Uniworld Food Review and Menus

One of the things my wife and I noticed when planning our recently completed cruise was the lack of detailed information on the type and quality of food found on Uniworld. We hope the following information will be helpful for those considering booking a cruise with Uniworld. We’ve learned so much from Cruise Critic that we feel the need to share when we have something relevant to offer.

Cruise Details:

Uniworld River Empress

Danube Holiday Markets

Passau to Budapest

December 7 – December 14, 2008

Open seating for all meals

Breakfast and lunch consisted of buffets

Dinner was open seating at a fixed time, usually 7pm

Table reservations were not allowed

Four tables for two available, with the remaining tables seating four, six, or eight

No room service

24/7 complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate – this was very popular among the guests. You could get a cup of coffee, espresso, cappuccino, hot chocolate, wiener mélange at anytime at a machine that was in what was called the patio area.

As this was a Christmas cruise, there was gingerbread, chocolates, cookies, and candies readily available on the ship for those who had a sweet tooth or the munchies.

Unlimited red or white house wine was served with dinner each evening

Complimentary bottle water was placed in stateroom and replenished if needed

Dress for breakfast and lunch was casual

Dress for dinner was casual, with no jeans or t-shirts allowed

The majority of men wore sweaters, button-down or polo shirts, and slacks

A very small minority wore sport coats at the captain’s welcome dinner

Women wore slacks and sweaters or knit shirts

About 20 percent of passengers wore jeans on first night aboard or on last night. This was understandable, as several passengers embarked the cruise around 5:30 pm and the last day required everyone to pack for departure.

Chef was from Slovakia (previously worked for Princess for several years), with sous chef from Romania, pastry chef from Hungary, and rest of kitchen crew from Hungary or Slovakia. This was important because their execution was flawless. Quite a contrast to ocean cruises where you often have South Asians preparing recipes that they have no idea how they should taste.

We rate the quality and presentation of the food on Uniworld as being a step above Holland America and Princess, though not quite at Oceania’s level (these lines we have cruised before). We recommend Uniworld without any hesitation to those looking to cruise a river in Europe. We had two passengers indicate that the food on Uniworld was better than they had experienced on their previous Grand Circle river cruise. As we have not cruise on GCT, we cannot make a judgment on this. However this was our second Uniworld cruise and both times that have really wowed us.

Every day the lunch and dinner menu had some type of cuisine of the country or area we were visiting that day. We thought this was a really nice touch and welcomed the opportunity to have goulash, wiener schnitzel, sausages, sauerkraut soup, Austrian cheese soup, and local desserts.

Items on the breakfast buffet included:

Juice, milk, coffee, tea, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, water melon, and pineapple, cereal, parfait, yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs, omelets, bacon, sausage, hash browns or country potatoes, and porridge (it was better than it sounded)

Items on lunch buffet included:

Pasta station, sandwiches, soup, a hot entrée such as turkey breast and mashed potatoes or lamb with noodles or fish and chips, pre-made salads, salad bar

One of the guests asked for a copy of the dinner menus – the very next day every guest received these. Here they are:

(Note: a grilled chicken breast or steak could be ordered every night if that was your preference)

Sunday December 7 – Passau

Starter

Chef’s salad – mixed fresh garden greens with ham and cheese, croutons and tomato served with a light yogurt dressing

Or

Traditional Balkan salad with feta cheese, cucumber and olives

Soup

Carrots and ginger cream soup

Or

Vegetable broth with sautéed mushrooms

Main Course

Grilled corn fed chicken breast on red wine sauce served with bell pepper vegetables and green peas pure

Or

Poached fillet of salmon on dill sauce, served with sautéed zucchini, grilled tomato, and rice

Or

Quiche with vegetable and tarragon sauce

Dessert

Crème brule – vanilla mascarpone cream

Or

Dame Blanche – vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce

Or

Assorted European cheeses with crackers – Gouda, Appenzeller, Taleggio

Coffee or tea

Monday December 8 – Passau

Captain’s Welcome Dinner

Amuse bouche

Honey melon with Coppa di Parma (Italian high quality dried cured ham) and balsamic reduction

Clear beef soup with liver dumpling and vegetable dumpling

Seafood bags with risotto di mare on parley veloute

Wellington style veal tenderloin wrapped in bacon on morel sauce served with arrangement of vegetables and gratin potato

