Luxury River Cruises Take Action to Avoid Irrelevance and Compete on Age
Photo Credit: Bicycles available on some AmaWaterways cruises. The company is developing more local experiences. AmaWaterways
Skift Take
River cruising doesn't just have age problems, its brands are competing on the quality of their on-shore experiences in an effort to lure in a new generation of cruisers.
For many years, river cruises were the stepchild of the cruise industry writ large. But a few years ago, the sector hit its tipping point and now the vying lines are competing with each other in order to acquire new customers while retaining loyal clients.
Most major river cruise lines cover the same territory — the Rhine, the Danube, the Seine — along with more recently added rivers like the Mekong through Vietnam and Cambodia and the Douro in Portugal. For the most part, at this point, river cruise companies are focused on finding less-crowded ports on the same rivers rather than looking for new rivers on which to ramble.
Upping the game in the river cruise industry, therefore, is not so much about the destination as it is the expansion of the experience. Adding more local experiences and more active options gives current custome
