Your Expert River Cruise Travel Advisor

Mississippi River Cruise

Hello! My name is Adam Wyler and I am your deluxe river cruise advisor. River cruising has exploded in popularity in the last 10 years. River Cruising appeals to an elevated niche of travelers. The average age of a passenger on a river cruise is between 65-80 years. River Cruise sailings, on average, are considered more 'high end' than ocean cruises....mostly because of the quality of the ports and the exclusive accomodations. Average 7-day river cruises cost between $7,000-$12,000 per person without airfare. Viking has been very popular in Europe and Africa. Viking also sails down the Mississippi in America. Other international river cruise companies are AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways, Uniworld, Scenic, Emerald Cruises, Tauck, and CroisiEurope. In America, there is Pearl Seas, a company that sails on The Great Lakes. There is also American Cruise Lines. This company sails around the Florida peninsula, around New England, up and down the Mississipi River, The Graet Lakes, Puget Sound, and Alaska. Why would a client of mine consider taking a river cruise? That's a great question. River cruise ships are much smaller than any of your traditional ocean cruise ships. Most river cruise ships have no more than 100 staterooms. This means they carry no more than 200 passengers. So you don't have the congestion of those larger ocean cruise ships. All staterooms have balconies, so you wake up each morning looking right at the port scene outside your stateroom. Because of the smaller size, there are no recreational amenities....no pool, sauna, auditoriums, spas, or sun deck. Please keep that in mind. Also, since you are either sailing on a river, or near to the shore of land, there will not be any 'at sea' days. Although, some river cruise itineraries, the ship is docked in port for more than one day. This does usually mean you will stop in more ports on a river cruise than on an ocean cruise. Typically, a 7-day river cruise will stop in 5 ports. Because of this phenomenom, lunch is more of a buffet option with burgers or hot dogs. Of course the culinary options in port are much more desirable. Part of the beauty of a river cruise is you can dock in ports on rivers that you can't on an ocean cruise. One of my Viking river cruise clients last year sailed down The Danube River in Europe and also had a pre- and post-cruise hotel stay on their itinerary. They are one of my favorite clients. In America, American Cruise Lines offers this amazing 16-day itinerary cruising the Columbia & Snake rivers throughout Washington & Oregon and then taking a 3 tour of 3 National Parks....Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park. I look forward to hearing from you about your next river cruise sailing!