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have been much much more challenging to
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do if i'd done a land-based tour it'd be
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much more complicated to see so much so
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quickly
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there are also some themed river cruises
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that appeal to me like the christmas
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markets which are exciting because you
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go right into the heart of all the key
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christmas markets so i look at river
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cruising when i'm looking for something
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very specific like that and i don't want
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to spend much effort planning i just
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want to give that to somebody else to do
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i'm prepared to be scheduled organized
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and make very few decisions and that's
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my advice to my friend considering
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trying one out
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think about if that's what you want now
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to find out what the best river cruises
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to do and lines to go with watch this
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short playlist of two videos where i
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reveal the master river cruise trips in
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europe starting with the best first and
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second clues to do and which lines to do
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them with
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see you over there

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