This is a question asked by many sea cruisers, who are looking for a change or maybe want to visit more inland destinations. The later was the reason that i decided to opt for a river cruise. A decision I certainly don’t regret.

The most obvious difference between them is the size of the boat. To be honest this is maybe one of the only areas i’m still a little iffy on. River boats are obviously a lot smaller, normally with one main entertainment venue, and a maximum or 2 restaurants. The thing is, on a river boat you are not stairing at just the vast ocean in front of you (although this is very nice!), there is always things to see. Even though there is not as much to do on board there are always things to see from the deck, from beautiful little towns to castles on the Rhine. This makes sailing days a joy, and the size of the boat isn’t an issue.

Where i still struggle (a bit) is with the entertainment. In the evening it is lovely to have a choice of venues to visit that cater to different tastes, rather than one main venue where, if you don’t like the entertainment its tough. I don’t really think this is something that can be fixed very easily, apart from docking more often in the evening so that you can visit some of the towns that you normally pass by. Obviously, if you are passing through scenery in the evening and it is warm, sitting on the deck taking in the endless views is a wonderful thing to do, but unfortunately that isn’t always possible.

One thing that I have always been incredibly impressed with is the quality and choice of food that the river boats provide. I would say (comparing Marella to TUI river cruises) the river cruises serve much high quality food. Both have a gala night, where you are expected to dress up (no need for bow ties and three piece suits anymore however) and both serve a 6 course menu (in general). I was really impressed with the use of local produce on all of the river cruises I have been on, it really made such a difference to our experience.

Now for the cabins. Honestly, there isn’t much difference here. I would say the basic river cruise cabins are bigger and better furnished than basic sea cruise cabins (with the obvious advantage of always have a window!) I have loved all of the cabins I have had on the three river cruises I have taken, however I’ve not loved all of my sea cruise cabins; maybe the river cruise cabins win after all!

Now for the main reason to do a cruise over a normal hotel holiday – the destinations. With the sea cruises you are obviously going to see a bigger variety of places including many different countries. However, what you are usually seeing are the touristy port destinations which don’t really give you a real feel for the country visited. This normally means purchasing a costly excursion in order to see a bit more of the country you have chosen to visit. River cruises are different, yes, you may not cover the same mileage but you certainly get to see more of the country. Not only are you constantly ‘scenic’ cruising as Fred Olsen likes to call it, you can normally walk off into the heart of a destination. Most river cruise companies include free walking tours too. I definitely think river cruising wins for me here.

Now for the most contentious one – the staff. I’m really easy going and have loved all of the staff on every single cruise I have taken. I was blown away by the service received on my most recent Egyptian river cruise with Tui. I had the most fantastic bartender called Karim, who always had a smile on hit face and a ‘Karim cocktail’ in hand. I honestly cannot compliment ‘most’ of the staff enough. I do feel you do get a more personal service on river cruising. You do get to know your servers and cabin staff much better than on a sea cruise. This is largely due to the number of people on board, but also (and this is the contentious one) i think better working conditions. Some of the staff we spoke to got to get off the river boats to visit family, they had more port time and free wi-fi to contact home. I’m not sure this is the case with sea cruising. As a result the river cruise staff are much more chatty and have more time to spend speaking to passengers. Again i think river cruising has to take this one.

Summary – Which would I choose? To put it simply both. I have a river cruise booked for Christmas and 2 sea cruises coming up. I love the variety of experiences you get from both and honestly if you asked me to give one up forever i don’t think i could. I really wasn’t looking forward to my first river cruise, but I’m so glad I gave it a go!