History
River Transport and the Growth of River Cruising
River cruising as a commercial activity has existed only since the 1960s
in Europe, although Nile cruises have a longer pedigree.
Rivers nourish the lands through which they flow like a life vein, providing water supply, sediments to fertilise the soil and vital transportation routes as they carve their way through the landscape. Wars have been fought and kingdoms won and lost over Europe’s waterways and the rights to them.
Ancient civilisations grew up around the mighty rivers of the Near East – along the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia and the Nile in Egypt, where the first urban settlements developed some 6,500 years ago. Likewise, the Danube and the Rhine in Europe, and the Volga and the Don in European Russia, each of which formed a natural route along which the population could spread, encouraged the development of settled cultures. All continue to provide an economic lifeline in modern times.
Taming the waters
Passenger-carrying vessels capable of travelling on rivers have a long history, particularly on the Nile, where exploratory expeditions were carried out by the Pharaohs more than 3,500 years ago, and on the Rhine, which has been in use for carrying cargo for over 2,000 years.
In days gone by, navigation of even the most benign-looking waterway was fraught with danger. Rivers are unpredictable, flowing at irregular speed as variations in terrain create rapids, shallows, hidden depths and treacherous whirlpools. River vessels would often have to be removed from the water and carried around the hazardous sections, or hauled upstream through a series of dams and weirs.
Throughout history, efforts have been made to tame these dangerous stretches. The first primitive locks were built in Song-dynasty China in the late 10th century, and a more advanced system was developed in medieval Europe, albeit on a small scale. But it wasn’t until the 17th and 18th centuries that major advances in technology began to make it possible for engineers to alter the course of rivers significantly. By the 1800s, canals were being dug and larger scale locks created all over the continent, meaning that river traffic could progress safely around difficult stretches of water, avoiding being smashed on rocks.
Many people have been visionaries when it comes to rivers and canals. In 8th-century France, Charlemagne dreamed of establishing a navigable waterway between the Danube and Main rivers (at its planning stage, called the “Fossa Carolina”), although it was to remain purely a vision for the next 1,200 years. Entrepreneurial landowners saw opportunities to collect taxes from anyone navigating the Rhine, with a procession of spectacular castles built overlooking the river expressly for this purpose. Towns and cities were built on rivers everywhere for practical and strategic (and to some degree aesthetic) purposes, and eventually, as people became more prosperous, a fledgling leisure industry began to develop.
With the rise of the concept of the holiday, and the idea of travel for leisure, it was, perhaps, inevitable that someone would chance upon the idea of offering a river cruise, with so many rivers and so many destinations to discover. Expeditions along the Nile had taken place since 1500 bc, with the ancient Egyptians making forays to the south to see what lay beyond their kingdoms. But it was the travel company Thomas Cook that ostensibly started commercial cruises in Egypt. Thomas and John Cook had already launched a travel business in Britain, but in 1870, Khedive Ismail, viceroy of the Ottoman Empire, employed the company as an agent for Nile passenger traffic. By 1880, the Egyptian government was so pleased with business generated by the Cooks that the company was granted a monopoly on Nile cruise steamers. In those days, the fare from England to Upper Egypt was between £81 and £119, for an expedition involving considerable overland travel. Over 20 years, the Cooks reckoned to have boosted the Egyptian economy by some three to four million pounds with their incoming business – a huge amount in those days.
The steam engine was used in river vessels from the early years of the 19th century, and over time its development and refinement provided more power and more efficiency. Around 100 years later, the advent of diesel power elevated the reliability and timekeeping of the early river cruise vessels to a new level.
River cruising in Europe
In Europe, river cruising as form of recreation only really began to catch on in the 1960s. By this time, ocean cruising was well established as a glamorous and exciting way to travel, and transatlantic voyages had been booming for decades. Rivers were less exotic; people may have travelled between two points by river as it was the quickest way to arrive, but the concept of a floating hotel on the river was very new.
Although in these early days the vessels were little more than glorified water buses, owners and operators soon started to add a variety of facilities to mirror the sophisticated scene that was already well established on the ocean-going cruises. And as the river cruise industry grew, purpose-built vessels were constructed with better equipment and comfort levels.
The Rhine and the Danube were the first European rivers to attract this kind of tourism (while the Nile continued to be more popular than either), but as demand grew, more and more rivers were introduced: the Po in Italy, the Seine and Rhône in France, the Douro in Portugal. After the fall of the Iron Curtain at the end of the 1980s, Eastern European rivers suddenly became accessible, and popular – the Elbe in the Czech Republic and Germany, and the fabled Russian waterways, the potential of which – as a convenient way of exploring the Russian countryside without the hassle associated with travelling in the former Soviet Union – was quickly realised.