Or

Ravioli stuffed with mushrooms tossed in chunky tomato sauce

Hot chocolate soufflé with mocha hazelnut sauce and vanilla ice cream

Or

Assorted European cheeses with crackers (Brie, Cambozzola, Chaumes)

Coffee or tea

Tuesday December 9 – Linz

Starter

Chicken salad on grilled pineapple with blueberry sauce

Or

Avocado and shrimp cocktail with light yogurt dressing

Soup

Mustard cream soup with pernod cream topping

Or

Vegetable consommé

Main Course

Roasted turkey breast with bread stuffing on cranberry juice, creamy black salsify and sweet mashed potatoes

Or

Pan fried pike perch filet with beurre blanc sauce served with kohlrabi, corn vegetable and mushroom risotto

Or

Vegetable curry with steamed basmati rice

Dessert

Linzer cake with raspberry coulis

Or

Ice coupe Romanoff – strawberry and vanilla ice cream with vodka marinated strawberries

Or

Assorted cheeses with grapes and crackers (Camembert, Gouda, Biragni)

Coffee or tea

Wednesday December 10 – Krems

Starter

Smoked duck breast on waldorf salad with Cumberland sauce

Or

Mixed garden green salad with blue cheese and cranberry vinaigrette

Soup

Cream of broccoli with roasted almonds

Or vegetable consommé with tilapia wantoni

Main Course

Pink roasted rack of lamb provencal with mint flavored jus, served with ratatouille and creamy polenta

Or

Poached red gurnard fish with lemon butter sauce, sautéed Chinese cabbage and buttered tagliatelle

Or

Austrian potato gulash

Dessert

Christmas chocolate pie on Bailey’s custard

Or

Vanilla chocolate Christmas Ice tree with mix berries coulis

Or

Assorted European cheeses with crackers (Rambol, Brie, Cambozolla)

Coffee or tea

Thursday December 11 – Vienna

Starter

Tomato mozzarella with pesto

Or

Fresh garden salad with apple, raisin, and pumpkin seed oil

Soup

Austrian cheese soup

Or

Chicken consommé with pancake strips

Main Course

Vienna style schnitzel – breaded escalope of pork loin with cucumber salad and warm potato salad

Or

Baked kabeljou filet with tomato basil topping, sautéed French beans, and roasted potato

Or

Vegetarian lasagna on cheese sauce

Dessert

Traditional Austrian strudel with vanilla sauce

Or

Vienna ice café – vanilla ice cream in café mélange with hipped cream

Or

Assorted cheeses with crackers

Coffee or tea

Friday December 12 – Bratislava

Captain’s Farewell Dinner

Amuse bouche

Variation of salmon and trout with honey mustard dressing

Porcini cappuccino creamy mushroom soup with frothy milk topping

Grilled king tiger prawn on saffron risotto

Rasberry granite with champagne

Slice of roasted beef tenderloin on a duet of sauces served with summer vegetables and duchesse potato

Baked Alaska served with berries and chocolate sauce

Coffee or tea

Saturday December 13 – Budapest

Starter

River Empress Caesar salad – Romana lettuce with anchovies, capers and garlic croutons

Or

Seafood cocktail with thousand island dressing

Soup

Crème of cauliflower

Or

Minestrone soup

Main Course

Roasted duck breast with orange sause, braised red cabbage, potato croquets and brussel sprouts

Or

Poached tilapia fish with cardinal sauce, sautéed spinach and streamed potatoes

Or

Mushroom pie with parsley potatoes and chives sour cream

Dessert

Somloi galuska – Hungarian fluffy sponge cake with chocolate sauce

Or

Pistachio ice cream with marinated dried fruits and whipped cream

Or

Assorted European cheese with crackers

Coffee or tea

We hope you find this food review and menu postings for our Uniworld cruise helpful. Feel free to post any questions you might have.

Joe

Joe, I applaude you on such a detailed review of Uniworld and their cuisine.

I also have had 2 cruises with them and totally agree with all that you've said.

My cruises were on River Duchess and the food equally as good on that ship.

Thanks from all who reads it for taking all that time to post such a good review.

