No Spin

On the Vista we offloaded ballast water, fuel and waste to make the ship lighter.

JVilleGal, when they start asking passengers to throw furniture and suitcases overboard you'll know the river is really low! :D

Hoping you get some rain.

BTW, we took the city tour rather than the WWII tour when in Nuremberg, and I wish we had done your tour.

It does look like the Hungarian government has finished building a fence to keep most of the refugees from crossing through the country.

We started our cruise to Amsterdam in Budapest. We arrived on June 11th, a few days early so we spent time sightseeing all over the city.

With the current refugee situation, I am just curious if river cruise people there in recent weeks have encountered them while in the city.

We feel so badly for those refugees. I think we would have spent our sightseeing time bringing them food and other staples. It is just heartbreaking to watch the news each evening.

Uniworld had a half dozen (at least) extra cost optional excursions on our Rhone cruise last month. Several of these were included on our AMA Rhone cruise last year and were our favorites on the AMA itinerary.

 

The devil is in the details.

Which excursions were extra cost on UniWorld that were included on AMA?

We are on a Sept16 Amsterdam to Budapest Avalon Cruise. This will be our first. We are fit and active mid-60 year olds. We like to hike, bicycle, sit at cafes, shop in out of the way areas, and take our time at museums. We also do tons of research on the places we visit including learning enough of the languages to get buy.

 

Sooooo..... waiting for buses, site-seeing from buses, walking as slow as the slowest member of your group, and being told when to move is all something we want to avoid.

 

thoughts?

I think you will find river cruising is not for you. My wife and I have similar interests. While we thoroughly enjoyed our UniWorld cruise (Budapest to Amsterdam), we probably will not take another one. Perhaps a shorter one in France next year, we'll see.

In addition to the issues you cite, you will find that in some towns you do not have enough time and in others you find yourself wondering why you are there for so long. However, one advantage is that it does give you a nice overview of places you want to go back to and places to avoid.

We're going back to leasing a car and going and staying where we want for as long as we want. My wife will miss only having to unpack once though! :D

A number of the pay toilets we encountered this past June from Budapest to Amsterdam were attended, so they could make change.

Fortunately for males there are occasional alternate facilities!:D

1. 3 Copies of all credit cards front and back and passport first page. 1 in each of your bags and 1 at home with someone you trust.

 

Don't forget to pack a smile and a sense of humor! :D

As an additional backup in case you are totally robbed or can't get off the Costa Concordia fast enough, email a copy of all these documents to yourself. So worst case at the police station or the embassy you can log into your email account and pull up all the documents.

SD memory cards are CHEAP now. Rather than one BIG one, use several SMALL ones. Change your card every day. If you lose your camera you lose TODAY ... not the entire cruise!

The other nice thing is this really helps you organize everything when you arrive home.

And my tip, rather than lots of adapters, bring a 6' extension cord, particularly if you will be staying in a hotel. You will only have to stretch for inaccessible outlet once, and you can plug 3 items into the other end of the cord. No additional adapters required!

Right, so things didn't go as Viking expected. Why should the OP be out $200 because Viking jumped the gun. :confused: The OP justs wants their $200 back for a cruise that's more than a year away. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me. It's not as if the OP was suing Viking for an unreasonable windfall. They just want to be made whole.

^ This!

As unintentional as it may be, Viking misrepresented the cruise. In my mind that voids their cancellation policy. Are we to believe in the next 14 months they will be unable to fill that cabin? Even with their rock bottom 2 for 1 fares? ;)

It is interesting that so many people are willing to give the OP's $200 to a cruise company for the company's error. I assume they are as giving with their own money when a company makes a mistake that costs them. :rolleyes:

Well I made this statement in my thread ( http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2222201 ) to sum up my review.

"As much as we enjoyed the trip, it is probably our last river cruise, at least for some time. It gave us a nice overview of a wide area. We know where we want to go back by car where we can linger as long as we want and take side trips if something catches our interest."

