We wanted to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary and my 56th birthday and so chose to splurge on a river cruise to one of the most iconic cities of love.

We'd had a negative experience on our first and last ocean cruise (a freestyle format); while the itinerary attracted us - embarkation in Venice visit along the Mediterranean to Istanbul, then disembarkation in Barcelona - the major detractions were that alcohol was an additional cost and when we did bring on board our bottles from the various ports of call, they were confiscated from us and held until the final destination upon which we could collect our purchases. The only alternative was to pay a corkage fee of $15 US, which often exceeded the cost of the bottles we'd purchased. Additionally, the ship was so large that we could never meet or sit with the same guests. The options for dining didn't encourage intimate conversations. We were so discouraged by these restrictions as well as the food wastage as displayed by the other passengers, we swore off cruises of all types. (This decision held true for five years.)

Our friends had taken a river cruise on a tourist class/standard line from Amsterdam to Budapest and raved about the demonstrably lower passenger capacity as well as the alcohol-included aspect of the cruise. Read more