At a time when other river cruise lines are scaling back on growth, French river cruise company CroisiEurope this week announced it will launch seven new river cruise vessels this year and next.
Granted not all seven are full-size European river cruise ships — two are 22-passenger canal barges, and one is launching on the Mekong — but still, seven ships is worth noting, especially for a company many of us here in the U.S. didn’t know much, if anything, about as recently as a couple years ago.
By the time these seven vessels are launched, CroisiEurope will have 46 company-owned vessels in its fleet. In 2014, the company carried some 200,000 cruise passengers (compared to the approximately 250,000 passengers carried by Viking River Cruises), although only about 8,000 to 9,000 of those hailed from the U.S. But CroisiEurope is growing its U.S customer base, and quickly.
So, what’s the deal with Croisi? Well, the company saw an opening at the lower end of the river cruise market and it is clearly going after it. For a long time, river cruising has grappled with a reputation of being a bit pricey. Travel agents would lament that while they wanted to sell more river cruises, especially since the very inclusive vacation style generally offers lofty commissions, not all of their clients could afford it.
Therein lies the opportunity for CroisiEurope, which after 40 years of building river cruise ships in Europe, is banking on its home-turf shipbuilding ties and a more pared down version of river cruising to bring lower prices to market. And while CroisiEurope’s older vessels do not compete with the sleek newbuilds being churned out by U.S.-facing river cruise lines such as Viking, AmaWaterways, Avalon, Uniworld and all the rest, the company has upped its ship design game and its newest batch of river cruise ships is focused on chicer interiors and enhanced amenities.
Another line going after this segment with arguably even chicer ships is Emerald Waterways, the lower-priced sister brand to Scenic. And it is having a good deal of success too. Having only launched in 2014, Emerald is on pace to have seven river cruise ships in Europe by 2017 (its fifth vessel, the 182-passenger Emerald Belle, was slated to launch this spring, but has been set back by a fire in the shipyard).
As river cruising piques more travelers’ interests, and the travel style opens up to a wider audience, there is clearly going to be more demand for and thus greater opportunity to provide a more accessible river cruising experience.
The Avalon Expression on the Danube in Austria’s Wachau, a valley that boasts sights such as Schloss Schonbuhel castle.
When Avalon Waterways asked me in 2013 to be the godmother of its then-new Expression Suite Ship, I was both honored and perplexed.
I had been following the burgeoning popularity of river cruising in Europe but considered myself neither authority nor godmother material. Avalon Managing Director Patrick Clark explained the company’s reasoning, pointing out my love for the sites that line Europe’s great rivers and featured in my book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die.”
“Avalon’s mission is to connect those dots and bring our guests there with the utmost in comfort,” Clark said. “We’re a good match.”
He was right, of course, and I jumped onboard — and that festive May ceremony in the Rhine town of Koblenz will forever remain a special moment for me.
My first real immersion in the comfort and enveloping charms of the Expression, however, didn’t happen until last month, when I hosted a one-week cruise on the legendary Danube, Europe’s longest river; we would visit four of the 10 countries through which its not-so-blue waters flow. (No other river passes through so many countries.)
Traveling east to west, we began in Budapest and were scheduled to disembark in Nuremberg, Germany, but not before having explored stops in Austria and with a sail-by visit of Bratislava in Slovakia. A rich itinerary like this deserves to close on a high note, and it did, with a post-cruise transfer to Prague, Czech Republic.
Avalon taps the destination knowledge and logistical backup of its Globus Family of Brands sister companies to create an impressive roster of included land programs to cities large (Vienna; Regensburg, Germany) and small (Durnstein and Melk, Austria). Extra-cost options, ranging from Strauss concerts and horse shows to wine tastings, fleshed out each day’s possibilities.
Budapest is one of four capital cities sitting directly on the banks of the Danube.
We arrived in Budapest even before Avalon’s predeparture package began, wanting extra time to explore one of the four capital cities sitting directly on the banks of the Danube. Budapest is a magnificent city; with eight illuminated bridges and outdoor restaurants with strolling violinists, it exudes a festive air. Walkways line the banks of the Danube, popular with locals and tourists out for nocturnal strolls.
