U.S. River Cruise?

[gspren]

  Wife and I think we'd like to take a river cruise and we don't want to fly so in the U.S. or Canada. We also like trains so if we could take a combo where we took a cruise one direction and a train back or the other way around that would be really neat. Any sugestions or recomendations? No particular time frame.

[Ljohnsaw]

 :P

[dairyguy]

Several years back my parents did a 2 week cruise called to "East Coast Inland Passage"    They enjoyed it a lot and partly because the were only about 65 passengers.

[Southside]

Well there was the one that was headed to the Bahamas a couple of weeks ago but got re-routed to Newfoundland instead.....

[Magicman]

The Mississippi River and the City of New Orleans travel the same route.

The Memphis - New Orleans segment would be very doable.  9 days from Memphis to NO.  Spend a couple of days in NO and then one day back to Memphis.

[PoginyHill]

Interesting topic. We took one of those big cruises to the Caribbean before the kids got too old and it was enjoyable. I'd do it again (only us - kids are on there own now  ;D), but the wife generally doesn't like repeating stuff, so we've been considering a US river cruise as well. From what I've seen, there are only a few in the US: New England/eastern provinces, upper Mississippi, lower Mississippi, and the Columbia River. I've seen Alaskan cruises by the same smaller cruise lines as well - not sure it's a river cruise, but the same small vessel experience.

[rusticretreater]

Due to the two mountain ranges in the East, there aren't really long rivers.  I took wife on the Cruise Ship Dandy up the Potomac but it was a one day thing.  I believe there is something that does the St. Lawrence Seaway or something like that up near the great lakes.

You could always try Niagra Falls and the Maid of the Mist boat trip right up to falls.

As a side note; there are some great scenic train trips on restored trains.

[sprucebunny]

I looked last night and there are several cruises on the east coast Intercoastal Waterway. My husband and I did that in our own boat around 1989 and I'd consider doing that again if I was going to take a commercial cruise.
They go to Savannah, Charleston, St Augustine etc.

[Raider Bill]

I sent you a email
My Lady is a travel agent and specializes in cruises.
I know there's one that does the Mississippi in small boats. Might be Viking but I'm not sure.

[firefighter ontheside]

my inlaws did a cruise from quebec to maine.  i think they really enjoyed it.

[SwampDonkey]

You're pretty much on your own around here. There used to be a riverboat cruise from Fredericton down to Gagetown, NB on the St John River. I don't think so anymore.

[KEC]

I'm fairly sure that there is one on the St. Lawrence River. There's a lot of river from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic. A computer search should not be difficult to get info.

[NewYankeeSawmill]

I can concur on the St. Lawrence river. I took a few-hour cruise with the fam a few years back, very interesting, amazing sights. If I had time and money to spare, a few-days going from the mouth of Lake Ontario all the way to the ocean would be a very neat cruise.
If you're going to NY, check out the Erie Canal, as well! Bit slower of a pace!
I do not believe you will find anything other than a dinner cruise on the Niagara River.

- K

[Ron Wenrich]

I've been looking at some of those.  I did a Hawaiian cruise from San Diego back in Dec.  Lots of sea days.

I'm seeing lots of options, depending on how far you want to drive.  Sea cruises leave from Baltimore, Boston, NYC, and Newark.  Those are mainly bigger ships and do the sea cruises.  They tend to go to Bermuda and back or they go to the Maritimes.  The problem with the Canadian cruises are they are generally one way.  You either do back-to-back cruises or you need to fly.

There are some smaller lines that do New England cruises.  They get into smaller ports and go to Maine or down around Massachusetts/Rhode Island.  They are more expensive due to being smaller ships.  But, they do return to the same port.  I've seen round trip ports of Boston, NYC, Bangor, & Providence.  They also have a Hudson River cruise.

I've also seen a Chesapeake cruise out of Baltimore, and an American Revolution themed cruise out of Washington, DC.  There's an Ohio River cruise from Pittsburgh to St Louis.  Train service is probably a good return.

Lots of options.

[gspren]

Thanks everyone for suggestions, we are looking and thinking.