We have sailed on seven ocean cruises over the last 16 years and had always liked the idea of a river cruise, but as these are not generally open to children, we have waited until our son could be left home alone. We chose the Romantic Danube cruise as it suited our dates and started in Budapest where we wanted to extend our visit. We spent two days there before starting the cruise. We used a company called Budapest Locals for a personal tour and were extremely pleased with the service they gave us.

Having sailed on ships carrying from 440-4500 guests we were looking forward to being on a boat with less than 200 people and experiencing open seating, which we would not normally do. This proved to be the best part of the cruise for us. After a bit of a slow start, we found most people were very friendly and we really enjoyed our meals, getting to meet new people from different countries (though almost exclusively English speaking guests).

Embarkation and disembarkation were excellent. Read more