In this episode of Luxury Cruising, Dr. Krystal Sodaitis sits down with Sydney Schellinger of the River Cruising Masterclass Podcast for a deep dive into the world of river cruising. Sydney breaks down the differences between river and ocean cruising, kid-friendly options, luxury lines like Uniworld, U.S. river cruises, and practical tips for first-timers, while sharing why river cruising feels more like a floating boutique hotel than a traditional cruise ship.
What if your next vacation felt like a land tour with a hotel that moves with you?
In this episode of Luxury Cruising, host Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes Sydney Schellinger to demystify river cruising. Sydney shares how she fell in love with river cruising in 2021 and has made it her mission to experience as many as possible.
Together they discussed:
Whether you’re river-curious or already hooked, this episode is packed with practical advice and insider perspective.
Episode Highlights:
Episode Mentioned:
Episode 79: River Cruising with Kids on AmaWaterways' AmaLyra
About the Guest:
Sydney Schellinger is a lifelong cruiser who fell in love with river cruising in 2021 and set a goal to sail as many as possible. She created the River Cruising Masterclass Podcast to answer the many questions travelers have about the wide range of river cruise lines and experiences. As a travel advisor, she helps clients match their style, budget, and travel companions to the perfect river (or ocean) itinerary.
How to Connect with the Guest:
Website: The Poodle Booked It
Social media: @Traveladvisorsydney
Email: sydney@thepoodlebookedit.com
YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/@thepoodlebookedit
About the Host:
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a pediatrician, executive, and life coach for neurodiverse physicians—and the passionate host behind Luxury Cruising. She brings expert insight and honest excitement to every interview, helping curious travelers elevate their adventures at sea.
📍 Website: luxurycruising.net
📧 Email: luxurycruisingpodcast@gmail.com
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krystalsodaitis
📝 Looking for the perfect luxury cruise: Take our quiz
👥 Want to be a guest? Fill out this form to connect.
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Luxury Cruising. I'm your host, Crystal Soditis, and I've got a massive treat for everybody today. Sydney is here from the River Cruising Masterclass
Podcast. Sydney is here to share with us all of her amazing insights and knowledge all about river cruising. Sydney, if there's anything else you'd like the audience to know about you, please share with us now.
Yeah. I guess good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whenever you're listening. Uh, my name is Sydney Scallenger, and I have been a cruiser for life, but I fell in love with river cruising in 2021 when I went on my first one, and I said, "I'm going to make this my entire life goal, to go on every single one of them."
And so that is what I have been working towards. And so I created the River Cruising Masterclass as just a way, because there's so many questions that people have and there's so many different [00:01:00] cruise lines. And so I'm really excited to be able to share that now. I know that Crystal said she's never been on one, so we're just gonna kinda use this as convincing her to go on a trip is what I'm going to base this off of.
That's awesome. Yeah. I don't need convincing. My kids, on the other hand, need convincing. So if they were to listen to this podcast, let's start with that. Because last week's podcast was all about river cruising with kids.
Okay. And
so I have river cruising hesitant kids. How would you say I should go about starting to convince them to river cruise?
How old are they?
I have a 17-year-old and a 12-year-old, and I can tell you that some of their hesitation is that there won't be other kids. I won't make friends. I'll be bored
I think the problem is that people hear the word cruising and assume that it's going to be like the huge [00:02:00] ships. I think the first thing that I tell people when we talk about river cruising is to compare it more towards a boutique hotel that travels with you versus an actual cruise ship, because it's more of a boat than a ship in that front.
I always say it just looks like a ginormous houseboat. It's just like four or five put together. So you are going to have that concern. There are specific cruises that will be spec- that have children. So there are three different cruise lines or people that do it. You're going to have, Tauck has their Bridges program, and what they do is they actually are going to make it more kid intensive, kid focused, and that age group that you're talking about is perfect.
It's a lot of multi-generational families that go. Tauck does it. Uniworld has a program, and then Adventures by Disney. There are some cruise lines that don't accept children, and then there are also some that have age limits. So if you're not gonna go during those specific times that are for [00:03:00] children the likely chance of you seeing them is rare.
