Does a river cruise have to be expensive?

Does a river cruise always have to be expensive? I don't think so, for several reasons.
Before I answer it though a bit of background information on river cruising may help, (you can click here for a previous post I've done on the pros and cons of river cruising).
River cruises are the smaller cousins of their ocean going counterparts. For obvious reasons they are built on a much smaller scale so you get a much more intimate atmosphere onboard and they just sail up and down the different rivers of Europe, Russia or China, dropping their passengers right into the middle of a town so they don't have the long transfers from port to town like so many ocean cruise have to do, (Civitavechhia to Rome anyone?)
This means that the focus of a river cruise really is on the itinerary and not the ship itself.

Top ten reasons to book a .............River Cruise

I've been looking at a lot of 'niche' market cruises for passengers lately. People looking to try something completely different to what they are used to. River cruises used to be considered 'niche' but to be honest more and more people seem to be trying them. And quite rightly, they offer some amazing opportunities that you just don't get with ocean going cruises.....