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Viking Cruise multiply River Cruise ship Christening
It's that time of year again: River cruise companies are rolling out the red carpet and getting ready to smash Champagne bottles against their newest vessels as christening season gets underway. So what, if anything, will be new this year?
As anyone who has been on at least two or three river cruises may know, river cruise ships are confined by length and width dimensions that are dictated by the locks and bridges along Europe's inland waterways; in essence river cruise ships are all very similar in size and can only include so many onboard features and amenities.
Well, sort of. If the ships were so totally the same, travel media and travel sellers wouldn't bother to make our annual pilgrimages across the pond to see what's new and different among all the new European river inventory. We are heading over there to scope out whatever tweaks and adjustments river cruise lines are making. And while I don't know what all the possible surprises that await this spring may be, I can tell you what I'll be looking for in terms of fresh takes on river cruise ships so that you, too, can be on the lookout.
Always high on the list is food, of course. Despite the limited amount of space on river cruise ships, lines have increasingly been making efforts to amplify and expand their culinary offerings. So, this christening season I'll be taking a close look at new and different takes on dining venues. Crystal in particular has ambitious plans for multiple dining venues on its forthcoming "river yachts", slated to launch this summer. And Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection has teased us with some serious new dining ventures, as well, on its latest creation, the S.S. Joie de Vivre, launching later this month in Paris; think a Bistro resto; special al fresco dinners; chef's table, farm-to-table dining; and something it's calling a "progressive dinner" involving a tour of the vessel.
Next up is public spaces. As I tour these freshly christened vessels, I'm always looking for new and unique features in the lounge and bar areas, perhaps in the spa and fitness room or on the sun deck. Lately, river cruise lines have been breaking up these spaces to offer more diverse options. So maybe in the entryway to the lounge, there might be a new library or sitting room (something AmaWaterways has implemented on its newer vessels). Is there a new pool or whirlpool element? Not a lot of vessels in Europe have pools because of the unpredictable weather, so if there's a pool, that's noteworthy.
And then, of course, there's always the up-close-and-personal inspection of the staterooms and suites. Are there balconies off of the cabins? Are they full, step-out balconies or French balconies? Are the staterooms relatively roomy or pretty petite? What about the furnishing and decor: pretty standard or rather distinct? What kind of toiletries are stocked in the bathroom? How comfy are the beds? These are some of the questions I'll be arming myself with.
Off the ship, the excursions are key and often are what truly make the river cruise memorable. River cruise lines have been working to offer more active and interesting shore experiences, so I'll be looking for those "wow" activities, meals hosted in charming venues, fun hiking or biking trips that raise passengers' heart rates or more interactive outings, such as cooking classes or encounters with locals.
Lastly, there is, of course, the service the people element. I will be looking out for whether there are new policies or service enhancements available, such as a concierge or butler service, another area where river cruise companies have been upping the ante.
All told, when christening season is through, we should have a better sense of some of the new trends emerging on and off the vessels and a reaffirmation of the fact that even within a relatively confined space there is always room for progress and innovation.
When you have more bookings than you know what to do with, that's the good kind of problem to have in the travel industry, right?
Well, sort of. No travel company ever wants to have too many empty beds/seats/cabins. But not having enough openings to meet demand, that's a tricky problem too, because that's when you risk losing clients to the competition.
And when demand is a bit in flux, as it currently is in the river cruise market, it's hard to plan for unknown growth and an unknown future. For those watching closely, you may have noticed that shipbuilding momentum has eased up in the river cruise industry. Viking River Cruises is only building two ships next year, down from the six it debuted this year, 12 last and the record 18 the company launched in 2014.
AmaWaterways too is only launching one new vessel each in 2017 and in 2018 (the company typically launches two each year). And Avalon Waterways doesn't have any new ships planned for 2017, after several years of consistently building two or three vessels annually. The shipbuilding frenzy clearly has died down a bit for now, even as some newer players (I'm looking at you, Crystal) have entered the market.
But then there is the issue of pent-up demand following a softer year such as the one the river cruise market just experienced, driven by the terror attacks in Paris and Nice and by high water levels that disrupted some departures. River cruisers who put off the popular travel style in 2016 may now be looking to get onboard in 2017.
