We chose this cruise because it was less expensive than others and the itinerary was perfect for us. From the moment we boarded everything was perfect. A very comfortable top deck cabin, with a huge glass sliding door to open and admire the amazing view. Embarkation was smooth, in fact we arrived early and were able to take our luggage on board and go for a walk in Cologne. The ship isn’t only 4 years old and very comfortable. While there is not entertainment as on big cruise ships, Peter played Piano every afternoon and again played and sang at night. In Vienna we were entertained by a string quartet, 4 ladies who were amazing. Also the ships hotel manager sang and played guitar on two occasions and the crew put on a comedy show one night, all very good. I felt that there’s so much to look at day and night on the river, that was entertaining enough. We didn’t have one bad meal, breakfast buffet and lunch but with extra menu offerings and dinner was always a choice of three entrees, two soups and three main courses. Also there was also a chicken dish and salmon dish every night apart from the main course offerings. Dessert was either something delicious or a cheese platter. Coffee and tea were always available and afternoon tea always offered a great selection of cakes. We didn’t take up the drinks package as it didn’t include drinks other than lunch and dinner. We believe the prices were comparable to what we pay in Australia and not big drinkers so were happy with having a glass of the very good house wine with dinner for around 4-5 euro. The two cruise directors, Veronica and Peter were excellent, knowledgeable and very patient with the mostly over 65 year old passengers. Peter gave a talk every night about our next port, which was very informative. The included tours were mostly great and varying difficulty to accommodate slower passengers, the crew, mostly Eastern European, were outstanding and very friendly. Yes, there was about six days when we couldn’t use the top viewing deck because of low bridges but there were plenty of other vantage points and we were able to use it going through the Rhine gorge which is probabaly the most spectacular part of the river. My only negative is the suggested tipping, which as an Australian, we found a little excessive and preferred to single out those crew that we felt went that extra bit, we did also leave general tip for the crew. I would definitely use Riviera again, I fact, we started planning another trip while on board.
Comfortable, room under beds to store suitcases, plenty of cupboard space. Lovely view from the comfy beds.