Oops, an error occurred with my posting. I had also mentioned that itinerary, food, wine and service are very important to us.
Thank for any unput!!

We returned from our first river cruise in June, on Uniworld's River Beatrice, from Passau to Budapest. We thought Uniworld was wonderful - excellent service, itinerary, food and wine. Will definitely plan another river trip with them in the future.

We took Uniworld last year from Passau to Budapest and we loved it. Everything was wonderful. We are taking them again this fall on a Rhine River Cruise. We were on the River Beatrice and totally agree with socaltravelers observations. We are going on the River Antoinette this fall.

Have done the Michaelangelo on Po River out of Venice

with eurorivercruises.com same line...ships similar nice

prices smaller sort of a floathotel concept small rooms not

upscale... Avalon Uniworld Tauck.com best check

cruisecritic.com reviews on the ships.

AARP good discounts for me also affordabletours.com

vacationstogo.com sometimes search around for best deals.

Be aware that if river levels are high they my bus

you around ruining the benefit of river cruising

so might do some homework on that recent Ombudsman

cntraveler.com article on that...

Happy Planning,

Just returned from a Uniworld Riverboat cruise from Bucharest to Vienna.

I was on the River Countess.

The room was great, the food was great, wine or beer with your Dinner...and all the wine you can drink, not just a glass.!

Breakfast Buffet and Lunch Buffet were great.

The evening entertainment was very good when we came to certain countries

For example: Serbia Dancer when in Serbia, Croatian dancer when in Croatia, etc.

I could not complain about anything.

Thank you to all for your comments....still mulling things over!

I notice that Uniworld's food is Zagat rated, so that is a good sign!

I just read the article about problems re river levels in Conde Naste magazine. Seems like a good idea to ask any river cruise company we are considering as to what their "Plan B" would be in such a situation.

I would still love to hear from anybody who knows anything about River Cloud 11!!

Thanks again,
kc1

Our terrific TA thoroughly reviewed river cruise companies before settling primarily on one -- AMA -- for her escorted cruises. (This included personally visiting many ships in Europe to see the facilities first-hand.) See the River cruises section on http://www.brownandkeenetravel.com/.

We took a Danube River cruise with her on AMA last September between Prague and Budapest. We enjoyed it very much, though probably less than our usual ocean cruises.

Just a note to let everyone who took the time to answer my post that we have decided to book on the River Cloud 11. We liked the fact that she is a smaller ship (88 passengers). I booked directly with them, and they were wonderful in promptly answering my questions by phone and e-mail. Even though she is classified as a "luxury" vessel, I found the pricing very good in comparison with other lines.
Thanks again,
kc1

Thought I would report back on our cruise on the River Cloud 11 on the Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg last October, 2012.
In one word, it was AMAZING!! Everything was 1st class, without being stuffy! The cabins were gorgeous; the food and wines were delicious; the staff was gracious and accommodating at all times; our fellow passengers (mostly from Germany, England, United States and Canada) were friendly, interesting, and fun; the excursions were informative; etc., etc. I could go on and on about the lovely River Cloud 11...our voyage was perfect! Everytime we passed another river boat, everyone mentioned that we were so glad we were on the River Cloud 11. And a passenger from another river boat even called over to us that she wished she were on our boat.
We would highly, highly recommend the River Cloud 11!!!!

KC1