Uniworld, SS Antoinette – Basel to Amsterdam 3/30/14 on Tape Delay

AMA offers a chef's table every night -- each passenger is entitled to dine there once per trip so that everybody has the chance. But this wouldn't address the concern about dining more quickly, as this is a tasting menu with lots of courses and wines. It is included, though, like all choices on AMA.

RE: alternate dining, lest I bring up the despised (by some) Viking name, but don't the longships have an area in the bow of the ship that serves lighter (and presumably) quicker lunches and dinners?

 

There have been postings from folks who mentioned they ate there several times because they wanted something quicker and lighter than the drawn-out dining room fare?

Yes, the Longboats have the Aquavit Lounge up front. They have 4-5 things on the menu, burgers, quesadilla, chicken caesar salad. Nothing fancy, but they were tasty.

On a few nights the main dinning room was just too loud, and the meals are roughly 2 hours long to serve everyone, so we chose to eat topside. In the Aquavit lounge they serve those passengers first, so the kitchen can then concentrate on getting all of the other meals out. The bar staff serve as your waiters, on our cruise they did a great job of keeping your wine glass topped off.

The view can't be beat, it was our favorite spot on the boat. a couple of wooden rocking chairs added to the comfort level.

I have been on two Uniworld cruises, and have one upcoming on Avalon. The first Uniworld one was to Venice/Po River. On the River Countess, they had the Osteria with a pizza oven. We were there the first week of September, the weather was 75 degrees and sunny, so we took advantage and ate dinner there 6/7 nights. In addition to the pizza, they had fresh vegetables/salad/prosciutto/cheeses/fruits. We were also able to order a limited main dining room menu. 4/6 nights were open air, which was even better. A couple of nights, we were the only 2 dining there. Our very own private "roof-top" dinner for 2, cruising the Venetian lagoon, with our own waiter and chef.....it was awesome!!!! Our second Uniworld voyage was on the smaller river Baroness. There was a Chef's Table dinner on two nights, we went to one. It was on the top deck as well, but enclosed. There was also a "bistro menu" offered all day (and through dinner) in the bar area. Mainly soup/salad/sandwiches.

On Avalon, it looks like, in addition to the main dining room, there is also a Panorama Bistro, with "lighter fare" for all three meals. We will play it by ear, as we sometimes don't like sitting through a long dinner either.

Robin

Wow what a wealth of info you all shared. Great info on the possibilities of alternate dining venues. Don't want to belabor my negative view on Viking but we did try it one night on the outdoor area and both the food and service (or lack of) was notable. . I'll definitely look closer at uniworld, AMA and Scenic and take the plunge on a river cruise. The river cruises go to some great places and allow for some independent exploration which we like. Thank you to all who weighed in.

Glad you came back to share your perspective. Just wanted to ask a question about the dining. On our last two Uniworld cruises, they had an alternative dinner menu a few times during the week, served in a small venue. Was that offered on your sailing?

 

One trick we found to have a quicker dinner is to sit near the entryway of the main restaurant. Usually, everyone else passes by looking for a better table. So we'd end up with a table for 2, leading to faster service. Still not fast, but not slow and drawn-out.

 

Regarding the fact that there is only one dining venue, that may be due to the size of the ship limiting available space, and is probably not unique to Uniworld. River boats can't be any bigger than they currently are, otherwise they wouldn't fit through the locks.

 

So adding a reasonably sized second dining venue, and the galley space to support it, would necessitate removing something else. If passenger cabins were removed, that would cut revenue and possibly raise the price point. I suspect the lines don't want to risk that.

 

It will be interesting to see how Crystal compares to the current luxury options. Hope to hear about your experience, should you go.

Hi, JPAlby

Yes, they did offer the alternative dining on the top deck about twice on our sailing. We didn't try it, but it was also fine dining. We are a big group of 10 pax so we were assigned a table and couldn't switch tables. So all our dinners were rather drawn out; even if we showed up early for dinner.

Another, suggestion we told the ship was having a nespresso machine in the each cabin. It would make early mornings more convenient:D

But all in all, despite these minor tweaks it was a relaxing holiday. Different vibe than an ocean liner cruise. And since the weather was so chilly, Ive never enjoyed and drank so much red wine in my life!

Adding to comments about Uniworld dining, we also were served faster at the tables for two. If you book a stateroom class that includes a butler, you can dine in your room, ordering from that night's menu. We were served course by course as we were ready. Once we took a walk around the top deck after the main course because it was a beautiful evening and then asked for dessert. We did this a couple times when we were tired from the day's activities and couldn't face an hour and a half meal (the average in our experience on Uniworld in the main dining room). You can also ask for breakfast in your room but we saw no need for that. It's not a long hike to the dining room like on the larger ocean-going ships! There are nespresso machines in the suites.

Thank you for a great thread! The info is incredibly valuable. DH and I are cruising this itinerary in April on the AmaCerto. It's our first river cruise and I can't wait!

Linda

Linda-E, you're going to have a great trip. The Rhine is a wonderful first river cruise, and AMA is (from everything I hear) a wonderful cruise line. Glad you found my report useful as you look forward to your trip. Hope you have as much fun as we did!

We're currently anticipating our third Uniworld cruise, a Danube trip coming up in just 3 weeks.

For chip Credit Card use outside the U.S.

A pin is NOT necessary when using a chip Credit Card to make purchases. The only time a pin is required is if the chip Credit Card is used to get a cash advance. (I assume no one is doing this!)

For Combination ATM/chip Credit Card use outside the U.S.

A pin IS necessary when using a combination ATM/chip Credit Card to make purchases. Obviously, a pin is required when using the card to get cash out of an ATM machine.

People are confusing chip Credit Cards and combination ATM/chip Credit Cards.

People are confusing chip Credit Cards and combination ATM/chip Credit Cards.

I don't know what a "combination ATM/chip Credit Card" is. I have credit cards, all with Chips now and a few with PINS. And I have combination ATM/chip Debit cards, all with PINS.

Be very careful! Kiosks in subway & train stations and automated gas stations still can not deal with our cards because "most" US cards default to Chip & Signature. Also some shops either don't want to understand our Chip & Sig cards or the clerks have been told PIN only.

So be aware!

JVilleGal, IME even the automated kiosks can read and accept my chip&sign US-issued Visa card. In the last 6 months, I've used it in train stations in Germany, and the Barcelona metro, several times, without any problem. And I've been making similar purchases from kiosks for several years prior to that. It's not 100% (it would not work in the ticket machines at Park Guell) but that has been a rarity. YMMV, but mine works.

JVilleGal, IME even the automated kiosks can read and accept my chip&sign US-issued Visa card. In the last 6 months, I've used it in train stations in Germany, and the Barcelona metro, several times, without any problem. And I've been making similar purchases from kiosks for several years prior to that. It's not 100% (it would not work in the ticket machines at Park Guell) but that has been a rarity. YMMV, but mine works.

Our chip and sign was rejected at a train station kiosk in Italy last month, as well at a bus station when attempting to purchase a multi trip pass. We ended up having to use cash in both instances.

Our AMEX chip and sign worked well at most of the restaurants and shops throughout our trip.

We used our chip and sign visa almost everywhere last week. We bought metro tickets in Vienna at a kiosk without any problem (and we had to enter the PIN).

It was not accepted at the kiosk in the Hauptbahnhof in Munich. That has happened before in that same place. From what I remember, there are 2 types of machines there, and only one will take foreign ccs.

This time I didn't bother finding the other one, I just used cash. Good way to use up some € coins!