The Danube cruise is going to be pretty much the same, whichever line you choose. We chose Avalon, and generally, the ship’s appointments and food were quite fine. But perhaps you have a few misconceptions as you make your decision on which river to choose, and this can help you. In our case, we chose the Danube because we had already been to some of the Rhine stops on past land tours. But we were under the impression that there would be ample time for personal exploration in cities and villages, because the ship would be docked and one could just get on and off, depending on whether you took advantage of the excursions. This was almost never the case. The ship docks mostly far from towns and the land tours take you by buses to meet a local guide. It leaves you with an hour, sometimes an hour and half, of your own time before you must catch the bus back to the ship. The sense of leisure is just not there; you are always checking your watch in trepidation. Our best free time on the trip was in Vienna, where we had a full 24 hours (the most spare time on the trip), so we skipped the shop’s dinner and took a taxi into the city on the first night and visited museums on our own the next day, skipping lunch. When signing up for optional excursions, make sure you are clear on what you will see exactly: for example, in Cesky Krumlov, the cruise literature said, “you will explore the castle,” and we did not. The guide spent most of the time showing us where we could shop and eat in the spare hour and 45 minutes we would have. Also, in port, the ships are parked closely to each other (about 6 inches apart: how do they manage?!) so that you will have no view of the town or city. You will have the view of the next ship’s stateroom. Admittedly, this can be interesting for a few minutes before they close their curtains. And THAT is another point: the beautiful panorama window/wall of the balcony rooms has a problem. We were expecting to have the beautiful night breezes blowing into our room as we watched the Danube flow by under the moon and stars. There was a quick warning in the first port talk that there may be bugs and “they couldn’t do anything about that.” We weren’t concerned: what’s a few mosquitoes compared to the joy of open air? Except it wasn’t a few mosquitoes, it was more like a scene from The Amityville Horror. The curtains came alive with hundreds of clinging small black flies, and they began their assault on the ceiling. We had to fling the curtains out over the river to let them all fly away, and then use wet towels to smother the rest. These rooms need screens! Otherwise, you really can’t have the panorama window open, so what is the point? Passengers cannot always go up to the Sky Deck for fresh air because it can be closed due to low bridges or going through locks. Also, we probably watched too many Viking commercials on PBS and were expecting a lot more of the quaint castle and hilly views than actually exist on this part of the Danube, which largely looks like a murky green river you could see anywhere in Vermont, or upstate New York. However, this may still be the trip for you if you enjoy spending a long time at meals with lots of wine and good food. The company was extremely convivial, and conversations with people from other English-speaking countries were always illuminating. We did have a lovely time, but these are some things to watch out for!