There are a couple reasons I do come back here, although now it is only occasionally as opposed to virtually every day before we took our cruise. Firstly, I told readers of that thread I would answer any questions I could about the ship or our experience. So I check just to see if there is anything I need to answer.

Secondly, I've had an interest in reading about the river levels. Apparently we went at just the right time (June 14th) because shortly after cruises were curtailed or cancelled. I was curious as to what happened with those passengers.

Thirdly, I am still curious to read a few topics. Prior to our cruise I would read most of the threads. Now I will read an occasional thread if the title catches my eye (like this one).

And lastly, never wanting to never say never, we may take either a Christmas cruise or one in France or Portugal someday. The only thing is this time it would only be a 7 or 8 day cruise. So I just want to stay casually in touch with what's going on. For instance there is a current thread asking about Christmas markets, so I read that one.

It was probably all the complaints to the BBB! :D

Try to use the voucher in the spring when river levels are not likely to be low. Of course if there's a lot of spring rain, the levels could be too high. :rolleyes:

For smart phones and an iPad you will only need an adapter. Check your "other items" for their voltage. If they read 110/220, then you're all set.

Here's a tip. Instead of buying a bunch of adapters for each device, simply buy one and bring a 6' extension cord with multiple connections. Usually hotel electrical outlets are in the most inaccessible places imaginable. This way you only have to access it once.;)

I gather from the mention of Downtown Abbey that Viking sponsors the Downtown Abbey series on American television? Quite clever, seeing that one of there pre-cruise experiences is London with a trip to the castle that is the site of the filming.

 

Could somebody please confirm this? Do other river cruise companies sponsor programmes, places or use VIP's for marketing?

 

Thank you.

 

notamermaid.

You have been so immensely helpful to people on this board, I'm happy I can finally help you!

Yes, Viking has TV ads not only for Downton Abbey, but also for other TV programs in the U.S. I think most people like myself had never even heard of river cruising until seeing those ads. Additionally we never knew there was any other cruise line but Viking.

I have never seen any TV or print ad for any other cruise line. And by the way, without exaggerating, we receive print advertising from Viking almost weekly during certain times of the year.

We took our first river cruise last month on the Maria Theresa for 15 days. We were surprised at how smooth it was. I remember several times going to bed at night while the ship was docked. Then in the morning opening the curtains to see that we were moving. No engine sound, no vibration, no sense of motion of any kind. For all we knew we could have been in a hotel room!

We were very happy with their true open dining and never were made to feel badly when we arrived at 8 or later. All lines (at that price point) should be equally flexible IMO.

Yes, same here on the Maria Theresa. I think most people arrived by 7:30 PM, but you could stroll in at 8:30 with no problem.

The flip flops and shorts I am sure was an anomaly. The temps were brutal for that week and the dining room not always comfortable. I would be surprised to see that again on Uniworld. The Catherine was a class act.

I bet the temps have a lot to do with it. In mid-June we had an 8 day stretch where the daily high temp ranged between 53 and 63 degrees F. People were buying sweaters and coats in port. My wife had to buy a light jacket. So everyone in the dining room was dressed in slacks. One evening I went back to my stateroom and got my sports jacket because it was cool in the dining room.

I guess this summer is a challenge for all the engineers on these ships!

Or do depend on the ATM's in that particular country? If so' date=' what is a good guideline on how much to take?[/quote']

 

Yes, ATM's are the way to go. We go to Europe regularly so I always bring back at least 300 euros so I have cash when we land and don't have to worry about finding an ATM.

 

As to how much, I guess it depends on how much you plan to spend and where you plan to spend it. We stayed in Budapest for 4 days before leaving on our River trip, but I never bought Forints. All our expenses were at the hotel, attractions and restaurants which all accepted credit cards. The only time I had to use a few euros was to buy some beverages from a convenience store and cough drops from a pharmacy.