Noting pent-up demand from the U.S. market and on the heels of two promising future booking months, AmaWaterways this month announced its 2018 sailings are open for booking. And several other river cruise lines have been promoting their 2018 availability as well. If there really was some pent-up demand as AmaWaterways claims, a shipbuilding slowdown could potentially create a capacity bottleneck that might force river cruise lines to offer up 2018 cabins as an overflow alternative to 2017.
Then again, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This past year was a challenging one, and river cruise lines will likely be happy to simply fill their 2017 inventory at higher capacity levels than they did in 2016. If demand for river cruising returns with a fervor strong enough to have some river cruise lines regretting they didn't put in some additional ship orders, that is a problem they would probably prefer to have over figuring out how to fill empty ships.
Disney successfully adds its character to river cruise market
Adventures by Disney’s cruises on the AmaViola sail by Budapest’s Parliament building.
ABOARD THE AMAVIOLA — Adventures by Disney’s first river cruising season is nearly halfway over, and so far, it has proved a successful move into a market generally overlooked by family travelers.
On this seven-day Danube sailing on the 170-passenger AmaViola from Vilshofen to Budapest, Ken Potrock, senior vice president of Adventures by Disney (ABD), said the company was already looking forward to its expansion to a second river, the Rhine, next summer, and that Disney was broadening river cruising’s demographic.
“[We’re] bringing new people into the river cruise category,” Potrock said. “They’re kind of locked into a segment of the population, and we can expand that segment by bringing families into the equation.”
ABD made its foray into river cruising in partnership with AmaWaterways, which purpose-built the AmaViola with family-friendly design details, including connecting staterooms and suites suitable for three- and four-member families, a rare feature on river cruise ships.
As you would expect with Disney, cruisers will find a family-friendly experience onboard, with movie nights and dance parties for kids. Disney Cruise Line fans will recognize the pirate party with face painting.
Kid-friendly excursions include a walking tour of Bratislava, Slovakia, where kids can complete a puzzle of landmarks; a salt mine tour in Salzburg, Austria, with train rides and wooden slides going into the mine; an Austrian park where kids can walk above the treetops on wooden ledges; and a marionette show offering children a chance to go backstage and try manipulating the dolls themselves.
Parents will appreciate touches such as the tour of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, where Adventure Guides take the kids through garden mazes and to an onsite children’s museum, enabling adults to explore on their own.
Launching the first of this kind of product has been a learning process, and Disney said it would continue to tweak the programming and dining to make it better for both adults and children.
The biggest change so far is the minimum age for its cruises: next year, Disney raised it from 4 to 6, but it still recommends 8, based on feedback and “seeing how the different aged kids were dealing with the river cruise experience,” said Terry Brinkoetter, public relations director for Disney Destinations.
The line also adjusted its dining options. Previously, everyone ate dinner together in the dining room. Now, kids can choose to eat in the lounge, supervised by Adventure Guides who hang out and play games, giving parents a chance to dine alone. Teens may eat together in the wine cellar, and many on my cruise chose to do so. The main dining room has a kids menu for when families wish to dine together.
Disney also learned on the go with its increasing the minimum age from 12 to 14 years after seeing how challenging the tour was, with rough roads (think cobblestone streets) and non-English street signs. An example of the high level of onboard service is that with no bikes suitable for younger kids such as my 9-year-old for the “ride on your own” option, the cruise director had local bikes delivered to use.
Future plans
Potrock, who was also onboard with his family, said over dinner at the ship’s Chef’s Table Restaurant that next year’s expansion to the Rhine on the upcoming 170-passenger AmaKristina made a lot of sense.
“There’s a lot of culture and character in that region of the world,” he said. “And we think there’s a lot of connection to classic Disney lore and stories there. … We think it’s going to play really wonderfully.”
With ABD expanding to two rivers for summer 2017, the next area of growth might be cruise timing, Potrock said, possibly expanding into May or September. Disney currently only offers the cruises from June through August, which works well for ABD and AmaWaterways, he said, because summer is not the strongest market for older couples, the mainstay clients for river cruises, due to the heat and crowds in Europe, but is perfect for Disney’s family-oriented approach.
