We have been on 5 with two different lines and prefer AMA Waterways. Food is very good, wine (good quality) and beer is free flowing at dinner, excursions are included. The ships are very nicely appointed and the staff is superb.

You should price air through AMA as well as on your own and I have sometimes found it advantageous to book through them.

I also suggest you go over to the River Cruising forums on cruisecritic.com. It is very active and there is tons of great info.

We are headed out for another river cruise 6 weeks from tomorrow, again with AMA. There are 11 of us that are going for the Christmas markets and 6 of us sailed last year with AMA and loved it.

We went on a Danube cruise through the Balkins this past spring. The food was very good and very abundant. Meals included reasonably good regional wine and beer. I think other drinks were available in the bar. The itinerary was interesting, but not to everyones'd liking. Our airfare was "discounted" somewhat, but paid a small surcharge to have a convenient route - which means in our case a non-stop from Pittsburgh to someplace in Europe. This happens to Charles De Gaul ariport in Paris which is an awful place if you have not done homework. If you go through CGD, nconsult their web site and review the terminal maps and look for the section where they give directions for going between terminals. Otherwise you will be lost and walk forever.
Incidentally, we thought Viking was great.

Uniworld was lovely, we just did our first. Almost all tours were included (a handful, including hot air balloon ride, were extra). Free wines and beer are generously served at lunch and dinner. Drinks and wine at the bar are charged. The food was excellent.

I've just returned within the last 48 hours on a Danube river cruise to Budapest on AMA Waterways ship Amalegro.

Service was excellent in everything from cabin help to front desk to servers in the restaurant. Food was excellent, with a good variety, every day. If you didn't like what was on the menu, you had the option of salmon, steak or veggie main dish, for dinner.

Crew worker bees were primarily Romanian, all with great attitudes.

Lacking was any variety of onboard things to do. 2 lounges and sundeck.

Biggest negative was the cruise manager and tours offered. Example: We had 24 hours in Vienna and only a 2 hr tour. Ship docked out of town and only way in to town was paying for taxi or hoofing it to the nearest tram.

Cruise manager could not manage her way out of paper bag.

Lots of optional trips as in extra $$$$ costs, which are not advertised as such.

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't. Nuff said.