APT River Cruises & Tours specializes in providing luxury travel experiences through all-inclusive tours, cruises, and rail journeys tailored for Australian travelers. The company offers a diverse range of travel options, including small ship cruises, guided tours, and rail adventures across various global destinations. Customers can explore iconic landscapes in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as Australia and New Zealand’s unique attractions. The company focuses on creating seamless, comfortable travel experiences that allow guests to immerse themselves in different cultures and environments. APT River Cruises & Tours caters to discerning travelers seeking adventure and relaxation while ensuring high standards of service throughout their journeys. With an emphasis on unforgettable memories, APT's offerings are designed for those looking to discover new destinations with ease and luxury.
Reviewers consistently praise APT River Cruises & Tours for their excellent service and high-quality cruises. Many highlight the first-class organization and the dedication of staff, such as Rachel Mack and tour directors like Roneil and Spencer Scott, who go above and beyond to enhance the travel experience.
The boats are described as fabulous and well-maintained, with excellent food and informative itineraries that showcase beautiful destinations. However, some customers express disappointment regarding the limited bar hours and the need to switch ships due to low water levels, which affected their overall experience. Despite these minor complaints, the majority of feedback reflects a strong satisfaction with the overall cruise experience. Overall, APT River Cruises & Tours receives a positive sentiment from its customers.
Summary generated with AI from recent reviews
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
| Source | Rating | Reviews | Weight | 6-mo | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trustpilot Imported Trustpilot reviews | 4.5 | 999 | 100% | -0.3 | ● Low |
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jul 2025.
| Month | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 24 | 4.3 | 9 |
| Sep 24 | 4.3 | 11 |
| Oct 24 | 4.1 | 22 |
| Nov 24 | 5.0 | 9 |
| Dec 24 | — | 0 |
| Jan 25 | 5.0 | 8 |
| Feb 25 | 4.8 | 4 |
| Mar 25 | 4.8 | 27 |
| Apr 25 | 4.9 | 23 |
| May 25 | 4.5 | 62 |
| Jun 25 | 4.4 | 78 |
| Jul 25 | 4.6 | 25 |
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 500 most recent reviews.
“I had many questions and requirements which she dealt with in a friendly, helpful manner whilst remaining professiona...”
“A cruise "on the cheap"”
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Cruise Lines.
| Company | Overall | Legit | Service | Booking | Value | Trend | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 4.1 out of 5 (good) | +3% | 999 |
| 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 4.7 out of 5 (good) | 3.0 out of 5 (fair) | — | 1,000 | |
| 4.9 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 5.0 out of 5 (good) | — | — | — | 1,109 | |
| 4.2 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.2 out of 5 (good) | 3.5 out of 5 (good) | 3.8 out of 5 (good) | — | 1,083 | |
| 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | — | 1,069 |
Bottom line: APT River Cruises & Tours is #4 of 5 on overall rating in this group. On value, Alfa Travel scores higher (4.6 vs 4.1).
500 reviews of APT River Cruises & Tours. Filter by what matters to you.
The cruise was a disaster right from the beginning. Because of the flooding it was not possible to sail but the handling of our Groupe was bad as well. The offer of 40% off for the next cruise sounds nice but we live in Canada so that is no option. We rather see a refund of part of the total we paid. We sailed ONLY 2 days!
We we stuck in Vienna for 5nights and did not move. The staff were very nice. Food was good.
Liked the hotels in Madrid and Lisbon. The ship was nothing special, I have been on better ones. Cabin small, no shop, etc. Carpet in lounge was worn in places, which made it look unclean. (Couldn’t believe it was just the third journey for the ship) Wasn’t impressed with “Welcome, getting to know other travellers” evening. Food was average, but soups were special! Staff were pleasant and hardworking. I enjoyed all the tours. There was only one really good guide. One of the other guides was downright rude! After the “farewell dinner” we had to wait in the street a long time before our coach arrived to take us back to our hotel. On the last two days of the cruise the ship was moored a long way from the coach. There was a very steep ramp which had to be climbed as well. On the day we disembarked the staff had to take our luggage up the very steep ramp, which I thought was unacceptable.
Anyone can write a CrowdTrust review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they'll be displayed as long as an account is active.
We enjoyed the holiday overall. The organisation aspect was not as good as we had come to expect from our numerous previous APT trips. The tour directors in Madrid and Lisbon didn't keep us as well informed as they should. I think this was because they were not receiving everything they needed from the support team. The crew on the ship were really good. They were very cheerful and couldn't do enough to help. The kitchen and waiting staff worked very well as a team. The soups were exceptional. Maria was a good tour director on the ship. The ship was often moored in remote locations. As an example the last day had the ship moored with a long walk for passengers and crew moving luggage up a very steep ramp and walking several hundred meters to the coach. Having a red and green group didn't really work. It created a them and us with two tour directors working against each other at times. The lady of the green group was quite rude at times and told members of our group once to go away when they asked a simple question. Perhaps the biggest complaint I have is about paying for a level 3 deck cabin to find that the lower level cabins had exactly the same foot print. We also missed things like a drink on return from an excursion, and hot towels for our hands; waiter service in the bar had no straws for drinks. No free laundry, canapés or butler service we have had in the past. These elements that previously demonstrated luxury we expect were missing on this trip. A little disappointing.