Beyond that, he said he sees an opportunity to focus on the adult-only market and get “creative in terms of thematics.” With the popularity of wine cruises, he said, Disney could possibly find a tie-in with the Epcot Food and Wine Festival to create a new river cruise product.
ABD’s Danube river cruise fares include daily shore excursions; WiFi; gratuities; all onboard and some off-ship meals; unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks with every lunch and dinner; and onboard entertainment, including classes for the kids.
Ports include Vilshofen and Passau in Germany and Linz, Melk, Krems and Vienna in Austria, as well as Bratislava and Budapest.
The basic cruise price starts at $4,719 for adults and $4,489 for children. A three-day Prague extension package bumps the total to $6,008 for adults and $5,708 for children.
Disney river cruise starts with a party in a beer tent
Disney Adventure Guides were resplendent in traditional German outfits and happily got many of the kids up and moving. Photo Credit: Paul Heney
This summer, Adventures by Disney is offering river cruises for the first time. Paul Heney and his son are on the AmaViola, experiencing the new product.
VILSHOFEN, GERMANY — Adventures by Disney’s inaugural season of European river cruising is proceeding with the start of the company’s fourth river cruise today aboard the AmaViola.
The company, in partnership with AmaWaterways, is offering five cruises on the Danube between Vilshofen and Budapest, Hungary, this summer, plus a sixth holiday-themed cruise in December.
My son, Matthew, 9 and I spent a day in Prague on our own, adjusting to the time zone, before taking a luxury coach to this tiny southwestern German town this morning, along with 34 other adventurers. Most of the 140 passengers aboard the ship are from the U.S., with just a handful of Canadian guests and a couple from the U.K.
The cruise started off interestingly, with everyone getting OFF of the ship (after the mandatory safety drill) and enjoying what Disney called “Vilshofenfest,” an Oktoberfest-type celebration held in a small dockside tent.
The writer's son wearing a lederhosen apron.Photo Credit: Paul Heney
While a five-piece German band played, we snacked on beer, sodas and German pretzels. Four male dancers treated us to traditional dances, as well as a fascinating synchronized performance with whips. A young woman who was introduced as the local “beer queen” explained the cultural aspects of the evening.
Disney Adventure Guides were resplendent in traditional German outfits and happily got many of the kids up and moving. Children were given aprons to wear that made them appear to be dressed in similar German outfits — my son needed some convincing to keep his on!
Afterward, the Adventure Guides encouraged the children — there are roughly a couple dozen on board — to eat a more casual kids-only dinner upstairs in the lounge area, leaving us adults time to chat about destinations, politics, and other less-interesting-than-Pokemon topics. My son gladly complied, as did most of the kids I noticed.
While the ship, which I found bright and cheery, does not have “Disney” plastered on it literally or figuratively, there were touches to be found. Our welcome snacks included sandwiches in the familiar shape of Mickey Mouse’s head. I noticed “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” from the Lion King playing in the hallway. One young traveler who ventured to the adults’ dinner was referred to as “princess.”
Tomorrow, the ship docks in picturesque Passau, Germany, and excursions include a walking tour, a tree top adventure and a hike to a castle overlooking the city.
River cruise lines report few disruptions due to Seine flooding
River Seine flooded.
River cruise lines said that only a small number of their departures have been impacted by the severe flooding of France's Seine River.
Due to heavier than usual rainfall, the Seine overflowed last week, forcing the Louvre in Paris to close for several days -- the iconic art museum reopened on Wednesday.
The high waters have impacted at least three Viking river cruises: the June 8 Paris & the Heart of Normandy sailing aboard the Viking Rinda; the June 10 Paris & the Heart of Normandy sailing aboard the Viking Kadlin; and the June 12 Paris & the Heart of Normandy sailing aboard the Viking Rolf.
Viking said in a statement on its website that the potential effects on these cruises could entail changes in embarkation and/or disembarkation ports, abbreviated sailing portions and certain destinations being visited by motorcoach.
