Riviera Travel: Inside the UK’s #1 Upper Premium River Cruise

Is a river cruise just a floating hotel, or can it be one of the most authentic ways to travel? In this episode, we explore the world of Riviera Travel river cruises with the brand's North American President, Stuart Milan. As the UK's #1 river cruise and tour operator makes its official entry into the US market, we uncover what "upper premium" travel really means and ask the crucial question: How can you find a genuine, meaningful cultural connection while traveling along Europe's most historic waterways?

Stuart Milan reveals the secrets behind Riviera Travel's 40-year success and its expansion as Riviera Travel US. We dive deep into what sets their luxury ships and curated itineraries apart, from their intentionally smaller passenger capacity to their upcoming all-inclusive drinks package in 2026. Stuart explains the unique value proposition of an upper premium river cruise, which combines luxury hardware with incredible value, providing an experience that sits comfortably above standard premium lines without the formalities of ultra-luxury. Discover how these journeys offer an authentic European river cruise experience by docking directly in the heart of medieval cities and ancient towns along the Danube, Rhine, and Douro rivers. You'll learn how you can step off the ship and be immediately immersed in the local culture.

Beyond the destinations, we unpack Riviera's specialized programs that cater to specific travel styles. Stuart gives us an inside look at their robust solo travel river cruises, which include entire sailings dedicated exclusively to solo travelers—not just a few single cabins on a regular cruise. He also highlights their comprehensive group travel offerings, confidently stating they have one of the best propositions in the market for groups. We also discuss Riviera's "Grand Tours," which combine their award-winning land tours with their signature Riviera Travel river cruises for a longer, more immersive European vacation. From Stuart's personal journey through the travel industry to the intricate details of what makes a thoughtful holiday, this conversation is your guide to a better way of river cruising.

Introduction and Welcome

Mike Putman: The whole idea behind this podcast is to give people information they can use to travel in a better way. I think river cruising is probably one of the most authentic ways of travel that you can actually do. You are delivering travelers right into the center in an intimate, up-close, and personal way.

James Ferrara: Hello and good day, everyone. I'm Mike Putman. And I am James Ferrara. Welcome to No Tourists Allowed and welcome back, I should say. Mike, you and I have been appropriately all over the world in the last couple of weeks.

Mike Putman: And hopefully not acting like tourists. It has been a very busy summer. I have been in five countries over the summer. I'm sure you've been to quite a few as well, and we're not done with the summer yet.

We've got a good bit more. I know I've got a couple of more upcoming trips and I'd like to share about those. We also have a very exciting guest today, James, and somebody you know pretty well, I believe.

James Ferrara: I do. I know him from our business in the UK, but he has recently become president of his company as it has moved into the United States now. Are we going to go right to that?

Mike Putman: Absolutely. I've got to unfortunately step away for another engagement, but I will be back towards the end of that interview, hopefully. Then we will pick back up.

James Ferrara: Okay, you go take your meeting and I am very honored to have this gentleman with us. Thank you, Mike, and you go ahead and take care of what you need to take care of, and we'll see you back here in a few minutes.

Meet Stuart Milan: President of Riviera Travel

In the meantime, we have a very special guest today. Really the whole purpose of today's podcast is to talk to this gentleman, someone I know from the UK and my company's work in the UK. He has now been visited upon us in North America and in fact is now the president of Riviera Travel here in North America.

He came to us from the UK around July 4th, so it's a little bit of a reverse maneuver here. I'd like you to meet Stuart Milan. Stuart, welcome to No Tourists Allowed.

Stuart Milan: Thank you very much, James. Thank you.

James Ferrara: It's great to have you here. We've caught up previously in New York and you are enjoying the balmy weather of South Florida. But more importantly, you are building a brand here in the United States.

It is a brand that's very well known in the UK and in Europe, very respected, and a little new to the travel industry here in the United States. We're all very excited to have Riviera Travel here.

Before we get into all that, I know that our listeners would love to know a little bit more about you. Now, when Mike is here, he does these rapid-fire questions about personal travel preferences as a way to get to know you. Are you game?

Stuart Milan: Yeah, I'm game. Let's go.

James Ferrara: Okay, be careful what you wish for. So first of all, aisle or window?

Stuart Milan: Oh, aisle.

James Ferrara: Me too. I'm an aisle guy. You need to be able to escape easily. We actually had someone who once said middle seat and we ejected them from the podcast. Carry-on or checked luggage?

Stuart Milan: Depends. Europe is mainly carry-on. If I'm coming over here, then it's definitely a checked luggage situation.

