Just returned from Uniworld's Tulips And Windmills trip. I have done similar river cruises on other lines and this was by far the best. The River Queen itself is more or less the same size and configurations as other river boat lines, but is much more attractively decorated. The staterooms were actually pretty and the public rooms were lovely. The dining room was generally excellent and was significantly better than other river or cruise lines including Seabourn and Silversea.

All riverboat rooms are tiny and this was same. The closet space was better laid out on Ama, but the room as a whole was far nicer on Uniworld. The room was actually pretty, the bed and linens were excellent, and the room service was very gracious. The showers on the River Queen are particularly well done for a riverboat as the doors actually keep the water inside so that the bathroom doesn't get all wet. It would have been helpful to have a clothesline in the shower for lingerie as some of the other riverboat lines do, but other than that the rooms were great.

Most lines have good staff, but the River Queen's really distinguished itself. From the cruise director to the dining staff, everyone went above and beyond to accommodate. We had an entirely disinterested cruise director on Ama (although the rest of the staff was lovely) and an actually arrogant and obnoxious cruise director on Lindbland Galapagos (although the rest of their staff was lovely too). On River Queen she was terrific. It was also nice to see that all of the staff seemed to really enjoy each other and get along. Everyone had great personalities and it felt like one was cruising with friends. I mean that in the nicest possible way. They were never intrusive. Read more