Think river cruises are too generic? Try a themed cruise

If you’ve done river cruising before, or even been to its chief destinations on land, you might not be tempted to return for another go.

True, most river itineraries are similar but, if you want all the convenience and ease of cruising yet hanker after something different and more insightful, a themed cruise might be for you.

Themed cruises focus on a special subject that is explored through shore excursions and on-board activities such as workshops and lectures by guest experts.

You’ll find more themed cruises on rivers than on oceans, partly because river-cruise lines want to lure customers back by offering something different, and partly because they want to attract new customers who mightn’t otherwise contemplate river cruising.

Themed river cruises cover a wide range of subjects from gastronomy to gardens, art to antiques, Jewish heritage in Europe to American Civil War history, country music to opera.

Food and drink are underrepresented, but that’s because they are the focus of many regular cruises in Europe, particularly in wine regions such as the Douro, Rhine, Rhone and Bordeaux region.

Avalon Waterways does, however, have a good range of “Culinary Experience” cruises in Europe and others devoted to wine that are accompanied by sommeliers and include excursions to notable wine cellars.

Meanwhile, Avalon’s beer cruises take passengers to famous breweries, emerging microbreweries and the beer halls and beer gardens of Germany.

As you might expect, music cruises feature on European rivers too. Among lines with music-themed cruises are AmaWaterways, Riviera Travel and Uniworld.

Most lean towards classic music and opera, but Avalon Waterways offers numerous jazz cruises on several European rivers including the Rhone and Danube.

America is another music hotspot thanks to the musical heritage of major river cities such as New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville. American Cruise Lines runs regular “Music Cities” itineraries to all three.

There are plenty more topics you can explore: Impressionist art with CroisiEurope and World War II history with Avalon Waterways on the Seine, gardens along the Rhone with Botanica World Discoveries, or a Mark Twain cruise on the Mississippi with American Cruise Lines.

If you want to get active, CroisiEurope offers hiking cruises in Bordeaux and on the Danube, Rhine and Douro rivers, and Amadeus has golf cruises on the Seine, Rhine and Danube. Danube ship AmaMagna has a golf concierge service.

Then there are special seasonal cruises too, such as the springtime tulip season in the Netherlands, autumn in America, and Christmas-market cruises both in America and on the Rhine and Danube rivers in Europe. Amadeus has an August itinerary to coincide with the Rhine in Flames fireworks festival at Koblenz.

Finally, some cruises target certain demographics, such as Uniworld’s occasional women-only and LGBTQ+ cruises. While most river cruises aren’t particularly family friendly, Adventures by Disney is an exception and A-Rosa, CroisiEurope, Tauck and Uniworld run some family-friendly itineraries.