What this site covers
RiverCruiseGuide is a structured reference for active river cruise vessels — the long-haul European mainstream fleet, the boutique luxury operators, and the niche shallow-draft vessels that open up rivers like the Loire, the Elbe, the Mekong and the Nile. Every ship in the directory is documented to the same template so that comparisons are direct and consistent.
Each ship profile includes:
- The launch year, overall length, passenger capacity and number of decks.
- A complete cabin-category table with square footage, deck assignment and view type.
- A walkthrough deck plan from the sun deck down to the main deck.
- The signature itineraries the ship sails during her primary season.
- An itemised list of public-room amenities and inclusive program perks.
- Cross-links to her operator, her sister ships and her primary river.
How the data is compiled
The directory is built from publicly available fleet documentation published by the major river cruise operators — Viking River Cruises, AmaWaterways, Avalon Waterways, Scenic Luxury Cruises, Emerald Cruises, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, and CroisiEurope — supplemented where possible by structured vessel data from open knowledge bases (Wikipedia, Wikidata).
We treat every operator's published deck plans as the canonical source for ship dimensions, cabin square-footage figures, and category nomenclature. Where operators publish slightly different specifications across regions or seasons, we prefer the most recent figures published in English. Where structured data was unavailable from a primary source at build time, the editorial team has filled in the field from the documented public-fleet pages of the relevant operator. The sources used for the current build are recorded in the project's replit.md.
What this site is not
RiverCruiseGuide is not a booking engine. We do not sell cabins, take reservations, or charge commissions, and we are not affiliated with any cruise operator. Pricing is intentionally not published because river-cruise fares vary widely by season, departure date, and cabin category — for a binding quote, contact the operator or a licensed travel agent.
The site is also not a review platform. We publish structured ship facts; we do not collect or moderate guest reviews. For first-hand reports, dedicated cruise communities such as Cruise Critic provide an active discussion forum.
Editorial independence
RiverCruiseGuide is editorially independent. The site carries advertising — clearly labelled and served through standard ad units — but no operator pays for inclusion in the directory, for placement on the homepage, or to influence the contents of any ship profile.
Corrections
If you spot an error in a ship profile — a mis-stated cabin count, a deck-plan inaccuracy, a launch year that has since changed — please get in touch through the contact page. We update the directory promptly when verifiable corrections are submitted.