I love river cruising, but there are loads of things that they never show you in the adverts – and some that the cruise lines actually try to hide from you.
On my last river cruise, almost everything that could go wrong did, but we weren’t pre-warned about any of it.
Our itinerary changed completely, we docked right next to other ships most days and my view looked like this a lot of the time.
I didn’t get particularly unlucky though, everything that happened to me was normal and could happen on any river cruise.
From accessibility issues to the ship leaving without you, the cruise lines won’t tell you about any of these, but I will.
In the river cruise adverts you’ll always see amazing views from the cabins, but more often than not, this was the view from my cabin on my last river cruise.
This might look odd, but it’s because river cruise ships actually dock side by side.
They are so close that you could touch the other ship if you wanted to. If you had a friend on the ship opposite, you could high-five or pass across a snack.
It’s called “rafting”, and it happens because there just isn’t enough space along the rivers for all of the ships to dock.
There are over 400 river ships in Europe alone, and so this happens on all the big rivers and with all of the cruise lines.
This isn’t something you can avoid by picking a more expensive cruise line either.
One day my TUI river ship was docked against land with a Viking ship next to us.
I loved watching as they passed the Viking food delivery through our ship and onto their ship on the other side. Everything has to go through or over the ship, and that includes people.
On our cruise, we usually had 2 ships docked together, sometimes three. It isn’t impossible to get four or five.
The downside of this, mostly for me, was that in the morning I couldn’t just open my curtains because there would probably be another ship staring back at me.
We did have plenty of days when that wasn’t the case, of course, and the days with the great views more than made up for it.
I don’t want this article to put you off river cruising because it is really great, but it’s much better to be prepared.
Docking side by side happened more than normal on my last cruise because our itinerary had changed completely.
We were originally meant to fly to Switzerland and cruise through Germany, ending in Amsterdam.
We ended up flying into Amsterdam and doing a round trip around the Netherlands and Belgium.
Our itinerary changed this time because of low water levels, and this does happen with high water levels too.
It’s like Goldilocks and the three bears – the water levels have got to be “just right”.
The high river levels issue has happened to me in the past too, also on a TUI river cruise. (Not that it’s TUI’s fault; I just have cruised with them more than any other river cruise line.)
On my latest trip, they offered us all a 20% discount if we wanted to stay on the cruise and take the new itinerary, or we could get a full refund if we wanted to cancel.
I’ve already had my refund back in my bank, which I was very impressed with. For the two of us sharing this cabin, the refund was about £260.
We were offered a full refund, but you definitely can’t assume that you’ll get a full refund if the itinerary changes a lot.
River cruises are a bit of a magical mystery tour, and for me that was part of the fun.
I’m glad ours got changed, as it meant we got to visit places I’d never been to before.
It isn’t like an ocean cruise where they can find another route to a place if their original doesn’t work.
If the water level is too high and the ship can’t get under a bridge, it just can’t. There’s no magic there that’ll make it happen.
In that situation, you might have to get on a bus to go meet the ship, or something like that. The cruise line will organise all of those logistics.
Have a look at the Christmas markets cruise to Germany I took in the video below.
The water levels were so high, we actually had to fly to a different airport to embark the cruise! The itinerary was changed from the one we booked, but we still had a great time:
There are certain times of the year and certain rivers that are less risky, but your travel agent will be able to help you with that if you are concerned about picking the wrong thing.
Read the article below to find out more about that:
When Is The Best Time To Take A European River Cruise? (Avoiding Water Level Issues)
A travel agent will be able to help you with rearranging everything too if things do change, so if you don’t already have one that you love, feel free to reach out to me and my team at The Cruise Globe.
Either through The Cruise Globe app, my website or just click on the link below:
Book a Cruise (I’ve Launched My Own Travel Agency)
I’ve spent the last 10 years creating cruise content online and over that time I’ve learnt that having a great travel agent makes a HUGE difference.
That’s why in 2026, I launched my own agency and built a team of real cruise experts who love cruising as much as I do.