Avalon’s base at the waterfront InterContinental Budapest was peerless for its location, steps from the famous 19th century Chain Bridge (the first to connect Buda and Pest). It is within sight of the city’s (and country’s) finest hotel, the exquisitely restored Four Seasons Gresham Palace. We lingered there over a palinka (fruit brandy) in the hotel’s theatrical bar-lounge, imagining life in the Belle Epoque.
We had just returned from an excellent Context Walking Tour, an insightful three-hour stroll through the city’s golden age, the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries when the Hungarian capital flourished as a center of art and learning, and intellectuals throughout Europe gravitated here; that tour was not part of Avalon’s precruise package. Keeping the historical theme alive, we dressed up for a quintessentially Hungarian evening at the Gundel restaurant, in business since the late 1800s. A four-piece gypsy orchestra and a rich menu of classic Hungarian specialties sealed the deal with our new love affair with the city.
Avalon’s coach tour the next day covered the capital city’s many highlights and filled in the holes with a crash course on the country’s rich and complex history.
But the Expression called, and soon we were boarding the 166-passenger vessel, one of Avalon’s 10 Suite Ships. (Its Europe fleet currently numbers 15, with two 36-guest All-Suite Ships sailing Asia’s Irrawaddy and Mekong debuting this year.)
The beauty of river cruising is that you only unpack once, so it might as well be in one of Avalon’s spacious 200-square-foot accommodations. They are 30% larger than the industry standard on Europe’s waterways and make up 80% of the rooms. (The balance are marginally smaller at 172 square feet, while just two 300-square-foot Royal Suites await a lucky few.) The unquestionable standout feature goes to the “floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall panoramic windows that open 7 feet wide to create an open-air balcony,” Clark said. Add to that Comfort Collection beds that are positioned to face the windows — not a wall — to watch European vignettes of steep, terraced vineyards and hilltop castles drift by.
The ship’s layout was explained to us the first evening by our personable cruise director, Nancy Paredes. River vessels, she said, are limited by the size of the river locks through which they will travel, so adding a conventional balcony would compromise room space. Hence that remarkable wall of windows. “Comfort,” Clark reminded me, “is king.”
The mix of excited passengers was predominantly from the U.S., with a good number from Canada and a handful from New Zealand, Australia and the U.K. By the end of the cruise, if we didn’t know each other by name, we certainly recognized everyone.
The casually elegant dining room was a fun spot to sit with fellow guests, sharing culinary experiences that ranged from very good to excellent and were often influenced by our host country and the local markets’ (and vineyards’) offerings.
With the record-breaking numbers of river ships that are exiting the boatyards every year, it still seemed like there was plenty of Danube to go around for all of us. Some days we saw more vessels docked at the ports along the way than we did sailing the river itself. It often felt like we had the Danube to ourselves.
Viking River Cruises is no longer the only river cruise line with a TV advertising presence. Avalon Waterways launched its first television ad campaign in September, with its first video spots airing on HGTV, the Travel Channel, CNN and BBC America.
Viking ads have introduced many Americans to European river cruising over the past four years. Now that consumers know more about it, Avalon “felt that now is the time to introduce the idea of an option,” said Steve Born, senior vice president of marketing for Globus, Avalon’s parent company.
Avalon created three playful spots that highlight the importance of having a good view, leading into Avalon’s stateroom design — beds face outward to open-air balconies, providing passengers with views of the passing scenery while they cruise.
A six-week ad run will be completed at the end of October. The company is hoping that the advertising will raise awareness about what Avalon offers and help agents sell the product when customers who have watched the commercials ask about Avalon.
“We wanted to give the agent a little bit of an assist by having the seed planted first before the inquiry begins,” said Born.
Avalon doesn’t have any further ad buys scheduled. Born said the company is waiting to see the return on investment.
Avalon also did a three-minute promotional video that showcases views from a river cruise.
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