Nicko Cruises
Mainstream Cruising
Nicko is the river cruise line for people who find Viking too polished and AmaWaterways too American. It is a proper German operator with 30 years on Europe's rivers — the ships are comfortable four-star standard, the itineraries are thoughtful, and the pricing undercuts the big-name lines significantly. Their English-language sailings are still relatively new, so you get a more authentic European atmosphere on board.
Nicko Cruises is a name that most Australian travellers will not have encountered, and that is precisely why it is worth knowing. Founded in Stuttgart in 1992 as nicko tours, the company has spent three decades building one of Europe's largest river cruise operations. Today, under the ownership of Portuguese holding company Mystic Invest, nicko cruises operates 21 river ships and the ocean vessel Vasco da Gama, covering the Danube, Rhine, Moselle, Elbe, Douro, Rhone, Seine, Nile, Mekong, Mississippi, and the Dalmatian Coast. That geographic breadth is genuinely unusual for a mid-range operator — most lines at this price point stick to Western European rivers and leave the Nile and Mekong to the specialists.
The fleet varies considerably in age, size, and standard. Ships are classified by nicko's own wave rating system, from three to five waves, roughly equivalent to hotel stars. The flagship nickoVISION, named River Cruise Ship of the Year when she launched in 2018, carries 220 passengers on the Danube with a split-level layout, extensive glass, and three restaurants. Her sister ship nickoSPIRIT, built in 2020, cruises the Rhine with 170 passengers and a similarly modern design. Below these flagships sit a large fleet of four-wave-plus vessels — the Bolero, Maxima, and Viktoria class — that deliver solid, comfortable river cruising without pretending to be luxury. Smaller boutique ships like the 80-guest Katharina Von Bora on the Elbe and the 40-guest yacht Princess on the Dalmatian Coast offer a more intimate experience.
Nicko's guiding philosophy is "time to discover" — a slow-cruising approach that prioritises extended port stays and the freedom to explore independently. Ships dock in town centres wherever possible, so you walk off the gangway and into the heart of a medieval old town, a riverside market, or a vineyard village rather than being bussed from an industrial port. It is a destination-first approach that suits travellers who want to see and learn rather than be entertained onboard. The crucial caveat for English-speaking passengers: this is a German-first cruise line. The majority of passengers will be German and Austrian, the social atmosphere is predominantly German, and only designated dual-language departures guarantee a meaningful English-language experience. If you are comfortable with that — and many well-travelled Australians are — nicko offers something you will not find on Viking or AmaWaterways: an authentic European river cruise at a notably lower fare.
Understanding what nicko cruises includes and excludes in its base fare is essential, because the inclusion set is more stripped back than the premium river cruise lines most Australian travellers compare against. The base fare covers your cabin, full-board dining with a comprehensive breakfast buffet, plated or buffet lunch, and multi-course table-service dinner. Afternoon tea with cakes from the ship's patisserie is included, as are a welcome cocktail party, welcome dinner, and gala dinner. Onboard entertainment including live music, enrichment lectures, and port talks is part of the fare. Wi-Fi is available on most ships, though nicko is honest that continuous reception cannot always be guaranteed on river voyages. Port charges and taxes are included.
What is not included: drinks, and this is the big one. Unlike Viking, AmaWaterways, or Scenic, where wine and beer with meals are part of the fare, nicko cruises requires you to either purchase a drinks package or pay per glass. The Classic package at EUR 35 per person per night covers house wine, beer, non-alcoholic cocktails, mineral water, and all coffee specialities from nine in the morning until midnight. The Premium package at EUR 55 per night adds cremant, cocktails, and premium spirits. Excursions are also generally extra unless specifically bundled into a package booking — nicko offers pre-bookable excursion packages of typically four key excursions per cruise, and these are worth pre-booking to secure English-speaking guides. Gratuities are not included and are suggested at EUR 10 to 13 per person per night on river cruises. Travel insurance and spa treatments are extra.
When booked through Cruise Traveller in Australia, packages often bundle flights, transfers, the cruise fare, drinks, excursions, and gratuities into a single AUD price, which is the most sensible way for Australian travellers to approach a nicko booking. On a fully packaged basis, the total value proposition becomes competitive with the bigger names.
Dining on nicko cruises varies more across the fleet than on any other river cruise line I can think of, and this matters when setting expectations. On the flagship nickoVISION, you have three restaurants at no extra charge — the main panorama dining room, a speciality restaurant for themed buffets, and Mario's Grill Steakhouse — with free seating and no fixed dining times. That flexible dining concept is borrowed from the ocean cruise world and works well on a river ship. The nickoSPIRIT offers a similar setup with three venues including a Garden Veranda. On these two ships, the food earns consistently positive reviews for variety, regional character, and quality.
Step down to the older vessels and the picture is more mixed. Most ships in the fleet have a single panorama restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows and open seating. Dinner is table service with multi-course menus that emphasise international and regional specialities — Austrian dishes on the Danube, Alsatian cuisine on the Rhine, Portuguese flavours on the Douro. Breakfast is a comprehensive buffet, and lunch varies between buffet and plated service. Themed buffets, wine tastings, and cooking demonstrations appear on select sailings. The galley sources regional produce and adjusts menus to reflect the river being sailed, which gives the dining programme an authenticity that more standardised operators sometimes lack.