According to AmaWaterways co-founder and president Rudi Schreiner, the biggest issue for river cruise vessels has been the inability to get into and out of Paris to dock. Many Seine river itineraries have instead been docking in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a little more than 20 miles upriver from Paris and river cruise lines were then bussing passengers into the French capital for sightseeing.
AmaWaterways has had two cruises impacted by the high waters and has given those passengers a future cruise credit to compensate for the inconvenience.
Patrick Clark, managing director of Avalon Waterways said that while the rains in France have created higher-than-normal waters on its rivers, the company has not had any cancellations due to the rain. "All cruises have operated but we have had to make some alternate disembarkation and embarkation arrangements where conditions necessitate for a handful of cruises."
Added Clark, "Water levels are receding and expected to continue to improve and normalize this week. The Louvre is open, as is Giverny [the location of French artist Claude Monet's famous gardens]."
Last month, more than 3,500 river cruise staff members, including 2,800 crew and 700 officers, headed to Viking River Cruises campuses in six cities across Europe to train and prepare for the start of the 2016 season. Elsewhere in Europe, other river cruise lines were hosting their increasingly sophisticated annual staff training events, too.
With the rapid expansion of the river cruise industry over the last five years, operators have had to quickly overhaul and expand their operations, evolving from boutique companies that could manage their small fleets with something as simple as a spreadsheet into large, dynamic enterprises that carry tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of passengers each year on anywhere from a handful to dozens of vessels.
The growth has required river cruise lines to implement advanced inventory-management systems, enhance their customer service strategies and hire a myriad of additional staffers each year to adequately cater to the additional passengers and vessels -- all within a relatively short period of time.
The challenge along the way has been to ensure that increased quantity has not meant a decrease in the quality of the experience. After all, it was high customer-satisfaction ratings that helped river cruising take off in the first place.
"As an industry grows, it is not unusual to gain more attention and sometimes be challenged for resources," said Guy Young, the president of Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection. "Clearly, competition for good staff has intensified."
Young said that in addition to the fast pace of growth that has sent operators racing to find quality employees, the increased competition and exposure has also meant pressure to improve the standards of service onboard as well as manage the added inventory.
"Managing and meeting guest expectations has also intensified," Young said. "Guests are better informed than ever, have high expectations and may be quick to post on social media when expectations are not met. This is both a challenge and opportunity for us."
As an example, Young recalled how a few years ago Uniworld received feedback from guests who didn't like having to pay gratuities for what was being marketed as a luxury cruise.
"Many guests commented that we should pay our staff a fair wage and not expect the guests to subsidize their wages," he said. "So in 2014 we went all-inclusive, including all gratuities onboard and on shore, and our ratings improved dramatically. So guests are more vocal and have more outlets to communicate to a wide audience. But it also allows us to get great feedback and make the necessary improvements to continually improve our product delivery."
Viking crew members prepare for the upcoming river cruise season during a preseason training session onboard one of Viking’s Longships. Viking has added 52 Longships in the past five years.
Finding the right people
With a small-ship model, river cruising has built its reputation on being an intimate experience with highly personalized service. While the ships are developing into sleeker and more sophisticated vessels with each generation, the limitations on their dimensions and amenities means that passenger satisfaction often ends up being much more dependent on other aspects of the experience, such as onboard customer service and off-ship sightseeing excursions -- all of which are driven by people.
For Viking, which has launched 52 Longship vessels on Europe's rivers in the past five years, that has meant creating extensive recruitment and training programs. The line must identify, coach and prepare thousands of crew members each year to ensure that it isn't just the Scandinavian-designed Longships that impress travelers; the customer service experience must be consistent across all 52 ships.
"We have a number of measures in place to maintain and improve quality control," said Richard Marnell, Viking's senior vice president of marketing. "One of the things we are most proud of is our season-start training program, which takes place each March and is essentially an intense off-site service-training camp for new and seasoned crew members."
With thousands of crew to train, Viking divvies them up across its campuses, using its vast fleet to house the recruits and undertake the training programs. New and returning staff members go through several different training modules over the course of between three and eight days, guided by either Viking staff or professional external trainers.
As for the initial recruiting efforts, Marnell said, "Our crew ... are actually our best recruiters." That sentiment was echoed by several other river cruise lines, which noted that they often get referrals through their staff. Marnell said Viking has a crew retention rate of just over 90%.
