Cruising the Wachau Valley

While traditional ocean cruises include two or three sea days during a typical week, river cruises call on a port every day.

River cruise itineraries nonetheless plan a few hours for simply gliding along scenic shores to enjoy cruising.

That's only logical in light of the fact that many people on land trips choose to take river boat excursions to easily see cities and countryside.

On our recent Romantic Danube River Cruise, we were blessed with a sunny morning to take in the awesome cruise through the lovely Wachau Valley.

Being aboard AmaWaterways meant we could enjoy the refreshing pool during part of the voyage.

We took advantage of this pool several times, including while cruising the Wachau Valley.

There was a swim up bar, but I never saw a bartender serving drinks there.

Whether that was because so few people used the pool on our cruise or to avoid the pool becoming too crowded I couldn't say, but it did seem to be a missed opportunity.

Not that I care so much about having a drink in the day time usually, but as our oldest daughter Gina says about having a Margarita on the pool deck during an ocean cruise, it's one of the moments she envisions as part of a cruise vacation.

In any case, we had previously enjoyed an afternoon cruise from Vilshofen to Passau, and later in the trip we'd experience and incredible evening cruise through beautiful Budapest, so we were able to enjoy scenic cruising at diverse times.

People who love traversing the locks of the Panama Canal, or dream of doing so, will be interested to know that most river cruises in Europe include occasional passes through narrow locks that are equally fascinating despite not being on quite such a grand scale.

Actually, I don't know anyone who wouldn't love a river cruise.

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