I can definitely book a Deilmann cruise.

There are reasons I am not featuring Deilmann as a preferred river cruise line. Not to take away from Denise's good experience but these are things that do bother me.

You need to be aware of with Deilmann cruises is that most of the passengers will be German as this is a German cruise line.

Then you have announcements all the time in German and English with German being the primary language. When a B&K group were on the Hanseatic in Antarctica, which is also a German ship, we all found this to be very tedious.

I decided never to do a cruise again where English was not the primary language spoken on board and the only language for announcements. Hence for groups I will not consider Deilmann cruises.

Of course some may consider this a plus or minus depending on your point of view.

Deilmann has a lot of ships that are older though recently refurbished but they do not offer french balcony cabins. There are a few newer ships that do offer a french balcony. A french balcony really makes a difference in the light in the room and the feeling of space. However if I remember correctly these newer ships that offer a french balcony the cabins were 140 sq. ft. So small it is just too small for my tastes.

So you need to really look at the ship you may be considering for the size of the cabin and the availability of a french balcony.

MV Heidelberg looks like the best ship built in 2004 better sized cabins and two decks of French Balconies.

Also although Denise does not like the open seating dining as it is handled on AMA I will not go on a ship that does not offer open seating.

The open seating is the same on AMA and other river boat cruise lines as it is on Regent. Where you can change your dinner companions each night. Having a fixed seating table is just something I cannot live with anymore. I do not mind if there is a line at the restaurant, that can happen on Regent too, but not being able to change my dining companions I cannot live with at all.

So when you added up the details it just did not compare in my assessment no matter how good the food may be. I cannot remember all the details but there were a few other things as well but do not have my notes here at home. It may have been to do with the internet access.

Primary language not English
Older ships many without a french balcony
Newer ships (mostly 2001 time frame)offering a french balcony - the cabins were in the 140 sq. ft size range.
The web sites did not state open seating dining and being German I assumed fixed seating dining.

These items negated them as a good choice for me. As always different strokes for different folks but these issues were not negotiable for me personally or to consider a group cruise.

AMA, Avalon and Scenic are all brand new boats, with larger cabins and the majority of their cabins offer a french balcony. English is the only language spoken on board and most guests do speak English. The ships also feature open seating dining a "must have" for me.

Overall I feel these issues are more important as long as the food was acceptable. So far I have had good feedback on the food issue, not Regent but certainly okay. This is something Todd and I can assess when we travel on the ships in November.