I do go on a lot of Christmas markets cruises, and you'll see the multi-generational families there as well, like at Thanksgiving, the Christmas markets. Summer you're more likely to see some children. But there's not gonna be a kids' club. There's not gonna be anything like that. So being able to change your thought process to be like, well, you wouldn't have a kids' club at a hotel.
Because every day you are out exploring the locations, that it's not really a cruise ship. It is the hotel that goes with you so you don't have to pack and repack every day. That would be my, like, main distinction behind it. In today's world, I feel like we have two sets when it comes to cruising in general.
You have the ship has become the destination or the ship takes you to the destination. So like you have those ginormous large ships and then you have these like smaller luxury river cruising small ship products, and those are the two [00:04:00] differences. 'Cause like, I probably would get lost even on day seven if I was on the Icon of the Seas by Royal Caribbean.
And an hour into a river cruise, you're gonna know where every single thing is.
Yeah. I love that distinction and sort of framing it almost as a, look, this is a land vacation. We're just moving from location to location on a ship instead of on a train or on a car or on a bus.
Exactly. And that means that you also get to spend more time in destination because on average you're waking up in port and you're leaving late at night.
There are some times where it's even overnight you're there overnight, like if you're on the Danube Vienna usually is an overnight for some cruise lines. So it is more of focusing it that way than it is saying that you're gonna find your next best friend. I've been on cruises my whole life so I totally understand that, but it's just a different feel on that part because you're never gonna be able to see the destinations you see [00:05:00] on a river cruise on a large ship.
Yeah. Totally. You mentioned Uniworld. tell us a little bit about Uniworld. I haven't had anyone on the podcast yet that has sailed Uniworld, and do you consider that a luxury line?
Yes. I break down river cruising into four categories. I consider we have ultra luxury, premium plus, and then premium.
I don't really consider any river cruise in general to be considered anything less than premium because of all the inclusions and how small the ships are. But I would consider Uniworld a luxury product because of what they do. So with Uniworld, they have a very specific clientele, and I love that for what they do.
I always say, like, ostentatious is really the best way. So they design their ships based on where they're going. Uh, their cruise that goes on the Seine, the ship looks like a [00:06:00] Parisian hotel. I did them on Egypt, and it looked like a night market, and it had all these beautiful colors, and it's just, you know, like Marie Antoinette threw up on it is kind of their vibe, and they have so much fun with it.
And I love that. They also are going to be on the smaller end. Uh, river cruises are very much stuck in how much space they have because they have to go through the locks. So on a typical cruise, is they're all the same size, but the question is, how many people are they putting in those ships, and what are the things they're putting in as well?
So the max that I've seen is 190, and it goes down to 110 for your cruising. And so that's 80 more people or 40 rooms that are being taken out, and what things they're putting in, either larger rooms more local space around you, and things like that. So that's kind of those pieces, as well as inclusions.
So Uniworld does a really great job of finding unique [00:07:00] excursions. Almost all of the excursions are included. There's like one or two throughout the entire voyage that is not going to be included, but you're given multiple options. And they also do fun things like on the Rhine River, they'll do a castle dinner.
And so everyone will get off the ship. They'll have an exclusive dinner. And so they're gonna do those little like add-ons as well, which are a lot of fun
Yeah, that sounds awesome. And so, Uniworld would be on the smaller side, closer to that 110, so within the ship, even though I don't think any luxury river cruise feels crowded, but you feel like you have even more space.
Yeah. So, um, it's basically Viking has the most, and that's going to be at 190 people. Riverside is the smallest with 110. And then everyone kind of splits in between. Uniworld on average has about 140 to 150 people on board. Um- Good,
yeah ...
yeah, [00:08:00] exactly. So they have a great set there where, you have less people on board, they can play with a lot more rooms.
The rooms are usually a little bit bigger and so you just have that going for you as well. They don't have balconies though. Most of their ships don't have your traditional balconies. They'll have the French balconies. So that's something to look for as well if that's something that is important to you.
There are other products that have catered more to the American market in wanting balconies. Scenic, ironically, which is a Australian cruise line. AmaWaterways has some balconies. And there's a bunch of other ones, but those are just the two that I'm thinking of right off the top of my head that have them
Awesome.
