APT River Cruises & Tours
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European Gems Budapest to Amsterdam
We travelled on the European Gems Budapest to Amsterdam cruise from 7.8.23 to 21.8.23. This was a well-organised and very packed holiday, with beautiful scenery and a very comfortable French Balcony cabin. We have done many ocean cruises but this was our first river cruise. The boats are necessarily smaller as they have to fit through 12m wide locks (there are 68 on this itinerary) and the Travelmarvel Capella is a relatively new 91-cabin vessel in service for 3 years but impacted by Covid so has only done two seasons. There were only 132 passengers on board for our trip instead of the maximum 182, and the vessel was spacious enough for us not to feel crowded at any time. The on-board cruise director was excellent and gave a daily briefing that informed us about upcoming experiences. There was a couple on board providing evening entertainment (usually live music, on 3 occasions quizzes) though no alternative entertainment was available apart from in-cabin television offering news channels or films. Reception was usually OK but could be limited by terrain and interrupted by locks. The onboard free wifi worked well though only for a maximum of two devices at once. There were some board games available in the lounge. The pub at the rear of deck three was empty most of the time and had some rustic food but offered no alternative entertainment, The reception staff were pleasant and efficient and the cabin steward was superb. Meals were served in the dining room at set times and the quality of the meals was good rather than exceptional. Breakfast and lunch were mainly buffet style with some options being served by the waiting staff. Portion sizes were reasonable. Beer, soft drinks and wine were available with lunch and dinner, red and white were automatically offered and beer or sparkling wine could be requested. There was never any option for different wines. Overall, we enjoyed the itinerary through some excellent European cities and towns (Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava were highlights for us) and there were included excursions every day with some optional experiences which were usually worthwhile. As we visited at least one new venue every day there was very little downtime and we felt we needed a holiday afterwards! We still prefer the variety of experiences available on ocean cruise liners.