My husband and I took a risk this year and booked a river cruise. Being in our 30's, we expected to be among the youngest on the ship. As it turns out, I was the youngest by at least 15 years (if you don't consider my husband). Age difference aside, we loved every minute of our cruise and are already considering our next vacation with Uniworld.

We arrived in Vienna for embarkation extremely early—we made it to the ship before 9:00 a.m. Many of the previous week's passengers had not yet left the ship. The cruise manager, Claudia, welcomed us and offered us spaces in the lounge where breakfast was provided. Knowing that our rooms likely wouldn't be ready for hours (standard check-in time is 3:00 p.m., we conferred with her briefly over a map of Vienna and set out to explore the city. When we returned around 2:30 p.m., our room was ready and our luggage had been delivered.

We consider ourselves foodies, and we were extremely impressed with all of the food served on-board, particularly the local specialties. We tried to eat these at lunch and dinner every day. The servers and restaurant manager (Stefan) were quick to remember our preferences (like my husband wanting a local beer with every meal—even breakfast), and everything was presented as it is in fine restaurants. Although we had planned on eating onshore often before we boarded, we only skipped one meal on the River Ambassador. Read more