Tiggy

Wish I had thought to get the dinner menu's from my recent Grand Circle Christmas Markets trip. Looking at yours, I would say Grand Circle served very similar menus for all meals. Similar seating arrangements with no reservations allowed either. I will say after about 3 nights of people rushing in trying to get the larger tables, they put a couple of 6 tops together to form two tables for 12 and that seemed to take care of some of the seating problems. We did not have any tables for 2. I was surprised at how much people seemed to get dressed up for dinner on this trip. Lots of jackets for the men and sparkly blouses for the women at the welcome and farewell dinners.

Grand Circle also had the coffee/hot chocolate/cookies available at all times. We would often be welcomed aboard with hot cider, hot tea, etc when returning from tours. That was a nice touch.

Great review. We were on the River Duchess for the recent Christmas Market trip from Budapest to Regensburg. I would like to emphasize how professional and friendly the wait staff and the chefs were. Great meals and great service. We are looking at taking another Uniworld cruise soon.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Like AZPam's cruise, our Uniworld cruise also welcomed us back from some of the excursions with a hot towel to clean the grime off your hands and a cup of hot cider. Definitely a nice touch.

In the evening of the departure from Bratislava sailing towards Budapest, there was an onboard Christmas market where items picked up by the crew in different cities were for sale as well as some items from the gift shop. They also had a demonstration on how to make gluwein, going over the recipe and then making enough for everyone to enjoy as much as they liked. This was a fun time and seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Every passenger also received in their staterooms an advent calendar filled with chocolates and a box of chocolate covered almonds. These little details all added up to make it a great overall experience.

Joe

We sailed on RQ from Cologne to Basel, which was 7 nights from Nov 30 to disembarkation on Sun Dec 7. Agree totally with food assessment and service. Although, I did think the desserts were better at lunch than at dinner. It was fun to see Josef, our waiter from last year's R.Countess, back on board with us. In addition to 24hr coffee,etc in the "patio", we also had a bowl of fresh fruit, which changed daily. In addition to the Advent calendar, we had a cellophane bag of cookies and candy waiting on the bed when we arrived.

Also, because we were on board for the feast of St.Nicholas, we had a visit from him in the lounge where he read in his book if we had been naughty or nice. Also that night we put our shoes in the hallway and Sinterklaas left everyone an orange and a chocolate Santa. My husband left a beer for Santa and he got a different beer in exchange! It was a fun trip and we would not hesitate to sail again. (this was our 5th Uniworld cruise and I think they get better each time)

Thank you Oysterdam for the the review & menus! We're going on the new River Beatrice in April and are looking forward to the good times.

Bill

Thank you for the information. We are going on a Uniworld cruise in March, it will be our first river cruise although we have lots of past cruises on ocean liners. Sounds like it will be a nice, relaxed time, with just having one seating for dinner.

Thanks for posting such detailed information on the River Duchess and the meals that were served. We were on the River Queen in Apr. and thought the food was excellent. We have also sailed on Viking and although the food was good it was not as good as our Uniworld trip. We have booked another Uniworld tirp next Nov. for Egypt, since they are going to have a brand new ship called the River Tosca that sails the Nile. All cabins are at least 300 sq. ft. so we are looking forward to that experience.

Tanks for sharing you information

micked10

We were on the River Baroness in September, and the food/service were excellent there as well. I did not see any tables for 2 - but there were quite a few tables for 4 & 6. Larger tables were limited - so one group often sent one person down to sit at a table during the port talk (sort of an unofficial reservation).

Although there was no room service, you could get bar service up on deck - and they often would bring some munchies with the drinks. I would imagine that having a drink on the deck isn't really that popular on a winter cruise, however... <grin>

We did get chocolates in our room with the turn-down at night - and chocolate covered nuts on the last evening. I am not a chocolate fan particularly, but the dark Valhrona chocolate was amazing...

Fran

We were on the River Baroness in September, and the food/service were excellent there as well. I did not see any tables for 2 - but there were quite a few tables for 4 & 6. Larger tables were limited - so one group often sent one person down to sit at a table during the port talk (sort of an unofficial reservation).

 

Although there was no room service, you could get bar service up on deck - and they often would bring some munchies with the drinks. I would imagine that having a drink on the deck isn't really that popular on a winter cruise, however... <grin>

 

We did get chocolates in our room with the turn-down at night - and chocolate covered nuts on the last evening. I am not a chocolate fan particularly, but the dark Valhrona chocolate was amazing...

