Danube

the river itself. These natural border between Serbia and Romania, and present some of the most beautiful and dramatic sights throughout the day from the manage water levels for dams. restaurant, adding local flavour to our day’s experience. We finish the day with a lovely meal washed down with choicest local wines at the ship’s restaurant that accommodates all guests with open seating and provides a relaxed atmosphere to socialize.

On the last night at the Captain’s farewell dinner, I find almost everyone exchanging contact details to stay in touch with their new friends. This is the distinguishing feature of cruising in a small boat where you start the journey with strangers, but end up knowing almost everyone by their first names. We all leave River Duchess at Vienna with many fond memories and a promise to undertake another odyssey with Uniworld in the future.

Breakfast, comprehensive shore excursions, lunch, excursion again followed by a generous dinner on board is the typical routine of any day. Lunch is either at a local restaurant making you familiar with local cuisine, or alternatively it is a well-laden buffet spread at the ship’s restaurant. Food can be considered as a distinguished feature of our cruise experience, particularly the evening meal featuring five courses by the chef and including regional specialties. Not a single item from the lunch and dinner menu is a repeat and Dmitri, the restaurant manager confirms this as a tradition of on the upper sun deck early in the morning, enjoying the shoreside

Clockwise from bottom left: Schornburnn Palace Vienna; the River Duchess; Nativity Church; Hungarian Parliament; Bucharest city; Hungarian street café; the ship’s captain and hotel manager

Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna where attractions are so many that we leave with a pledge to come back and experience the ones we have missed out. The voyage also takes us through beautiful, but off the beaten track destinations such as Osijek and Vukovar in Croatia, and Mohas and Pecs in Hungary, where a typical tourist may never

Two recognized benefits of river cruising is that it allows more time on ports and boats, being typically docked at the heart of the city with major attractions within close proximity. In Budapest, landmarks such as the Parliament House, Buda Castle, Chain Bridge and the St Stephens Basilica are all within walking distance; in Bratislava the main square is next door; while at Vienna - the City of Waltz, the metro station is close by to you take to the city’s numerous palaces and museums that give visitors a taste of the lashings of Habsburg architecture and Mozart symphonies.

On one day of the trip we cruise nonstop, passing through the Iron Gates, a 134km long stretch of scenic gorges that were cut through Carpathian and

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Fly Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) to Istanbul and then Air Tarom (www.tarom.ro) to Bucharest. For the return journey take the train (www.raileurope.com.au) from Vienna to Munich or Frankfurt and fly back with Singapore Airlines.

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Ranked as one of the ‘World’s Best Cruise Lines’ by readers of Condé Nast Traveler in 2012, Uniworld (uniworldcruises.com.au) with over 40 itineraries and 500 departures per year sails through 12 breathtaking rivers of the world, including the Danube and offers the highest level of comfort, quality and service in river cruising with an unparalleled variety of vacation choices. “Imperial Capitals of Europe” is an extremely popular one. This tour also includes three days land excursion in Istanbul.