After many years of ocean cruising, this was our first River cruise and we chose the longest (Amsterdam to Budapest). We were aware that not many Americans chose Emerald cruise lines and even had our travel agent try to talk us into a different river cruise line. (Note, most of the passengers were from Australia and the remaining from Great Britain and Canada... only a handful of us were from the USA).

Prior to booking, I did extensive research on comparing ship's ages (ours celebrated its first year anniversary while we ere aboard), cabin size (again the balcony cabins were significantly larger than Vikings for same category) and ratings (rated by Cruise Critic to be #1 new river cruise line) -- and Emerald "on paper" looked to be the best overall for a lot less than other cruise lines of "comparable" quality. We are glad we chose Emerald. We were very impressed from the initial pick up service, to excellent service on board, to attention to details on the small things. The "included" excursions were excellent and we loved that they had special group tours for "gentle walkers" (i.e. slow moving elderly people).

As a small criticism I am sort of a foodie, so I thought the food was beautifully presented and tasting (and selection-- they did present "local" cuisine as we went from country to country) was "good" but not outstanding (in comparison to dining quality on 5 star ocean cruises)-- but we were always satisfied, and most of our fellow passengers felt the food was excellent. As many have commented on other reviews, the common spaces (lounge and dining room) could get quite loud when full and conversations at time were difficult, but I don't see how that could be corrected. Also as in comparison to ocean cruises, the entertainment on board for most nights was only a lounge piano player. They did bring on local talent and "folk" shows a few times and the crew put on a great night of skits and entertainment, but most nights we were satisfied to relax after the large dinners (and bottomless glasses of "included" wine) in our cabins watching movies (recent releases) on our flat screen. Read more