River Royale "Burgundy & Provence" - a Review

[wbarrister]

We just returned from the July 4, 2010 sailing of the Uniworld River Royale from Chalon to Arles. Uniworld’s title for the trip is “Burgundy and Provence”. Over all it was a great trip on a great ship with a great crew!

We traveled as a group of five; myself, my mother, my sister, her husband and my wife. Ages range between 87 and 43. This was our second river cruise (the first being an Amadeus cruise on the Danube). We have also done about 15 Ocean cruises together as well. We had three cabins on the middle deck, 209, 221 and 223 for those that are interested.

Prior to the cruise we did some land traveling in France (via rental car) visiting three wonderful hotel/restaurant's, Maison Pic, Maison Troisgros, and Lameloise. All three contain Michelin three-star restaurants where we had fantastic tasting menu meals on the three nights prior to embarking on the River Royale. I mentioned that because, in retrospect, that wonderful experience probably influenced some of our ship board experiences, especially in the area of food and wine. I would point out that Lameloise is in the town of Chagny which is about 20 minutes from the dock in Chalon-sur-Saone and is, therefore, very convenient for ship departures. As a further aside, of the approximate six Michelin three-star restaurants I've had the opportunity to visit, Lameloise has the finest food.

Rooms on the River Royale are typical in size for a river cruise. They are small but very functional with plenty of storage space. My wife and I carried a large and a small suitcase and also took two laptops (in computer bags) as well as a fairly large camera bag, and had no problem stowing everything. Incidentally, there was a wireless Internet throughout the ship that could be purchased by the hour (three euros) or for the entire cruise (€15). The €15 deal was great, allowing us to even video Skype our friends and family back in the US. The most impressive feature of the room (for me) was the fact that the curtains blocked all light from the room even with the sun shining directly on the side of the ship. In that regard, sleeping was wonderful. One of the few negatives was the bed which was hard as a slab of granite. Housekeeping tried to add some duvets under the sheets to soften it up but it was still quite hard. This seemed to be the case in two of our three rooms (although my mother reported that her bed was fine). A small flat screen television provided a number of English language stations plus some movies. A number of the movies seemed to be "themed" for southern France. An interesting feature! Housekeeping on the rooms was efficient and requests for things like extra towels were responded to promptly. Our rooms had large windows rather than "French balconies". I think the rooms with windows are actually slightly larger than the more expensive ones with "French balconies" and the windows, themselves, gave us plenty of view. We had some extraordinarily hot weather (over 100° one day) and the air-conditioning was fine and up to the task. The bathroom was typically small, but again adequate for all purposes. There was plenty of hot water and the shower had good pressure.

Food on board was generally good. We were clearly spoiled by our three days of magnificent food at the Michelin restaurants prior to the cruise. It would have been smarter to do the cruise first and then go to the Michelin restaurants! Breakfast's were outstanding. There was a special featured breakfast item each day like eggs benedict, waffles, or crepe's. Every day there were scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage as well as juice, breads, cheese and pastries. There was an omelette station for made to order omelettes or custom cooked fried eggs. Coffee was made and served using a French press style coffeemaker. The coffee was very good. My wife drinks hot tea and there was a variety of hot tea available as well.

Lunches were wholesome and varied. Usually there was pasta, some kind of sandwich, or a carved meat dish along with vegetables.

Dinners were generally good. I thought some of the dishes lacked flavor and our waiter actually warned us about some of the dishes not being as good as others. They were usually right. Some "French" dishes missed the mark. Frogs legs (which I love) were small and not very tasty. Escargot didn't have much garlic and were, therefore, fairly bland, and the French onion soup wasn't great either. The waiter warned us about the frogs legs but I tried them anyway! Other than those minor disappointments, the meals were well presented and a very good. There were multiple choices for the entrée with steak or chicken always available. The meals are clearly "Americanized" in style and presentation which some will prefer, but some (like me) would rather do the ". . .when in France, eat like the French. . ." style of presentation. In that regard, the cheese, which was available at every dinner, was very good but the selection was somewhat limited.

