When someone tells me they have been thinking about a river cruise for years and finally want to go, I almost always say the same thing: the Danube, with AmaWaterways. I have sailed a good number of Europe's rivers over the years — the Danube most recently — and it is still the one I would hand a first-timer, for reasons that have nothing to do with it being the famous one.
What a river cruise actually is
It is not a small ocean cruise. The ship carries around 150 people, ties up in the middle of towns, and moves mostly at night or during lunch, so you wake up somewhere new and walk straight off into it. There are no sea days, no tenders, no lines. Meals, wine and beer with dinner, and a guided walk in nearly every port are included. You unpack once and see six or seven places. If you like the idea of a guided tour but not the idea of a coach and a new hotel every night, this is the answer.
Why the Danube first
- The stops are the point. Budapest, Vienna, the Wachau Valley, Passau — every day is a place you have heard of and wanted to see, with proper time ashore in each.
- It is easy. Short distances between ports, flat walks into town, a well-worn route that the ships run beautifully. Nothing about it is a gamble.
- It shows you the range. Big capital cities, small wine villages, an abbey on a cliff, a stretch of river narrow enough to feel like a canyon — one week tells you whether river cruising is for you.
- It flies well from here. Through Frankfurt or Munich with one connection from Saskatoon or Regina, and the cruise lines handle the transfer at the other end.
Why AmaWaterways
There are several good river cruise lines and I book most of them. AmaWaterways is the one I steer first-timers to because the pieces that matter most on a first trip are the ones it gets most right: the food, the guides, the number of excursion choices in each port, including walks at different paces and bike rides, and the way the crew look after people. It is not the cheapest option on the river and it is not the most formal. It is the one I would choose again myself.
When to go
Spring and early autumn are the sweet spots: warm enough, towns not yet packed, the Wachau in blossom or in harvest. Summer is lively and long-lit but hot and busy. Late November and December are the Christmas-market sailings, which are a different trip entirely — cold, cosy and festive — and they book up far ahead.
Three things first-timers get wrong
- Booking the cabin by price alone. The lower deck has small high windows; the upper decks have balconies. On a river you are looking at the bank from your room every day, and the difference is bigger than the price gap suggests.
- Flying in the day the cruise starts. Arrive a day or two early in Budapest or Vienna. If a flight is late you have a buffer, and both cities deserve the time anyway.
- Skipping insurance. Medical care in Europe is excellent and, for a Canadian, not free. See our travel insurance page.
Curious whether a river cruise is for you? Tell us when you could go and who with, and we will find the Danube sailing that fits — flights from Saskatoon or Regina included.