2026 River Cruises

[Donalyn]

So, last year, the ABD river cruise dates for 2025 dropped like on January 11, 2024.... I have been waiting and waiting for them to drop for 2026, but I'm getting worried that we haven't seen anything yet. (DD has her heart set on the Danube, but only with ABD. If they stop doing these, I don't know what we will do for her graduation trip because they also stopped doing her second choice, the prior version of the Central Europe trip with Krakow.)

 

[sayhello]

Oh my goodness, I can't imagine them stopping the River Cruises altogether!! That would be awful! Have you tried calling ABD and asking them when the 2026 dates will be announced? They may just be switching things around again (they used to announce them at the same time as the land tours).

Sayhello

 

[Donalyn]

I hear you, but there aren't that many sailings of the Danube for 2025 compared to prior years, so I'm getting nervous. And I thought that they sort of liked spreading out the calls (with land departures dropping at a different time than the cruises).

My DH reached out to them, but we haven't heard back yet.

 

[Donalyn]

ABD responded. Some time in February for the small boat adventures for 2026 to drop. No more details than that.

 

[sayhello]

ABD responded. Some time in February for the small boat adventures for 2026 to drop. No more details than that.

The 2026 River Cruise dates are out now. The Danube is still there!

Sayhello

 

[Donalyn]

Thank goodness. (Although, we'd been hoping for a late May date, but alas, no luck on that.)

 

[pjacobi]

I was somewhat interested in river cruises but learned that they are more like bus tours than ocean cruises. Both river cruises and bus tours are small groups of people doing exactly the same thing. Ocean cruises have lots more people doing lots of different activities at the same time. It all depends on the style of travel that you prefer.


-Paul

 

[chuff88]

My mom and I were supposed to do the Peru ABD this year but I'm having a surgery that's going to be costly so we decided to move our deposit. We're going to do the July Holland & Belgium river cruise in 2026.

 

[aggiedog]

I was somewhat interested in river cruises but learned that they are more like bus tours than ocean cruises. Both river cruises and bus tours are small groups of people doing exactly the same thing. Ocean cruises have lots more people doing lots of different activities at the same time. It all depends on the style of travel that you prefer.


-Paul

I would quibble with that. I've done one bus tour and 3 river cruises. They are really quite different.

River cruises - no packing and unpacking every night or two. Many lines give you choices of excursions in each port. Some excursions I've done it was just 2-3 of us interested in that particular option.

Bus tours, are, well, bus tours. Enough said.

The biggest difference between ocean and river cruising is the variety of offerings ON the ship - no big shows, no multiple restaurants, no casino/shopping/art shows, no huge buffet.

 

[Donalyn]

Palma - I had looked at other options, but DD (who has some anxiety issues that make changes difficult) has been very clear with us. She wants to do the ABD Danube... I have a few more days to discuss with her before we could make our reservations on Monday. We shall see.

 

[Donalyn]

I would also quibble with Paul about river cruises being the same as bus tours. There are similarities, but they are not the same, particularly how the group interacts and how well you get to know the other people (or how easy it is to avoid getting to know the other people, as the case may be). As well as how well you get to know the guides.

It is true that river cruises and ocean cruises are different - and people should understand the difference. I personally prefer river cruises because they address all of the things that I dislike about ocean cruises:

1. I don't like wasted at sea or private island days (I travel to experience the world, I can hang out by a pool and drink at home). There generally aren't full days on river cruises with out a stop.

2. I don't like not being able to see land. (This is a personal thing, caused be watching the Poseidon Adventure as a child, but it is real.) You can always see land on a river cruise.

3. You don't have to take a helicopter to real medical care from a river boat. (I have a daughter with some health issues, and a cousin who likely would have died had she come down with meningitis two days later when they would have been on their cruise.)

4. You can't get lost on a river cruise boat. (Yes, I'm sure that alcohol had something to do with getting lost on our ocean cruise, but still.)