I will admit to being a true wine lover (you can read that as "wine snob" if you want). Wine at dinner was included as part of the cruise price. The wine, in my opinion, was poor. I, honestly, had a hard time believing that a cruise that begins in Burgundy and passes through both the northern Rhône and the southern Rhône would not be able to find reasonably priced wines that were at least good (if not great!) to serve. They managed to find poor wines for the most part. Whites were generally better than reds (but I generally prefer reds). On the other hand, unlike many cruise lines, our cruise director told us, upfront, that we could buy wines, bring them on board, and they would be served without complaint or corkage charge. “No need to sneak them on board”. That, in my opinion, is not an excuse to serve bad wine but it does provide an option. Prior to leaving on this cruise I saw several favorable comments about the wine on this cruise so I wonder if my opinion is an exception rather than the rule.

This is a wonderful cruise from the perspective of the area traveled. The ports and towns visited are picturesque and unique. Going from north to south as we did (this trip is available in reverse) the principle places visited are the city of Beaune, Lyon, Tournon, Viviers, Avignon and Arles. Uniworld’s brochures describe each of the included tours. Standout excursions for me included the cities of Viviers and Avignon and the optional visit to the Pont du Gard (a must see!). We were in Avignon overnight and had a chance to go back into the city after dinner. There were festivals going on and even near midnight there were thousands of people on the streets of this medieval city. There were dancers, singers, jugglers, magicians, and all sorts of other entertainers at various random places throughout the city putting on shows. It reminded me a little bit of New Orleans but less rowdy!

Uniworld is using Quietvox audio headsets for the included tours. These are wonderful. We were broken into groups of about 25 with one tour guide per group. The guide has the master unit and speaks into a microphone telling his group about the sights. Everyone in the group hears the guide through a headset provided even if you are 100 feet away. You only hear your own guide even if another guide is right next to you with his group. You can stop and look at something that interests you, individually, even after the group moves on and you still hear the guide through your headset. It is a great system.

Uniworld has bicycles available on board their ships and my wife and I took advantage of the bicycles in several of the towns after the scheduled tours were over. Not many others took advantage of these bicycles but we found them to be a terrific means for sightseeing on your own even in the larger cities like Lyon. There are so many locals riding bicycles that everyone accommodates them. When in doubt we rode on sidewalks but many of the streets had dedicated bicycle lanes. The bicycles have built-in locks and chains so they could be secured when we wanted to go into a store or place of interest. By the way, many of the cities have "community bicycles" which can be checked out of a local stand using a credit card but are often free if returned to another stand within 30 minutes. A great system!

I want to spend a few more moments addressing the staff on the River Royale. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful throughout the cruise. Our cruise manager, Piet (spelling not guaranteed) was from Belgium. He seemed to be everywhere and always available to discuss the excursions, scheduling, and the like. The waiters and waitresses in the dining room were cheerful and funny and all spoke excellent English. We didn't have a lot of interaction with the ship's crew but the captain spoke a few times at the welcome and farewell cocktail parties. The "hotel manager" Eric was extremely funny. He made a lot of "dry" discussions of things like departure procedures, emergency procedures, etc. entertaining.

The only other comment I would make as a constructive suggestion to Uniworld would be to make the timeline of the cruise a little clearer in their cruise information. It would be nice to know, even approximately, how long the ship would be docked in the various ports and when it would be cruising. For example, it would have been nice to know that the ship would remain in Lyon long enough to have lunch in town, and it would have been nice to know that we would remain in Avignon overnight so we could plan to participate in evening activities in that beautiful city. In one city we seemed to leave abruptly right after lunch which was fine but it would have been nice to know ahead of time.

I know I didn’t cover everything so feel free to “ask away” and I will be happy to give you my perspective on any aspect of the cruise. I would recommend this trip!

 

Bill

[cole]

Bill:

Thank you for the wonderful review. We are taking the same cruise in May of 2011, and are already excited. We will be doing the opposite. Could you address how you were met by the staff to embark, since you were in a private car prior to the cruise, and the procedure for getting to the airport at the end of your cruise. Even though you were north to south, I would assume the process would be the same. We booked our own flights, so will be using Uniworld's transfer system at the beginning and end of the trip.

Thank you again for such a comprehensive review (and the tip about purchasing wine off ship!).

B. Cole

[crule]

Bill:

 

Thank you for your review. My wife and I are both foodies and winos and we are very much looking forward to this cruise (our depature is south to north in Mid-October).

 

I am very tickled to hear about the zero-corkage fee. I do want to drink good wine while on this trip. (I'll be spending some time in Paris afterwards, and while I won't be eating at 3 different Michelin-rated restaurants, I do have 1 reserved for sure).