So if someone had never been on a river cruise, doesn't know anything, because I talk to a lot of people who have concerns about big ships, whether it's crowding or [00:09:00] hygiene or sea sickness or whatever. I always say, like, "You should try a river cruise." And invariably those are people that are not 60 or 70.
They may have school-age kids or no kids. So for that first time, we'll say, let's say, like, 30 to 50-year-old who either has no kids or has school-age kids. What goes into your thought process when you are recommending a cruise line?
There's a lot of things that come to mind for me Usually they're not coming to me for a river cruise, but they're wanting something that has that ease of access, and I love river cruising for that reason.
I do always level set, as you talked about, your kids are concerned about there not being anyone their age or things like that. Whenever I've seen kids on board, they are having the time of their lives because they are being entertained by all the staff who love seeing the [00:10:00] kids. So I'm in my 30s.
I have sent people my age on river cruises and had the best time. The things that you have to do to level set when you're thinking about it is to understand you are going to be the youngest people on board, and you have to be okay with that. River cruising is great because most of the time you are docking in the city centers.
You are able to just walk off, and if you have any degree of independence, you can find your own way and explore for the day, but still have the comfort of knowing that someone is going to call if you don't show up when this ship is about to set sail so you have those little like pieces that make you feel a little bit more comfortable.
You do have the ability, which I feel like is so important these days, the all-in factor, where you can have your at least introductory excursions included, so you don't have to worry about that. You also have your meals included. So there is these little extra pieces that go into it that make it easier [00:11:00] to think of river cruising as a great trip.
Uh, if they have kids, I think it will also have a discussion of what they're expecting from the cruise lines for the kids. Are they wanting it to just be like a hotel where they are full autonomous of their children? there's not gonna be someone that they need to, drop them off at a kids club 'cause it's just not gonna be there.
And most of the time you have to be very particular 'cause very few cruise ships have rooms that hold triple or anything like that, or even connecting. AmaWaterways is usually the first one I will, go towards because they're the cruise line that's actually used by Adventures by Disney.
Uh, and so they kind of have that great middle ground if there is not a specific child-focused one through Uniworld and Tauck. 'Cause not all of their river cruises are for children, because they will change excursions specifically for children. [00:12:00] So like Tauck during the summer will do like archery classes in Germany, or will do things like that.
So they're pulling in those extra pieces so that everyone can be entertained and engaged, uh, which you're not gonna find on a normal trip. Now when I went on my Christmas Markets cruise, they did have a tour guide specifically for the people who had children. so it was like all the children were together with their families when we did our tours throughout the day to explore destinations.
So they do as much as they can, but they in theory will not cater towards the children, but they are allowed on board.
Yeah, unlike something like Viking. Any other river cruise line other than Viking, or maybe I should better say what other cruise line other than Viking does not allow children under the age of 18 at all?
I believe Viking is the only one that's a hard and steady rule. I think maybe Scenic, if I remember [00:13:00] correctly, I think they're, like, 16 and over, so as close to 18 as you can get. But I will tell you that, like, I wouldn't not pick another cruise line just because you're worried about seeing children, because you just don't see them that often.
And if you do, it's three or four. It's not like they're running, around on the pool deck and having, the virgin margaritas and just going crazy. 'Cause it's a different vibe, and usually the people who take their children on a river cruise, the kids are well-traveled, and so they know more how to act than those that just have way too much sugar
Yeah.
I'm thinking of spring break on a contemporary cruise line where kids are just sort of like-
Yeah ...
running crazy.
And those are the times I'm running to the adult only sections.
So Ama has connecting staterooms. Any other cruise lines come to mind that tend to have some [00:14:00] connecting staterooms? 'Cause they may not only be for children. I mean, if you have elderly parents that maybe you want to cruise with them but might need some additional help, that's another time where a connecting stateroom might be helpful.
So any other cruise lines come to mind that have some connecting staterooms?
Yeah. Riverside has connecting staterooms on the Mozart, which is the one that's on the Danube. I know that there are some, usually it's like the suites are connected to a, more basic room, so like a suite and then like another room.