James Ferrara: It has to do, of course, with the length and complexity of the trip. When I go to these industry events and I need three suits and a couple of sport jackets, and I have a size twelve foot—if I need three pairs of shoes, forget it. I can't be carrying on. I need a bag just for my shoes.

Stuart Milan: I think a short-haul European trip for me when I'm in the UK is only for a couple of nights. You can shove it all in a single bag and you're away.

But here, trying to do a little bit of socializing and a little bit of working, it's a bit more of a complicated packing situation. So definitely a check-in on the way to the States.

James Ferrara: When you arrive in a destination, either getting through the airport or arriving at the hotel, is there a tip that you would share with our listeners that makes it all easier or more pleasant for you?

Stuart Milan: That is a good question. I think I'm going to come on when you arrive and probably when you leave as well. For me, when I arrive into a destination—and I think this might be alien to a lot of Americans because I tend to fly from Manchester into Orlando and then I have to sprint for the train, the Brightline, down from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale.

But when I come here, I get off that train, I get in an Uber, straight to the hotel, dump my bags, don't unpack anything, and head out for a beer if I'm being honest. I go straight into town and have a chill-out beer as a way to relax and get my mind out of the travel. Then it's much easier to get back to the room and sort my life out.

James Ferrara: You and Mike are like two peas in a pod. That's how Mike travels too. I'm the opposite. I want to get everything sorted in the room and then I'll go out for a beer.

Stuart Milan: Fully unpacked? No. By the time I've arrived, I'll have been traveling probably nigh on twelve hours at that point. So it's definitely time for a beer.

When going back, I'm actually one for getting to the airport relatively early again. I set myself somewhere to work, probably again with a beer if it's a late-night flight, and then just work through everything I have to get back through before I get back to the UK.

The other tip for me is when I arrive. I'm normally late at night here, but if it was in the morning, which is a lot of my European destinations, I actually go out for a run. The first morning after arriving here, six o'clock in the morning, I'm out for a run just for a bit of explore to see what everyone's up to and get to know the lay of the land again. That's my way of exploring a destination: on my feet.

James Ferrara: You did tell me when we met in New York that you were heading out for a run the next morning. I was a little concerned we might never see you again, but thankfully you made it. When you do travel, do you have a favorite hotel brand or property or destination?

Stuart Milan: For me, it's a bit more of a location thing. When I first started coming down to Fort Lauderdale, I stayed on the beach quite a lot. But that was before we established an office downtown.

Now I actually stay quite close to downtown. For me, it's about location ease. It's also where all the amenities are. Rightly or wrongly, I don't pledge an allegiance to a specific brand.

For me, it's more about convenience as long as it's decent. I'm not saying I'll stay in anything; I do have a certain level. But convenience over anything else. Especially if I'm traveling for fun, I want to be in the heart of it. I'd rather be in the center of a city location rather than right on the outskirts.

Stuart’s Journey in the Travel Industry

James Ferrara: That is for business travel, but of course that could lead us into a whole discussion of river cruising, because it's a similar idea and river cruising is a very important product for you. We're going to get into that in a minute because you've been very nice to share some personal details.

I think we ought to back it up for our listeners. Who is this guy who seems to have this good advice about travel? What qualifies you? You're currently president of a very important brand. How'd you get there?

Stuart Milan: Straight from university, I went straight into travel. I've always worked in travel all my life. Even through university, whenever we hit our holidays, I would travel. I'd go for two months in Cape Town or three months in Peru. Travel has always been a massive passion of mine and it's how I love to see the world.

My first job ever in travel was actually a customer services role. I started off dealing with complaints and admin for a company called Neilson Active Holidays. They're a UK sailing and skiing brand, really great brand.

After that, I took a bit of a turn and went and worked for the Daily Mail. Obviously, it is a much more of a UK big publication. But I still worked in travel, so we helped build a travel business within the Daily Mail that got their readers onto our partners' holidays.

We promoted third-party holidays on that. Then I got to a point where I wanted to start again. I went and helped someone set up a tailor-made travel business called Far and Wild. We focused on East Africa to begin with and then spread out into the Indian Ocean, Asia, and South America.

That was a great journey. It was hard work, but we got to a point where we were doing some decent volumes for a startup. I got to a point where I just needed to try something new.

I went and worked for an online travel agent in the UK, understanding their product, their methodologies, and their sales and reservations approach. Then in December 2019, I started working for Riviera as channel director. Over there, that means essentially I was looking after everything apart from direct sales: trade, partnerships, and the international work we did at the time.

