On the Upper Danube, from Ulm to Linz, and from Linz to Vienna, the steamers are small and the accommodations limited, but on the lower part of the stream there is a different state of affairs. The Danube Steam Navigation Company has some large boats elegantly fitted up, and though they are deficient in several things they remind the American of home. The sleeping accommodations are rather limited, as there is only a common cabin with two or three tiers of berths, unless a high price extra is paid for a private room. The dining-saloon is airy and well lighted, and the table generally excellent. There are two, and sometimes three, classes of steamers; the fastest is the "Accelerated," which makes only the few principal landings, and leaves the other boats to perform the details of the service. On the "Accelerated" boats meals are included in the fare, and the payment for them is compulsory, while on the other steamers the traveler pays only his passage, and the meals are an extra that he may take or leave alone. There is a Hungarian line with its headquarters at Pesth, and on the lower part of the Danube there is a Turkish line that has periodical fits of suspension, and once in a while disappears for months at a time. There is a considerable amount of travel between Central Europe and Constantinople by the Danube route; a traveler from Vienna goes as far as Rustchuk by the river, and then proceeds (in about eight hours) to Varna by rail. From Varna is a run of fourteen hours by steamship through the Black Sea, and down the Bosphorus, till the domes of Saint Sophia's Mosque rise to view.
The steamers on the Russian inland waters leave much to be desired in the way of personal comforts, and the most that can be said of them is that they are better than no steamers at all. On some of the rivers, especially on the Volga, there are some boats that are fairly equipped, but the cooking is not the best in the world, and the passenger must expect to do a good deal of roughing it. The first-class travel is not sufficient to pay for anything like a good service and liberal table, and if one is on the hunt for luxuries he will keep away from the steamboat service in the land of the Czar.