Travel Trends - River Cruises

River cruises tend to appeal to well-traveled people who
want to focus on their destinations. The boats usually cruise during the night,
and dock in port during the daytime. The atmosphere on board is like being in a
small hotel that conveniently brings you to the heart of a new destination
every day.  Included shore excursions in
each port make exploring easy. Entertainment on board is low key, with local
entertainers, lecturers, winery owners and area historians making presentations.

 Torstein Hagen, the
70 year old Chairman and CEO of Viking River Cruises, has let his own personal
preferences be his guide for the ever-expanding line. At a recent christening
of ten new boats, Hagen described the Viking target audience. “We target people
like me.  People with some curiosity, who
have worked hard and earned some money. They haven’t had time to see these
places – and not just see, but experience the culture. They’re grown-up people.
They speak English. They are 55 plus”. A Viking River Cruise is “…for people
like me who want to have a quiet time and travel with people like myself”.  He went on to say “we have no need whatsoever to say we
want some younger people onboard. If you have teenagers, then you should go
somewhere else. We don’t encourage [inter]generational travel.”

While Viking caters to older adults, other lines like
Uniworld offer programs designed for multigenerational family travel on select
itineraries. On board bicycles on AMA Waterways encourage active travelers to
explore ports on their own or with a guided tour. Avalon offers shore
excursions at different paces to suit all sorts of travelers.

On European rivers, the size of the boats is restricted by
the width of the locks and the height of the bridges the boats must pass under.
So, are there any differences between one cruise line and another? Torstein
Hagen says he is “…a minimalist. Because there are a lot of women around, we
have to have some décor, some style, but we try to make it simple because we’re
in a very small space. So we are not a boudoir cruise line. If you want to go
with a boudoir, you know who you can go with.” This apparent reference to his line
caused Uniworld President Guy Young to state that “Uniworld eschews the
cookie-cutter approach used by Viking”. Uniworlds’s boutique hotel ambiance,
lower passenger count and unique designs for each ship cater to a high-end
clientele with a “very different approach to guest capacity and comfort”.  Identical ships and décor have allowed Viking
to keep costs down, which translates into lower fares for guests. The new “longships”
hold more passengers, because unlike the other lines, Viking adds staterooms
instead of gyms, specialty restaurants, and spas. You won’t find pools or
bicycles on board either. AMA President Rudi Schreiner takes a different
approach, saying that their gym, massage tables, and multiple restaurants “focus
on the individual needs of our customers with more choices every year, improved
services on board as well as on land.”

In 2012, Viking had a 96.4% cabin occupancy rate. This year,
their capacity is up 40%, and there are only 650 unsold cabins available in
Europe out of 51,000 for the March – October period. All river cruise lines are
experiencing similar numbers, with many sailings for summer already sold
out.  Whichever line you choose, booking
early offers you the best chance of getting the ship and sailing you prefer.