There's usually one or two, but at that point you're gonna be talking about more money than it would be just to be in the rooms right next to each other and like split keys because you don't really need your keys for anything else, um, if that was a concern. Even on the cruise lines that have the, kid-friendly cruising, they have specific ships.
So [00:15:00] Tauck and Uniworld will have a specific ship that has some connecting rooms so that they can do that as well. Uh, but it's not gonna be on every single one of them, and those rooms would probably be something that I would book as far in advance as I could because they can still be booked by normal passengers.
And if they are, they're very reluctant to move them to allow you to have a connecting room because then they have to give something to that other client as a reason why they're moving. Yeah. Even if it's like, "Hey, you're doing this for, you know, this family to be on the ship together," they're gonna be like, "Okay, well what are you gonna give me?
I wanted that specific room." And so the cruise lines themselves are very reluctant to do that.
So for people who might be transitioning from ocean cruising to river cruising, what are some of your best pieces of advice?
I think it's not taking your perception of ocean cruisings into the river. Because as I was talking [00:16:00] about before, it's a completely different feel on how you're going to do it.
I really consider, uh, river cruising to be a land tour that you just have your hotel moving with you, because it doesn't feel anything like ocean. especially if you're doing like the mass market, if you're doing those really large cruise lines, it's not gonna feel at all the same.
Because the river cruising has, at best , two to three restaurants on board. Most of the time every single meal is gonna be in the same restaurant. They're gonna rotate the menu to the locations you're going, just like they would on a cruise line. But you're not gonna be like moving or changing things up.
When we went on my first cruise with my mom, and Viking doesn't really have a shopping area, she was aghast 'cause there was no shopping on board because they cut that room out for something else. Some of the other cruise lines, you know, will have a cute little shopping area, but that's not what they're putting the priority to.
Same with Viking [00:17:00] doesn't have a spa. Now a lot of the other ones do where you have like one masseuse that will do the massages for you, and those are just some of those little things. You have to be very careful 'cause some of the river cruise lines don't have pools or spas. Some of them do but that's something where if you're thinking that you're gonna lay out on the deck, you know, that's really not what this kind of experience is.
You are as active as you want to be, but you can be very active. River cruising, they say is for older adults. it's like, "Oh, I'll go on that when I'm in my 70s and I, can't" But a lot of river cruises now have bike rides. They have hikes to castles. You are doing something every day because there are no sea days.
So you are exploring a brand new city, you're exploring a brand new area of this river, and there's so much like history and culture and, you know, new food to try. So it really is a completely different sort of feel. And that's one of the reasons that I really enjoy it. [00:18:00] But those are just kind of the pieces that it's like it's not gonna be that same experience.
There's gonna be none of those bells and whistles that you see a huge cruise ship are going to be on the river because they're focusing, ... One of the cruise lines always says like, "A ocean cruise ship will take you to a destination, and river cruising will take you through it So that is what their main focus is for you to experience the destination because the ship itself is not.
The ship is purely there to get you from point A to point B. They do have, like, an $80 massage on some of the cruise lines that I have taken full advantage of because they don't, price gouge like Carnival or any of those other ones do for $300 for a 90-minute massage. But those are just some of the things that I would say is, like, key tips.
Yeah. If someone is completely naive to cruising, has never cruised before, which do you recommend is the [00:19:00] one to start with? Would you recommend starting with river and then maybe moving to ocean or vice versa?
I think it depends on the person. A lot of river cruise people who've never done ocean before are not cruisers in general, right?
As you talked about, for those people who say that I don't wanna be with a bunch of people on board, like, it's not my vibe, it's not how I feel I would direct them towards, like, the premium cruising or river cruising. Uh, it really just depends on what you want from a trip because if I go on a large cruise ship, I'm gonna be expecting some relaxation time.
I'm gonna be expecting to lay out by the pool a couple of days. Even if I'm in Europe, right? They still have days at sea. They're still leaving port early because they gotta open up their shops and their casinos and their everything on board and all the activities they have to entertain us. So it's really just what the person wants from the experience is [00:20:00] where I'd recommend they go.