Joe Maloney, the vice president of sales and marketing, USA, for Scenic, which has grown into a 14-vessel river cruise line in the eight years since it launched, said many of its new hires also come from staff recommendations. He said that Scenic also pulls from across its global tour operation, as well as from the ranks of ocean cruises.
With such a high demand for large numbers of quality crew members, river cruise lines have come to realize just how crucial retention is.
"Competitive pay, rewarding outstanding service, engendering loyalty and respect are the hallmarks of Scenic," Maloney said. "And retention has been the cornerstone of our management philosophy."
“We believe that a happy crew creates happy guests,” Avalon Waterways managing director Patrick Clark said about improving crew retention rates, which he said are currently at around 80%.
Other lines are also trying to reduce turnover by improving benefits and living standards for their crew members.
Patrick Clark, the managing director of Avalon Waterways, said, "We believe that a happy crew creates happy guests [and] working conditions are an important part of that process.
For example, we offer crew cabins on a twin-share basis with several amenities. With different shifts, a crew member can still have a good deal of privacy. The twin feature also allows us to recruit couples who can work together for the season and thus provide additional recruitment opportunities."
Clark added that Avalon likes to provide its staff the opportunity to work in different departments and to encourage promotions and growth. He said the current retention rate is around 80%.
Uniworld's Young, too, said that achieving low turnover (Uniworld retained 95% of its 2015 crew for the 2016 season) is "based on core pillars of treating our employees with respect, providing above-market wages and benefits, offering great training opportunities and doing our very best to promote from within."
Once Uniworld has made all its hires, the company brings them together at the start of the season for a two-week training session, which this year was held in Cologne, Germany, at the end of February and start of March. In addition to both general and department-specific training sessions, Uniworld also likes to inject some fun and motivation into the process, ending the program with a big party for the staff.
"We value and recognize the importance of our staff and try to treat them like family," Young said. "This is how our ownership, the Tollman family, has approached all of their businesses and is, I believe, one of the reasons they have enjoyed so much success."
Uniworld crew members prepare vessels before the river cruising season gets underway.
A web of logistics
River cruise lines have numerous variables to balance beyond just the crew. They have many more passengers to manage and more ships to keep track of today than they did as recently as a few years ago. They have to keep clients happy in good times, such as birthday and anniversary celebrations, as well as in bad, such as during itinerary disruptions caused by high or low water levels.
In some cases, that has meant better technology and automation to keep track of everything from passengers' flight information to their dietary preferences while still keeping the experience hands-on and personalized.
In the high-tech realm, Viking this year implemented My Viking Journey, an online portal that enables booked guests to create an account and customize their experience in advance. They are able to browse and book excursions, access and print documents, manage their daily schedule and opt for other add-ons. The site launched last year for Viking's ocean guests and is now rolling out for its 2016 river guests.
For several years now, Avalon Waterways has had a similar system in place that it calls My Avalon, an online service center through which optional excursions can be pre-purchased, dietary preferences selected and beverage packages purchased among other options. In addition to web-driven options for guests to manage their vacations, river cruise operators have had to invest in and develop more sophisticated back-of-house systems to keep track of all their passengers and inventory.
"When you have one or two ships for example, you can manage inventory on spreadsheets," said Avalon's Clark. "We realized early that in order to grow we needed a more sophisticated centralized inventory system so that all markets could have real-time access to it, and we developed one accordingly."
But no matter how much high-tech has helped the lines manage their growth, when they encounter tricky situations such as water-level disruptions, many say there is no way to automate the kinds of solutions you need to put in place and that they still rely on the same old-school problem-solving they used years ago.
"While we have specific processes and protocols for many scenarios," said Viking's Marnell, "there is nothing automatic about managing these situations, and our staff individually manages the logistics and communication with guests."
In fact, Viking touts that while it has more ships to manage, its larger fleet size gives the company greater inventory to rely on if and when ship swaps are needed to help itineraries bypass high- or low-water areas.
