Our 7-day Rhine river cruise was our first, after having taken many ocean cruises. As we expected, the experience is quite different. The river cruise affords the opportunity to see a lot more; the ship is essentially a floating mobile hotel from which one takes tours of nearby cities and towns. Most of these tours involve buses, and several ended at a different point on the river, where the ship met up with us.

Unlike an ocean cruise, the ship experience is rather simple: it's basically a hotel with a restaurant, bar and lounge. The food was surprisingly good; not as varied as the ocean cruises, but fresh and well prepared. Menus offering local specialties was a nice touch. The included beer and wine offerings (lunch and dinner) were not fancy, but adequate. BYOB is perfectly acceptable in the bar or restaurant as well, with no extra charge.

Cabins are compact as expected and well designed. There was almost no noise, except occasionally some churn from passing ships. Read more