Emerald Cruises UK Reviews 

Looks after the guests. Wonderful food. Guides are knowledgeable and friendly.
The cabin was well designed, plenty of storage and very comfortable.

Once my husband read the brochure and saw the photos of the Emerald Yacht, he was determined to get on board!

Second time cruising with Emerald and just booked again for next year. That says it all - outstanding in every way - staff, excursions, food and general comfort on the boat.

It's a very relaxing trip, great staff and amazing service. The food quality is exceptional and every member of staff is polite. The quality of the excursions are good too and as they are included it's even more fun on your holiday.

Was the wow factor, everything went really well, dining room went like clockwork, room staff perfect 5 stars all the Way

WHAT WORKED
Staff overall are very good, and some are excellent, particularly bar / restaurant waiting staff. Cabin staff & reception.
Boat is very comfy & well run - especially the newish Cruise Director Lucia, always available, friendly, and positively responsive.
Shore trips(included) mainly very good - highlights were Freiburg / Breisach, Heidelberg, Koblenz & Rudesheim.
Food & wine were excellent as always, and lounge lunches and ideal alternative to manage over indulging.
On board activities were enjoyable, thanks to hard working manager James (also runs active shore trips on each stop).
Tour guides were the usual mixed bag (shout out to outstanding Bert & Ava) - spotting the more outgoing, entertaining ones with a sense of humour, has become a challenge.
Cabins (Panoramic Verandah) are smallish but clean & tidy, and well suited to this type of busy cruise - very well serviced.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER

Itinerary for this cruise seems busier than our previous cruises (DANUBE & DOURO) and sometimes caused clashes ie the most scenic part is middle Rhine with 17 castles etc partly spoiled by early part being in the early morning darkness & during breakfast hours.
Amsterdam visit was a bit messy, as boat docks a fair distance from the City, and while the canal boat tour works well
the free time in the City later involves a fair walk into the City from the new port.
At odd times the service in the Lounge & Restaurant were a bit slow, and the single lounge coffee machine ( gets a lot of use!) needs increased checks and prompt servicing (with signage to say this is being done).
On trips & activities, there are a lot of included trips, both relaxed & active ones (hikes & bikes), as well as some extra chargeable ones. These are usually special visits justifying extra expense - however, we were surprised at a couple rated chargeable and not included eg coffee & cake at a local cafe & a nearby castle visit on a "free" afternoon
A few more / different on board activities would be welcome, as per our other cruises eg putting competition + Music Quiz, which always work well.
Overall, despite the small niggles, this was our 3rd favourite cruise after the DOURO + DANUBE and we've already committed to be back with Emerald.

All excellent

Your tour guides Donna & bus driver Joshua are truly a valuable asset to your business. They went beyond to have our days planned precisely. We both thoroughly enjoyed our tour and experience with Emerald on the bus & train travelling through Canada. The staff on the train were brilliant can’t fault anything.

All mostly efficient and good communication as in the other times with Emerald. This cruise perhaps not as relaxed as previous one in France. The team seemed less experienced.

My wife and I could not fault anything at all on board the ship/boat. Really fantastic staff. All of whom one could interact with, without over stepping their professionalism. The Cruise Director (Dawn) was superb. My only quibbles were off the ship. Our arrival at Frankfurt Airport was fine and speedy. However, following our being corralled pending waiting the arrival of other passengers there was quite a long walk between the terminal and our coach. My 'complaint' was in respect of the 'walk'. There was no preliminary explanation that we had to walk what appeared to be the length of the terminal and across a road. Our escorts in effect said 'follow me' and set off at a fast pace. We all had suitcases to push or carry. No trolleys, and we lost sight of the escourt and just hoped we were going in the right direction. There were, I think three reps for Emerald inside the airport, but only one taking us to the coach. It needed a slower pace, an explanation outside the terminal as to where we were going and a rep at the front and another at the rear of our party. On young rep at the airport was 'bored' out of her mind and just leaning on her hands. I felt that her task was not difficult in greeting us travelers and could have been more enthusiastic and welcoming. I appreciate that she was not part of the crew, but first impressions are important.
Our guide in Colmar was a little strange and annoying. On greeting us off our coach, she collected us together and having doe so, decided to go off somewhere a collect maps of the town. So we all to wait several minutes while she got the maps she was seeking. I could not understand why she had no got the maps already instead of wasting our valuable and short time in Colmar before we had to return to the ship. Then once we got going she was obsessed with food and directed us to look into the shop windows of food stores. Everybody wanted to look around the attractive town. At the end of her 'tour' she went off to a pub rather than waiting to deal with any queries or directions. All a bit odd. Apart from these hiccups we had a great time and would thoroughly recommend Emerald to anybody.

Excellent throughout.

The friendly, hardworking staff (this includes greeters at both arrival and departure airports) and crew, from captain to washer uppers, made this river cruise special. There was an excellent variety of activities and excursion both ashore and onboard.

Interesting trip on the lower Danube and giving a brief outlook of a number of several eastern countries that we had not visited before.The ship,staff,food was very good and everyone had a good time.The included trips each day were well organised and interesting and covered a range of interests.The iron gates gorge was fantastic and the weather did its bit being mostly sunny and warm.

We did 2 river cruises
1in 2016 Budapest to sea
1 in 2025amsterdam to Budapest along with a friend who we told he would not be disappointed
Both on Destiny
We were not disappointed

Our first river cruise and certainly not our last.
5 star in every respect.
A wonderful experience.

Very well organised. Ship very comfortable. Everything was clean and tidy. The food was really tasty with plenty of choice for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Free seating at meal times leads to forging new friendships All of the crew were very pleasant and extremely attentive.
The included excursions were really interesting and the time just flew by. This was our second Emerald cruise and we availed ourselves of the offer to purchase vouchers for the next. Rhine / Moselle? Perhaps the Mekong? Many thanks for a wonderful trip.

This was our first river cruise & it won't be the last.
The cruise was well organised from start to finish. The staff were polite friendly & very helpful. The quality of the accommodation food & wine was excellent. Everything was spotlessly clean.
The only slight disappointment was the guided tour of Porto. The city centre was very noisy & congested due to the fact they the city is building a new metro . It was like touring a building site, but that was not Emerald's fault.

brilliant time

Sat in lounge on arrival, doing nothing for about half an hour. Noticed everyone had a drink except me. Got one eventually.
Staff rather patronising. Kept calling me "Mr John".
Bed needed climbing into, above normal height.
Strange experience of Captain's table invitation.
Lectures did not materialise.
Finally, taken to wrong terminal in Nice airport.

What did we loved about it, well, the helpful and friendly staff, all of whom were outstanding,nothing was too much trouble. The lovely Panarama suite, the food, wheather breakfast, lunch or dinner was always first rate. The on board entertainment, especially the dancers in local costume. The daily trips we did were on the whole very good especially when we got to try local cuisine for lunch at the home of a Croatian family and day out at the Golubac Fortress. We are looking forward to our next Emerald Cruises adventure.