"We have a Switzerland-based nautical team and a network of local partners and authorities that are focused on monitoring and adapting to current water levels so that our guests experience the least possible disruption," Marnell said. "Our size is a significant help in the event of high or low water, as we have the largest fleet with sister ships sailing in opposite directions. This allows us to implement a ship swap that is typically seamless for guests. Both they and their luggage are able to be transferred to their exact, identical stateroom on a sister ship."
Viking staffers run through the bar selections onboard while preparing for the 2016 river cruise season. Viking has six campuses that it uses to train its crew. Richard Marnell, Viking’s senior vice president of marketing, said the line has a crew retention rate of just over 90%.A
At the same time, the river lines that have grown more slowly say that their unhurried approach to expansion has made them more flexible when dealing with challenges such as high- and low-water issues, maintaining product consistency and dealing with unpredictable market factors such as a slowdown in bookings following the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.
Rudi Schreiner, the president and co-owner of AmaWaterways, defended his line's slower growth as strategically wise.
"We have been increasing our fleet slowly and steadily to ensure that we not only maintain the highest standards but also to increase the quality onboard year after year," Schreiner said. "Since 2006, every year, we have built either one or two ships for our European fleet. We continued building one ship per year during the recession years, and we didn't build more than two ships per year during the big, booming years."
Schreiner said that rather than figure out ways to re-accommodate hundreds of passengers during high water or drought situations, the company has been focused on a prevention strategy, minimizing itinerary disruptions by building ships with a low draft and by managing their deployment based on historic weather patterns to avoid problem stretches of various rivers.
In the end, each line has tackled the rapid growth and the opportunities and challenges that have come with it in their own way.
Few passengers realize how much has changed and evolved behind the scenes in the river cruise industry in the past few years. Some of that change has likely been for the better, especially competition-driven enhancements in onboard amenities and services, while some passengers might feel the river cruising industry has become less personal and is gradually being run more like a big business. According to the river cruise lines, passengers should feel that river cruising is and will remain a very customer-oriented industry no matter how big it gets.
In 2016, after several years of inexhaustible growth in the river cruise sector, some of the bigger players are taking a bit of a breather (and by breather, we mean not building as many new ships as in past years), while several newcomers and new products take a fresh stab at the market.
Most notable among the river cruise rookies is Crystal Cruises, which this year announced that it would be entering the river-cruise market with a fleet of five luxury yacht-style river vessels. The first of those will be the Crystal Mozart, formerly a Peter Deilmann vessel known as the Mozart, originally built in 1987. Crystal has four newbuild vessels on order for 2017.
Following an extensive renovation, the Crystal Mozart will set sail on July 13, offering passengers their first glimpse of Crystal’s vision of river cruising. That will mean fewer, larger suites after the company transforms the 203-passenger Mozart to a 160-passenger capacity.
The updated Crystal Mozart will feature suites ranging in size from 203 square feet to the 860-square-foot, two-bedroom Crystal Suites, the largest on any river.
Crystal also is designing its itineraries so that much of the sailing takes place during the day, giving guests the opportunity to explore destinations in the evening, with ships docked in port overnight.
It will be interesting to see how this nighttime-focused river cruise experience will resonate with river cruisers. According to Crystal, one big advantage will be fewer crowds in port, something that has become a bit of a challenge in Europe. Crystal has said it also plans to get passengers off ship as much as possible while docked, with onshore culinary experiences at Michelin-starred restaurants, evening events and entertainment.
Bring the kiddies
While Crystal will be making a run to convert the high-end, ocean-cruise customer to rivers, another new entrant into the river-cruise market, Adventures by Disney, will be attempting to get more families to sail the Danube. Adventures by Disney announced a partnership with AmaWaterways to develop a series of family-friendly cruises aboard the 158-passenger AmaStella in 2016.
To better accommodate families, the AmaStella will usher in several new hardware concepts for AmaWaterways, including 12 staterooms that can accommodate up to three family members each; six sets of adjoining cabins connected via an internal doorway, accommodating families of up to five; and four suites with convertible sofa beds that can accommodate families of up to four.
While courting families isn’t entirely new for river cruising (companies like Tauck and Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection have been doing it for years), actually designing a ship around the needs of families is new. And Disney will be taking the family-friendly concept a step further, for example, by having eight Adventures by Disney guides on each of its sailings in addition to the existing AmaWaterways crew.
