Be warned: This type of cruising is not for kids (with a few exceptions)

Do you have mature teenagers with an interest in culture and history, omnivorous dining tastes and the ability to interact with adult strangers? Then you might consider bringing them on a river cruise.

Even so, you’ll want to avoid destinations such as France’s Bordeaux region and Portugal’s Douro River, which can be heavily focused on wine tastings. Take a more varied Rhine or Danube cruise, or a river cruise in Asia or America.

Be warned however that river ships don’t have the facilities and lively atmosphere of big ocean ships. You’ll likely dine at shared tables, and activity in lounges gets no more exciting than lectures, conversation or quiet reading. The chances of teenagers finding similarly aged company are negligible. Most river passengers are 50-plus professionals or retirees.

Forget cruising with younger children on regular itineraries. Ships have no kids’ clubs, child-friendly menus or shore excursions to entice young minds. In any event, most companies have age restrictions that range from under four to under 12-year-olds. Viking doesn’t take under-18s.

Yet, all is not lost if you want a hassle-free family holiday afloat, since some river-cruise companies have turned an eye towards the multigenerational market, and offer a small number of family itineraries.

You should still pause for thought if you have energetic children, since ships remain the same, with small cabins and no play areas other than the lounge and open sundeck – though even this may be closed off due to low bridges or bad weather.

The exception is A-Rosa Sena, launched as the first-ever river ship custom-built for families by German company A-Rosa in 2022. It has interconnecting cabins, a kids’ club and pool, and dedicated family itineraries (some exclusively English-speaking) on the Rhine.

The pioneer in family-friendly river cruises was Tauck, which continues to offer a handful of such itineraries in Europe. Its Blue Danube cruise, for example, has shore activities such as geocaching, cycling, a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg and medieval tournament games in a Slovakian castle.

Uniworld also has European cruises in its Generations Collection and, exceptionally, one on the Nile River, too. They cater well to kids while on board with cookery classes, handicraft workshops and movie nights. Hosts oversee activities for juniors (aged 4-12) and teens (13-17).

Adventures by Disney uses AmaWaterways ships on the Rhine, Daube and Seine rivers. Again, these have on-board and off-ship activities aimed at children such as (on the Seine) painting in Monet’s garden and a treetop rope course in Rouen.

Lastly, CroisiEurope offers steeply discounted or even waived fares on some Family Club cruises for children occupying the same cabin as their parents, with child-friendly menus and adapted shore excursions. In Asia, Pandaw allows children aged 5-18 to travel for free on select itineraries.