Europe has certainly been spearheading the growth of the contemporary river cruise scene, with many new and innovative vessels having been built and introduced in the late 1990s. There is, however, one particular vessel that changed the thinking of river cruise operators – the Mozart, built in 1987 to operate on the
River Danube for the Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellshaft (commonly known as ddsg), and today the flagship of upscale river cruise operator Peter Deilmann. When it was introduced, the Mozart was hailed as the most luxurious vessel on any European river at that time, with its rosewood panelling, original works of art, lavish cabins and marble bathrooms. Since then, river cruise designers and builders have been working hard to provide more and more spacious cabins, public areas, and more extensive and better dining facilities to keep up with the change in consumer tastes and demands.
The latest river cruise vessels are so much better, in so many ways, than the basic floating accommodation that they replaced, with swimming pools, hot tubs, teak decks, libraries and skilled chefs providing lavish, multi-course dinners. For sheer opulence, some of the interiors of the Nile boats are hard to beat. Some of the cruise barges on the canals and waterways of France, too, have some delightful touches, emulating the finest of French country-house hotels, with cuisine and wines to match.
The European waterways network received a major boost in 1992, when on 25 September, the 170-km (106-mile) Main–Danube Canal was finally opened to provide the means for larger craft of up to 3,300 tons to navigate all the way from the North Sea to the Black Sea, linking as it does the rivers Rhine, Main and Danube. It meant that the maritime map of Europe was completely rewritten. The canal was the culmination of many years of planning, and its construction was the largest traffic-engineering project in European history (see page 68).
A chronology of river cruising
1811 Regular steamboat service starts in the USA when the stern-paddlewheel steamboat New Orleans leaves Pittsburgh. The vessel takes four months to arrive in New Orleans, but the era of the steamboats is ushered in. Although the USA is first, Europe is not far behind.
1812 In Vienna, a vessel named Caroline becomes the first steam-driven vessel on the Danube. Its introduction is significant, meaning that for the first time (discounting some sailing boats such as Egyptian feluccas) vessels can move upstream under their own power rather than being towed.
1826 On 11 June, members of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce advocate the founding of a steamship company: The Prussian Rhine Steamship Company (Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellshaft-Köln) begins operations, and river cruise vessel trials are carried out. The company, which establishes its headquarters in Cologne, becomes commonly known as ddsg (later as the kd Rhine Line, or simply kd, standing for Köln-Düsseldorf). Thus, long-haul river cruising on the Rhine and Danube becomes a reality for many travellers.
1827 ddsg starts a scheduled service with the steamship Concordia, which is purchased from Baron Cotta, a friend and publisher of the philosopher and writer Goethe.
1829 The Erste Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellshaft (ddsg) is founded in order to provide regular steamer service to points along the Danube. The company establishes its headquarters in Vienna.
1836 The Steamship Company for the Lower and Middle Rhine of Düsseldorf (Dampschiffahrts-Gesellschaft für den Niede- und Mittelrhein, Düsseldorf) is created as a joint stockholding company.
1838 The first all-iron steamship, the Graf von Paris, is placed in service on the River Danube.
1853 A joint management company, the Rhine Steamship Company Cologne and Düsseldorf (Rhein-Dampschiffahrt Köln und Düsseldorf) is founded. It becomes known simply as KD, and changes from a cargo-passenger carrier to passenger traffic only.
1856 In the Treaty of Paris, the European Commission of the Danube is established. This body aims to make the river an international waterway with free passage for all. The countries through which the river flows are liable for its maintenance.The Russian boundary is withdrawn
20 kms (12 miles) north of the Danube.
1857 The riparian states (those states whose land includes the frontage of rivers and canals as they appear in nature) meet in Vienna to regulate the entire Danube River from Ulm in Germany (one of the highest points of the Upper Danube) to Braila in Romania (close to the delta), where two arms of the river are joined again. However, this proves largely unsuccessful due to the dominance at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1869 The travel company Thomas Cook starts cruises on the River Nile when Thomas Cook himself takes 30 travellers up the Nile by steamer. Together with a small party of friends, he returns in November 1869 to attend the opening of the Suez Canal.
1870 Sulina, on the Black Sea, is declared a free port, and cargo is allowed to pass upriver on the Danube without formality.
1872 Thomas Cook and Son open an office in Cairo to provide local booking facilities for Nile cruises.
1895–9 Navigation along the treacherous Iron Gates section of the River Danube, to the east of Budapest, is improved following blasting and canal construction.
1902 The final Sulina arm cut-off is completed. This shortens the River Danube by 11 nautical miles and improves navigation and access to the Black Sea.