We were on the UniWorld ship Maria Theresa last month and a Belgian dark draft was available the whole trip. I had asked the name, but now I forget it. It did have a very distinctive flavor, quite different from the German dark which was Deibels.

On behalf of the 3 women in our group (the 2 men don't really care :D), how were folks dressed for dinners (both the 'regular' dinners and the Welcome/Departure dinners)?

My wife said to definitely bring nice outfits for the Welcome and Departure dinners. Also if you sign up for private dining that is also dressy, although I am not sure if your ship will have this option. For the other dinners most women were nicely dressed. My wife always likes to dress up and brought many outfits because with a 15 day trip with the same people, she didn't want to be seen wearing the same thing twice. Oh the humanity! :eek:

Most men wore jackets for the Welcome and Departure dinners, and of course at the private dinner. Only a couple men wore ties (definitely not necessary). Otherwise slacks and a collared shirt will do fine for any dinner.

Since this was my first river cruise, I don't have anything to compare it to. We had a fabulous time and thoroughly enjoyed the ship and all the personnel we came in contact with. I must also say all the other 107 passengers were a delight as well. Everyone was very personable and we made several good friends.

Although it was very hot in Budapest, by the time we got to Vienna and for the next 8 days the daily high temp was between 53 and 63 degrees F. So we did end up using the heated floor and towel rack in the bathroom. They work great, but start them at least 15 minutes ahead of time. The floor in particular takes a while to get really warm.

The room has a neat alarm clock. We actually bought one in Amsterdam (the ship doesn't sell them). The trick to set the alarm is you have to have the unit turned to the "ON" position. Note: This is only going to make sense to you once you actually see the alarm clock.

Be sure to look at the breakfast menu. At first we didn't look at it because we just thought it was a list of what was available at the extensive buffet. Wrong! It is a menu of other things you can order, such as eggs benedict, french toast, waffles and pancakes.

The food on the ship was absolutely top quality. I had many different meats and they were all tender and without fat or grizzle. The fruits and vegetables were all fresh. My wife reported having excellent pieces of fish. My only criticism is some dishes lacked flavor. For example, I had several pieces of wiener schnitzel. The veal was top quality meat, but there wasn't sufficient seasoning and it was not as flavorful as I would have liked. It seemed that the soups were also less flavorful than they should have been.

The dining room didn't really have any tables for two. There were tables for two, but they were positioned about 3 inches from a table for four. So essentially it was a table for six. I think there were a couple tables for two at the very rear of the dining room, but nobody sat there. They do have "private dining" on some nights in the Bar du Leopard. You can sign up for it. There is no extra charge. The menu is more limited than the main dining room. We did it one night, it was nice. The service was more attentive and it was a quieter venue.

Booking a stateroom: The ship has 5 room categories, plus suites and one royal suite. Categories 4 and 5 are on the bottom deck. I didn't get to see these rooms, but they are small. Category 2 and 3 staterooms are identical except in price. Both are on the same deck with the Category 3 rooms being 4 at the front and 3 at the rear. We stayed in a Category 3 room at the front. The room next to us paid about $1400 more are there is zero difference. Book as early as you can because the Category 3 rooms go first because of this.

Category 1 rooms are identical to Category 2 and 3 except that they are one deck higher and about $2800 more. Oh, and there is one more slight, and ridiculous difference. The Category 1 rooms have sliding glass doors about 3.5 feet in from the side of the ship. I guess this is so one guest can be outside (with the sliding glass window retracted) with the doors closed while the other guest can be in the room with the A/C on (it automatically shuts off if the window is down). People we spoke with in a Category 1 stateroom said using the sliding doors was foolish because they reduced the depth of the room by 3.5 feet. You can see how it cuts into the room by looking at the floor plan on the UniWorld site.

The decor on the ship is not as over-the-top as the photos would suggest. We didn't mind the decor before the trip, feeling that it would get us into the period we would be experiencing. However, once on the ship the decor was not as overwhelming as it appeared in the brochures. To be sure the photos are accurate, but the actual experience is more subdued. Many other passengers we spoke with also made the same observation. So don't let the decor deter you, you won't really notice it that much.