I personally don't like a Mediterranean cruise for, like, the larger ships because I just feel like you're so far from all of the destinations. I always think about it as, like, when you go to Rome or there's even a cruise that says, "Oh, you're gonna go to Paris." I've done all of these and I've fallen for them, and it's two hours of driving each way.
It's an hour for Rome, and you spend a 12-hour day, and three of those 12 hours is in the car in these huge buses, and you don't get to truly enjoy where you're going. And so when it comes to Europe, I always try to lean people towards a river cruise because you're able to do so much more with the time you have, and we have such limited time when it comes to our vacation times in the United States.
Yeah. Agreed. Sydney I'd love to switch away from Europe and- Okay ... let's focus here in the US, and give me your general thoughts [00:21:00] about US river cruising.
That is a whole different beast. That skew's very old. Most of the time you're going to have a lot of people who can no longer travel internationally, and they're going to be doing river cruises in the United States.
really almost you have close to as monopoly as you can get when it comes to river cruising in the United States, uh, because you have one line that does a lot of little ships. Like you have the Snake River, you have the Poe, you have like the Tennessee, you'll have one that goes through New York and does like through Manhattan.
It's crazy, and that's the, American Cruise Lines. They bought American Queen when it went out of business, and so it's basically them, and then the only competition they have is Viking when it comes to the Mississippi. So the American Cruise Lines and Viking does the Mississippi River, which is what most people think about when they think of river cruising in the United [00:22:00] States.
So that is a completely different vibe, and I will tell you it is a lot more expensive in general because all of those ships have to be registered in the United States, which means they have to follow all United States customs and procedures when it comes to employment. So you're gonna have a different feel than you would if you were doingeven cruises out of Miami or things like that because all of those ships are registered in Panama or somewhere that's not the United States.
and so it has a different feel and a vibe. It's very much gonna focus on that cultural, educational side of things. It is a really interesting thing. They also do the Great Lakes, so you can kind of hit all of the Great Lakes and do things like that. That's technically not a river, but semantics. And so you have that as an option but that I would not recommend unless you are older or you just love like that area of the [00:23:00] United States and want to learn a lot about it because it is going to be very slow.
And so I think it's a great experience but it's just something that, I had someone who did wanna take kids on board, and I was like, "I just want you to be aware of these are the things that you are gonna have." Like, the ships don't have a lot on them.
you are going to have to... You know, all of the things we talked about before, right, where they have all of these things. You're also going to have almost everything is gonna shut down at night pretty early. And you are going to be in all of these destinations. My mom did one, I think, 15 years ago, and she's like, "I
"Wanted to get my hair done, and I had to get off the ship and go to, like, a local town to do it because they didn't have those things on board for, like, the party they were gonna have for New Year's." So it is a different vibe, and it's very much on the newer side. So river cruising in the United States is in its infancy in terms of where cruise lines see it as a priority.
If I was to tell you [00:24:00] where they're investing heavily now, it's going to be in the exotics. So it's going to be in the Mekong, the Amazon, in Egypt, in all of these unique destinations. Uh, the Columbia River, in all of these... Yeah, those are the destinations where you see river cruise companies investing resources to, improve their product there.
And just to clarify, so the Columbia River in Colombia, not the Columbia River in the US.
in terms of the investment, yes. But you can sail the Columbia River in the United States. That would be with American Cruise Lines as well. So the American Cruise Lines has a lot of the rivers in the United States pretty much covered.
They even do, like, the Puget Sound, and you just travel around there. And they have some coastal connectors that do the Cape Cod area. And so they go to all the different Cods, which is the one that I would actually want to do. I think that'd be a pretty cool trip. You have some other cruise lines that are investing, which I was excited about.
I learned about at [00:25:00] a last conference I went to. They're going to finally have an official river cruise in Italy, and it's gonna go up the Venetian River. so where Venice is, you can go all the way up to Lake Como and Milan. Not exactly on the river, but they are doing a seven-day trip starting next year, and I'm very excited to try that one out.
That sounds amazing. Which river cruise line is doing that? Viva. Oh. Yes, we had somebody on the podcast that talked about it. Viva's a brand-new cruise line.
