This was our first European river cruise and our first extended trip to Europe. The experience was everything, and more, that we'd been led to expect by the cruise line and by our friends who'd traveled this way before us. This particular trip, from Amsterdam to Budapest is a nice sampler trip. Most of the stops are in Germany. We liked that each day had a guided tour included and then enough time for exploring on our own. The tour guides all did a nice job of providing historical perspective and current context in a way that was entertaining, educational and engaging. I suspect that did not happen by chance. Customer service, from the time we met our guides at the airport until we checked in at the airport for our return flight was outstanding. A crew member told me that it was his job to have not only a plan B, but also plans C,D,E...and you could tell that they did.

Food was very good; somewhere between the quality of the large ocean cruise lines and a fine dining establishment. The Aquavit Terrace was a special place for us to have dinner, small, more intimate and located at the bow providing outstanding views to enjoy dinner. By the end of the cruise, enough others had discovered this to cause people to be turned away for lack of tables! Most days, there was some type of on board program/entertainment that featured issue/points of interest about the area. It was all that we expected and more.