We obviously then went through the big COVID era that I'm not going to talk about too much, but we came out of the other end of it in a very strong position. We built back the business, and the revenue and profits were strong.

We could afford to start making headway in the US again. We actually started up the US business back in about 2018, but because of COVID, we had to put a hiatus on it. We came back to it last year in a bigger way.

So now I am looking after the US business for Riviera Travel. I am taking some of that startup experience I had with Far and Wild, but within a bigger business that allows us to accelerate that growth even more. It's a fantastic journey.

We had two or three people back in October or November time. We're almost up to twenty people, establishing an office in Fort Lauderdale and making a massive presence here.

The Riviera Travel Story and Market Presence

James Ferrara: There's something in you clearly who enjoys the challenge of a startup. It's where a lot of the work is, but it's also where the creativity and the excitement are. It's an interesting pattern in your life.

Stuart Milan: It also creates a bit of disruption, James, which I'm a bit of a fan of as well.

James Ferrara: Let's help our listeners understand who Riviera is, because I'm going to hazard a guess that it's probably a pretty new name to most of them. It is very important to us in our business in the UK, but here, it is newer to our US ears. I didn't know about the start in 2018; that's very interesting.

Stuart Milan: You're right, by the way, brand awareness is one of our challenges. While we're big in the UK, it's part of our mission over here right now to grow that brand awareness.

Riviera is the UK's number one river cruise and touring operator. We're in a great place to enable us to become a really great premium market operator here in the US. In the UK, we're the biggest river cruise operator.

We outsell every other river cruise line there is in the UK market, so we take full share. We're probably number two or number three in the touring space. By the time you put those together, we're the biggest river cruise and tour operator in the UK.

With Riviera being a UK operation, we proudly call Europe our home. We've been established for over forty years and we truly believe that we are the European experts when it comes to river cruise and tours because we live there.

We operate out of there and we're so close that we can really dig into the destinations and create some exceptional vacation experiences. Our product team works tirelessly trying to find all the intricate details of what makes a fantastic cruise.

And we've got the credence to back that up because in the UK—and now starting in the US—we are a multi-award-winning river cruise and touring line. For the first time last year, our UK trade team won the best trade team in the UK across the travel industry at one of the awards events there.

We have a great reputation for excellent service. Hopefully, that provides enough proof points that we can bring a similar mindset here to the US. We will be some of the easiest and best to do business with in the travel industry.

River Cruise Destinations and Ships

James Ferrara: Let's talk about the product a little bit or the experiences that are available. On the river cruise side, it's the river cruises in Europe. Are there other markets that you offer?

Stuart Milan: Right now, to the US consumer, it's going to be our river cruises in Europe that we focus on. We do offer to our UK consumers other rivers such as the Nile and the Mekong, which we are investigating how we open up to the US market. They are a slightly different proposition to our core European river cruises.

James Ferrara: And it's the Danube, Rhine, and the Douro. The Douro is one of the best sellers for us in the US.

Stuart Milan: They're all cracking destinations and they all have their own unique selling points. That's where you need to understand your consumer really well to understand what it is they actually want to go on.

We've got some fantastic ships, all in that upper premium space. We just launched two new ones this year, the Riviera Rose and the Riviera Radiance. We've got another new ship coming next year called the Riviera Resplendence. We're adding to the fleet all the time with new vessels that are at the top of their class.

James Ferrara: How many passengers on board?

Stuart Milan: It probably averages out at about one hundred and seventy. It goes all the way from one hundred and twenty on a Douro ship, because they have to be smaller to fit through the locks, up to one hundred and eighty on say, the Danube.

Capacity-wise, we're slightly smaller than perhaps some of our bigger competitors here in the US. But the way we see that is it's intentional; it allows us to give a slightly higher service and make sure everything's on point all the time.

The Onboard Experience and Value Proposition

James Ferrara: Let's focus on that for a second because you use the term "upper premium." Can we explain to our audience what that means?

Stuart Milan: It's a bit of our own terminology. We're not an ultra-luxury line; we don't do butler service and all of that. But what we do offer is fantastic value for money on luxury ships. Our hardware is a luxury ship.

In terms of inclusions, all your excursions are included. From 2026, there is a slight change in our proposition because it will include drinks. So by the time you've got your included drinks and fully included excursions, you're on a luxury ship at a great value for money.

James Ferrara: Do you ever get asked this question? As a travel seller, this is sometimes how I look at it. Do you get asked what hotel brand you would compare the onboard experience to?

