What sets a river cruise apart from a contemporary ocean cruise?
“River cruising is a wonderful alternative to ocean sailing,” says Pety Carvalho, of Expedia Cruises in Langley. “It’s a great way to visit more remote areas and experience the rich local history of each city.”
Since many cities were historically built around rivers – particularly in certain regions of Europe – river cruising is a great way to enjoy the intimate experience of cruising within the heart of the world’s most picturesque regions. Travelling on smaller ships, river cruises are also more intimate, taking you back in time as you travel through ancient towns, gazing at castles, and enjoying the local culture and heritage.
“River cruises also offer a lot of great options in terms of shore excursions and guided tours,” Carvalho says. “Every cruise includes daytime shore excursions, but you can choose to pay for optional evening excursions, too.”
Whether you choose AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways or Viking River Cruises, many offer added amenities such as the use of bicycles and Nordic walking sticks to explore destinations at your own pace.
“River cruises offer three activity levels for excursions – slow, moderate or active,” Carvalho says. “There are options to suit everyone, and you can change them daily depending on your mood or energy level.”
Expedia Cruises also offers a variety of coach and train tours.
“With the world opening up again, clients are looking for those bucket-list trips they missed out on, and our tour vacations are a perfect complement to a river cruise, or as a stand-alone vacation,” Carvalho says.
“Our tour operators take you everywhere, so you don’t have to worry about a thing – you can book connecting coach or train tours of any length you choose, before or after your cruise, with options to fly home afterwards. We can design it so it’s basically door-to-door service.”
Expedia Cruises’ Legendary Rivers & Tours promotion runs from April 10 to 23, featuring cruises from Ama Waterways, Avalon, Emerald, Scenic, Viking River Cruises and Uniworld, plus coach and rail tours from Globus, Rocky Mountaineer and Trafalgar.
“With ever-expanding destinations, new ships, immersive shore excursions and a more intimate feel than a traditional cruise ship, river cruising is on the rise,” Carvalho says.
Enter online for your chance to win a river cruise for two from Viking Cruises (airfare included, value up to $12,000 USD).
Follow Expedia on Facebook, or visit their office at #102 - 23160 96th Ave, Langley.