SOShrink

This is a new itinerary for Uniworld next year and we have booked this trip for Oct., 2020. This will give us an opportunity to revisit popular spots on the Rhine and Moselle as well as Strasbourg. But the mostly we are looking forward to the elegance and relaxation of Baden-Baden at the end of the trip (beginning for others). Is anyone else excited by this trip? When the time arrives, would love to hear from folks who will be the first to experience this....

So it seems that on this itinerary we visit 5 countries each with its own set of included excursions to choose from. Will be doing a lot of research, but if there is an outstanding not to be missed excursion can you let us know. I realize it mostly depends on one’s interest and physical ability, but would still value opinions...

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Roz, do they really check your passports while on board or is that a thing of the past?

We will be going on Uniworld’s Highlights of Eastern Europe (Bucharest to Budapest) in Oct. and promise you a day by day review after that. Some people have already posted about this trip, but I’m anxious to read a comprehensive day by day if there is one from a past passenger!

I’ll come right out and say it. The Koblenz walking tour can be boring. I would explore it on my own (good shopping, ice cream cafés with outside seating for people-watching, squares and statues you can find on your own). You can easily walk to Deutsches Eck, the huge equestrian statue of William I at the head of Koblenz where the two rivers converge with the flags of many countries flying. That is also near the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress cable car you can take across the river. Allow several hours for this and leave plenty of time to get back so you don’t miss the ship! If the 49 EUR includes the fortress then it might be worth it as long as you get some free time.

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Catherine, if you are a real classical music junkie, you could conceivably go to 6 or more concerts in one day in Prague! Even at night you could go to a 6 pm recital in a church and make an 8 or 9 pm opera! Speaking of opera, don’t miss the ESTATES THEATRE where Mozart conducted the world premiere of Don Giovanni. It’s one of the most stunning historical and plush opera houses you will ever see.

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If you’ll permit me another constructive criticism and recommendation......A few years ago, I was on a similar Uniworld Paris Holiday Cruise. On the last night they offered a 1 hour complimentary night bus spin around Paris ending at the Place du Trocadéro that offers the greatest in your face view of the Eiffel Tower resplendent with the sparkling lights that twinkle every hour for 5 min until 1 AM. Sadly, they do not do this anymore, but don’t miss this! It’s easy to do on your own by a very short cab ride or the Metro (2 stops on your line 7 from Bir Hakim). A very romantic thing to do on your final night.

I was also disappointed that there is no complimentary Louvre Museum guided tour like there was a few years ago. It was an included tour led by art historians and made seeing the museum efficient and informative. Now they will arrange a private tour for an exorbitant price and they practically urge you to just do it on your own at a 5th of the price! I thought those included tours were very classy offerings that they don’t do anymore.

 

 

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Excuse me. Line 6 on the metro, not 7!

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SOS

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my "book". I love writing them and occasionally I'll go back and read them and enjoy reliving the experiences.

 

 

 

I've been reading your France review. I'm seriously thinking about doing the Uniworld trip that does both the Northern and Southern route all in one trip with the ship change in the middle. This would be for 2020 as this year and next year are booked with Ocean Cruises. So you may find me asking questions again early next year when they release their itineraries for 2020.

 

 

 

A belated thank you again to you for your help when I was planning the Venice trip. We really enjoyed it. Headed to Rome in August for 3 days before taking a train to Venice to embark on an Ocean Cruise with Silversea. Can't wait to write another "book"

 

Brian

By the way, watch the 1955 David Lean film SUMMERTIME with Katherine Hepburn if you want to re-live the trip. The scenery of Venice is stunning in the movie!

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If you’ll permit me another constructive criticism and recommendation......A few years ago, I was on a similar Uniworld Paris Holiday Cruise. On the last night they offered a 1 hour complimentary night bus spin around Paris ending at the Place du Trocadéro that offers the greatest in your face view of the Eiffel Tower resplendent with the sparkling lights that twinkle every hour for 5 min until 1 AM. Sadly, they do not do this anymore, but don’t miss this! It’s easy to do on your own by a very short cab ride or the Metro (2 stops on your line 7 from Bir Hakim). A very romantic thing to do on your final night.

I was also disappointed that there is no complimentary Louvre Museum guided tour like there was a few years ago. It was an included tour led by art historians and made seeing the museum efficient and informative. Now they will arrange a private tour for an exorbitant price and they practically urge you to just do it on your own at a 5th of the price! I thought those included tours were very classy offerings that they don’t do anymore.

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Papa, sorry for the late entry, but I just read your day by day Veneto “book” which I enjoyed. I remember you were reading mine and asking questions a few years ago, and now you’re an expert on the trip! Thanks for bringing back good memories. One does become an “aficionado” of Venice after being docked in several areas of the Lagoon during the week you are there..

The way I understand it we get $300 past passenger discount, plus the 5% for being on the cruise, but I’ll know for sure when I get the invoice.

