How to know if your client is a river cruiser

By Michelle Baran

For a travel seller, I imagine that it’s hard not to see the staggering growth in the river cruise category and wonder: What’s the allure, and would this be something my clients would enjoy?

For agents who haven’t experienced a river cruise themselves, this can be a slightly more challenging question to tackle. Being a relatively new product in the travel marketplace, it seems that a growing number of agents who are new to river cruising are having clients approach them with questions and requests about the product (especially as Viking Cruises continues to invest heavily in advertising). This means that agents not totally familiar with river cruising are having to get educated quickly and on the fly.
Which is why an infographic recently created by Abercrombie & Kent, itself a new entrant into the river cruise market, struck me as particularly interesting — it is designed to help travelers navigate whether they should opt for small-ship exploration cruises, river cruises or barge cruises.

The distinctions made between the latter two categories are particularly helpful as travelers who are interested in exploring inland waterways decide whether a river cruise vessel or canal barge is the way to go.

The choose-your-own-adventure quiz asks whether the potential cruiser’s style is more “‘Country Inn’ hospitality” or “‘Country Club’ discreet.” If it’s the first, canal barging might be the way to go. And if it’s the latter, a river cruise might be the better option.

Other distinctions the infographic makes include that river cruises tend to be well-planned itineraries through many of the major cities and capitals of Europe, while barge itineraries are played a bit more by ear as the barges meander through small villages. (To view the infographic,click here or on the image, left, for a larger view.)

While passengers can travel some 50 miles per day on a river cruise, they might 50 miles in a week on a canal barge, meaning they’re going to cover a lot more ground on a river cruise and delve deeper in a very specific region on a barge.

Of course, A&K’s chart is somewhat playful and geared toward A&K’s product offering. But it could be a good way to start the river cruising conversation.

Venice to limit cruise ship numbers from January

Last month protesters tried to stop a ship from docking in the city's port

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The Italian government has announced it will begin to limit the number of large cruise ships that pass through Venice.

Environmentalists have protested against the ships in recent years, saying they damage the city's fragile lagoon.

From January 2014, the number of cruise ships allowed through Venice will be cut by 20%.

Ships of more than 96,000 tonnes will be banned from the centre of the city from November next year.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta's office also announced plans to open up a new canal route to the city - thereby allowing big vessels to enter the city by a kind of back door, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Rome.

The measures were announced after a meeting between Mr Letta, the mayor of Venice and other local politicians on Tuesday.

A spokesman for those who have protested against the ships told Italian media that the measures constitute a first step and that their campaign will go on.

Concerns over big ships sailing too close to shorelines have increased since the Costa Concordia cruise liner ran aground off a Tuscan island in January 2012, killing 32 people.

Those who oppose the ships argue that they are grotesquely out of keeping with the beautiful old city and that they disgorge unsustainable numbers of visitors into the squares and alleyways, our correspondent reports.

But there is also a powerful lobby in Venice that favours the cruise ship trade and welcomes the economic benefits it brings, he adds.