While the big headlines of cruise often revolve around the giant ocean ships, the fast growing world of river cruise can’t be ignored. From stranded ships to cruise lines expanding across regions, river cruising have also stolen plenty of headlines this year.
Some of the stories you loved to read include the building of more river ships, a swing towards luxury and more accessible pricing.
With more eyes on river than ever in 2024, these are the biggest stories of the year that were turning heads towards river cruise.
5. 2025 is set to be the biggest year in river cruising ever with 20 new ships
Next year is shaping as a massive year for river cruise and people were happy to hear it.Â
The charge of new river ships is being led by Viking, who are set to introduce 10 new ships throughout the year. Also joining the party is AmaWaterways with three new riverships, APT with two, Riviera Travel with two and a few other lines debuting new ships to the waterways.
A wider range of ships means not only a wider range of itineraries catered to more tastes, but also more accessible pricing, offering more travellers and cruisers the chance to make the leap to river cruise for the first time.
4. River cruising on the Nile has made a comeback
Many commentators in 2024 were stating that river cruise on the Nile was dying down, citing factors like the conflict in the Middle East, a lack of demand and a saturated market. However, this all proved false as bookings skyrocketed across the region.
With nearly 300 ships across the Nile in total, the region is definitely not slowing down in terms of cruise growth.
With various pyramids and monuments at seemingly every nook and cranny of the river, it stands to reason that guests continue to seek out the destination, whether as returning customers or travellers looking to tick a key item off of their bucket list.
Viking Hathor, the sister ship to Viking Osiris and Viking Aton represents the cruise lines latest investment in the region, with the 82-guest ship debuting earlier this year.
3. Riverside Cruises launches
Riverside Cruises, a venture of the five-star hotel chain, announcing they’d be partnering with Luxury Escapes, to target Australians in the river cruise market.
Riverside ships offer high-end luxury, with two staff members for each guest.
The cruise line revealed to Cruise Passenger that Aussies were flocking to the Danube and the Rhone especially. The line also revealed that shorter river cruises of three and four-days were proving a particularly big hit with young cruisers.
With Luxury Escapes already a big name amongst Aussie travellers, especially those who prefer the finer things, Riverside’s renewed focus on Australians represents a big moment for river cruise in Australia.
2. APT’s new European river ships are built for Australians
Aussie cruisers were clearly delighted to hear that they were at the centre of the design process when it came to the construction of APT’s new European river ships.
Given the consideration that Aussies make such a long commute to Europe, and generally stay or cruise for longer periods of time, APT made this a crucial consideration of the design process. To account for this the new ships of Solara and Ostara were designed of the principle of ‘freedom of choice’.
They have a wider range of dining venues, so those that are travelling for longer will have more variety. Furthermore the social nature of Aussies is woven into the design with more common spaces for social connection.
The new ships look set to be a big hit with Aussie river cruisers, and might even convince a few others to try out Europe’s waterways for the first time.
1. Luxury Swiss river cruise stranded on the Danube
The biggest river story of the year came when mass flooding from Storm Boris left 100 river cruise passengers stranded.
The MS Thurgau Prestige, its 102 passengers and 40 crew members were trapped onboard as they awaited instructions from emergency services.
The massive floods had damaged Europe’s rivers right through from Romania to Poland, and the rising water levels left the vessel unable to navigate the suddenly harsh conditions. The gateway to the jetty was inaccessible as the Danube flooded far beyond normal water levels.
However, eventually with the help of emergency services and lowering water levels, the passengers were all able to safely disembark.