Yeah. Yes, Viva basically is owned by a brand called Skryla, and it is the boat manufacturer for like four or five different cruise lines. And they were like, "Why are we not in the cruise line game ourself?"
And so Viva was born, and they have two different products, Viva and then Viva Boutique. And so they are very much similar to like a Viking-style product where you're getting one excursion per port. [00:26:00] Uh, but you get all of your drinks included, which is not included on a Viking. And so
They're giving a lot of these like extras and things like that. I'd put them very much in like the premium category. I think they hold 160 or 180 people on board. But yeah, I always just kind of educate. I feel like when it comes to river cruising Viking is the Google. You know,
I'm like, "I'm gonna use a search engine." Like, "No, I'm gonna Google that." When people go to river cruising, like, "I'm gonna go on a Viking." So my job as an advisor is to be like, "Well, do you actually want Viking, or do you wanna go on a river cruise? And what are your non-negotiables or things that are important to you to guide you into this huge arena of cruise lines that people have never heard of to make it a better experience for them?"
Yeah, I totally agree. I think that's a great philosophy, and I think that people need to realize that yeah, [00:27:00] I mean, Viking has the greatest marketing budget it seems like. Yeah. You're always seeing their ads, but there is so much more to river cruising than Viking. And like you said it is tried and true.
It's a great product. It is 18 and older only, so, um, both Viking Ocean and River. And so if you want to bring, you know, whether it's your kids or just any kids, you need to branch out.
Exactly, yeah. And that's just it, where it's like you, again, have to be cognizant on what your kids want because you have to have kids who are interested in history.
Like, the things that I learn now are like, "Oh, this is what I was supposed to learn in high school history class," and I never did. Uh, but it's so much cooler to do it in destination, to learn about the Habsburg dynasty and how they ruled and how they literally were, created their own, Palace of Versailles in Vienna.
And putting all of these pieces together and seeing it and, you know, the United [00:28:00] States, celebrated its 250th this year, and then you look over in Europe and they're like, "What is 250 years?" Yeah. Peasants. Which we are, I guess. And then I went to Egypt over New Year's and they're talking about, BC and how much stuff they've done and created in the world.
And it's so interesting to just see how everything connects and just how, young as a society we are, but how, interesting the world was before and after.
Yeah. and river cruising is such a great way to do that. So anything else about river cruising that maybe we haven't touched on that you really would like the audience to know?
I think when it comes to it, it's just understanding what you want from your vacation. River cruising is going to be a super, like, interesting and educational. You're gonna learn a lot. You're going to be very active. It's not gonna be a relaxation cruise like you would on a ocean cruise. There [00:29:00] is usually some of that going on.
I always say that everyone has a different style, and so it's really just playing a matchmaker in sorts because there's over 13 different river cruise companies, and it's really just trying to figure out where you fit in terms of the best trip for you in terms of value, what you want as included amenities, and how to really just have that best trip for you if you have kids or not, and how that fits into it.
Yeah. I love that. So let me ask you a couple questions I ask everybody.
Okay.
And the first one is, how do you define luxury?
I always say like when you get into luxury cruises, you don't always see the luxury, but it's all about how you feel.
It is not about, you know, like, oh, this is this because of that, but it's those additional touches that people do and that personalization. So I'm gonna say [00:30:00] luxury is personalization because when you get into that thing, you can have a lot more experience with private excursions, private inclusions.
I think about the best hotel I've ever stayed at, which was on the end of a riverside cruise, which was staying at the Palace of Versailles, where you literally stay inside the grounds. You get exclusive access while you're there to go after hours to go to do a tour . And that to me is luxury because it's the exclusivity, it's the personalization, it's everything that like the hotel does and these things do to make a better experience unique to you.
Yeah. I absolutely love that. Do you have a dream cruise?
Right now it's not river cruising, it's Greenland I love the idea of cruising Greenland. I think it's such a unique destination, or, like, the Faroe Islands. Or something that I would [00:31:00] consider similar to it doing the coastline of Norway.