We combine great prices with personal service. Just click the button below and we’ll find you the perfect cruise. No request is too big or too small, we’re here to help.
We booked some amazing river cruises while I was away and while I was working onboard I’d usually sit at the cabin desk.
It was here that I live-streamed as we went through a lock. It wasn’t my plan to do that – we actually sailed away earlier than planned, and it took me by surprise!
Locks are basically big areas of water with two gates at either end. They either raise the water up or they drop it down so that the ship can carry on on the next level.
Personally, I absolutely love them. I love how close the cabins are to the walls and how dark the whole cabin gets. It’s creepy but in the best way.
You can see that happening in the livestream video below:
You usually can go up to the top deck when this is happening too, if you want to have a look around.
Locks are great places for me to take part in one of my favourite cruising activities, waving. I waved at one man who shouted back at me, in English, “See you later, alligator!”
That did make me laugh. I wish I had thought fast enough to say “In a while, crocodile”, but I think I just said bye.
Going through locks does mean that sometimes you’ll feel the ship bump around or make some noise in the middle of the night.
I don’t mind waking up at night if I can just roll back over to go back to sleep, knowing that somebody else is working and sorting it all out. I enjoy that.
It’s never bothered me, but if you are a light sleeper, it might. If you’re near the engines on the actual river ship, you might hear more noises too.
I really like going through the locks, but I added locks to the list because I don’t think everybody gets as excited about staring at a wet concrete wall as I do!
Most people come on a river cruise to sit on the top deck to watch the scenery go by. It is my favourite thing about river cruising. It is so peaceful, you’re close to the water and there are always things to see.
We had plenty of time like that on our cruise, but you might not always be able to go up on to the top deck.
If the ship is going under a low bridge the crew will fold down all the railings and even the wheelhouse drops down into the ship. During times like that you obviously can’t be outside, it isn’t safe to be out there.
It’d be like a limbo, but against a bridge, which isn’t a smart game to play.
Sometimes you can stay up there and can go under bridges, but it really all just depends. It never looks like the ship will fit under the bridge, but you just have to trust the Captain.
Given that our water was low rather than high on our last trip, we didn’t have any situations like this.
The next thing did happen on my last cruise, though. It is something that might terrify you if you’re used to ocean cruising.
The ship can actually move away without you, and if that happens, it doesn’t mean you’ve missed the ship.
If you’re on an ocean cruise and you come back and the ship’s gone, it has gone without you, definitely. Ocean cruise ships don’t do this.
When the river ships dock side by side they sometimes have to move to let each other out, just like a parking space.
We had this happen to us when we were the middle ship in a river ship sandwich in Rotterdam. We were the filling, basically.
We wanted to sail away before the outside ship did, so they had to float out a little bit to let us out, and then they docked next to the first ship, taking our place.
If you didn’t know that this might happen, I can imagine that would be very scary. You might come back from your day in town and see your ship out in the middle of the river.
A lot of the river cruise ships do look very similar too, so that can be confusing. They have all kinds of different styles inside, but the outsides don’t vary a lot.
Like ocean cruises river cruise ships will have an all aboard time and they will tell you when that is in advance.
If you come back early and the ships not right there, you probably have just caught the ship at a bad time.
A good thing to look for in this situation is that the ship will usually leave its big flag and often a crew member on land. If they are gone, you might be in more trouble.
Not as much trouble as you would be on an ocean ship though. If you miss an ocean ship it might be heading off to another country entirely.
If you miss a river ship, chances are you could just get a taxi or a train to the next port. It might only take an hour or two. I still don’t advise it, though.
On a river cruise ,you are usually the person who is responsible for scanning yourself into and off of the river cruise ship, so if you forget and just walk off without doing it, the crew might think that you were still onboard.
I love how casual and easy it is, and I often get off multiple times a day; I always make sure to scan myself off, though, when going on land.
One day on this cruise, everybody was onboard early, so we left a little earlier than the schedule said. Usually just 10 or 15 minutes, but sometimes even earlier. One day we left almost an hour early.
