River Beatrice Review
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When my husband and I planned this trip, we decided to add on 4 days in Paris and 2 in Lyon, France. Our adventure started out pretty rocky; the CDG airport (which I suggest you avoid at all costs) was unfriendly, unwieldy, and unintelligible to those who speak no French, and when we got to the train station to board a train to Paris, we learned that the prepaid train tickets did not work. Had it not been for the kindness of a French traveler, we would still be at the train station in tears! We enjoyed Paris, loved Lyon, but had a very long travel day on the train from Lyon to Paris, and then a flight to Munich, where we caught the Uniworld bus (after waiting another hour for other arriving passengers who were joining us on the cruis) that took another 2 hours to get to Passau, where we embarked on the cruise. As soon as we stepped foot on the ship, we both sighed a huge sigh of relief (and I shed a few tears of joy) because we now knew that all our needs would be met. The crew that met us were incredibly hospitable, and this was the beginning of a magical journey down the Beautiful Not-so-Blue Danube.
Everything was nearly perfect. The staff, the accommodations, the food, the service, the tours, the guides, the destination points for the tours, the shipboard entertainment, the free-flowing drinks and wonderful attitude of all the crew on board, the free time allowed, the additional opportunities for excursions (the Vienna concert is a must do!), and the people, all were wonderful. We made friends with many of the passengers, and even had dinner with the captain on our last night on the ship, which was a complete surprise.
The only complaint I had and that which was shared by other passengers with whom we spoke, was that the bathroom in our stateroom often smelled of "sewer gas." Much like a bathroom on an airplane smells. When we mentioned this to the ship's staff, they did something, but it did not eliminate the problem, so we spent 8 nights in a room with a somewhat foul odor, which we seemed to "get used to" as long as we were in the room. Other passengers suggested putting a wet wash cloth over the drains in the sink and shower, but when we did this, they were removed by ship staff -- probably believing we had left them behind by accident.
Cabin Review
Standard Stateroom
The cabin was small, but adequate, and beautifully appointed. The bed was super comfortabe, and the linens and comforter were so luxurious. Although the room was small, the floor to ceiling glass door gave us a beautiful view of the river, and the mirrored walls gave the room a more spacious look. There was plenty of storage, even in the bathroom, lots of plugs for our accessories, and because the idea was not to lounge in one's room all day, completely adequate. We had friends who stayed in suites, which had many additional amenities, but for the added price, it would have not been worth it to us. We were advised to stay on the "river" side of the ship, so that when we were docked, other ships that were parallel docking to our ship would not block our view. This proved to be the case, so we always had a great view of the river, and no one else had a view of our stateroom from another ship.