Review: Riverside Luxury Cruises With Kids

It is a truth universally acknowledged that traveling with kids is not relaxing. Long days, close quarters and jet-lag-induced meltdowns tend to test everyone’s patience — the reality is that no matter where in the world a family goes, the hard work of parenting comes along with them.

But this summer, I may have uncovered the best way to mitigate those trials: a seven-day river cruise. Brand new to the niche, I didn’t know what to expect from our time with Riverside Luxury Cruises, nor what my daughters, 5-year-old Lottie and 12-year-old Olivia, would think. My husband, a self-proclaimed homebody, was reticent when I shared the idea. But we disembarked from our ship as four vocal ambassadors for river cruising.

Here’s how the sailing onboard Riverside Ravel went for our family.

Sailing Onboard Riverside Ravel

Riverside Ravel carries a maximum of 110 passengers, plus about 65 crew members. When we sailed on the Southern France Sojourn: Lyon to Avignon itinerary this past June, there were no more than 75 passengers onboard. We were taken care of fastidiously; we had our own butler, Stefan, and everywhere we turned was another smiling staffer eager to indulge us.

Stefan was available practically 24/7 via What’s App; over the course of our sailing, we exchanged about three dozen messages. He pointed me toward the self-service laundry room, delivered morning Americanos and hot cocoa, took room service orders and more. When he saw my husband, Richard, getting his own mint tea two evenings in a row from Ravel’s Danish Corner (a nook stuffed with pastries in the morning and cookies later in the day), Stefan delivered a kettle and a box of tea bags to our suite, lest Richard need to leave the room past 9 p.m.

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The ship itself was immaculate, stylish and comfortable. We stayed in connecting Seahorse Suites; one room was outfitted with a king bed for the adults, and the second had two twin beds, perfect for “sister sleepovers.” All beds faced panoramic windows, the upper portion of which could be lowered when docked. Summer temperatures along the Rhone and Saone rivers meant we rarely opened ours, but that didn’t end up mattering in the slightest — open or closed, we could take in the passing scenes, which ranged from medieval French towns such as Macon and Viviers to the pastoral landscapes in between.

When we weren’t in our suites, at a dining venue or on an excursion, we gravitated toward Palm Court, a sprawling, living-room-like lounge with a bar in the back; a dance floor and adjacent grand piano at the front; and floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides, with glass panels above. A popcorn machine at the room’s entry popped kernels throughout the afternoon and evening, and we took advantage of this feature daily.  

Yordan, the resident pianist on our sailing, played tunes in Palm Court every evening at 6 p.m., and I’m nearly certain that Lottie’s presence inspired him to add the piano version of “The Chicken Dance” to his set list, which she loved and danced to each time he played it. When we weren’t dancing, the kids sipped house-made lavender lemonades while we played board games we’d brought from home. The setting sun filled the room with a golden glow all the while.

If clients require a kids’ club, this ship likely won’t work for them; there’s a pool, and lots of room to wiggle in Palm Court and on the Vista Deck, but in general, the onboard vibe of Riverside Ravel is adult and sophisticated. But kids who travel often, as mine certainly do, likely won’t notice the lack of crafts, organized games, picture books or communal movie nights. There’s still ample fun to be had — albeit elevated — and plenty of kids can rise to the occasion.

Dining With Kids Onboard Riverside Ravel

Olivia, now 12, loves to dine. She peruses lengthy menus, weighs her options, asks the server questions to narrow things down, devours a delicious dish and hangs out at the table with ease while others finish. In short, she’s the ideal guest for Ravel’s beautiful Waterside Restaurant — and the opposite of her sister.

Lottie eats pasta. And hamburgers. And hot dogs. She wiggles from the start of a meal to the end of her own, at which point she drives everyone else at the table a little crazy. And yet, she managed to charm the Riverside team, including food and beverage manager Adrian Constantinescul; on our third evening, he lined a leather menu cover with a photo of pasta pomodoro (which he knew she would order) on one side and a picture of a unicorn on the other. There was no printed kids’ menu — based on what the staff said, that’s because there are rarely children onboard — but there was enough fresh pasta to feed Lottie all week long.

The slightly more casual Atelier cafe came in handy for snacks — we could grab a small sandwich or order a fresh bubble waffle or a scoop of homemade ice cream from the counter — but most of our meals were at Waterside. Our kids like to pick and choose at a buffet, which is the set-up here for breakfast and lunch. A chef-manned hot bar for made-to-order omelets, pasta dishes and more is also great. 

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But at multi-course dinners, the culinary team, helmed by executive chef Dragos Stan, really shines. Local produce and cheese are often procured by Stan himself, who disembarks in hubs such as Lyon and Avignon to buy the freshest ingredients. One evening, my dinner started with an oeuf parfait (a slow-cooked egg sitting on a bed of potato mousse and mushroom cream, with andouille sausage as a companion) and continued with cream of tomato soup with basil foam and a plate of incredible mushroom risotto. The dessert menu was never turned away, either. Our server, Vesko, came to expect the adults in our party to try a sample of cheeses for this course. He’d curate a plate for each evening and educate us about his picks. A very important lesson learned: Morbier is one incredible French fromage.

Excursions and Independent Time

Weeks before we set sail, the Riverside team sent us a list of possible shore excursions, and we selected the ones that seemed most appropriate for kids. We skipped cycling treks to wineries in favor of walking tours in Macon, Lyon, Vienne and Chalon-sur-Saone; a truffle hunting and tasting experience at a 17th-century farm; and a Valrhona chocolate tasting in Tain L’Hermitage. 

The more experiential tours were unsurprisingly our kids’ favorites — Lottie loved the truffle-hunting puppy, a sweet Lagotto Romagnolo that sniffed out the subterranean fungi in exchange for walnuts (his preferred treat), and she made “fairy houses” in the shade of the orchard where the truffle hunt happened. Olivia recalls the truffle-infused butter and homemade bread we ate at the farmhouse fondly. And, if available on clients’ sailings, I highly recommend they join chef Dragos Stan on a shopping excursion in the covered Les Halles market, where he selected oysters, berries, cheeses, sausages and more for his onboard menus.

After our first Vox-equipped walking tour, though, we knew we’d been overly optimistic about that type of excursion. While Lottie felt like a big kid with her ear buds and Vox device, the lessons on Roman and architectural history that piped through them went right over her head. Even at 12, Olivia could only pay attention for so long. So, we spoke with the guest experience team and pared back our guided tours. Sometimes I joined them myself, along with other passengers, and the kids and Richard stayed onboard to swim or read on the Vista Deck. Other times, we walked off the boat as a party of four and wandered on our own — which is something we regularly opt to do when traveling anyway.

I’ve learned not to underestimate an unplanned walk; we had only ever heard of Lyon and Avignon when we chose this itinerary, and strolls in the less-visited villages along our route felt particularly magical. In Viviers, we made the slow climb to the 11th-century Viviers Cathedral, a grand structure made of stacked stones and overlooking the tiled roofs of the village that surrounds it. In Vienne, we disembarked, crossed the riverside boulevard and whiled away two hours in Jardin de La Ville, which had an expansive and shaded playground and garden. Even in Lyon, “getting lost” was a good move; we shopped along the river and dropped into a cafe for a late morning snack and coffee.

For us, the flexibility to go on a preset excursion or not proved key to our enjoyment. We weren’t overscheduled or stuck — we were mobile and at ease. The hardest part of the cruise, surely, was leaving it. We took a selfie with Yordan on our last night on the dance floor, vowed to eat more top-notch cheese back home in Los Angeles and knew we’d tell everyone who asked that river cruising with kids is as good as it gets for families.