They won’t set sail if guests are still on shore and it’s not all aboard time, of course, but if everything else is ready, they don’t just have to wait for their time slot to leave.
River cruises can be more flexible than ocean cruises, and it’s one of the biggest benefits for me.
I’m sure that there is a river cruise to suit almost everybody, but not everybody would suit every river cruise.
For example, river cruises can be extra difficult if you have any mobility issues at all.
When they dock side by side, you do have to walk up and over the other ship, or through the middle.
Even if your ship has a lift, they normally don’t go to the top deck, and it wouldn’t help you with getting across and off the other ships anyway.
Most river ships don’t have a lift that goes to the top deck because of what I mentioned earlier about everything up there having to fold down to fit under bridges; that is the same for the lift. It would have to fold flat, which wouldn’t work.
Our ship did have a chair lift and a lift inside, but you definitely can’t assume that every ship has these, and some cruise lines have strict rules on mobility requirements.
Our ship was the only TUI ship with a lift at all, but it still says on their website guests do need to be able to walk up and down stairs.
The gangways can be steep sometimes too, and they are the only way onto and off of the ship.
It definitely doesn’t mean that you can’t take a river cruise if you have disabilities, but it isn’t as easy as ocean cruising.
A few years ago I took a river cruise that spent a full day just cruising on the river. I’ve also taken river cruises where we’ve barely sailed at all and where we only moved for a couple of hours every few days and usually at night.
There is so much variety in the industry, and a great travel agent will be able to find the best option for you.
On my last river cruise with TUI we usually sailed at night, but we did have one day where we changed ports in the middle of the day. That meant we got to see some amazing views during lunch.
I loved watching the water go by from my cabin too and I did pay extra for this type of room which is called a balcony cabin.
The cheapest cabins are usually under the water with just a window, but I find the noise of the water so relaxing I didn’t mind paying extra for it.
Have a look at the cheapest cabin on a luxury Uniworld river ship below – the decor has to be seen to be believed!
If you imagine a balcony, you probably picture some outside space with a couple of chairs and a table.
That is the case on a few river cruise lines, but most are more like a big sliding door. The kind you might get onto your patio at home.
It does mean that you can get fresh air anytime, you can hear the water going by which is lovely, but it isn’t quite a balcony.
This is one of the big differences between ocean and river cruising and it doesn’t stop there.
River cruise ships are obviously much smaller usually with just one lounge onboard and one or two restaurants, so the experience onboard tends to be a lot simpler.
River cruising is much easier too, you can just walk off the ship anytime that you are docked.
You’ll probably be right in the middle of a town or a city and you can come back whenever you want.
If you want to go to the supermarket to buy sweets and Pepsi, you can. There’s no big security bag checks like on an ocean cruise, no tender boats, no lines really.
It’s more focused on the destinations that you are visiting. That does mean, for me anyway, that the days start earlier and you spend more time off of the ship.
Despite these things that you’ll never see on the adverts, I absolutely love river cruising and I will definitely be doing more.
I have another one booked, and I can’t wait. Keep your fingers crossed for me that we do keep to the scheduled itinerary and visit the planned places!
Have a closer look at river ship issues in the video below:
Before You Go
Find out why river cruises cost so much more than ocean cruises here:
Why Are River Cruises EXPENSIVE? – The Truth Behind The Price
I took an adults-only ocean cruise with Virgin Voyages. I think they advertise it all wrong! Find out why here:
I Tried an Adults-Only Cruise – It’s Advertised Wrong!
Book a Cruise (I’ve Launched My Own Travel Agency)
I’ve spent the last 10 years creating cruise content online and over that time I’ve learnt that having a great travel agent makes a HUGE difference.
That’s why in 2026, I launched my own agency and built a team of real cruise experts who love cruising as much as I do.
We combine great prices with personal service. Just click the button below and we’ll find you the perfect cruise. No request is too big or too small, we’re here to help.