A first-timer’s guide to river cruises

All our river cruise ships have a maximum of 155 guests onboard at any one time, and with one crew member to every four guests, you’ll be on first-name terms in no time.

All our itineraries tick off multiple destinations, so you can unpack once and visit several places in one trip. Loads of them cross borders, too, so you could find yourself strolling around Amsterdam’s art museums one day and admiring Cologne’s enormous cathedral the next. And, from winter 2024, we’re venturing into Africa, when our newest ship sets sail along the continent’s longest and most famous river, the Nile.

On our river cruises, you’re free to come and go as you please. So, you can step off the ship and wander around the destinations at your own pace or book one of our shore experiences and let an experienced guide take the lead.

All our river cruises are Full Board Plus as a minimum, so all your meals and a selection of drinks at mealtimes come as standard. There’s a swanky six-course gala dinner thrown in on sailings of five nights or more, as well. You can also upgrade to an All Inclusive drinks package before you go or onboard, if you fancy having all your drinks added into the mix. And, if you’re sailing on our Nile cruises, they’re All Inclusive as standard.

Our Nile cruises start and finish in one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world – Luxor. It’s been dubbed ‘the world’s greatest open-air museum’ for its ancient sites, like the Valley of the Kings – home to Tutankhamun’s tomb. Between Luxor’s bookends, there are stops in Kom Ombo, Aswan and Edfu. The latter’s home to one of Egypt’s best-preserved temples.

Along with the Rhine, this river makes up the bulk of Germany’s wine country. The slopes that line the riverbank are steeped in vineyards, and there are plenty of places to stop off for a glass of the local tipples. City-wise, the Moselle’s on a far smaller scale compared to its neighbour, and skyscraper-filled metropolises are replaced with old world ancient cities like Koblenz and Trier, plus cosy villages like Bernkastel-Kues, which looks just like a Disney-designed film set. Its cobbled streets are lined with wonky, half-timbered buildings and wine taverns.

Half-timbered houses, grand palaces and castles are some of the picture-worthy sights along the Main, which meanders through the centre of Germany. If history’s your thing, then the stop in Nuremberg will be right up your alley – the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the Nuremberg Trial Courthouse are a reminder of darker chapters in its history, while the castle and city walls are a nod to the more distant past. And if you can’t wait for Christmas to come round, you’ll love the stop in Rudesheim – the town centre’s home to a Christmas shop that stays open all-year-round.

This vast network of canals and rivers laces its way across the north of the Netherlands and Belgium, flowing past historic cities, colourful tulip fields and pancake-flat countryside. Cities are the big pulling point on these cruises. There’s the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, with its world-class museums and endless canal network, Rotterdam, with its uber-modern cube houses, TV tower and canalside shopping district, plus the country’s oldest city, Nijmegen. And we haven’t even mentioned Belgium yet. The Bruges-esque city of Ghent is one of the country’s oldest cities, while café-filled Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world.