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While considered part of the small ship family, Senior River Cruises are in a category all their own. Of all the small ship categories, river cruises have been experiencing a significant growth in popularity, not only for the experienced traveler, but also for the first timer.
We call these cruises Senior River Cruises because seniors make up the majority of the passengers on river cruise ships. There are several reasons for this. Most river cruise ships carry only around 200 passengers and offer a unique experience of intimacy. Since they sail on rivers, instead of on the open ocean, there isn’t the concern of rough water that sometimes can occur with ocean-going vessels. On the Senior River Cruises, you still have the advantage of one stateroom for the duration of the voyage. All of the ship’s cabins have outside views with some of the newer river cruise ships offering some cabins with either French doors or balconies
Most of the ships of Senior River Cruises travel on rivers where the civilization of each respective country began. In addition to enjoying magnificent scenery during the daytime, you will be stopping at interesting villages or towns along the way. In fact, the river ship actually ties up near a village center at night, giving you a chance to explore the city or village on your own. In addition, some cruises provide complimentary shore excursions that are included in the cost the cruise. The cost of wine is often included with the excellent cuisine served on board the ship. In the evening, there are various types of entertainment, but not the floor show type found on regular cruise ships. Because of the smaller passenger loads, pricing of these cruises tend to range somewhere between the premium and luxury cruise ship rates.
For those Senior River Cruise travelers who want to stay closer to home, there is a Historic Rivers of America cruise. This cruise begins in Nashville and ends in Chicago while travelling on seven rivers with a little taste of Lake Michigan. The same cruise line offers a 15-day river cruise that begins at Joliet, Illinois. After traveling on parts of eight rivers, it ends in New Orleans. Finally, another cruise line offers a nostalgic paddle wheel cruise on the Columbia River out of Portland, Oregon traversing a number of locks with a variety of different sightseeing experiences.
Cruises on the St. Lawrence River ranging from two to six nights are also available. In addition, there is a cruise of the Great Lakes that, while not a river cruise, would qualify as a senior cruise. Still in the Americas, a river cruise that attracts the more adventurous senior river cruisers is a 10-day cruise of the mighty Amazon River exploring some of the exotic flora, animals and native villages on this once-in-a-life-time journey.
The ships described at the beginning of our discussion of Senior River Cruises are representative of the river cruises of Europe and Russia that frequently involve travel where the county’s civilization first began. For Europe, you have the Rhine, Moselle, and Danube Rivers of Germany, along with the Seine, Rhone, and Saone rivers of France, plus a river cruise of Portugal, Spain and the Douro River Valley. You have river cruises to the Black Sea and much of Eastern Europe and river cruises from Moscow, Russia to the magnificent city of St. Petersburg. Most of these river cruises range from 14 to 30 days.
As we move to the more exotic and remote senior river cruise areas, a river cruise that is a must, but is not available at this time, would be the Nile River Cruise in Egypt combined with some land touring of Cairo.
For the seasoned and adventurous Senior River Cruise participant, we travel to Asia where you can take a 13 or 16 day itinerary on the Sepik River in New Guinea with encounters with native villages, exotic wildlife, and jungles. A similar adventure would be the eight-day cruise on the mighty Rajang River in Borneo. Another off-the-beaten- track river destination is an eight-day river cruise within Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, sampling the culture and ancient archeological treasures. A new frontier that has opened up in the last few years includes Vietnam and Cambodia. A 16-day river cruise on the Mekong River starts in Hanoi and ends in Ho Chi Minh City. Finally we have a cruise on the Yangtze River that is combined with land tours of China. This cruise can be combined with a visit to Tibet.
A brief mention should be made about six-day hotel barge trips that are available within Ireland, England, Germany, Scotland, Italy-Croatia and Holland/Belgium.
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