 

John

[wbarrister]

If you are used to the ocean cruise ship routine for embark/debark this is a breeze! We took a cab from Chagny to Chalon and pulled up by the boat. Ship crew took it from there. They took the bags from the cab and put them aboard. We were a little early and cabins were not ready but we had some lunch and by the time we were done the bags were in our cabin. The entire embarkation procedure was to give them our passports (which they held for the first 24 hours). They never even asked for cruise tickets, etc. Very simple.

 

On departure we had ship arranged transport to the airport. Our flight was at 1 pm so they picked us up in a bus at 10 am and a ship representative took us straight to the check in line for our flight. I might add, some people had 6 am flights - no problem (other than getting up very early)! They were picked up at 3 am and taken to the airport.

 

It was the most painless process on both ends I can remember!

[cole]

I can do "painless". Thank you again for your insight and comments.

B. Cole

[rayandjean]

We will be doing a similar itinerary with Vantage in Sept 2011 using the MS Rembrandt. Loved reading your review and always appreciate the information given. There are enough similarities between lines to be able to gleen valuable tips from others experiences. Thanks again!

[traveler11001]

Thanks for your review. We will be doing the same cruise at the end of August (except in reverse). Did you do any of the optional tours? If so, which ones and do you recommend them. Was there anything that was a "must see".

[wbarrister]

Glad you mentioned the optional tours! What is advertised on-line and what was offered can vary. I will try to attach to this post a copy of the two pages of information about the optional tours we were given when we boarded. The optional tours will vary depending on the time of year. The notable differences for us were that the Lavender Fields were in bloom in early July (I think they said the bloom lasts about 4 weeks) so we got that. The truffle farm doesn't have much going on in July so we did not get that as an offering. They combined the Pont du Gard and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting for us and left off a visit to Uzes. You probably won't know exactly what optional tours you are getting until you get there!

My mother and sister went to the lavender fields and thought it was a nice tour but seemed more impressed with the Gorges of the Ardeche. None of us went on the Burgundy wine tasting as we spent a week in Burgundy last year and "tour tastings" are at best average. We didn't go to the Olive farm either so I can't comment.

As far as must see is concerned, I can't recommend more highly the Pont du Gard visit! This structure should be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is breathtaking! Bigger than you can imagine and when you learn how and when it was built you will be amazed.

By the way, don't forget the "time on your own" at these ports of call. Check out the Valhrona Chocolate place in Viviers (not on the walking tour but they will tell you how to get there). We spent $125.00 on chocolate alone. Some of the best chocolate on the planet.

Spend time in Avignon at night if the boat stays overnight. Very neat city.

 

Bill

http://file:///T:/Bill/20100803083924136.pdf

http://file:///T:/Bill/20100803083917335.pdf

[wbarrister]

Don't think the links to my PDF files worked in the above post! Will try to figure out how to post the info a little later!

 

Bill

[Hapytocruise]

My husband, I and another couple did this cruise two summers ago and LOVED it. Uniworld is top notch and I would cruise with them in a minute. We "big ship" cruise alot - Holland, Princess, Royal Carib & Celebrity - (Celebrity being my personal favorite) so the river cruise was quite different for us but as I mentioned it was a great and very interesting holiday. We did a 7 day drive across France before the cruise which was also great before meeting the boat. Travel on the river and docked within towns was so handy and the included tours very informative. Our only disappointment was the optional Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting - along with the truffel farm. Long bus ride, crowed (practically the entire ship went) and sorry to say...boring not worth the extra charge. The four of us agreed for that stop we would have much more enjoyed renting a car and finding our own vineyard tasting, plus being able to stop at some of the interesting roman ruins we whizzed by on the bus.

[wbarrister]

First, here are the attachments I tried to load previously. Reading the instructions helps! See my note a couple of posts above for the reference.

 

Hapytocruise: I agree with your thoughts. Sadly cruises seldom get you to decent wineries and even more often they let you sample the poorer wines. On this cruise the Northern Rhone tasting in Tournon at Ermitage wasn't bad but they served a white wine in a region almost exclusively known for (great) red wines. They did serve two reds but they were not Hermitage's even though were were in the heart of Hermitage! This was an included tasting and took place about 5 minutes walk from the dock. Chateauneuf du Pape was another story. It was a long bus ride although for us it was combined with the Pont du Gard visit so it would have been worth while just for that. The wines were not good and not worth the trip (for the wines). Normally, the Chateauneuf tasting is not tied to the Pont du Gard trip.

