We’re Engaged!

We’re proud of the numbers in the graphic above. It shows that nearly 54 percent of you opened our newsletter last week, and 7 percent of you clicked on links. The open and click rates pretty much have stayed the same since we began distributing our newsletter more than a decade ago. 

Our open/click rates compare to an average of 20 percent opens and 2.25 percent clicks across the travel industry, according to Mailchimp, a leading email platform. So excuse us while we pat ourselves on the back.

Other stats that we’re proud of are to be found in our Google Analytics numbers. Those show us how many people visited our site and which pages they valued most. We know by looking at our stats that our most viewed pages are Water Levels, Best River Cruises For 2022 & 2023, and Comparisons. That makes sense to us. It’s what’s on our readers’ minds.

When it comes to water levels, we understand that people have anxiety. High water or low water can dramatically affect a river cruise, even though many companies have come up with creative ways to mitigate inconveniences. Still, since its launch in September of 2018, our water levels page has garnered more than 2,000 comments from those concerned about if, and how, their river cruise might be affected. 

Just for fun, I thought I would print our water levels page, but decided against doing so when I discovered that printing would require 367 sheets of paper. That’s enough for a book! 

We’re proud too that our water levels page has earned the top spot in Google organic search. Sites similar to ours spend a lot of money to rank number one in organic search. All that we spent was a lot of time and effort.

 It’s the same for our River Cruise Comparisons page, which also ranks first in Google organic search. This week, we updated our comparisons. There’s still some work to do, but you can now find Riverside Luxury River Cruises in the Attributes table and a better layout to access price comparisons by river – and a number of other criteria.  For your convenience, you’ll find it at the bottom of this page.

We also updated our “best river cruises page” to reflect this year and next year. Check out Best River Cruises For 2023 & 2024.

As our regular readers know, there are only two of us running River Cruise Advisor, and we’re staying ahead of some well-capitalized and well-staffed competitors. And one of us, Britton, is hoisting the flag while holding down two other jobs, as a barista and bartender, to make ends meet in North Carolina’s priciest city (Asheville).

If it sounds like I am taking a moment to brag, yes, I am. We’re small and scrappy, and we care about our readers. We’ve known some of you for decades. We’ve river cruised with several of you, and we’ve emailed hundreds of you on an individual basis.

Our driving mission is that we want people to have memorable river cruise experiences. We believe this is the reason, at least in part, for our success. Over the years, we’ve received hundreds of emails from folks who just wanted to tell us that they appreciate all that we do. Messages like those make our job extremely gratifying.

In two weeks, I’ll be announcing special offers for my Fall 2024 Dream Cruise. A whole bunch of you have signed up to express interest in what I hope will be the cruise of a lifetime. Those who have signed up will be the first to receive the special offers for the first 15 cabins. If you’d like to be on that list, please check out my Dream Cruise page. 

We’re extremely grateful for our community. Thank you for sticking with us all of these years and for making our site successful. It should go without saying (but, of course, it won’t) that we could not have done it without you. Thank you!

Wishing you a wonderful summer, Ralph Grizzle (& Britton Frost)

Attributes Of The Top River Cruise Companies

	AmaWaterways	Avalon	CroisiEurope	Emerald	Riverside	Riviera	Scenic	Uniworld	Viking
Excursions Included?
Beer/Wine Lunch & Dinner?						**
Onboard Bicycles
Fitness Center
Exterior Balconies/Veranda
Two Room Suites	**						**		**
Own & Operate			**
Room Service				**					**
Mini Bar		**		**					**
Dining Venues	3**	2**	1	3	5	2	6	**	2
Personal Butler
Port Charges Included
Airport Transfers	**	**							**
Prepaid Gratuities									**
Gratuities Included									**
Laundry Included				**				**	**

Please note that the table can be scrolled horizontally so that you may view all data on mobile devices or small screens.

Article ID: ART5083

	Your Travel Advisor
	Travel Adventures Unlimited 925-935-7447 Email: info@traveltau.com 1515 Oakland Blvd., Suite 100 Walnut Creek, California 94596 www.traveladventuresunlimited.com
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