My wife and I had the pleasure of cruising for 15 days (10-24 Sep 2012), on the relatively new (at the time), MPS "Scenic Crystal" (owned/operated by Scenic Tours), from Budapest in Hungary, to Amsterdam in Holland. Since disembarking, I have been very keen to write a review on this magnificent vessel (to share some of our excitement with you); but before I could do so, we had another cruise on a completely different new ship, the Celebrity Reflection. It is very hard to compare "apples with oranges" on ships that are like "cheese and chalk", but I will try my best to do so.

There's probably little point in preaching to the converted (those who love river cruising), so I shall write this article primarily for ocean cruisers who might be thinking about river cruising, and in doing so, I will compare each ship against the other.

At sea, when the weather turns bad and the seas get rougher, you leave your balcony and go into your cabin and close the balcony door, and possibly even the curtains. On the Crystal, where the river never gets rough, if the weather turns bad, you just press a button and close the outer glass window (which lifts up to the roof) while you can remain on your balcony. If you want fresh air, the outer window can be opened or adjusted to any height. As far as I know, this is an Australian innovation which has never been implemented on any other ship, anywhere (as yet anyway). Read more