One of the things that impressed us most, my wife especially, was the crew's obsession with cleanliness. Our stateroom was always immaculate and there was a nightly turn down service. All public areas were always spotless. There was barely a time where I didn't see someone cleaning somewhere. Regularly in port the crew launched a small motor boat and were scrubbing down the ship and cleaning the windows. Just amazing. Hand sanitizing machines were present in all public areas.

The ship has a laundry room which is free to all guests. They even supply laundry detergent. There are 3 washers and 3 dryers, and an ironing board with a professional grade steam iron. They even provide laundry baskets to bring your folded clothes back to your stateroom.

The internet connection was decent, but do not expect to down or up load large files or streaming video. The ship obviously does not have a cable connection. Access is through satellite. Satellite internet speeds are considerably slower and also have a greater latency time. I have two businesses which I can pretty much put behind me when I'm on vacation. However, an emergency can happen and then I have to have complete and fast access. I pay for a fast data package on my cell and on my wife's. I used to take a laptop with a data chip, but those days are over. When I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation.

As much as we enjoyed the trip, it is probably our last river cruise, at least for some time. It gave us a nice overview of a wide area. We know where we want to go back by car where we can linger as long as we want and take side trips if something catches our interest.

I hope this will help some first time cruisers. I'll check back here so if anyone has any questions I will try to answer.

OK, I've fallen behind again. I'm going to give a quick recap of the tours for the last three days. I have a number tips and other info that I think first cruisers could use. I know I would have found some of it helpful had I known. I will hold that until we return and I can do it at home, sometime after the 4th of July.

Thursday we were berthed in Frankfort. We opted for the full day (9 to 5) tour of Heidelburg. Part of the reason for the length is the 1 hour 15 minute bus ride to get there. As an aside, I found the UniWorld buses to be modern and very nice, but there is no restroom onboard. However, after every bus ride the first thing the guide does is point out the WC's.

We first toured the castle, which was a little disappointing to me since so much of it is gone. The Pharmacy Museum was mildly interesting. We then went into the town for a walking tour which included tasting stops at no less than five shops. You then have about two hours of free time. This is the one day where lunch is not included. We ate at Goldener Hecht, at the foot of the old bridge (excellent Wiener schnitzel).

Friday we were in Rudesheim. The tour took us up a gondola ride to the Neiderwald. It was interesting and the views were spectacular. There was some free time in town before we sailed at noon.

This afternoon was the sail along the Rhine and the viewing of all the castles. Our cruise director narrated non-stop from 2:30 to 5:30. Fortunately it was a reasonably nice day and we could be on the sun deck. I haven't mentioned the weather, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Germany. Ever since leaving Budapest the temperature has not risen above 63F, and several days never got out of the 50's. Many people, including my wife, had to buy jackets or sweaters.

Today we were in Cologne just for a quick morning walking tour. The main site was the Cathedral. We had an excellent guide, Stefan, who had a doctorate in history. That is about all we saw of Cologne.

I checked with the cruise director, she is pretty sure they are getting an upgraded version of the QuietVox.

I have a question about the DynaBox. My partner has hearing aides. Can they adapt for these? Sure they've thought of everything.

 

Keep enjoying

Well I've fallen behind again, but since it is our last day on the ship (we get off tomorrow morning early in Amsterdam) I thought I'd better find the answer to your question. I asked our cruise director about the compatibility of QuietVox with hearing aids. She said that they do have a "loop" that is compatible with some hearing aids.

I didn't go into more detail about that because she explained that all the ships were getting new systems this July. She didn't have specifics, but said they will be much more hearing aid compatible. She also said that they will have GPS. So your partner should be in luck. You can probably check this forum in August and find a review from someone.

This photo is how the pool looks from the Bar du Leopard when no one is in the pool area. You can see that you enter the pool immediately after entering the lounge.