Sometimes we find as travel agents that helps us explain to customers what to expect. You have competitors in the river cruise space whose onboard experience is like a Marriott, and there are some whose onboard experience is like a Four Seasons or a Ritz-Carlton.

Stuart Milan: I've never been asked that question before completely out of the blue. We're definitely not a Ritz-Carlton or a Marriott. I'd say we're probably like some of the higher-end Hiltons.

We're not into that ultra-luxury space. We do the core staples really well. We execute it and we don't scrimp. We're not trying to nickel-and-dime anyone with regards to the experience they're going to get. If we think something's wrong, we'll fix it there and then.

Land Tour Combinations and Authenticity

James Ferrara: The reports coming back from my advisors and customers are excellent. The onboard experience, the service, the look and feel of the ships, the inclusions—Riviera gets very high marks. What about the land tour side?

Stuart Milan: That is fifty percent of our business in the UK in terms of our passengers. We carry circa a hundred thousand passengers a year, of which fifty percent are river cruise and fifty percent are touring.

We don't actually offer our standard touring program to the US consumer right now. Whether we do in the future is a bit of a question mark. However, we have started to combine some of our signature tours with our river cruise.

There is a product type here we call Grand Tours that we sell to the US market, which is that combination of our river cruising and land tour experience. There are itineraries out there right now for 2026 that combine a heart of Italy tour with a Douro cruise.

When you start combining all of that stuff together, you've got a fantastic river cruise operation and a fantastic land tour. That's how we're encroaching into the touring side within the US right now.

James Ferrara: Well, those cruise tour packages have always been very successful here in the States. Princess Cruises has a great cruise tour product in Alaska. Customers really love them because it's a bigger experience.

Stuart Milan: Especially if you're flying over from North America and you want to spend a decent amount of time properly exploring. They are all fully guided, so there's always a helping hand the whole way.

James Ferrara: The whole idea behind this podcast is to give people information they can use to travel in a better way, a more meaningful kind of travel experience. Can I get an authentic travel experience that way? Can I get a real sense of culture and place, or am I stuck in an artificial environment?

Stuart Milan: River cruising is probably one of the most authentic ways of travel that you can actually do. I knew nothing about river cruising until I started working for the Daily Mail halfway through my travel career. I think too many people still don't know about the benefits it actually has from a travel perspective.

You're traveling along rivers that have held ancient journeys for eons. People have been transporting up and down these rivers for centuries. It's one of the most traditional forms of travel you can have.

The pace of life is fantastic. You can sit on your balcony and just watch the world go by. You might be staring into someone's back garden, but it gives you an insight into their life.

On the Blue Danube itinerary, you're going to three capital cities within that sailing. There aren't that many vacations where you go to three capital cities. We're going to give you an escorted tour within all of those capital cities to see all of the key highlights, guided by someone who is deep in the knowledge of it. At the end of the day, you can get back to your luxury ship, which is a five to ten-minute walk from the city center.

James Ferrara: That is a key point because many of these cities were built around the rivers. You are delivering travelers right into the center in an intimate, up-close, and personal way. And even the journey there, as you said, is slow-paced and within sight of the shoreline.

Stuart Milan: If you fly into a city, it'll take you forty-five minutes to just get into the middle of it. Here, you're literally stepping off. You're always seeing whatever's around you and there are some fascinating sights, even if it's just the freight going up and down because the river is a living and breathing thing.

James Ferrara: Is there an opportunity to sample local restaurants and wines? And do you bring any of that back on the ship?

Stuart Milan: In terms of our food and wine offerings, we tailor those as much as we can to the destinations we're stopping in. We'll try and localize entertainment as much as we can, like bringing Hungarian folk dancers onto the ship.

People do have free time if they wish to explore at their own pace. But we also do the guided tours through the city. A lot of the time, people want to do that tour, immerse themselves in the history, and then come back to the ship to sample the food and drink.

James Ferrara: Those tours are included, but you can go beyond that and purchase something a little more elaborate?

Stuart Milan: Every port has an included excursion, but there are optional extras if you want to go and do them. What we're also doing now is creating options even within the excursions, so some people might go on one type and others on another depending on their own personal preferences.

James Ferrara: My understanding of the current land tour industry is that things are much more authentic and interesting now.

Stuart Milan: Our offering in terms of inclusions is pretty inclusive. There isn't much actually that you'd want that isn't included. The menus are varied across breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You're not having to get carted off to a restaurant just because the ship can't cater for variety.

With our touring, we do take people off to restaurants because sometimes it's just the nicer way to enjoy your holiday. I think the days are gone where you have to just travel to a restaurant to get everyone fed, rather than it being a meaningful experience.

