Our cruise director really made the entire cruise. Hendrick's knowledge and experience made our cruise fun and educational and stress free. We loved the views that we had cruising the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. We loved, loved our stateroom. At every chance, we opened the sliding door to our personal balcony to enjoy the sights along the river. This trip exceeded our expectations with the beautiful scenery, the excellent service aboard the ship, and the fun port excursions. The lectures were extremely interesting. Hendrick was very patient and answered each question thoughtfully. We really learned so much about the river, locks on the river, the history of the region ,etc. The port talks really prepared us for the next day. The meals were first class and truly a treat! Each crew member went out of his/her way to make us feel special. The only negative to our trip was the very limited port time at a couple of destinations. This did not allow us to grab the bicycles during the week and it made us feel a little rushed at times. (There were only 4 bicycles on board and the one time at port, they were being used by others.) Fortunately, we did get a chance to ride bicycles on an optional excursion in Amsterdam. Finally, we felt that Dusseldorf did not have enough of interest to spend time in this city. Overall, we would highly recommend Avalon for a river cruise and we will seriously consider taking another river cruise. If we do, it will be with Avalon since we think they have the best layout for staterooms.