1913 kd Rhine Line carries approximately two million passengers in its fleet of 32 vessels.
1919 The Treaty of Versailles is signed, granting four rivers (Elbe, Danube, Oder and Vltava) “international” status for the free passage of goods and passengers.
1921 The European Commission of the Danube resumes operations. A new International Commission of the Danube is set up for the “fluvial” river from Ulm to Braila. Luxury operator Hapag-Lloyd starts operation.
1927 kd Rhine Line places the first diesel-powered vessels into service on the River Danube.
1929 The last side-paddle-driven steamer, the Mainz, is built for the kd Rhine Line.
1939 At the outbreak of World War II, kd Rhine Line owns 22 steamers and six motor vessels.
1947 Recommencement of scheduled kd Rhine Line service takes place after the war.
1948 The Belgrade Convention is signed. This is established to regulate the whole navigable River Danube. It is composed only of the riparian states, except for Germany (or Austria) at first.
1960 The first properly “packaged” river cruises on the River Rhine, between Basel and Rotterdam, using new vessels of the kd Rhine Line specifically constructed for river cruises.
1964 Cruises between Koblenz and Trier are offered following the canalisation of the River Moselle.
1967 The Cologne and Düsseldorf joint-stock companies are amalgamated to become simply kd Rhine Line.
1976 Uniworld is founded by Serba Ilich in California, and becomes one of the first cruise companies to charter Russian-built river cruise vessels on the Volga and other Russian waterways specifically catering to American passengers.
1978 The tour operator Abercrombie & Kent begins offering river cruises in Europe, principally for its American clients.
1979 Construction of the new kd Rhine Line headquarters complex is begun in 1979 on Handelskai in Vienna (from which most river vessels depart). The founding stone is laid by the President of the Republic on 25 April 1979 during the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the ddsg.
1983 Peter Deilmann River Cruises starts river cruise operations on the River Danube.
1987 Peter Deilmann launches the Mozart, still regarded today as one of the most luxurious river cruising vessels in the world.
1992 On 25 September, the maritime map of Europe is redrawn when the Main–Danube Canal is finally opened, thus providing the means for larger craft (up to 3,300 tons) to navigate all the way from the North Sea to the Black Sea, linking as it does the rivers Rhine, Main and Danube. The construction of the canal is the largest traffic-engineering project in Europe and changes cargo shipping in particular.
1994 Vantage Deluxe World Tours is founded in Boston to offer river cruises in Europe exclusively for Americans.
1995 For the first time, kd Rhine Line starts to offer river cruises with selected marketing partners in several countries. Integrated holiday packages are marketed as all-inclusive products, complete with airline or train travel, transfers and hotels included in the total price.
1996 As a result of internal reorganisation, kd River Cruises (kd Deutsche Flusskreutzfahrten GmbH) is founded, a full-service tour operator offering a range of river cruises in the worldwide marketplace. The River Cloud is built for German-owned Sea Cloud Cruises, setting new standards with its opulent, 1930s-style décor.
1997 Viking River Cruises is founded by a group of investors headed by Norwegian entrepreneur Torstein Hagen (one of the original founders of the now defunct ocean-going Royal Viking Line). The new company offers river cruises aboard four Russian river cruise vessels.
1999 Following an extensive restoration project, on 26 August the original paddle steamer Goethe (built in 1913) re-enters service on the River Rhine in Germany for steam-powered nostalgia cruises during the summer months. The Goethe is the largest side-wheel paddle steamer in the world.
2000 kd River Cruises celebrates 40 years in the river cruise business, but is then partly taken over by Viking River Cruises (kd Deutsche Flusskreutzfahrt, not including the kd Rhine Line passenger ferries, scheduled services and day-excursion operations). The takeover includes the landing stages, an extremely valuable asset. The combined fleet amounts to 26 river cruise vessels accommodating a total of 4,197 passengers, and instantly becomes the largest fleet of river cruise vessels in the world.
2001 As a consequence of a dramatic drop in business resulting from fear of international travel generated by the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the Switzerland-based river cruise and tour company Mittelthurgau ceases operations. The River Cloud II is built specifically for cruising Italy’s River Po.
2002 USA-based Uniworld forms Global River Cruises to oversee its operations in Europe. Global River Cruises purchases 75 percent of Holland River Line.
2004 Peter Deilmann launches the Heidelberg, a new luxury ship for the Rhine.
2005 Viking River Cruises acquires British river cruise specialist tour operator Travel Renaissance.
2006 Viking River Cruises launches ms?Viking Helvetia II, the longest passenger ship on the Rhine at 132 metres (433 ft). q
A Taste of the Rhine
Viking Christmas Cruise
Viking Helvetia
Viking 
