The river cruising market is set to hit new heights this year, with longer European itineraries, younger travellers and more active shore excursions. Here’s our pick of the highlights.
APT’s first newsbuilds
In exciting news for fans of the long-established APT Travel Group, its 2025 Europe itineraries will showcase cruises onboard two new luxury river ships: APT Solara and APT Ostara.
The elegant, 154-guest ships, which will cruise the Rhine, Main and Danube, were conceived by award-winning Melbourne company Hecker Guthrie and are designed to provide “a European experience through Australian eyes”.
APT Travel Group’s CEO, David Cox, said the ships redefine all-inclusive, luxury river cruising.
“They also set a new standard in sustainability, ensuring greater emphasis on saving fuel, energy optimisation and waste reduction.”
Meanwhile, APT’s MS Estrela is set to embark on Portugal’s Douro River in June 2024. Purpose-designed for the Douro, the 114-guest ship will offer nine-day sail/land trips between Madrid and Porto.
For more information, visit aptouring.com.au
Full steam ahead for Avalon Waterways
“Bookings for the 2024 season are incredibly strong already, with demand for river cruising in Europe not showing any signs of slowing down and interest in off-season travel continuing to rise,” says Avalon Waterways’ Chris Fundell, Head of Marketing Asia Pacific.
“To meet this demand, we’ve extended our cruising season into November on the Seine and Rhône and added more departures on the Rhine and Danube, including more festive cruises.”
Avalon Waterways, along with other major players in the river cruise scene, is also seeing an increasing number of Gen X travellers trying – and loving – all the benefits of river cruising.
“We’re delighted to continue to work with our Australian Ambassador, media personality Melissa Doyle, to really engage this new-to-cruise audience throughout the upcoming season,” says Chris.
“We are also very excited to be launching our latest Suite Ship, Avalon Alegria, on the Douro in March 2024. There’s been fantastic appetite for this new launch, with Portugal almost sold out for the 2024 season, so we recommend travellers get in early now for 2025 sailings.”
For more information, visit avalonwaterways.com.au
Emerald’s European best-sellers
Emerald Cruises reports that it’s seeing growing demand for longer cruises and more active shore tours. Responding to strong sales, Emerald is adding two new departures of its classic 15-day Splendours of Europe cruise (Amsterdam to Budapest or vice versa) in November 2024.
The lower Danube River is increasingly popular, with the nine-day Enchantment of Eastern Europe cruise between Budapest and Bucharest a popular choice for travellers seeking an authentic Eastern Europe experience.
The EmeraldACTIVE program is also proving to be a winner with first-time and return river cruisers who enjoy exploring towns, villages and vineyards on foot or by bike – and in some places by canoe.
For more information, visit emeraldcruises.com.au
Scenic goes further
Scenic says that the 80th anniversary of D-Day landings in Normandy has inspired an uptick in bookings for 2024’s Gems of the Seine cruises – and not just for the June festival between June 1 and 16. A Scenic spokesperson says, “Guests want to visit the area to pay their respects and learn about this historic event.”
The Aussie cruise line highly recommends its new, 10-day Danube in Depth itinerary for first-time river cruisers. It provides more time ashore and for a limited period, it’s on sale from $469 per person, per day.
Meanwhile, the Mekong River continues to be a big attraction. Scenic is now running a longer Mekong cruise (nine days plus land extensions) to allow for a deeper immersion in the culture of Vietnam and Cambodia, with plenty of leisure time in between exploring ashore.
For more information, visit scenic.com.au
Tauck’s new European river cruises
Renowned for its remarkable insider-access shore excursions and onboard Tauck Directors, the US travel company is launching six new European river cruises in 2024.
The itineraries all feature dinner ashore in a lavish setting, with venues ranging from an elegant Viennese palace to a Dutch castle on its own private island and a 16th-century Renaissance-style mansion in northern France. Several cruises also incorporate pre- or post-cruise stays.
Tauck CEO Dan Mahar said, “These signature land experiences are included in our cruise prices, they feature exclusive Tauck-guided sightseeing and they boast stays at wonderful properties such as the Fairmont Montreux Palace, the Riessersee Hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the InterContinental Geneve in Geneva.”
For more information, visit tauck.com.au
Viking expands Nile fleet
Although Viking is not launching any new Longships this year, five will be ready to go in 2025 and five more in 2026. Viking Hathor will set sail on the Nile in August 2024 – the 82-guest Hathor is an identical sister to Viking Osiris, Viking Aton and 2025’s Viking Sobek.
Viking’s Egypt fleet also includes Viking Ra and MS Antares; when Viking Sobek arrives, Viking will have six ships on the Nile.
They all sail the popular 12-day ‘Pharaohs & Pyramids’ itinerary, round-trip from Cairo. With Viking’s 2024 Egypt season nearly sold out and 2025 selling well, strong demand led to an early opening of Viking Sobek’s inaugural season and 2026 departure dates across the entire Nile fleet.
For more information, visit vikingrivercruises.com.au
