We wanted to see the Christmas Markets and this seemed an efficient way to do this. It was our first ever river cruise, and we were lucky to be able to sail the entire way given this year's chronic low water issues. Most of the staff were outstanding; very warm and helpful except perhaps for the tour director Lee, who seemed a bit prickly and distant at times.
The weather was VERY cold, ...
We wanted to take a river cruise and decided that a Christmas trip to visit the Christmas marts would be nice. While I'm not a cold weather person, I wanted the full European Christmas flavor, so decided that it would be worth it to bundle up on a daily basis. Though I did indeed bundle up, it was well worth it. It snowed in Passau and Linz, giving it wonderful flavor without being unbearable. ...
As a veteran of 40 ocean cruises, I was not prepared for the staff, service and generally fabulous trip we had. We thought we would be bored in the evenings, but there was plenty of entertainment and things to do. Between eating, and more eating - everything was delicious!, the walking (thank goodness we burned some of the calories) and entertainment, we didn't even look at the books we brought ...