WE lived in Germany from 1979 to 1984 and enjoyed travelling throughout western Europe. We did not have many opportunities to visit eastern Europe at that time. A cruise from Passau to Budapest was the ideal opportunity to 1) try a river cruise on a 2) route that lead us to places we had not visited before. The Danube was a great way to travel. We do not like packing up our bags everyday to drag them to the next place to stay. A comfortable room on the ship allowed us to settle in and move from town-to-town without having to do the bag-drag. Additionally, the river cruise allowed us to miss waiting in lines to board an airplane, or getting stuck in busy traffic or have a bumpy ride on a winding road. The river was calm, quiet and unnoticeable in terms of movement. Additionally, the views were better then you could see from an airplane, bus, car or train. River cruising is a delightful mode of transportation.