Almost exceeded all expectations from start to finish, excellent customer service from all staff, lead by Captain Dario and Captain 2 Remi and superbly supported by Jana, the Cruise Director.

Cleanliness, spaces both within Cabin and public rooms perfectly adequate for the number of guests on board. Had a lower deck cabin which was fine - hardly spent time in it! Food plentiful, very good at all meals always something to suit all tastes - perhaps even spoilt for choice - HOWEVER, one of the reasons for choosing this particular cruise on the Rhone was it was promoted that cuisine on board would be using fresh local food and the food and style of southern France: sadly during the galley tour we learnt that food was centrally sourced including bread and ice cream and that meals were planned by Head Office for all cruise ships whether they were on Rhone or Danube. The only real Provencal meal was the one prepared by the guest chef, which was superb, and could not be faulted. This doesn't mean that the Head Chef didn't have his twist on how he presented his food and he certainly had style and presence: it was just a disappointment that our understanding was marred by the fact that it wasn't all as authentic as expected.

Overall there was a good balance of activities which you could take up or leave and do your own thing. The knowledge sessions on cheese and wine were interesting and the one evening of dancing was most unexpected but very enjoyable, more so seeing such interaction of all staff with guests. As with the food, the marketing suggested that there would be opportunity to visit vineyards and 'savour some of the world's best wines' sadly we sailed passed them by night sailing. We would arrange our own next time for example, in hindsight. we would have had time to visit L'Hermitage in Touron. We will go again, these two aspects lost the 5th star, but didn't mar our overall experience. we are already looking at dates for next year!