In this week’s cover story about river cruising, Growth Spurt, I examined the different ways in which river cruise lines are working to sustain a high level of service even as their business and inventory have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.
But have those efforts successfully translated to the passenger experience? As someone who has been river cruising for the past nine years, I have seen firsthand the growth and development of the industry. I have also traveled and spoken with many passengers along the way, and the truth is that for the most part, customer satisfaction remains quite high in river cruising.
Despite the rapid growth and expansion of the river cruise industry, once onboard a vessel with anywhere from 120 to 190 passengers, the intimacy of the smaller ship and the personalized service of passenger-to-crew ratios that are generally between 2.5:1 and 4:1, diminish the sense that river cruising has become a big business. Connections among passengers and the crew are forged and the high-touch service that made river cruising so popular to begin with often continues to thrive.
River cruising is a courteous business. It is common practice to offer welcome drinks and warm towels to passengers when they return from their excursions. Pre-dinner debriefings about the following day’s activities often come accompanied with a complimentary glass of bubbly or wine and hors d’oeuvres.
It seems the staff on most river cruise lines are trained to remember guests’ names and preferences, such as how they like their coffee or tea in the morning. Guests tend to love this. Indeed, onboard, the experience is comfortable and cozy.
Where some of that intimacy is lost, however, is off the vessel. Once in port, small European towns that river cruisers once had to themselves are now shared with the passengers of four, five, six or even six other river cruise vessels at once, especially during the high season. Once outside those cozy cabins and welcoming public areas of your vessel, out amid tour groups walking this way and that behind their river cruise line’s flag-toting tour leader, is where you can see and feel the river cruise boom, much more so than on the ship.
The river cruise lines know that and are continuously looking at ways to keep the onshore experience as intimate as the onboard one. They are trying to stagger departures and find lesser-known ports to dock in. They know that if they want to keep river cruising special, they are going to have to find ways to make that intimate level of service passengers have come to expect on the vessel — a level of service that can make you forget that there are dozens of other river cruise ships sailing around Europe all around you — translate at least somewhat off the ship too.