There's two cruise lines that go up to, like, the tippity top and you just hug the coast. Those are my, like, dream cruises at the moment. and doing it for the northern lights. And then what they do is they'll wake you up so you can just sleep through the night and if the northern lights come out they wake you up.
Which I like 'cause I hate staying up late if I don't have to .
And it's like, you know what? You just let me know. Yeah. I don't have to sit here with my cocoa, like, waiting. Are they coming? Exactly. Are they not coming? Trying to stay awake. Yeah. It's like knock, knock. Lights are out.
Well, and then you have to go explore all day the next day, right?
So I get to see the beauty of it and then just go back to sleep.
Yeah. Ah, I love that. What's on the agenda for you? Any river cruises scheduled right now?
Yeah. Well, I'm actually headed on a Windstar cruise which river cruising. And then next April I'm doing a Danube cruise.
It's a group cruise if anyone wants to join. It's perfect for that . April [00:32:00] 11th with Riviera, uh, which is actually a UK brand. But they have some amazing promotions as well as just inclusions on board, like three or four restaurants, all of your drinks included, a couple of excursions in each port you can pick from.
So I'm doing a group river cruise April 11th, which I think is a perfect spring so there's not too many people on the rivers yet. It's not overcrowded
Yeah, and not too hot.
Exactly. I don't have to worry about this heat wave that's going on right now.
Yeah. April's a really good ... Sometimes it can be cool, but it's usually not oppressively hot.
It's, like, you can dress for cool weather but hot sometimes it's hard to escape.
Exactly. okay, I will tell you, since I forgot to mention this one of the things that I get asked a lot about river cruising and everyone is super concerned about is low water or high water or their trips being canceled because of it, and it's kind of apropos 'cause that's exactly what's happening right now.
[00:33:00] In an average year, that happens less than 5%. So I always kinda tell people, I'm like, "Yes, there's always a possibility of something happening." Cruise lines have a lot of you know, like, back pocket situations where they've planned for this and they have contracts in place. A lot of the cruise lines are also connected with tour operators, which makes it a little easier.
I always just say that it's usually on average less than 5% of cruises have this affect them, but I know that is one of the biggest concerns and problems when it comes to river cruising. And so, I just thought of it as we were talking about my next trip.
Yeah. That's good to know, especially as we're recording this, there is a lot in the news around, I think the Danube especially- Yeah
is particularly low. And having to-
Both are from this extreme heat wave. Yeah.
Yeah. And the truth is, a lot of times it's not that it's canceled, but instead of being able to float from one destination to the other, they put you on a bus because most things are connected with roads as [00:34:00] well.
So not ideal but you do still get to see some of those destinations.
Yeah. What they're doing right now basically is they're playing like a connect the hotel rooms. Um, I had a client who just did it on the Rhine where halfway through the trip they had to pack up their room, they left their suitcase on, the bed and while they went on an excursion to Heidelberg all day, they met a new ship, their stuff was already in their room, they had the same staff, the staff went with them and they basically just like switched hotels.
And so there are things that are being done to make it as seamless as possible. A lot of cruise lines, if you are super frustrated, are offering, you know, like the ability to change to a next ship or a next destination within the next year. But I will tell you that most of the cruise lines are not gonna let you know until a week or two before, if at even that amount of time.
Because if there's any rain, the situation [00:35:00] changes very quickly. I had clients who the week before they went, there was extreme high rain, and so you couldn't get under the bridges. By the time they got there, which was five days later, everything was fine .
So these things are very fast-moving because it is rivers. It's not like it's a lake where it takes a really long time to lift or to drop. It's pretty fluid.
Yeah, exactly. Well, awesome. if people either do wanna get on that group or just wanna follow you, keep in touch, how can they do that?
Yeah. Um, I am on most social media as Travel Advisor Sydney. And I always say my name is like Australia, so Sydney, Australia. or you can email me at sydney@thepoodlebookedit But the name of my travel agency is after my dog because he runs all parts of my life, so he also runs my travel agency.
There you go. We'll definitely put those links in the show notes, and I really appreciate you being here to give us this [00:36:00] general master class about river cruising. And to the listeners, thank you again as always. And until next time, I wish you safe and luxurious cruising.