This was our first river cruise and more than met our expectations. We did not use the travel services as we arrived several days before we were to embark. We were allowed to leave our luggage the morning of the day before we left port. We had an evening cruise on the Danube after dinner with the beautiful lights of Budapest. The next day, and days after, we had a morning tour of the city with some free time before we left port in the late afternoon. Every day was a new port or two with mostly walking, sometimes bus, tours of the city before we were left on our own with a time to be on board before leaving port. The free time varied depending on the city and sometimes the visit was in the afternoon. We enjoyed all the local tour guides, except one, and enjoyed their information.

The ships are beautiful and the rooms are very comfortable - beds, linens, pillows and cleanliness. We did not use the gym or the pool. We did enjoy the sundeck but realized they had to close it off when we went through the locks as the bridges were too low. Since we started in Budapest, those 4 days were at the end of our cruise. I say ships as the river, after Passau, was too shallow so we traded ships with the passengers of the Emerald Sun since they were stuck going southbound. It worked out great for us as the bus ride was just to the next town. Our luggage were in our same room number on the new ship when we boarded. The staff had to work extremely hard to get everything cleaned before we changed. So kudos to them.

We loved our cruise director, Simona. She was wonderful and followed us to the new ship, the Sun. Read more