It feels like it is quite some time since APT did a quality audit on the ground. I think you should do one. The captain's decision grants him immunity, I get it. But he didn't explain his decision with any credibility. We are not going to Dubrovnic a) for health and safety reasons, then b) because it's too choppy and too high waves), then c) because the harbour there is full. Sadly for us, a) there was nothing more or less hazardous about Dubrovnic than anywhere else on this trip, b) if anything, the sea was smoother and calmer than on any previous day and c) the harbour looked empty, in any event, a lot emptier than on any previous night in much smaller harbours. He took us to Ploce instead, probably because it was cheaper to dock there and never mind all the inconvenience to the tour guide (and us passengers). The tour guide told us she couldn't understand his decision either. Anyway, there were more things in your itinerary we didn't do, than we did do. Maybe update your wording and your hyperbole a bit.
The experience was not as good as previous APT river cruises. I do not think it was worthy of being designated 5 stars. Travel marvel which is only designated 4 stars have been better in the past. The choice of drinks in the bar were very limited and the bar was closed by 2300 every night. This also meant that you could not get hot drinks or filtered water until breakfast the following morning. Entertainment was virtually none existent with no quizzes or much dancing for the duration of the cruise. Choices of food was also very limited with no choice at all most of the time. Quite often items ran out and were not replaced eg English breakfast tea and yogurts.
Really nice ship, mainly excellent staff, some very good included excursions and wifi BUT some things so awful it's hard to believe they can call these "Luxury cruises". For example, tonight the dessert was Crepe Suzette - cold, limp folded pancakes that looked completely uncooked, straight out of a packet, with a glupey strong but unpleasant sauce, not flambed and restaurant staff thought it was acceptable. Thank goodness not everything is that bad - but don't come expecting everything to be luxury!
APT or APT Travel Marvel. Be aware that APT have different levels of holidays. For instance APT Travel Marvel is of a lower standard. I had not been told this when I booked my holiday. I had a few issues which made my special holiday not as good as I was expecting. As a single traveller I have to pay so much more so I expect a really good standard. This was my third trip with APT. The two previous trips were exceptional. So Travel Marvel let me down.
The cruise was fine and staff helpful and attentive. The big failure was once again the pick-up from the airport on return. Addison Lee have obviously subcontracted this task to a local city taxi firm. On arrival no driver was waiting with the others with a name display card and no driver or car at the designated airport pick-up ranks. 45 minutes after arrival outside the airport I contact Addison Lee who notify me that the driver is waiting in the standard taxi for hire ranks. On asking the driver why, he tells me that he doesn't want to pay the pick-up waiting charges. No one bothers to contact me to tell me where our driver is in the airport complex. In 2016 we had a similar delay with Addison Lee with the driver giving the excuse that he could not find anywhere to park his car in the airport so he had telephoned me at home to notify me about the delay. He had got no reply. Why would anyone phone a customer at home when expecting to pick them up at an airport? These two experiences which incurred significant delays and inconvenience tarnished the whole holiday experience. Unlikely to book with APT again.
The cruise director was excellent and communicated with all the passengers clearly. He worked really hard. The dining staff were courteous especially Jeff,Tin. Carrie and serial. The chairs in the dining room were not suitable and many guests carried cushions to the dining room to use. The presentation of the evening meal were excellent but the menus lacked imagination and the meat course were repetitive. The salads at the lunch time buffets were the same each day, while the warm station food was not quite hot enough. Breakfast was good but the scrambled eggs, bacon and other hot dishes were cold as there was no hot plate under them. I think as most of the passengers were elderly some of the trip were really too difficult for many of them. The trip to the farm with a and music was excellent as was the evening cruise in Budapest. All in all we enjoyed our trip but not as much as our dirt trip.
Food was excellent; overall appearance of ship very good; cabin far too small; cabin staff (Angel) very good; tours OK but too long and started too early; staff mainly very good except for assistance when vessel moored alongside others; lack of menu for McGeary pub visible alongside main menus;
The cruise part was excellent, with great food and good trips out. The hotels selected were variable with some just tired, some having no hot water (Ranthambore), or engineering works at night and lacking some general cleanliness (Clarks Shiraz). The train elements were just endurable, with closed curtains so no view and dodgy toilets. The Taj Mahal was of course excellent. No transfer was booked from Delhi airport, our fellow passengers managed to resolve by phone but we were stranded for 90 minutes or so. With the 40° heat and 90+ % humidity, we could have done with a little more downtime. Probably a few too many trips to carpet sellers, gem sellers, marble sellers etc. as well. There were many good points too, but nothing like as good as our previous experience on the Vietnam / Cambodia tour. Laxmi Villas lunch was nice and the Gandhi museum and garden was a highlight.