 

Fran

On our River Queen cruise back in December 2005 there was only one table for two. Our most recent River Empress cruise has four tables for two, while your River Baroness cruise had zero. Looks like this is a ship specific thing.

I like eating with my fellow passengers, but there are times when you want a "date night" or on our cruise when a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary chose a table for two.

It seems based on everyone's feedback on this thread that Uniworld's food is good to excellent. I'm glad to know that we were not alone in enjoying what they offered.

Joe

Thank you for the good reviews and comments about Uniworld cruises. We are on the River Beatrice in June 2009 - Enchanting Danube 9 days. We have been on 12 cruises and this will be our first river cruise.

Oysterdam,

You mentioned that table wine was served at dinner (for free). How would you assess the quality of the wine?

Most river cruise lines serve free wine with dinner, but I was wondering if any of them serve free beer. On your cruise, was free beer served at dinner?

Thanks.

Alan

Hi Star Trk..........Uniworld does serve free beer also for those that do not drink wine.

Boards.........What date are you doing the Enchanting Danube in June? There's a good chance that I'll be on the Beatrice in June. Not sure which one yet.

WE are on the Enchanting Danube June 14 - 21. We will be in Prague first for three days and then Budapest an extra two days. Are you planning to be on that cruise too? That would be great. Then we can discuss how well the Spitfires and the Generals fare in the playoffs, if you are a hockey fan, of course. Spitfires hope to be in the Memorial Cup Series. Hope this will not discourage you from joining us, DW not a hockey fan.

The review was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to post. We are tempting some family members to book with us in 2010 to do the Burgundy/Provence trip and this review should seal the deal with them! By the way, has anyone done this particular river cruise on Uniworld? If so, it would be great to hear from you as to what your experience was like, what time of year you did the cruise, etc. It's amazing what information is shared on this website that has been so helpful is so many ways.

B. Cole

The review was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to post. We are tempting some family members to book with us in 2010 to do the Burgundy/Provence trip and this review should seal the deal with them! By the way, has anyone done this particular river cruise on Uniworld? If so, it would be great to hear from you as to what your experience was like, what time of year you did the cruise, etc. It's amazing what information is shared on this website that has been so helpful is so many ways.

B. Cole

Glad to be of help!:)

I found this short video about Uniworld's dining that gives somes nice images of what has been discussed on this and other threads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fqLC8Z9eoE

Joe

Hi Boards.......I'm not really a hockey fan, BUT I do love it when the Generals are playing well. Of course we have just lost our best player Tavares. Not that we were cleaning up when we still had him. At least we made it to the playoffs last year.

There is a chance that I will be on that cruise too with the Prague extension.

Haven't totally nailed down the date, but that is one one the ones under consideration.

That would be fun to see you onboard.....

It would sure be good, (if we win) to have someone to brag to. I have the privilege of seeing him with he visits Windsor (I'm the timekeeper). Can you tell me if we will be using Euros in Prague or Budapest? We will be seeing our TA Mar. 4, but if the Euro hits a good rate now it might be worth buying some in advance. Our TA has sent us figures for our hotels stated in Euros. Can you give some advance information?

Oysterdam,

 

You mentioned that table wine was served at dinner (for free). How would you assess the quality of the wine?

 

Most river cruise lines serve free wine with dinner, but I was wondering if any of them serve free beer. On your cruise, was free beer served at dinner?

 

Thanks.

Alan

Hi Alan:

With AMA Waterways, we were able to be served complimentary beer with dinner if we did not wish to have wine.

Good Morning Boards...............email me at tiggypooo@yahoo.ca

Oysterdam,

Thanks for such a great thread. Uniworld remains our favorite river cruise company, but sometimes itineraries from other companies will just snag us. Pat

Hi Alan:

 

With AMA Waterways, we were able to be served complimentary beer with dinner if we did not wish to have wine.

Do both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer? Is it local, German beer?

Do both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer? Is it local, German beer?[/quote]

 

 

Hi Alan:

I do not know whether both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer. I have only cruised with AMA Waterways and they serve complimentary beer at dinner if you do not want to have the complimentary wine.