And finally, some opinions and conclusions I came to (good and bad) and some suggestions.

All jokes aside about snow and umbrellas, I feel this would have been a more enjoyable trip with nicer weather such as in May when the flowers are in bloom and the water lilies are out (in Giverny). Or at least be prepared for all weather. If you pack a scarf, hooded sweatshirt and gloves, it is better to pack them needlessly than walk the streets of Rouen or the beaches and Cemetery of Normandy with the cold wind blowing down your neck....

My favorite meal was the lunches which were amazing buffets of great salads, smoked salmon, poached salmon right off the bone (see Robin’s picture of a devoured one!) and something different everyday. Breakfasts were also excellent (farm fresh eggs and the best French toast we ever had, etc. And now for my controversial statement. The suppers were way too long (sometimes 3 hours in the overheated dining room). The service was VERY slow and several people complained. It’s not that we are impatient Americans always in a rush. Some of us had other things we wanted to do in the evening, others were tired from a long day and some had difficulty sitting so long. This is not the fault of the waiters and I understand the chef has to supervise to perfection the gourmet meals we were having. I also felt that the special French cuisine in The Bistro you have to sign up for was a bit of a letdown. Some other passengers that had paid extra for the La Cave des Vins dining experience with the wine pairing did not feel it was worth it.

The entire staff was excellent. Thierry, the CD, had a nice touch when he would show up at the end of our tours in town with treats such as local chocolates in Rouen and the aforementioned fresh oysters in Honfleur! And let me stress the importance of the Port Talks even if you are the most experienced traveler. There are last minute changes and additional tours you don’t know about. Details of the excursions are discussed to help you choose the right tour (or sometimes makes the choice harder but at least you are informed!)

If I can answer any questions about a particular day or port or on board activity, or if you have a different take on some of my opinions, let’s hear it!

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Thank you! A few more pics to share.

 

On our return to the ship, we spent some time on the sun deck, spoke to our CD about future bookings, and onboard booking discounts, and then went and explored the nearby shopping mall.

 

We watched as a few shipmates prepared for the sidecar tour, and found it interesting that the small boat was "investigating" ours so closely.[ATTACH]421044[/ATTACH][ATTACH]421045[/ATTACH][ATTACH]421046[/ATTACH][ATTACH]421047[/ATTACH][ATTACH]421049[/ATTACH][ATTACH]421051[/ATTACH]

 

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Robin, I was wondering if you actually ended up booking another cruise with the CD while on board? We actually did for the Burgundy&Provence trip next year. It’s good because you get a discount for that and repeat passenger and you can cancel if you change your mind (I forgot the time limit)

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ACWMOM, thank you again for your wonderful report & all your great pics!

 

Have enjoyed following along and appreciate your and SOShrink’s detailed reviews of this particular cruise itinerary.

Robin, all your photos brought me right back to our trip! I particularly enjoyed photo 10/17 view of the Eiffel Tower from the the train station (I think) and 14/17 of the Eiffel Tower in the mist from the rooftops which was very atmospheric!

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Not sure what all the fuss is all about. Booked the 1 May 2019, Amsterdam to Bucharest and all the excursion details are available in the Already Booked, Day to Day section.

 

 

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With all due respect, I miss my Cruise Companion booklets. They are good mementos of our trips and help you label your pictures. They are also good to show others who may be interested in a future trip. They also used to have all the trips for a particular country or area in one book (i.e. Italy, Germany, etc.) to help plan future trips. I have a nice collection of them from all our trips and will miss adding them to my shelf!

There was no announcement either way, meaning, he didn't say there wouldn't be a gentle walker group. I also don't recall a specific announcement FOR a gentle walker group. In fact, I don't recall there being one on our Rhine cruise last year, either.

 

On this cruise, there definitely wasn't one to La Roche Guyon or Les Andelys. We went to Mont St Michel, so don't know if there was one in Rouen, perhaps Steve can comment. Golfed at Etretat, so don't know about Honfleur.

 

Honestly, the one time I recall the gentle walk

er group, in Verona, they actually passed our regular group! It seems like most recent guides have gone at a pace where everyone could keep up, while also choosing routes which were navigable for all.

 

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Robin, we had gentle walkers on most of the daily tours last week. I know because we joined them on several occasions! By the way, our supposed slower group ended up being ahead of some of the other groups along the way! In other words, they tailor it to the group and go as fast or slow as we need and everybody eventually catches up.

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I just got back from a trip and there is no mention of their doing away with “gentle walkers”. Are you sure this is happening?

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I just googled the market and it looks amazing. It should be easy to wander over there after the Rijksmuseum. The area is nice, we've strolled around De Pijp in the past and it was fun. The Rembrandt House, on the other hand, would take some hoofing or a couple of trams to get to from the Museumsplein area.

