Australians are set to be targeted by a new river line, Riverside Cruises, which offers ultra-luxury journeys on Europe’s rivers in what it calls “slow luxury”.
Riverside Cruises has been created by a European five-star hotel company – and the owners believe Australians are going to love their product.
The line has formed a preferred partnership with Luxury Escapes, the online travel company looking to mount a major push into the cruise market Down Under. Riverside Cruises will be Luxury Escapes first river cruise line.
Andrea Kunze, Director of Sales & Marketing Europe, told Cruise Passenger Australians had already started booking. They love the food, special exclusive shore excursions and the Suite Dreams butler service offered across the ships.
She believes Australians will also appreciate what the line calls “slow luxury” – a reflection of the relaxed style of Riverside.
Riverside offers two staff for each guest and a personal butler in every suite. “Our product is a high-end unique luxury product. We bring slow luxury to the rivers,” she said.
She said Australians were keen on The Riverside Debussy on the Rhine and Riverside Mozart on the Danube. Third member of the fleet is the Riverside Revel, which sails the Rhône and Saone.
The luxury fleet of five ships – two are now chartered long-term to Uniworld Boutique River Cruises – were originally built for Crystal, the luxury line once owned by an Asian gambling and entertainment empire. Crystal went into liquidation, its ocean fleet bought by A&K and its river fleet now owned by Riverside.
Riverside is part of Seaside, a hotels conglomerate which has 11 luxury properties from Germany to the Maldives.
The line is offering three- and four-day cruises which can be combined into seven, and they offer extensions. Kunze told Cruise Passenger the shorter cruises are particularly popular with younger guests.
On board there are spas, highly trained therapists offering treatments individually tailored to guests. There is a modern Technogym, free weights, balls and Thera-bands.
Local produce features in the restaurants, where guests can match food with fine wines.
The line offers two ways to cruise: full board – all meals, entertainment and service on the ship – or all-inclusive, which includes everything from wines, beer, and shore excursions.
For an idea on prices, a seven-day Danube river cruise Vienna to Vienna costs $4999 per person on the Luxury Escapes website – a big saving on the main Riverside website, where an eight-day cruise on the Rhine and Main from Amsterdam to Nuremberg would cost from $9760pp to $1220pp a night.
Riverside Cruises won Travel + Leisure’s prestigious World’s Best Awards after just one year in operation. Riverside was named among the top 10 best river cruise lines in the magazine’s 29th edition of the highly anticipated annual readers survey, which highlights the best travel destinations and organizations across the globe.
“We are delighted to be recognized by Travel + Leisure’s readers, and it is particularly gratifying to be named among the World’s Best Awards after only being in service for one year,” a company spokesperson said.
“We have always aimed for excellence and this award honours the exceptional staff and crew aboard Riverside’s three most luxurious river ships, as well as our management. We thank readers for cruising with us and appreciate our valued travel advisor partners for recommending Riverside Luxury Cruises.”
For more see Luxury Escapes