I've tried since yesterday to upload additional photos to show how the pool looks and how the opaque windows work, but I'm having trouble uploading. We're staying for three extra days in Amsterdam, so I'll do it in early July when I can do it on my home computer.

Sounds like you are having a great time!

 

With AMA, you can only view the Limited Edition Tours once you are paid in full. Then you can pull them up and reserve on their website (no cost).

Yes, we are having a great time. I did just now look at AMA's schedule for Vienna and they include a tour to the Schonbruun Palace. As I mentioned earlier UniWorld charges 45€ pp, and you could do it on your own for one third of that price.

I am not so concerned about the extra cost tours since we paid by American Express and received a 270€ shipboard credit. So those credits paid for our tours. If we didn't use the credit for the tours, the 270€ would have gone unused because there was nothing else to spend it on. However, if I had to pay out of my pocket for that Schonbruun tour, I would have been displeased.

Wow, I'm falling way behind. I just saw that my last entry was for Sunday and here we just finished our Wednesday excursions. Well I'm going to have to give you the Evelyn Wood version ( the speed reading expert for those under 40).

Monday morning was spent in Bamberg. We took the walking tour, and all I can say is we have to come back here and spend more time. The afternoon was spent sailing. There was a workshop on cocktail making, with samples. :)

Tuesday we took the optional tour to Rothenburg. We had been there back in 1978, and wanted to return. We had a nice guided tour and then had about two hours on our own. I had downloaded the Rick Steves walking tour to my phone, and we did that tour. It was perfect because it took us places not covered by the UniWorld tour guide.

And today, Wednesday we toured Miltenberg. There was a walking tour of the town, and then there was a choice of seven optional tours. I took the brewery tour. I have been on brewery, vineyard and distillery tours around the world. I can say categorically this was the best of those tours I have ever taken. If you have even a passing interest in a brewery tour, TAKE THIS TOUR.

My wife took the watercolor tour. She went to a gallery where there was a lesson in painting a watercolor. She brought back a very pretty watercolor that she had done which we will have framed we we arrive home.

Caviargal, I checked AMA's day for Miltenberg and there is only a walking tour. On UniWorld in addition to the walking tour which everyone took, the other additional tours were a vineyard tour, a hike to the Castle, a guided bike tour, a home visit with boules playing, and a farm visit, and of course the watercolor painting and the fabulous brewery tour.

I have more tips for new cruisers on UniWorld, but I'll post them later, have to get dressed for dinner.:p

Sunday was spent in Nuremberg. Well in the morning we were still sailing to Nuremberg. A guest lecturer was on board and spoke for almost an hour on the Main-Danube Canal. Very fascinating and informative, I recommend it. The lecturer, Markus Urban, has also written a book on the subject and you can buy it and have it autographed for 20€.

For the Nuremberg tours you are actually disembarking the ship before the city and then meet the ship in Nuremberg. We took the city tour and there is also the WWII tour. Our tour guide was an older woman named Sara, and she was excellent. There is really only one old section of Nuremberg since it was pretty well destroyed in WWII. So the tour was only the Castle and the main market square.

As I mentioned earlier about my dismay at arriving in Regensberg on a Saturday and missing the factory tour, my wife was dismayed at arriving in Nuremberg on a Sunday as all the beautiful stores were closed. Only two souvenir shops were open.

Tour guides: All the guides we have had so far have been excellent. I have asked fellow passengers who took other tours how they enjoyed their tour and guides. With one exception they have been very pleased. When there are many people taking the same tour, UniWorld will hire multiple guides who will all do the same tour. It's just that each will start at a different point so we are not all bunched together. On one tour the other day some passengers told me that their guide did not take them into a church that our guide had taken us. They brought this up to the guide that they had not seen the church, but the guide still did not take them there. They complained to the Cruise Director, and I don't think you will see that guide on another UniWorld tour.

Also, so far maps have been given out for each town/city.