Another River Cruise Rating Article—No Wonder There is So Much Confusion!
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
Another river cruise rating article was recently published—this time it is in the respected Conde Nast Traveler. The Conde Nast readers ranked the best small cruises with 500 or fewer passengers in their 2023 Reader’s Choice Awards. The 3 categories were 1) The Best Small Cruises, 2) The Best River Cruises and 3) The Best Expedition Cruises.
According to the survey and Conde Nast, this is the longest-running recognition awards in the travel industry. There are so many categories in their survey that it is hard to tell how many people voted in the small ship category, so the number of 526,000 voting certainly does not mean that many voted in these 3 categories. In fact, one source said only 27% of the readers went on a cruise last year.
I will only share with you the results of The Best River Cruises and my opinion of these choices—I did not vote in this survey, but I am going to vote my rankings for the 7 lines we follow. If I don’t give the line a max score in the categories, I will explain my reason for the less than perfect score. If I also don’t have personal knowledge of a category, I gave them an excellent score (5) and provided a reason for this rating.
The Citeria for the Cruise Category
There were 5 areas the readers voted on in this survey. Each of the five areas were rated on a five-point scale that was then converted to a percentage. The scale was excellent (5), very good (4), good (3), fair (2) and poor (1).
To be listed in the awards, each line had to receive a minimum number of responses and a minimum overall score to be listed in the rankings. The exact number of responses needed is not disclosed by Conde Nast in each category. Another interesting fact is that this survey is often used in mathematic classes to assess the reliability of the data and to calculate the standard deviation of responses, but I will leave that to others with far more mathematics ability than I to evaluate the responses and data.
Since I don’t have a copy of the questions, I must rely on what others have reported about the rating areas used and even if they are not correct, they will prove useful to understand the methodology used. The five categories are cabins/facilities; food; itineraries/destinations; excursions/activities and value.
The Best River Cruises Ranking
The Reader Choice Awards top 5 results are 1) Viking (97.32); 2) American Cruise Lines (96.66); 3) Tauck River Cruising (96.14); 4) Oberoi (95.91); and Les Bateaux Belmond (95.90). Other lines we follow received this rating 8) Uniworld (93.24); 10) AmaWaterways (93.09); 11) Scenic (90.09); 13) Avalon Waterways (88.09) and 14) Emerald (86.54).
Since some categories on the list had only 3 or 4 winners and 16 were listed in the best river cruise rankings, tells me how close the voting was and the small differences between the listed lines. My guess is the cut off was 70% or higher to be listed. No real surprise for me—river cruising is often one of the best vacations available for our clients and the large number of different lines receiving votes supports our thoughts about the overall value of this great vacation.
Viking (97.32)
As the largest river cruise company that sails in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America, it is easy to see why most readers would select Viking just based on their sheer size. Viking has close to 100 total ships sailing in the expedition, ocean, and river cruise types of vacations. About 70 ships are on the rivers and they have the largest footprint in Europe.
Using the max 30 points. Viking had to score at least 29 points, with a lot of perfect scores. I’m not sure how you could max them out in cabins (45 of the 95 are between 135 sq. feet or at the waterline and they carry 190 passengers on their longships—maybe Conde Nast folks only sail in their larger staterooms). I’ll provide you with more thoughts later on this line.
It is also possible that people who voted for Viking had done another cruise on Viking (either ocean and expedition) and assumed the river cruises would be as good--brands tend to influence responses.
American Cruise Lines (96.66)
American Cruise Line has 35 US river cruises on the Mississippi, Columbia & Snake Rivers. It also sails in New England and Alaska. They have 17 ships, but one was recently damaged due to a generator fire, so I believe only 16 are currently in service. It is unfair for me to evaluate this line, as we have never sold it and it does not operate in Europe.
