HOW CAN WE AVOID HAVING OUR RIVER BOAT JOURNEY TURN INTO A BUS TOUR?

Q – How often, after all of the hype, are river boat sailings in Eastern Europe cancelled due to water levels? Are there certain months when this is more of an issue. Some of the forums seem to have contradictory information. A –  Forums do not generally present “information”. Instead, they give you the personal…

JUST HOW BAD IS THE FOOD ON ROYAL CARIBBEAN?

      Q – We’ve been asked to join friends on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. They’re wonderful friends, great company, but we’re folks who enjoy fine dining on vacation. So how bad is this going to be? A – There are specialty restaurants that you will likely find tolerable and perhaps…

SAVING ON BUSINESS CLASS TO SYDNEY

     Q – I am bringing my family to Australia for a well-deserved holiday. It will be a costly trip and we are looking at flying coach. We are wondering if there are still any ways to dramatically save on Business Class tickets to Sydney from the States. A – This is one of…

DO I WANT/NEED AN AMA DOUBLE BALCONY CABIN?

Q – We have been told that AMA Waterways has double balcony cabins on its boats. Is this really true and how do we get one? A – AMA first  designed double veranda cabins in 2010 with the  debut of the AmaBella. It is a rather unique cabin design and one that we think gives AMA…

DOES SIZE MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO RIVERBOATS?

  Q – We seem to have a choice of different size river boats, with the largest belonging to Viking River. In terms of density, are there real advantages in terms of one size over another? The fact that everything is shown in meters adds to my confusion. Really useful site but you should have…

JUST HOW DRESSED UP DO THESE RIVER BOATS GET?

Q – We have signed up for our first cruise on Tauck and we are getting concerned about the dress code and just how formal it will be. Can you tell us what we should bring on this cruise and just how dressy it gets. We went on one of the big “forum” sites and…

IS THERE ANY WAY TO AVOID ‘BANQUET STYLE’ FOOD ON RIVERBOATS?

Q –  We will be celebrating our 40th anniversary and we would like to go on a river cruise. We are looking at one of the two-week itineraries between Budapest and Amsterdam..Outstanding food is one of our prerequisites. We’d hate to be in Europe for two weeks dining on banquet-style or luke-warm buffet meals.How do…

PULLING THE TRIGGER TO JOIN FRIENDS

Q – We were on a Uniworld river boat tour last year – first one ever – newer ship – ss Catherine – as foodies (and realizing this is a cruise ship and not a Michelin star restaurant) – we found the food to be extremely good – also, they include all drinks and cocktails…

IS IT WISE TO CONSIDER TRAVEL TO ITALY THIS SUMMER?

Q – We have been listening to some of the talk coming out of ISIS about attacks in Italy in the near future. Is this something that should be a concern and are any of the potential targets identified? A – Statements from ISIS in Libya have claimed that Italy is their next target. The…

A SNOB EN ROUTE TO SPAIN

Q – Dear traveltruth: We depart from SFO for Madrid and two weeks in Spain in the next three weeks. Our agent is quite good but not at all a “Foodie” In fact I think she believes that the Outback is gourmet fare. So wondering if you can help two hopeless food snobs. What are…

REALLY NICE MARRIOTT BED

Q – We just spent three nights at the JW Marriott in Dallas and absolutely loved the bed. We both slept like a baby and made up for the sleep we’ve been lost the past several weeks dealing with some issues at home. We’re back a week and my lovely wife instructs me that I am…

DO HOTELS CLEAN THE BEDSPREADS AFTER EACH STAY

Q – Just back from a two-week jaunt around the British Isles. We stayed mostly at the better-known chain hotels but we also found some charming three-star places. I thought they were fine but my wife said she felt “itchy” during our last night in Edinburgh and wanted me to ask how we can tell…

BOTTOM LINE: HOW DO I REALLY GET THE BEST HOTEL PRICING?

Q – My wife and I really appreciate your approach and so we come to you with a question that’s been on our minds for months. You could say we are frequent world travelers. As COO of a large company based in Boston, I travel overseas an average of two times per month. We take…

A LETTER FROM ANTARCTICA: AN INTREPID TRAVELER’S FIRST VISIT

My Trip to the 7th Continent By Derek Lloyd – Quark Expeditions   As soon as I was confirmed I did what probably 90% of your travelers to Antarctica do: I spent way too much on new equipment and clothes for the trip. Of course I checked out our blog on what one needs to…

ARE THESE THINGS BOATS OR SHIPS?

Q – Love both of your sites. How damn refreshing to hear the truth without ads or sales bs. But please, help us out. We sell river boats and we want to be sure that we have it right. Is “Riverboat”, as in your site name, correct? Or, are these just boats or, should we…

WHICH BOAT IN PORTUGAL MAKES THE MOST SENSE?

Q – My wife and I are River Cruise veterans, having done cruises along the Rhine and Danube with Avalon. Now, we are looking at a cruise in the Duoro River Valley. We’ve sort of narrowed it down to AMA or Uniworld. We love the fact that we can come here and get straight advice…

IS THERE ROOM FOR THIRTY-SOMETHINGS ON THE RIVER?

Q – Wonderful web site with lots of great information. My wife and I are looking to take our 5-year anniversary in Europe and a riverboat cruise seems to be at the top of the list (It may be the whole trip or only spend half of it on the boat). However…we’re in our mid-thirties and…

A QUESTION ABOUT VIKING RIVER

Q – My family is in a similar situation to the folks who wrote to you about Viking from Columbus. We have read every word on your site and I guess we have one question to pose to your Editors. What is the single thing that you like the most about Viking River? Your response will…

WHY IS VIKING DOWNGRADED ON THIS SITE?

Q –  We are thinking of joining two friends from Columbus on a Viking River Cruise along the Danube next July. As we were getting ready to call in our reservation, we came across this site and were wondering if you were aware that yours is one of the only sites to downgrade Viking. One…

DO RIVER BOATS “KNOCK AROUND” THEIR GUESTS?

Q – My  next-door neighbor and his wife, who are far better traveled than we are,  just returned from a river cruise where they said they got a great deal of knocking about as the ship progressed with the ship rising and falling and shuddering. They were on a longer Rhine/Danube cruise, something we are…

THE BEST TURNED OUT RIVER BOAT IN THE WORLD

Q – It took my husband and I about five minutes on riverboatratings to figure out that river boating is really not for us. It all sounds a bit more mass market and regimented than we had hoped. But we did see that the very top-rated river boats are not necessarily Europe-based boats. Our profile…