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Pricing if you can believe it. There are some Star Allianceitineraries that cost less if you make an additional stop. Saw this when trying to book a return trip from BUD to EWR for last month.

Uniworld does have their own insurance. I booked outside insurance as it was much cheaper. Didnt book my air through them so can’t help there.

Looks like the Pollux has been out on a sea trial. Pollux Location

I did enjoy the trip. The ship is a little overdone for my personal taste decor wise. It’s very ornate and I’m more of a streamlined design kind of person. Weather wasn’t all that good so we weren’t able to take advantage of the sun deck much. The food was good with a great sommelier on board. She really knew how to cater to our preferences.

We had a fantastic time. We each had our own cabins and she made friends on the boat so I didn’t worry about when I had to work. She loved the art nouveau walking tour in Alesund and dog sledding in Tromso the most. The boat has lots of places to just watch the scenery go by so it’s very relaxing.

My previous employer is German, based in Wesel. The US HQ has a piece of the wall right by the employee entrance. I just happened to decide to stay in Berlin the weekend of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall.

I was on the Havila Castor in January. It was colder at my parents’ house in upstate NY over Christmas than at any place in Norway. It was, however, colder on othe trips after us. We were mostly overcast the entire trip. The biggest problem taking photos outside wasn’t my torso getting cold but my hands. There were many times I ran outside with no coat to get photos and it was my hands that drove me back in. My mother and I each had Superior Doubles on Deck 4. I got Havila Gold for both of us as she eats no seafood and it comes with a dinner in Havrand each direction. When I originally booked us on Polaris, we had a 30 drink package which we shared (alcohol packages can be shared, non-alcohol cannot) but got upgraded to the 50 drink package when we had to rebook. The last night, I bought a lot of free drinks in the lounge as we had just made it to 30 drinks. There’s also a free happy hour for Havila Gold as well. For clothing, layer layer layer. You will be riding on buses to get to excursions and you will get warm. You’ll want to be able to take layers off. There’s also a free laundry on Deck 4. You will want to bring good boots with the ability to add grippers and gloves.

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That definitely was the case during the cruise. The unfortunate thing was that the space felt very narrow and, again, the furniture wasn’t all that comfortable. I envied people passing with full outdoor balconies even though I probably wouldn’t have been able to use it that much.

You’re absolutely correct. My cousin and I did get a chuckle when we found out the upgrade a couple became friends with was to my old cabin. I felt bad for my cousin because the weather prevented us from spending time on the sun deck or wandering around after our excursions but she enjoyed the trip enough that we chuckled about looking at cruises after receiving Uniworld’s latest email.

That is great news! I was supposed to have been on the Polaris for January 9, but had to switch to the January 7 Castor sailing. Havila handled it well for us and my mother and I had a fantastic time.

So, let me just give you my thoughts about the upgraded cabin since it’s almost two weeks since the cruise ended. In general, I don’t think I’d pay for the upgrade again. I had a suite cabin on a Viva cruise last year (MS Thomas Hardy now sailing for Riviera) and, personally, liked that suite better. My Maria Theresa suite was, fortunately, not as overly decorated as I had feared but more overdone than the Thomas Hardy. Bed was very comfortable but I don’t think I watched TV at all. Nor did I use the bar or the butler provided. I did use the heck out of the Nespresso machine though (on both cruises). In general, I found the furniture used for seating on the Maria Theresa to not be the most comfortable. I got a fantastic deal for my suite cabin on the Thomas Hardy (about what I paid for my original cabin on the Maria Theresa) last year so that’s also a factor. My cousin didn’t get an upgrade from our originally selected cabin and I think I would have just been fine with that for this trip.

Train/bus from the Regensburg Station to Munich Airport can be had for around 25-30 EUR per person.

I’m late in reporting back from my April 9 cruise to Budapest. Weather was not favorable most of the trip. Our Bratislava stop was miserable. I wound up wet and cold. Vienna earlier wasn’t much better. Spent very little time on the sun deck which I enjoyed a lot on my cruise in August of last year.

Got back from Uniworld’s Enchanted Danube Passau to Budapest last Monday. First night of the cruise was sign ups for, I believe, the first two days of excursions. The next night was sign ups for the rest due by the following morning. We only had one excursion cancellation and one that had added buses due to the fact another excursion was a lot of walking and the weather was poor.

Left Passau on Monday on Uniworld’s SS Maria Theresa. Gauge at the dock was reading between 449 to 453 cm.

Just an update. Bid $760 pp and was notified today, about 32 days out, that my upgrade bid was accepted. Saved about $1000 over the original price for the suite.

I definitely agree especially after working for a German company and traveling to HQ a lot. The funniest thing on the cruise was during the gala dinner the final night when the wife of the couple seated next to me and I saw the same item on the menu and declared “schweinshaxe” at the same time.

I used to tell my German colleagues that their worst English was better than my best German.

I had no issues with the crew. They’re fully fluent in English. They did prepare a translated menu for me each day. No guides were hired for tours which was fine with me since I wanted to be on my own anyway when we were docked. I also missed out on port talks but the cruise director did come to me directly to talk to me about important items. Where it did affect me was interacting with other passengers. The Germans on the boat were hesitant to talk to me. That was fine for me because I was also working part of the time. I have said that I was fine (as I’m also able to understand some German), I would not send my mother on the cruise. It would be difficult for her.

After taking Viva last year I’ve looked at their boats for the itineraries this year and I’m disappointed. Looks like they gave the Thomas Hardy back to Riviera. The Viva ships don’t have the balcony suites, just a French balcony.

Papa’s then? They’ve all moved out of Chambersburg. I’m right in Mill Hill in Trenton. It’s not uncommon for us to actually go to Morrisville for a Trenton pie.

I usually go to the Delorenzo’s in Mercerville on Sloan Ave

Fortunately, your comment didn’t bring in any North Jerseyans to start another round in the Great Pork Roll vs. Taylor Ham War…

My cousin and I are taking advantage of the no single supplement and $1000 discount for an Enchanting Danube cruise in April. Not quite as good as my deal on Viva last year but I felt it was reasonably priced.