CroisiEurope
River Cruising
CroisiEurope is the line I suggest when clients want a European river cruise without the premium price tag of Viking or AmaWaterways. It's a family-run French company with 50-plus ships, and the onboard ambience is unmistakably Gallic — think three-course lunches with regional wines, open bar included, and a crew that actually cares about food. The trade-off is smaller cabins and a more European passenger mix, but if you're after authenticity and value, CroisiEurope is hard to beat.
CroisiEurope is Europe’s largest river cruise company and one of its best-kept secrets outside the continent. Founded in Strasbourg in 1976 as Alsace Croisieres, this family-run French operator has grown to a fleet of over 50 vessels — from full-sized river ships on the Rhine and Danube to intimate canal barges carrying just 22 passengers through the French countryside. With 170 itineraries across 37 countries, CroisiEurope offers the widest route network of any river cruise line, including waterways that competitors rarely touch, such as Spain’s Guadalquivir, the Elbe between Berlin and Prague, and the Loire.
The onboard character is distinctly French. The head chef, Alain Bohn, holds membership in the Maitres Cuisiniers de France — an association of just 250 master chefs nationwide — and the culinary programme reflects that pedigree. Three-course lunches and multi-course dinners feature classic French preparation with regional flourishes that shift as the ship moves between wine regions and river valleys. An open bar is included in every fare, covering house wines, local beers, spirits, and soft drinks throughout the sailing, a level of inclusion that would cost hundreds extra on competing lines.
Cabins are functional rather than spacious — the standard stateroom on a 4-anchor ship is smaller than what you would find on Viking or Avalon — but the public spaces are well-designed, and the ships themselves are modern and well-maintained. The fleet divides into 4-anchor (standard) and 5-anchor (premium) categories, with the latter offering larger cabins, bigger windows, and occasionally private balconies. CroisiEurope also operates six luxury hotel barges on the narrow canals of Burgundy, Alsace, and Provence, offering a completely different pace of travel for those seeking slow, intimate exploration of rural France.
The passenger mix skews heavily European, with a large French contingent and smaller numbers of British, Australian, and North American travellers — particularly on the bilingual departures marketed internationally. This is worth noting for English-speaking travellers who prefer to be in the majority, but many guests consider the multicultural atmosphere a feature rather than a drawback. For the price, CroisiEurope delivers an authentically European river cruising experience that rivals lines charging significantly more.
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