The Adventures by Disney sailings will also feature movies, karaoke and daily biking trips for younger passengers, as well as family-friendly excursions such as a horse show at the Lazar Equestrian Park in Hungary and a private marionette performance and strudel-making demonstration at the Schonbrunn Palace in Austria.
Other river-cruise newbies are looking to introduce demographics into the arena as well, including Canadian tour operator G Adventures, which is hoping to get millennials onboard. G Adventures is introducing river cruises on the Mekong and Ganges rivers and on the canals of France’s Burgundy region in 2016, in addition to its existing Peruvian Amazon cruises. The line’s goal is to make what has traditionally been a higher-end travel product more accessible to younger, less- affluent clients.
Exotic river lust
Uniworld’s much-anticipated Ganges River program in India officially sets sail in January, when the company begins chartering Haimark’s new luxury cruiser, the 56-passenger Ganges Voyager II. Uniworld’s new Ganges program promises to bring luxury amenities and services to India’s most notorious inland water route, which is quickly becoming the next river- cruising hot spot.
Exotic river buffs will be happy to note that next year will also see continued development in Southeast Asia, where Pandaw River Expeditions is launching new and uncharted river routes, the latest being a 2016 sailing that travels the length of the Mekong River all the way from Thailand through Myanmar and Laos and into China, the first time the company will be offering a sailing that goes into China.
Scenic and Emerald Waterways also are adding capacity on the popular Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia next year.
Ongoing growth in Europe, U.S.
It wouldn’t be river cruising if there were not a continued influx of ships on next year’s agenda, namely on the always-popular European streams. The world’s largest river-cruise line, Viking River Cruises, will add six newbuilds, for a total of 52 ships in five years. Amawaterways, Avalon Waterways, Tauck and Scenic are each christening two new vessels in Europe next year, and four-star tenderfoot Emerald Waterways is adding a fifth ship in Europe.
French river-cruise line CroisiEurope is celebrating 40 years in business next year as it continues to make more noise in the U.S. market with updated ships meant to meet U.S. standards, and the company will unveil its second European paddlewheeler (a unique concept for sailing shallower waters) on the Elbe River in spring.
Another paddlewheeler, American Cruise Lines’ newest U.S.-based vessel, will launch in early 2016, marking the third Mississippi paddlewheeler that the line has built from the ground up. It joins the American Eagle, which launched in April, and the Queen of the Mississippi, which set sail in 2012.
It’s no secret that the dominant river cruising demographic is retirees. Older travelers have embraced river cruising with a fervor that has fueled the segment’s unstoppable growth for the last several years.
But there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason why river cruising couldn’t appeal to younger travelers, as well.
In an ongoing attempt to widen the market beyond boomers, several river cruise lines -- notably AmaWaterways with its recent partnership with Adventures by Disney -- have been courting families. But what about travelers in their 20s, 30s and 40s? What about the Gen Xers and? Thus far, there really hasn’t been a river cruising product that caters to that segment of the market.
Some argue that river cruising is too expensive and too inactive for these younger folk. But perhaps G Adventures’ new foray into the river cruising market is an indication that there could be some room for more youthful travelers on river cruise ships.
G Adventures, which caters to a younger, more active and often more budget-oriented traveler, isn’t getting into traditional European river cruising just yet: the company has offered river itineraries on the Peruvian Amazon, and sailings will start on the Mekong, Ganges, Amazon and in France’s Burgundy region next year.
But the simple fact that G is dipping its toes in the river cruising market could indicate the dawn of a new era for river cruising, one where the booming travel trend isn’t reserved just for seniors anymore. It will be interesting to see what G Adventures’ version of river cruising looks like compared with competitors’ river product, and how and whether river cruising resonates with the G Adventures traveler.
As a 30-something who happens to have been on countless river cruises, I’ve always thought there was a bit of a missed opportunity in this market. Yes, the product would require some tweaks. It would help if the price point were lower and if more free time were built in (two things that are actually not mutually exclusive). More activities off the ship and fewer onboard meals included in the price (potentially freeing up passengers' money for dining in town) could help, too.
