River Cruises in the USA, anyone have an experience with that?

[mshultz]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I spent a lot of time while growing up on my father's small boat, traveling the rivers, canals, and lakes of the northeast and Canada. If you are thinking of river cruises for sightseeing, there is a fact of life you need to come to grips with first, to not be disappointed: You are always looking at the scenery from a ditch - not only a ditch, but the lowest possible ditch in the area.

Those aerial shots of the Viking river cruises always crack me up, because nobody on a boat is EVER going to get an aerial view unless they rent a chopper.

Interesting. That did not occur to me. I did look into a river cruise out of curiosity some time ago. Cruises do not like single people. There is a substantial cost penalty every step of the way. You may even have to upgrade the cabin, because the lowest cost cabins may not be available for single occupancy. I have no interest in sharing a cabin or motel room. I did that one year in college, no thanks.

I do not drink and do not want to help pay for the drinks of others. The American Spectator was offering a Great Lakes Cruise that included a certain amount of drinks in the price. No thanks.

[SunGrins]

I have always lived near major rivers but never took a river cruise more than few hour excursions. I came down the inside passage in British Columbia from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on an ocean-going ferry and the scenery was stunning the whole way. I would like to do another cruise along the inside passage. At one time there was a cruise barge operation on the Missouri River but it seemed short lived. That would be more scenic than some other river routes but the channel, water levels, and flood issues make it too risky and commercially unviable.