Tag Archives: river cruising

Themes breathe new life into river routes

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By Michelle Baran
Insight It isn’t easy to reinvent the wheel, so one has to give it to the river cruise lines for getting creative with itineraries that go up and down the same rivers week in and week out by crafting unique and engaging themed departures.

River cruise companies have been toying with themed river cruises for years —holiday-themed winter cruises came onto the scene several years ago as a way to extend the river cruise season and continue to be a mainstay in all the river cruise lines’ brochures — but they’re getting more innovative with themes and definitely having more fun with it.

AmaWaterways’ wine-themed cruises have become so popular that the line now dedicates an entire brochure to its In Celebration of Wine cruises. The company also hosts Jewish heritage cruises, chocolate-themed cruises and even knitting cruises: AmaWaterways will have a “Knitting New Year’s Cruise” this year on the Danube, which will showcase the latest in luxury yarns, forums on fashion trends, and classes on new stitch patterns and techniques. The knitting cruise was suggested by one of AmaWaterways’ travel agent partners and will be hosted by Barry Klein, owner of Trendsetter Yarns in Los Angeles. MichelleBaran

For 2014, Avalon Waterways increased its special-interest cruises by 30% to meet demand, adding beer-tasting, golf, wellness and World War I history cruises to an already innovative roster of themed cruises. They also offer cruises based around the themes of art and impressionism, authors, food, wine, music, Jewish heritage and history. Tauck, too, has culinary, art and music-themed cruises.

There are also themes that are more timely, such as the 70th anniversary of D-Day, which many river cruise lines have incorporated into their France itineraries, including Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection.

And stateside, American river cruise lines have endless themes to enhance their Mississippi and Pacific Northwest river itineraries. The American Queen Steamboat Co. has cruises centered on baseball legends, Mardi Gras, music of the 1950s and 1960s, Elvis, bourbon and bluegrass, and many others.

American Cruise Lines has Mark Twain, Lewis and Clark and Civil War cruises, and for the American foodie, lobster cruises and crabfest cruises.

Not convinced by river cruising? Perhaps you’ll be lured in by your love of shellfish … or knitting … or bourbon. Pick your poison.

How to know if your client is a river cruiser

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How to know if your client is a river cruiser

By Michelle Baran

InsightFor 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.

MichelleBaranWhich 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.

Which cruise is right for you? infographicOther 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.