The Riviera Traveler: Demographics and Solos

James Ferrara: Who is the customer in North America for Riviera?

Stuart Milan: We believe the customer for Riviera is probably those who are sixty-plus, empty nesters where the kids have moved on. But to be honest, most people will enjoy it.

When we do our festive cruises, the age demographic swings a little bit lower because people are up for doing a shorter duration festive cruise. But our core demographic is that sixty-plus market.

Within that, we've got a huge dedicated solos program. We do sailings that only have solo people on. I'm not talking about solo cabins within a standard sailing; we've got a significant number of sailings that are just for solos.

We should be careful not to stereotype solos. It doesn't just mean someone who is on their own; it means they could be with their partner but have different travel preferences, or a group of ladies or blokes that just want to go away and do something different.

The groups program is also significant for us. If there's a church group or a family group, I'd be fairly confident in saying we probably have the best groups proposition in the river cruise market for the US.

James Ferrara: Solo travel and group travel is a big part of our business now. When you say sixty-plus, aren't these also more experienced or adventurous travelers?

Stuart Milan: It's probably a mix. It has to be people who are intrigued by the culture and food of Europe. It's not an active holiday, but it's a thoughtful holiday for those that want to learn about different destinations.

Because of the range of rivers, it's quite easy to get a distinct journey. Danube versus Rhine versus Seine versus Douro versus Rhône—there's quite a few to explore before you have to start to duplicate. You're not going to encounter a Caribbean booze cruise.

James Ferrara: Well, you've given us a great window into Riviera and into you, too. Anything else you want to share?

Stuart Milan: Thank you for having me, James. Riviera has a fantastic opportunity in the North American market. The product proposition is great and we're here for the long haul. This isn't a fleeting visit. We've set up the infrastructure here to make all of this happen.

James Ferrara: I for one think you have an amazing product and I think that you'll do very well.

Stuart Milan: We're here to work hard and make it work for the US.

James Ferrara: Well, thanks very much for being with us, Stuart. Mike, I've finally made it back from a meeting. Thank you for following through on that interview.

The Growth of River Cruising

Mike Putman: It was very interesting. He's a great guy and Americans are really embracing river cruise. It must be one of the fastest-growing parts of the travel industry.

James Ferrara: I only took my first river cruise maybe two or three years ago and I love it. My daughter is clamoring to go back again. A lot of people think of it as a cruise that older people do, but it is very multi-generational. I was really surprised at how young the average age is now.

Sweepstakes Announcement and Future Topics

Mike Putman: Speaking of cruises, we've had some exciting news about our next free giveaway program: a luxury cruise for two. We've established that it is a luxury cruise for two guests in a balcony stateroom.

It is a cruise in the Great Land, Alaska, one of the hottest markets in the cruise industry. A cruise will take you everywhere you want to see. We established that it is with the company that is famous for cruising Alaska, which is Princess Cruises.

James Ferrara: The luxury cruise for two on the Love Boat in Alaska. We are giving it away, but you've got to be in it to win it. There's only one place that you can go to enter for this, and there's no charge.

Go to no-tourists-allowed.com. You can click on the sweepstakes or giveaway link and there will be instructions on how to register. There are a few other ways to increase your chances by sharing this podcast or subscribing to the email list.

Mike Putman: Please engage with us. We really enjoy bringing this content to you on an almost weekly basis. We love all the good feedback that we've gotten and like to reward one of our lucky winners with a cruise for two.

James Ferrara: Good luck to you. Next episode, Mike, now that we're back, I want us to talk about some of the headlines in the travel industry and the attention-grabbing headlines. Do we really need to be afraid to travel in Mexico or worried about falling off a cruise ship? Let's try to sort through it.

Mike Putman: One of the things I've really been diving into is this AI dynamic pricing for airlines. Delta has embraced a new pricing strategy software that uses AI to optimize their revenue, which would typically mean your price is going to go up. By this time next week, I will have had a chance to really dig my heels into it.

James Ferrara: That'll be your topic and mine will be the poop cruise.

Mike Putman: The poop cruise. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening in this week. If you have any suggestions for us, please go to no-tourists-allowed.com.

You can download our podcast anywhere you get your podcasts, whether it be Android, Apple, or Spotify. Or you can see our beautiful mugs on YouTube.

James Ferrara: I forgot about YouTube. We get a lot of views and listens on YouTube.

Mike Putman: That's a wrap for this week. James, thank you for covering that interview and look forward to seeing you guys again next week.

James Ferrara: Thank you, everybody.