Travel Factory Blog
River Cruisin''. . .It's not for Everyone!!!
This past week, the American Society of Travel Agents had their annual conference in Miami and one of the sessions was a panel discussion among some of the cruising executives. One of the men on the panel was the Chairman of Viking River Cruises, Torstein Hagen. He was very specific about who would have a good time on his cruise line.
His position was that “Viking is a river cruise line and that the destination is the key”. He said “we can show your clients Europe; we can show them culture and geography”. In contrast, many of the major cruise lines make the activities available and the entertainment package the primary focus rather than the ports of call.
Mr. Hagen indicated that Viking’s major demographic is the 55+ age group. They don’t need rock climbing walls or rope courses to have a good time. He did point out that “all-inclusive is our standard on the river ships with wine and beer at meals and free shore excursions at each port”. He reported that their customers are typically not gamblers, so they do not have casinos and use that space for more staterooms.
An interesting comment he made to a reporter several years ago was that the difference between ocean and river cruising is that “ocean cruising is a drinking man’s cruise; river cruising is a thinking man’s cruise.”
The Travel Factory has a river cruise booked and sold out over a year in advance, and we will be departing on it in a little over a month. We are going on the Rhine River from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland. And interestingly, I looked at our group of 48 and sure enough, all but 2 are over 55 years of age.
We have planned another one for 2014. It is on the Elbe River in Eastern Germany. Our itinerary runs from the beautiful city of Prague, north to Magdeburg, Germany where they will then bus us over to Potsdam and Berlin. If you haven’t seen Berlin since the wall came down, it will be an interesting and historic city visit. The date for the trip is November 8-18, 2014. We’ve had the reservations for quite some time, so the group prices are very attractive.
Discovering the world on a slow moving river ship is a memory to be long-remembered, so do something different, and give the professional and experienced travel agents at The Travel Factory a call today and let us help you manufacture a dream vacation designed just for you. We are located at the Plaza at Park Central at 4150 Southwest Drive, Suite 120, between Rosa’s and Chick-fil-A. You can also contact us through our website; www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com. Or our phone contact is 698-1421 or 800-760-4040.
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