This was our first ever river cruise even though we have travelled a lot. Scenic were recommended to us by friends who had sailed with them last year and also our travel agent spoke well of them. We travelled from Amsterdam to Budapest commencing late June 2018.

We are fussy travellers and happy to pay good money to get the best that is available when we travel. I must say we were less than excited before our departure from NZ, probably because we really didn't know what to expect from a cruise. All I can say is that this was the most exceptional experience from the moment we arrived at the ship. We were in cabin 309 on the Diamond deck. We chose this cabin as it was well forward and were told there was less engine noise up front. Although The Pearl is one of the older ships, it had clearly been either totally refurbished or maintained to an exceptional standard.

The cabins are not large on any of these river ships when you view the dimensions in the brochure and we were expecting to feel really cramped. This was far from the case. The design of these cabins is so good. The bed extremely comfortable and large, the bathroom very well appointed with a very acceptable shower space, loads of storage in cupboards, wardrobes and drawers and plenty of room for even four large cases under the bed. The deck arrangement with sliding power window works well. Three power points for charging whatever and a TV screen which tells you where you are, what's on and also offers TV, but I cant see why you would need the latter apart from BBC new perhaps. Wi-Fi was good just about all the way through the trip. Read more