I did the museum and the Market in one day. I mean, you are not there to shop. To walk from one end to the other shouldn’t take long. You are there to people watch and soak up the atmosphere. I wouldn’t walk there from the museum however. You might want to take the tram!

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I was researching Highlights of Eastern Europe (our next trip) but we no longer have the detailed cruise companions. So I googled the trip, then clicked on “Day to Day” and then for each day they put “Choice of.....” and list the various tours which are underlined. You then click on that and get a detailed description of those tours as you click on them. It’s a bit arduous, but it’s better than nothing. As also mentioned by others, there are last minute tours they come up with. A few years ago on a Parisian Holiday Cruise, they decided to offer a nighttime complimentary bus tour of Paris including Trocadero overlooking the twinkling Eiffel Tower, which was not listed in the book. Some people who had made other plans like Moulin Rouge in advance missed out on this last minute gem of an evening on our last night in Paris. So it’s best not to plan too far ahead and attend the port talks and see what’s what for your particular week.

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I want to second what Robin just stated. You will have ample time to find out about the optional excursions by attending the port talk or even stopping the cruise director and asking about them in plenty of time to make your decision about the Paris excursions. The Side Car adventure is the only one that may be limited so you should sign up for this sooner if you do it.

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We will be sailing Beatrice in October. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

We are on the Oct. 7th sailing from Bucharest. How about you?

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Thank you for your kind words. I am sorry I am not posting pictures but Robin is doing such a good job, I want to do this cruise again!

A few words about the last day (Paris). So you have left Mantes 6 pm the day before and dock in Paris around 6 AM Sat. morning the last day. We can write ten pages and go back and forth about what to do in Paris! But I will tell you what was offered by Uniworld in the morning (included) and the afternoon (“Uniworld Collection” tours for additional cost). Many experienced Francophiles who have been here many times struck off on their own. Thierry, the cruise director, and Martin at the front desk were very helpful and patient in helping passengers decide what to do. I once said to Thierry (quite a character from the French Basque Country!) “I have a stupid question....” and he retorted “the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask”.....

There was a bus tour that included all the highlights but also dropped people off at the Luxembourg Gardens for free time which was a nice touch and even passengers who had been to Paris before were glad they went. They also had a biking tour that apparently went up one side of the Seine and back on the other bank and a walking tour that hit Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. In the afternoon they offered Paris City Roofs which took you to Galeries Lafayette Department Store rooftop café, the Arab World Institute for their rooftop view and I believe the top of the Arc de Triomphe. (Had I not been to Paris before, this is the optional tour I would’ve chosen hands down in my opinion). There was also a Street Art Tour and Workshop and expensive private tours to the Louvre and other museums. We chose the Side Car Montmartre discovery and were taken through streets of Paris through the Montmartre Neighborhood (bustling with activity) on a motor cycle side car all the way up to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica with its expanse of steps where hoards of locals and tourists congregate to gaze over Paris. If you haven’t been here before this a good way to get up here as it is hard to do on your own unless you take a taxi. We were a spectacle wherever we went and we must’ve had our picture taken by gawkers a thousand times! And it is completely safe despite what you think. These guys knew what they were doing! If I can figure out how to do it, I’ll post a picture! Final conclusions and “debriefing” about the whole trip will be done on another post.....

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We did not. Our guide must have looped the pond in the Hamlet at least 3 times, in the rain.....not too pleased! I think my husband and I would have had to play billiards if we had been asked to role play:D;p

Slowly but surely each of us got married off or committed adultery, and lived in excess and eventually got beheaded!

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Does anyone know what happened to the very informative cruise companion books or downloads we used to have access to prior to our trips? It listed every excursion and option in detail. Now all you get is information about cruising, ship amenities and crew, etc. that most of us know already, but no description about each trip. I’m not talking about the overall Uniworld Brochure which is beautiful and useful, but the actual Cruise Companions of each trip we used to be able to access from the “already booked” section of Uniworld.com

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Like Steve, SOShrink, we chose to do Marie Antoinette's Hamlet, aka the Petite Trianon and gardens.

 

We had visited the main palace 3 years ago, and hated the crowds. However, the tour this time went to some secret rooms, off the beaten path, so not exactly the same.

 

It was rainy and drizzly, off and on, so the outdoor tour was a little unpleasant, but overall, it was a nice, low key tour.

 

If I were going in warmer weather, I would try to make arrangements onboard to rent a bike or golf cart, and spend the time touring the gardens of Versailles.

 

The staircase in the petite Trianon, a view of the formal garden from the music room, the music room, the kitchen fireplace, and the billiard room, with M.A. on the wall[ATTACH]420647[/ATTACH][ATTACH]420648[/ATTACH][ATTACH]420657[/ATTACH][ATTACH]420658[/ATTACH][ATTACH]420659[/ATTACH][ATTACH]420660[/ATTACH]

 

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Robin, did you have the guide that called on the group to role play the different historical figures! It was a blast!

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