Since its debut in 2013, Emerald Waterways is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year! The Australian river cruise line initially started with a fleet of two Star Ships – Emerald Sun and Emerald Sky – but now the fleet is eight ships strong, including the newest addition – Emerald Harmony.
Five years of river cruising
From its inception, Emerald Waterways has achieved many accolades for its value and design. Back in 2014, the cruise line’s ships were voted as ‘Best New River Cruise Ships’ in the 2014 Cruise Critic Editors’ Picks, which then grew to ‘Best Value for Money’ from the same awards in 2017.
More recently, the cruise line gained the 2018 Highly Commended award for ‘Favourite River Cruise Line’ at the WAVE Awards and received a Gold Award for ‘Exceptional Value River Cruising’ at the 2018 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards.
The cruise line has grown strength to strength, developing a demographic for those interested in a more active cruising lifestyle. Lisa Norton, Emerald Waterways’ Vice President for Brand Management in the US, said:
“We’re very proud of how far Emerald Waterways has come in just in just five short years. The recognition we’ve received in the industry paired with excellent feedback from guests continues to fuel our steady but thoughtful growth. We look forward to further expanding and honing our offerings as we head into our sixth year of service.”
To mark its fifth year of operations, the cruise line is set to launch its next river cruise ship in 2019 – due to sail along the Mekong River through Vietnam and Cambodia. Another new addition is the 2019 yacht cruise along Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, aboard the MV Adriatic Princess – a ship which is privately chartered by the line. The itinerary visits ports such as Hvar Island, Krka National Park, Split and Dubrovnik.
2019 also welcomes new itineraries along the Nile River in Egypt and Jordan, with further visits to Petra, Cairo and the Great Pyramids of Giza.
The cruise line has consistently received recognition and guest satisfaction for its itineraries across some of the world’s top waterways, including its top five itineraries on the Rhine, Main, Danube and Rhone.
It seems that there’s no stopping Emerald Waterways – who knows what’s in-store for year six!
Hi. I returned yesterday from an Emerald Waterways Danube Cruise (20-27 Oct). As I now know the water level of the Danube has been too low since June for any cruising at all between Budapest & Nurenberg other than one short part. Sadly Emerald did not make the extent of this clear to anyone on our boat, nor that each day would therefore entail in place of a cruise coach travel of 3 hours on the shortest coach trip to 6 1/2 hours on the longest day i.e. on 4 out of our 7 days we were all on a coach on a motorway instead of cruising or enjoying the boat or the destinations. Neither were we told beforehand that the 2 middle days in a ''hotel in Vienna'' would be in an appalling airport hotel. Those coming from the USA & Canada (a large number) were given the option to cancel so late they were all on route. The British guests like myself received the option to cancel email at 2.45 pm on Friday 19th Oct-ie the afternoon before, without any information about the true extent of how the holiday would be dealt with-ie how much coach travel there would be & the awful airport hotel. Without exception all guests would have cancelled if they had known. So much for Emerald Customer Service. The crew told us that they had not been able to cruise since June. So the full extent had been known for months, but Emerald kept this quiet and therefore conned people into going. The most appalling & 'don't care' attitude everyone on the boat had ever come across!!! This is how Emerald treats its guests when there is a problem.
Hi Lesley, Sorry to hear of your recent experience cruising with Emerald Waterways. The river water levels do cause issues with river cruises and can impact sailings with different cruise lines. If you booked your sailing with ourselves, please contact our Customer Relations team on 0207 138 8302 and they will be happy to help. Thanks, Emma.