I have actually lowered my review score in the light of poor customer service and derisory loyalty incentives for previous passengers. In general the tour experience we had was as expected. The tour staff and hotels in Cambodia and Vietnam were good. The food on the boat was as we expected. The main gripes were probably due to our age, we were 15-20 years younger than most people on the trip/boat. *The gym on the boat, if you are interested in that, sub par. Cheap badly functioning multi-gym and no other weights/resistance equipment or spin bikes. *The cruise excursions were quite repetitive & not great - many village houses were visited. We rushed round the Cu Chi tunnels and were not allowed to watch the introduction film, until someone insisted. The shooting range was also out of bounds to us for some reason … *The cruise onboard entertainment 🥺, how many times can you listen to a pianist playing, “how much is that doggy in the window?” Or watch the chef carve fruit. Many missed opportunities here to easily enrich the cruise experience. I did try to feed this back in private messages to APT - to allow them to address or respond, however their system of dealing with feedback is shambolic to non existent. Eventually I emailed the CEO about the promised loyalty discount code which never arrived, after a month of unacknowledged emails. The sales director has apparently now forwarded my emails to customer service … Really these are the lengths you have to go to! The moaning points are relatively easily dealt with - if they are heard by APT. But they aren’t interested in feedback.
Fantastic itinerary and wonderful staff on this cruise. However, there were a number of passengers, including myself, that fell ill during the cruise. It was suggested by the director of the crew that this was simple dehydration but suspicions were that this was probably a Norovirus as 3 passengers were taken to hospital.
We joined the tour in Wellington New Zealand for the final week or a three week tour. We liked the destinations and some of the hotels. We were very disappointed with those run by the Scenic group. They all seemed tired and breakfasts were very basic. The coach was comfortable and our driver Jim was a hard working pro who went of his way to be helpful. Unfortunately that could not be said of the tour manager who we felt let the team down. Apparently this was her first time working for APT and it showed. Her knowledge seemed limited and when she did address the group it was obvious she was reading from a prepared script. Her opening comments usually began with the phrase “good morning mushrooms” ? She came across as being disorganised, out of her depth and unable to handle the 36 passengers in her care. The last straw was the farewell dinner which she totally disrupted because she wanted to do a quiz in the middle of the meal. The whole evening got dragged as prior to the dinner she asked each of the 36 members to stand up and talk about their views on the holiday. People just wanted to have their meal and go to bed as we had an early start the next day.
Early starts every day were tiring towards the end. Guide and bus driver were very helpful. I would suggest distances driven on south island are shortened with longer breaks. Hotels, Copthorne BAy of Islands, Bay of Islands and the Te Waonui Forest Retreat were particularly memorable. DUCK tour in Rotorua, Haast river jet boat ride, 4WD drive around Lord of Rings sites in Queenstown are to be recommended. Unfortunately my husband caught Covid during the tour and struggled with the tour on the South Island
The accomodation was excellent and the staff in the main were very friendly. There was far more walking tours and less bus tours which for those with walking difficulties was disappointing. The food was very poor both in selection and quality. There was a high portion of beef which was often tough and grisly. The lounge had insufficent ventilation and crowding everyone into there for hours was very unhealthy.
1. Cabin bathroom too small. Difficulty to enter/exit. Bed was very good. Wardrobe too small. Cabin staff excellent. 2.Diningroom good. Staff outstanding. Dinner became very repetitive from halfway. Breakfast excellent. 3.Duration of stops sometimes too short eg. Bamberg 4. Cruise Director extremely good /knowledgable/helpful but towards the end lacked support/was unwell. Captain changed at least 3 times! 5. Overall a good cruise which was very cost competitive
APT River Cruises & Tours specializes in providing luxury travel experiences through all-inclusive tours, cruises, and rail journeys tailored for Australian travelers. The company offers a diverse range of travel options, including small ship cruises, guided tours, and rail adventures across various global destinations. Customers can explore iconic landscapes in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as Australia and New Zealand’s unique attractions. The company focuses on creating seamless, comfortable travel experiences that allow guests to immerse themselves in different cultures and environments. APT River Cruises & Tours caters to discerning travelers seeking adventure and relaxation while ensuring high standards of service throughout their journeys. With an emphasis on unforgettable memories, APT's offerings are designed for those looking to discover new destinations with ease and luxury.
This profile hasn't been claimed by the business owner.
