If there ever were a cruise experience where a balcony makes all the difference, it would have to be on a river cruise. A stateroom with a French-, half- or full-balcony gives you a constant shore experience: Often, you’re only a few yards from the river banks, and you can smell the cut hay and flowering trees, hear conversations, listen to dogs barking, see children playing and families cycling along the river or even touch the walls of the locks as you pass through them. In port, while the ship is docked among riverside cafes, in a park or at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, you can even chat with people onshore from your balcony and, at night, the soothing sounds of the river going by are as hypnotic as the moonbeams that shine on the water.
