This was my first river cruise, though I've spent plenty of nights on ocean cruises. Thus, there may be items I raise here that are simply typical of river cruises, and I just don't know that yet.
There was much to like on this one-week Bordeaux cruise on the Scenic Diamond. The atmosphere is laid-back, and the passengers a nice mix of (primarily English-speaking) nationalities. Apparently, this was the first time that the majority of passengers were from the U.S. Usually it is majority Australian, with a good number of Canadians and Brits thrown in. There was a large pre-formed group on our cruise from the U.S., so that may account for that peculiar demographic. Fortunately, they were not insular, so we did not have the issues that often come from a charter group being aboard.
EXCURSIONS
I knew the room would be small, and figured it would be OK because it was just me and it was really only a place to sleep, shower, and change clothes. But it was quite claustrophobic. And came with a rather surprising hazard, described below.
To give some idea of the size and layout: Lying on the twin bed which took up most of the room, I could touch both sides of the room by extending my arms. And I have short arms. On one side of the bed was a night table partially covered by the curtains for the balcony, and then behind the two layers of curtain a glass wall to the balcony. On the other side was a closet/desk combo. The stool under the desk could not come out all the way because of the bed, so was unusable.
The closet doors could not open all the way, because they hit the bed. But they opened far enough to be usable. One one side was a clothes hanging area, which was wide enough to fit what was needed for a week. It was good that I had not brought a dress, because it was only a shirt-height hang, and even at that some of my shirts dragged on the closet floor. There were two nice-sized shelves above it. On the other side was a shelf, three small drawers (again, enough space for a week), a mini-fridge (which managed to keep the clothes in the drawer above it quite toasty), and a safe. Here was the one advantage of the solo room: the safe was at eye level. In the standard balcony rooms, it was on the floor of the closet.
At the foot of the bed was a small table where the GPS system was set to charge, and a TV on the wall. I had hoped to use the usb port on the TV to keep my devices charged, but found it a challenge as there was no surface underneath to rest them on while charging, and it was too high to put them on the floor. I managed to wrest the stool from under the desk for this purpose, but when in use it would block either the bathroom door or the door to the cabin.
The bathroom was full-sized, and well-appointed, with a nice sized vanity, a full shower, and of course a toilet. But, really, don't women ever get involved in planning these ships? There was no place with adequate lighting for putting on makeup.
The balcony was also full sized, and a nice touch. A bit deeper than a juliet balcony, it could fit two chairs and a small table. To be comfortable, the chairs had to be arranged at an angle, since the balcony was not deep enough to sit looking straight out. The top of the window opens, making for a nice area when the weather allowed. Alas, being on the port side, and being late in the season, the area was usually too chilly in the morning for use, and too hot in the afternoon/evening as it received the direct afternoon sun. But on cruises at other times of year, I expect it could be wonderful. However, don't count on it to make the cabin seem larger. With a sliding glass door, and two layers of curtains, it is very much a space separate from the cabin.
All of the above would be OK, but for this one big problem: the cabin is set back behind the crew stairs. When you open your door, one wrong step to the side, and down you go on some rather steep stairs. We had one solo passenger who tended to get disoriented a lot--thank heavens she was not in that room. I can't imagine that she'd have avoided that fate. And anyone who might have over-sampled the wine list may also be at risk. Even sober and fully cognizant, I had a near-miss when a crew member came quickly around the corner and almost crashed into me while I was coming out of my room. Had we actually collided, we both would have gone down.
This cabin is a hazard to be avoided.