We had a wonderful time with Ama Waterways for my wife's 50th. birthday going from Budapest to Nuremberg, so thought we would try a river cruise again, this time with Avalon Waterways for her 60th. from Amsterdam to Basel.
The best thing about this cruise was the food - when we travelled with AMA previously, the food was somewhat bland, but, other than the last night when presumably the chef was off and the option was mainly pasta which came missing some of the ingredients and barely warm, the food on the Avalon Panorama was excellent. Having said that, there was an advert on the Avalon web-site for a tapas/tasting menu option which we had planned to take for the 60th. birthday evening - when we checked in however, we were told that this was no longer being offered - the only option being a reduced menu buffet in the lounge.
TIP: On the welcome evening drinks, trays of hors d'oeuvres were offered, but we only managed to get one each, as the waiters seemed to be encouraging the larger groups to take as many as they wanted so that they could clear the trays and get down to the dining room, so if you want more than one, we suggest that you take a handful!
Cabin was OK (Steward was WONDERFUL, even down to making a birthday cake out of towels!) but while having a bed facing out to the side is great for viewing the sights as you go past, we're not so sure about sleeping.
Issues with noise at night with rattling coming from the ceiling, also door rattled incessantly, so were forced to wedge a face-cloth in the door to get some sleep.
Water stopped flowing in toilet, so had to get an engineer to fix it twice.
TV not working when we arrived - quickly fixed.