The World’s Best River Cruise Lines, According To Globe Travel Awards

1. Riverside Luxury Cruises

Launched in spring 2023, Riverside Luxury Cruises is Europe’s newest ultra-luxury river cruise line with 24-hour personal butlers, regional fine dining and VIP excursions from driving in a Citroën 2CV through the vineyards of Beaujolais to a traditional breakfast with farmers in Serbia and a private guided tour through Empress Sisi’s Royal Palace of Gödöllő. Its inaugural ship, Riverside Mozart, carries just 162 guests with four restaurants, a private dining room, The Vintage Room (serving seven-course tasting menus); a classic cigar lounge, Connoisseur’s Club; a Fitness Center with Technogym machines, steam rooms, saunas, a full-length swimming pool, and a sumptuous Owner’s Suite set across 883 square feet with two bedrooms, a sweeping French balcony, a marble flame-effect fireplace, walk-in closets, rain showers, and complimentary laundry, ironing and limousine transfers.

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2. AmaWaterways

AmaWaterways is a family-owned luxury river cruise line boasting 29 modern, elegant ships sailing across the rivers of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is famed for its well-appointed ships boasting whirlpools, swim-up bars, indulgent spas, and 360-degree panoramic sundecks, as well as its gourmet dining as the world’s first river cruise line inducted into La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, the oldest culinary society in the world. In 2025, it will make history as the first major river cruise line to take guests along the Magdalena River in Colombia with the launch of its luxurious 60-passenger AmaMagdalena before adding two new ships in 2026, AmaSofia, sailing along the Danube and AmaMaya, gliding across the Mekong.

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3. Viking River Cruises

Founded in 1997, Viking River Cruises was designed for curious travelers with interests in science, history, culture, and cuisine, sailing Europe’s rivers from the Rhine to the Moselle with an award-winning fleet of Scandinavian-chic Viking Longships as well as Mississippi runners like the 386-guest Viking Mississippi sailing between New Orleans, Louisiana and St. Paul, Minnesota. It has announced five new European Viking Longships and a Mekong river ship, Viking Tonle, for 2025 with a new 10-day Treasures of the Danube voyage sailing between Budapest and Passau.

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4. APT

APT (Australian Pacific Touring) has been running award-winning river, yacht, and small ship cruises since 1927, exploring Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, and New Zealand with exclusive Signature Experiences from recitals in the ballroom of the 14th-century Namedy Castle in Andernach (home of Princess Heide Hohenzollern) to classical concerts at the Lichenstein’s City Palace in Vienna. Set for spring 2025, APT is launching two new European vessels, the APT Solara and APT Ostara, carrying just 154 guests with its wine cellar and rooftop restaurant, sailing along the Rhine, Main, and Danube–plus its 88-passenger Mekong Serenity sailing along the Mekong River from Vietnam to Cambodia with a Serenity Spa and a Vietnamese restaurant serving gourmet five-course dinners, as you sail from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap.

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5. A-ROSA

For over 20 years, A-ROSA has been on a mission to shake off the formal image of river cruising–pioneering family-friendly river cruises with its multi-generational flagship vessel A-ROSA SENA, launched in 2022, complete with a kids club, family cabins, and children’s pool. In 2025, it will see two new 9-night itineraries–its Danube City Panorama voyage sailing through the Wachau Valley calling at Tulln, Bratislava, Budapest, Esztergom, Vienna, and Linz, as well as a Rhone Route Panorama cruise sailing from Lyon to Chalon-sur-Saone and Macon, calling at Viviers, Arles, Port St. Louis, Avignon and Tournon.

6. Avalon Waterways

Famous for its award-winning winning Avalon Panorama Suites boasting river cruising’s only Open-Air Balcony and beds facing its floor-to-ceiling windows for panoramic views all day and night as you pass rolling emerald hillsides and the Netherlands’ blooming tulips, Avalon Waterways is a boutique river cruise line known for its smaller ships (most around 164 guests) with a brand new Douro river ship for 2024, Avalon Algeria. You can choose from 12 new cruises for 2025, from a 13-day Christmastime from Frankfurt to Budapest sailing to a 22-day European Masterpiece voyage across the Rhine, Seine, and Rhone.

7. Scenic Luxury Cruises

With a focus on exclusive experiences from private concerts to gourmet feasts and after-hours access to historical sites, Scenic offers luxury 5-star river cruises from the winding waterways of Europe to Southeast Asia with an immersive Scenic Freechoice excursions program onboard its space-ships, accommodating up to 163 guests. Journey on its Rhine Highlights cruise starting in the Swiss city of Basel, before sailing towards Amsterdam, Strasbourg and the natural springs of Baden-Baden with a private classical concert at the lavish Baroque Palace of Rastatt.

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8. Emerald Cruises

From tasting the flavors of France along the Rhône to gawping at towering emerald hillsides spilling along the Douro, Emerald Cruises offers luxury river cruises onboard its award-winning Star-Ships, stylish and modern, with innovative features like an indoor pool that transforms into a cozy cinema at night. Join its 11-day Sevilla & Secrets of the Douro sailing, starting with a three-night hotel stay in the Andalusia capital, Sevilla, hopping across the city’s many tablaos as you feast on tapas and catch authentic flamenco shows before taking to the water in Pinhão and immersing into onboard Portuguese cooking demonstrations and Port wine cocktail lessons.

9. Riviera Travel

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024, Riviera Travel is one of Britain’s best-loved river cruise operators, with complimentary regional flights and rail travel (where possible) and two new river ships set for 2025–the 178-guest Riviera Radiance sailing along the Danube and the 114-guest Riviera Rose sailing along the Douro, bringing its fleet up to 11 ships. Riviera’s core program also includes themed river cruises, focussed on gastronomy, gardens, history, art, and music–as well as some sailings dedicated to solo travelers.

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10. TUI River Cruises

Boasting more than 100 cultural shore excursions to choose from across the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle, the Danube, and the Dutch and Belgian waterways, TUI River Cruises offers intimate adults-only river cruises with three ships in its fleet–TUI Isla, TUI Skyla, and TUI Maya – and a fourth set to launch in November 2024, Al Horeya, sailing along Egypt’s Nile with 74 cabins, a top deck swimming pool, two whirlpools, a wellness studio, a boutique ship and Egyptologists on hand as you discover the Temples of Karnak and Luxor and ancient Egyptian antiquities galore.

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