After doing much on-line research we chose Emerald for our first river cruise and it was the best decision. Our trip from Amsterdam to Budapest was fantastic. The ship was new, modern and kept very clean. We went with a below deck cabin which was very spacious and comfortable. All of the crew were friendly and helpful, especially the Cruise Director. All of the ports, excursions, and sights along the river as we cruised lived up to our expectations and then some. The guides for the tours were all locals and were excellent. The food was very good and included local dishes from each port. We were especially impressed with the way Emerald handled the need to deal with two days of high water which caused a delay in allowing the ship to proceed. They provided coaches to take us to the scheduled tours, included an extra excursion at no cost, and put us up in a 5-star hotel in Vienna for two nights until the ship was able to catch up with us. They couldn't have been more accommodating and we were then even more pleasantly surprised when we received a refund for the two days we were not able to cruise. We met travelers from other cruise lines on our way home and they did not have the same positive experience. We will definitely go with Emerald again and highly recommend them.