But otherwise, there really isn’t any reason why the 25-to-45-set couldn’t, well, get onboard, so to speak. And maybe G Adventures is the perfect company to extend the gangway to them.
With a low water level, a large stretch of the Elbe's riverbed was exposed in August near Magdeburg, Germany. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
A hot and dry summer in Europe has led to lower-than-normal water levels on portions of the Danube and Elbe rivers throughout the summer, and has forced river cruise lines to alter their itineraries during July, August and now into September.
“Water levels on the Elbe and Danube rivers are currently lower than normal and Viking has had to make adjustments to the cruise schedules of several ships sailing these rivers,” Viking River Cruises wrote on its website this week.
Five Viking cruises have been altered this week, four of which include a ship swap. Passengers will be transferred in order to avoid a low-water area of the Elbe River that ships cannot bypass.
Additionally, Viking’s Sept. 2 “Grand European Tour” from Budapest to Amsterdam, scheduled to depart on the Viking Aegir, will begin in Komarom, Hungary, on the Viking Embla. Viking will provide transfers from Budapest to Komarom.
“These are currently the only sailings we expect to be altered by the low water on the rivers,” Viking stated.
But low water levels have been a problem all summer. The low levels on the Elbe came during a year when Viking launched two new vessels on the river in eastern Germany. Other river cruise lines have avoided the Elbe in part because of the challenges presented when the water level is low.
The Danube River is one that all the major river cruise lines sail. The area on the Danube where the low waters have posed a problem is the 75-mile stretch between Regensburg and Passau in Germany.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection had to alter eight Danube River sailings in July and August, which included having guests swap ships from one side of the low waters to the other. The company canceled its Aug. 9 “European Jewels” cruise on the Maria Theresa, deciding that there wouldn’t be enough actual cruising in the trip to justify the departure.
“We sincerely appreciate the understanding and support our guests and travel industry partners have shown during this challenging time,” Uniworld wrote on its website.
Avalon Waterways wrote on its Facebook page last week that the river levels on the Danube had again begun to recede.
“Danube River waters receded over the weekend and early this week. Once again, the waters between Regensburg and Passau are beginning to delay and/or stall ship passage. We are fervently working to keep cruise itinerary disruptions to a minimum. If or when cruise itineraries are altered, however, we will provide affected travelers with alternate opportunities to see and explore the best Europe has to offer,” Avalon wrote on Facebook.
The post elicited a string of comments from passengers, some concerned about current and upcoming sailings, others with positive messages of support and kudos for how Avalon handled past sailings that were disrupted due to low water levels.
The forecast is calling for rain in the coming days, according to Rudi Schreiner, president of AmaWaterways, which has not had to alter any of its Danube itineraries yet this summer. Schreiner is hoping that some much-needed precipitation along the Danube will help bring the river’s water levels back up.
From left: AmaWaterways' Kristin Karst and Rudi Schreiner; Cruise Planners' Michelle Fee; Vilshofen Mayor Florian Gams; and 2nd County Commissioner Rainmund Kneidinger.
Michelle Fee, co-founder and CEO of Cruise Planners, served as the godmother for the christening of AmaWaterways’ newest 164-passenger vessel AmaSerena, which took place this week in Vilshofen, Germany.
Fee was joined by Ama co-founders Rudi Schreiner and Kristin Karst.
The launch of AmaSerena brings the company’s 2015 fleet size to 16 vessels, with two additional launches planned for next year — the 158-passenger sister ships AmaViola and AmaStella.
The AmaSerena features the line’s first-ever connecting staterooms, designed to better accommodate families and groups traveling together. The majority of the staterooms on the vessel’s upper two decks have been outfitted with Ama’s signature twin balcony concept (an adjoining indoor and outdoor balcony). The AmaSerena also features salon and spa services; a sun deck; multiple dining venues, including The Chef’s Table restaurant; an intimate wine room; a fitness room; and a heated swimming pool with swim-up bar on the sun deck.
Future itineraries for the AmaSerena include the Enchanting Rhine, Magnificent Europe and the Romantic Danube.
