As a seasoned Silverseas cruiser I booked the latest 5 star river ship, Emerald Star, expecting a great cruise on the Danube. It cost as much or more than Silverseas so I don't think my expectation was unreasonable. What a shock! The ship is brand new and very smart but the onboard product is not. However, to be fair, only those who had never river cruised before seemed to feel this.

Food is poor, often very poor, restaurant hopelessly overcrowded....the 7pm rush for free seating was a complete shocker to me. Table setups were cramped and the tables for 2 were immediately adjacent (like less than 6 inches) to a table for 4. Very few round tables. The overcrowding made for forced Bon hommie but the noise level rather restricted even that. The restaurant style could be best described as "school dinners" or a canteen. Food is delivered one course at a time....for the whole restaurant. So, if you wanted to miss a course you had to wait until those who had chosen to eat it were finished and the process restarted. I have never seen a restaurant operate like that. The staff however tried hard and the restaurant manager in particular recognised my unhappiness with the product and did his very best to make it better. My thanks to him. Wine is included but there was little or no choice.....and the wine staff had very limited knowledge.

In fact, the whole ship is inadequate in size and facilities for the 180 passengers. Very few public washrooms....back to the cabin was best. Read more