5. A river cruise isn't mass tourism. A river cruise drops off like 150ish people into a location, not thousands.

6. You can walk off a river cruise, no shuttles or jetties required, and often (but not always) right into town.

Similarly, my family doesn't really need night time entertainment, at least not every night. They are all introverts, so a long day of exploring the world requires some time to recoup, in their room on their phones or watching movies. And I usually have to work some every day, so I work most nights. Again, a personal thing, but this works for our family.

And my family aren't foodies. We like good food, and thought that the river cruise food was fine. (and much more casual, which was also a plus for the family).

But a lot of people love ocean cruises - so you do you.

 

[sayhello]

I would also quibble with Paul about river cruises being the same as bus tours. There are similarities, but they are not the same, particularly how the group interacts and how well you get to know the other people (or how easy it is to avoid getting to know the other people, as the case may be). As well as how well you get to know the guides.

It is true that river cruises and ocean cruises are different - and people should understand the difference. I personally prefer river cruises because they address all of the things that I dislike about ocean cruises:

1. I don't like wasted at sea or private island days (I travel to experience the world, I can hang out by a pool and drink at home). There generally aren't full days on river cruises with out a stop.

2. I don't like not being able to see land. (This is a personal thing, caused be watching the Poseidon Adventure as a child, but it is real.) You can always see land on a river cruise.

3. You don't have to take a helicopter to real medical care from a river boat. (I have a daughter with some health issues, and a cousin who likely would have died had she come down with meningitis two days later when they would have been on their cruise.)

4. You can't get lost on a river cruise boat. (Yes, I'm sure that alcohol had something to do with getting lost on our ocean cruise, but still.)

5. A river cruise isn't mass tourism. A river cruise drops off like 150ish people into a location, not thousands.

6. You can walk off a river cruise, no shuttles or jetties required, and often (but not always) right into town.

Similarly, my family doesn't really need night time entertainment, at least not every night. They are all introverts, so a long day of exploring the world requires some time to recoup, in their room on their phones or watching movies. And I usually have to work some every day, so I work most nights. Again, a personal thing, but this works for our family.

And my family aren't foodies. We like good food, and thought that the river cruise food was fine. (and much more casual, which was also a plus for the family).

But a lot of people love ocean cruises - so you do you.

I agree with all your points! (Except I'm OK with not seeing land -- I just don't prefer it.)

The other thing I prefer with river cruises over ocean cruises is that 95% of the time, you dock where you want to be. There's usually no busing to the actual city you're visiting. So you don't waste a lot of time going back and forward. And *most* times, the ship sails at night, so that they stay in port all day. You don't have to leave at 3pm in the afternoon.

Bus tours have a tendency to take you *to* and *past* places. You don't always get out of the bus, and you frequently do not go inside of places. I much prefer river cruises, especially ABD's, where the excursions are often the same sort of activities (if not the exact same activities) that you do on ABD land tours.

And honestly? I *like* getting to know the people I'm traveling with. 150 people is way better than 5,000 to me!

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

Our Mekong river cruise had 36 pax.

 

[Donalyn]

That sounds great. Who did you travel with?

 

[chuff88]

So I'm going to chime in as someone who loves ocean cruises, but is still very excited to try a river cruise. I love the sea days because I have a job that requires me to be very connected, and there's nothing like being in the middle of the ocean to truly disconnect. But I'm excited for the river cruise because it seems like it'll have a lot of what I love about the regular ABDs with the added bonus of only unpacking once.

 

[aggiedog]

That sounds great. Who did you travel with?

Avalon. We specifically chose them for the smaller boat. It can go a bit further up the river, down some side channels, and the smaller groups just made going places easier. It was an amazing trip.

 

[Donalyn]

Just got off the phone with ADM booking our Danube cruise. I asked her how the Rhone bookings were going and see says that one is already sold out and others are going well.