We had a wonderful time on the River Duchess from Amsterdam to Istanbul in summer 2010. It is amazing that one can travel, in great comfort, on a boat from the North Sea almost to the Black Sea. The scenery along the rivers and canals is superb and many passengers took advantage of the top deck to experience this to the full. The first lock, the first city, the first town, the first low bridge - all an experience and this was just at the start of the adventure. Arriving in towns/cities by boat is a real experience.

Hotel, restaurant and cruise managers, chefs and restaurant staff were top class and this made the trip very enjoyable. The captains and crew did an excellent job throughout the journey. Progressing through numerous locks and navigating a meandering river takes significant expertise and experience. A passenger had a serious health issue when we were cruising through Germany and he was taken to hospital with little fuss. On the section from Vienna to Istanbul a doctor was on board. In the event of a problem you felt secure that everything would turn out well.

The wonderful towns and cities we visited were interesting from many points of view but the time available in each is necessarily short. Tours were well organised and relaxed and the local guides were generally good but in some instances it would be better to read up on the area and do your own thing especially if the boat is nearby. It was easy enough to peel off the group once we had our bearings. Uniworld supplied maps of most towns but we tried to augment these with maps from the local tourist offices in the larger towns. We had 3 days/4 nights in Vienna and that was great. Istanbul was fabulous and we had a few extra nights there as well as in Amsterdam. Read more