The honest assessment: food quality on the flagships is good and competitive with what you would find on a four-star European hotel barge. On the older vessels, reviews are more variable — some passengers praise the variety, others cite small portions and inconsistent execution. The Nile vessels, operating under the Steigenberger hotel brand, generally receive positive food reviews. If dining quality is a priority, book one of the flagship ships. Dietary requirements including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and lactose-free can be accommodated with advance notice at the time of booking.
The atmosphere on a nicko cruise is relaxed, informal, and quietly social — closer to a European pension than a resort. The typical passenger is aged 55 to 75, culturally curious, destination-focused, and more interested in what they will see at the next port than what is happening in the lounge after dinner. The overwhelming majority of guests are German and Austrian, with smaller numbers of Swiss and Dutch, and — on designated English-language departures — a contingent of British and Australian passengers.
Evenings are low-key. After dinner, you might enjoy live music from a resident pianist in the lounge, a glass of wine at the bar, or a port talk from the cruise director. There is no casino, no nightclub, and no late-night scene. Ships are typically quiet by ten o'clock. The newer flagships have more polished entertainment spaces — the nickoVISION features a panorama lounge with a grand piano and dance floor — but even on these ships, the programme is modest by ocean cruise standards. Local musicians occasionally board at port for regional cultural performances, and enrichment lectures cover upcoming destinations. This is a line where the entertainment is the river itself and the towns you visit, and that philosophy suits its passengers well.
The dress code is smart casual with a distinctly European sensibility. Daytime is sporty and relaxed, evenings are neat without being formal, and the Captain's Dinner welcomes suits and dresses without demanding them. It is noticeably less formal than Uniworld or Scenic and more relaxed than Viking. Who is this line not for? Anyone who expects English to be the primary language onboard, wants luxury all-inclusive river cruising, requires wheelchair accessibility, or is looking for sophisticated onboard entertainment. Nicko is not trying to be any of those things, and it is better for it.
Nicko cruises is not a household name in Australia, and the booking pathway requires a little more thought than walking into a local travel agency and asking for a river cruise brochure. Cruise Traveller, a Queensland-based small-ship specialist, is the exclusive Australian general sales agent. They provide AUD-priced packages that bundle flights, transfers, the cruise fare, excursion packages, and sometimes drinks into a single price, which removes the currency risk and complexity of booking in euros through a German website. This is the recommended route for Australian bookings.
The language consideration is the single most important factor for Australian passengers to understand. Nicko cruises is a German-first operation. On a standard sailing, 80 to 90 per cent of your fellow passengers will be German-speaking, the entertainment and social atmosphere will be predominantly German, and announcements will be bilingual but German-led. Only designated dual-language departures guarantee a meaningful proportion of English-speaking guests and English-language excursion guides. If you are booking from Australia, confirm with your agent that your chosen sailing is a dual-language departure and pre-book the excursion package to ensure English-speaking guides are assigned.
That said, many well-travelled Australians actively enjoy the European character of a nicko cruise. If you have spent time in Germany or Austria, appreciate continental culture, and are comfortable being in the linguistic minority, the experience can be genuinely rewarding — more authentic and less packaged than the international river cruise lines that dominate the Australian market. The geographic reach is also a drawcard: the Nile on a Steigenberger-branded ship, the Mekong on the boutique Navigator, or the Dalmatian Coast on a 40-guest yacht are compelling options that sit well within a broader European or Asian itinerary. Flights from Australian gateways run 20 to 24 hours to European embarkation cities, and Cruise Traveller can arrange these as part of the package.
Nicko cruises' base fares are among the most competitive in European river cruising, and this is where the line's proposition becomes interesting for value-conscious Australian travellers. On a per-night basis, entry-level Danube cruises start from around EUR 95 to 145 per day for a five-day sailing, translating to roughly AUD 157 to 239. Longer itineraries bring the per-diem down: an eight-day Danube cruise runs EUR 120 to 230 per day, and a ten-day Rhine-Main-Danube grand traversal sits around EUR 182 per day. These are base fares for the entry-level cabin category and exclude drinks, excursions, and gratuities.
The critical comparison: nicko's base fares are typically 30 to 50 per cent below Viking and 20 to 40 per cent below AmaWaterways on comparable routes. However, Viking and AmaWaterways include drinks with meals and selected excursions as standard, so the gap narrows substantially when you add nicko's drinks package, excursion package, and gratuities to the base fare. A fully packaged eight-day Danube cruise through Cruise Traveller in Australia — including return flights, transfers, drinks, excursions, and gratuities — would typically total AUD 4,500 to 7,000 per person depending on season and cabin category. That positions nicko in the lower-mid-range alongside CroisiEurope and Viva Cruises, and meaningfully below Viking, Scenic, and Uniworld on a like-for-like basis.
Solo travellers should note that nicko does not offer dedicated single cabins, and supplements of 20 to 50 per cent apply on most sailings. However, select departures are available through the UK operator Just You with no single supplement on the Rhone, Douro, Moselle, and Seine — worth investigating if you are travelling alone. Cancellation charges start at 10 per cent from 120 days or more before departure and escalate to 90 per cent on the day of sailing. Travel insurance is essential, particularly given the risk of water-level disruptions on European rivers where no guaranteed compensation applies. Early booking typically secures the strongest pricing and preferred cabin selection, with wave season from January to March often delivering additional offers.
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