Tauck River Cruising (96.14)
With its cult like following, very small passenger counts (often 130 or less), this is a quality river cruise line. Again, to get this high a ranking, Tauck would have to get a little less 29 total points (okay for all you math folks 28.84 points)
Oberoi Hotels & Resorts (95.91)
Oberoi is a luxury hotel operator with 32 luxury hotels and 2 river ships. Both ships, the Zahra (27 cabins) and the Philae (22 cabins) sail only on the Nile River. It is hard for me to believe that with only 2 ships and limited staterooms, that many folks would rate it so high—makes you wonder how many votes it would require to be considered.
I don’t doubt it is luxury, but most newly built Egyptian River ships are equally luxurious, and these ships were built in 1996 and refurbished in 2015. I’m not exactly sure of how many newer ships have been added to the Nile River fleets of other lines, but it is more than 4—AmaWaterways and Viking have newer ships in service since 2015.
Les Bateaux Belmond (95.90)
This is a barge company that ranges from 4 to 12 passengers. It has 7 barges—6 are available as private charters and only one, the Nepoleon, allows you to book an individual cabin. They sail only in France.
Again, it is hard to understand how there could be so many folks taking barge trips, so they meet the minimum required submissions—even if Conde Nast are very high-end travelers.
As my lovely wife Anne pointed out to me, many could have voted for this company based on reading about them—since barge cruises are almost exclusively charter operations, these become tailored vacations, with itineraries decided by the guests and even meals are customizable—I can really understand how that would appeal to the readers of Conde Nast for their upscale vacations, and they could have received votes based upon reading about these experiences.
Now My Ratings
To make this clear, I will list what Conde Nast readers rated the 7 lines we follow and then provide my rating using the 5 to 1 scale reported earlier in this blog post.
Viking—Conde Nast Score 97.32
My Viking Score 76.00 (19/25) cabins/facilities (3); food (4); itineraries/destinations (5); excursions/activities (3) and value (4).
With 190 passengers, many small staterooms I can’t go higher than 3 (good) for cabins/facilities. Having eaten on a Viking ship, can’t go higher than 4 (very good, especially if you consider wine in this category). For excursions/activities, there are too many extra cost excursions that are limited or unknown until after booking your cruise—3 (good) is generous, but reasonable as some routes have excellent included excursions. Unless you get a great sale, I have a hard time rating the value much above a 3 (good)—almost everyone spends more on-board than they expected—sometimes as much as $1,500 to $2,000 more.
A good look at the balcony staterooms on a Viking longship. The port side (this view) is the larger Veranda Staterooms (205 square feet)
This is a picture of the small 135 square feet French Balcony (sliding glass window) stateroom. There are 22 of these staterooms on the 95 cabins on a Viking longship.
A chef makes carbonara on a Viking longship in March of 2023. I love this dish and am sad to tell you it was just so-so at best. This is one reason I cut them a point on food. I also don’t like the lower quality wines included in the basic fare—you have to buy a silver beverage package to get better drinks.
Tauck—Conde Nast Score 96.14
My Tauck Score 88.00 (22/25) cabins/facilities (5); food (5); itineraries/destinations (4); excursions/activities (4) and value (4).
Having never sailed on a Tauck ship, but with extensive knowledge of their cabin/facilities, I rated them with an excellent (5) due to the fewer passenger cabins and the most innovative water-line deck loft cabins, which are the best water-line cabins in the industry. I rated Tauck excellent for food (5) but I have never eaten on their ships and I was influenced by the fact that they are all-inclusive with drinks. I rated itineraries very good (4) since there is a small number of ships compared to other lines. Perhaps the most interesting cut from excellent (5) to very good (4) is the on-board tour guides—I like locals, who often have more in-depth knowledge, but many disagree with my thoughts. The value cut to very good (4) is the price for cruises—with 130 passengers, Tauck is often the most expensive river cruise line when comparing identical routes.
The Tauck Treasures rivership sailing on the Danube.
The Reception Area on the Tauck Emerald while ported on the Saone River
Uniworld—Conde Nast Score 93.24
My Uniworld Score 84 (21/25) cabins/facilities (4); food (5); itineraries/destinations (5); excursions/activities (3) and value (4).
