The list of lecturers first attracted us to this cruise and also the destinations as we had been to Eastern Europe before but not to Bulgaria or Rumania or Serbia and not to the parts of Croatia included in the tour. We had to change ships after four days but that was very well managed although our cabin seemed slightly smaller on Pearl. We would criticise the first evening's arrangements--there seemed insufficient Scenic staff presence at the hotel and the main course at dinner was not good. On board we once or twice found the timings of events rather hectic, ie arriving back from an excursion and having a briefing meeting almost immediately afterwards. I realise this could be due to traffic problems and beyond the staff's control and once the timing of the meeting was altered. The Cruise Director Szylvia was really excellent: although at times facing ( unfair!) criticism from passengers she remained cheerful and calm. She was very helpful when I asked about future Scenic cruises although that was not her particular sphere. We had been on one other river cruise before when the company made a great point of advertising future ones, with discounts, and although I appreciated the fact that Scenic didn't do that I should have liked a little more information, especially about when Kate Adie would next be lecturing for you as she was absolutely outstanding as both a speaker and a fellow guest. John Simpson's lecture was good though I regretted that he was so briefly available on the cruise and Martin Bell was a pleasure to meet and to listen to--I just wished one of his talks wasn't so early in the morning! All the guides we had were very good and had interesting personal experiences of their countries and the meal in a Croatian home was the highlight of the cruise for me. The low water level in the Danube did make some gangways very difficult for less mobile people to go up and down--perhaps cruise information should give a warning about this.

NB In the ratings below I'm assuming "Enrichment activities" means the talks and lectures. As I said, that was why we chose your cruise and they lived up to expectations. My rating for food may seem grudging as some meals were excellent but others not--especially the Hungarian goulash! Final point--we very much appreciated the fact that excursions, drinks etc. were all included in the price.