Q – My wife and I could be considered seasoned land travelers. We have been to Alaska and the Caribbean on cruise ships. We came tot he conclusion that we are land lovers. Too much time on the ship. Our main interest is photography and we found the photo ops are limited on a cruise ship. Just not enough time in port.
Recently, we have been looking at river cruise on the Danube, River cruising seems to allow more free time? Is this true? We love to explore on our own. Are there any river cruises for photographers, preferably on the Danube? Budapest to Prague would be our choice.
A – This really is an interesting question because, while many of us still love to shoot actual pictures with actual cameras, the assumption of travel suppliers is that true Photography is a dying art. We have a culture where everyone is now a “photographer” and billions of photos are uploaded to sites like Instagram every 3 minutes (fake new statistic). The idea of someone carrying a bag filled with real photographic equipment is becoming a rare sight unless the person works for Breitbart or one of the other really serious news organizations.
It strikes us that you should try a river cruise because you will not have more time in port, but you will likely have better quality time in port because the boat will be docking in the center of town. The one economic reality here is that river boats always include shore excursions so if you walk away and do independent kind of stuff, like using a local restroom without the help of an official guide, you are going to be under-utilizing something you have already paid for in the price of your vacation. Many people have a hard time with that. We don’t – and we suspect you won’t.
We’d like to offer some specific recommendations: Do the Amsterdam to Budapest Route. It is longer but it will allow you to photograph three rivers instead of just one. We also suggest that before your trip, you contact a local photography club recommended by the Chamber of Commerce. You would likely be able to meet some of their member who would enjoy showing you some of the most photographic parts of their town or city.