I can’t go higher than a 4 (very good) for the overdone cabins—you either love them or detest them. I have never eaten on Uniworld but gave them an excellent rating (5) since they are all inclusive and most alcoholic drinks are included. My biggest problem with Uniworld—claiming to be all-inclusive, there are still some excursions that require an extra charge, so they only earned a 3 (good) from me. These 2 reasons cause me to lessen the overall value of this cruise to a 4 (very good).
The Uniworld River Royal ported in Bordeaux.
AmaWaterways—Conde Nast Score 93.09
My AmaWaterways Score 100 (25/25) cabins/facilities (5); food (5); itineraries/destinations (5); excursions/activities (5) and value (5).
Compared to the other lines we follow, 5 are justified in each category –all excellent!
The AmaCerto ported on the Rhine River at Basel.
An Amawaterways Balcony stateroom. This is 235 square foot stateroom.
A great desert to finish the meal—the food is the best of all other river cruise lines we rate.
Anne and I enjoying a great meal on AmaWaterways
Scenic—Conde Nast Score 90.09
My Scenic Score 92.00 (23/25) cabins/facilities (5); food (4); itineraries/destinations (5); excursions/activities (5) and value (4).
While most meals are great, they sometimes just don’t have consistent food. Also, one of their specialty dining is not sperate from the rest of the main dining room. For those two reasons, I rated the food very good (4). We find it very expensive unless you hit a sale and often pay a year early while other lines have a 90-day final payment as their standard practice, so they earned a very good rating (4) from me.
we sailed on the Scenic Opal in 2015.
The seafood buffet was wonderful but they lost a point from me as next night’s dinner was not as good—others told us the meal just wasn’t as good as other days, so the lost one point from me when I rated the food.
Avalon—Conde Nast Score 88.09
My Avalon Score 84.00 (21/25) cabins/facilities (5); food (2); itineraries/destinations (5); excursions/activities (5) and value (4).
The food just doesn’t match the other lines—can’t go higher than 2 (fair), even though they have a very good vegetarian food program. I debated in my mind to take one point from either excursions/activities category for the cost of some extras, but I like their variety and active & discovery options, so I took the point off for the value from excellent to very good (4).
The Avalon Impressions ported in Vienna.
Here is the lunch meal buffet we ate in March of 2023 in Budapest during the ASTA River Cruise Expo. The carving station meats were good but the rest of the meal was not up to other river cruise company standards in both food quality and selection. This was my lowest score of all of the 7 ships we rated—I gave it a fair rating for 2 points in the food category..
Panoramic Stateroom 302 on the Avalon
Emerald—Conde Nast Score 86.54
My Emerald Score 88.00 (22/25) cabins/facilities (4); food (4); itineraries/destinations (4); excursions/activities (5) and value (5).
While not the flashiest cabins, they are modern and sleek, but it only cost them one point from excellent to very good (4) and they do have a covered pool that converts to a movie theater at night. The food is better than Viking in my judgement, so it only lost a point from excellent to very good (4). The small number of ships (9) was the reason for the one point cut in itineraries/destinations to very good (4).
The Emerald Sun
This is the awesome covered pool that converts to a movie theater at night—How cool is that!
This is stateroom 318, a Panoramic Suite on the Emerald Sun. The size of the cabin is 180 sq. feet.
Here is the Recap with my Scores—AmaWaterways 100; Scenic 92, Tauck 88, Emerald 88, Uniworld 84, Avalon 84 and Viking 76.
Our Final Thoughts
Isn’t amazing how different I perceive these lines compared to the readers of Conde Nast. Part of the problem is that all river cruises are good vacations, and readers often only have the chance to sail on one line and tend to rate it highly as a result. The other problem is that Conde Nast are the high-end travel folks, who favor all-inclusive products.
This just goes to show how little value these ratings have for us—it is so much better to match your travel style to the vendors—don’t be swayed by these reports. We hope you enjoyed this report—it was fun and challenging writing it.
Even cruise lines and vacation recommendations from friends and family should not be your sole reason to choose a certain line—everyone has certain travel expectations and just because they enjoyed it, you may not. You should use a seasoned travel professional like us, with in-depth knowledge to help you find the right cruise for you that matches your travel style.
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