 

Correction to an earlier post: Valrhona Chocolate is in Tain l'Hermitage not Viviers!

20100803083917335.pdf

20100803083924136.pdf

[Emma Chisit]

....The only other comment I would make as a constructive suggestion to Uniworld would be to make the timeline of the cruise a little clearer in their cruise information. It would be nice to know, even approximately, how long the ship would be docked in the various ports and when it would be cruising. For example, it would have been nice to know that the ship would remain in Lyon long enough to have lunch in town, and it would have been nice to know that we would remain in Avignon overnight so we could plan to participate in evening activities in that beautiful city. ...

Bill

Enjoyed your review, thanks for providing it. We were tossing up between Uniworld and Avalon, chose Avalon because the timing suited us better. Our cruise was in June on Avalon "Scenery" and it seems our experiences were similar. It also was a great trip. However I do agree that pre-cruise information can frustratingly tend to be more general than specific - it would be good to be told approximately how long you will be in a port, so you can research nice places for lunch and so on (we are foodies too.) Sometimes, I know, it depends on things like lock times, which they may not know in advance. I'm surprised that you did not know from the pre-cruise information that you would be in Avignon overnight however...that is quite frustratingly vague.

[traveler11001]

Glad you mentioned the optional tours! What is advertised on-line and what was offered can vary. I will try to attach to this post a copy of the two pages of information about the optional tours we were given when we boarded. The optional tours will vary depending on the time of year. The notable differences for us were that the Lavender Fields were in bloom in early July (I think they said the bloom lasts about 4 weeks) so we got that. The truffle farm doesn't have much going on in July so we did not get that as an offering. They combined the Pont du Gard and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting for us and left off a visit to Uzes. You probably won't know exactly what optional tours you are getting until you get there!

My mother and sister went to the lavender fields and thought it was a nice tour but seemed more impressed with the Gorges of the Ardeche. None of us went on the Burgundy wine tasting as we spent a week in Burgundy last year and "tour tastings" are at best average. We didn't go to the Olive farm either so I can't comment.

As far as must see is concerned, I can't recommend more highly the Pont du Gard visit! This structure should be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is breathtaking! Bigger than you can imagine and when you learn how and when it was built you will be amazed.

By the way, don't forget the "time on your own" at these ports of call. Check out the Valhrona Chocolate place in Viviers (not on the walking tour but they will tell you how to get there). We spent $125.00 on chocolate alone. Some of the best chocolate on the planet.

Spend time in Avignon at night if the boat stays overnight. Very neat city.

 

Bill

http://file:///T:/Bill/20100803083924136.pdf

http://file:///T:/Bill/20100803083917335.pdf

Hi Bill:

 

Thanks for all your info. I am leaving for this cruise on Saturday night. I have another question about what to wear. This is my first river cruise and I understand that it is a more relaxed atmosphere than the large cruises ships which I have done many. From a womens perspective how do they dress on the ship and off the ship. I was not planning on bringing any "dressy" oufits for dinner. Is that acceptable. I don't want to be inappropriately dressed. I assume a nice pair of slacks and a nice blouse would be ok. Nothing fancy. Also what was the weather like in July?

 

Thanks again

 

Dorene

[wbarrister]

You are correct. River cruises are much more casual than ocean cruises (from my perspective). Some men wore jackets to the Captain's welcome and departure parties/dinner but the overall feeling is more relaxed. The off ship tours do involve some walking and comfortable clothes were the norm. Check your long range temperatures (we had some hot! weather) and plan accordingly. The dining room itself is decorated informally so the "feel" is less formal as well, especially as compared to the typical ocean ship dining room.

 

If you plan ahead to have lunch in Lyon at one of their nice restaurants (the ship tour is in the morning and you should have free time by noon) you may want to include something a little more dressy. We had some reservations but canceled them. Avignon at night, after dinner, was very casual.

 

If we had not made plans to eat at some "fancy" places before the cruise I would not have even taken a blazer on the trip.

 

I will say that my mother and sister would probably be among the dressier people and might see it a bit differently (I am a casual dresser by nature).

 

I hope that is not confusing!

 

Bill

[richardgail]

We cruised with Uniworld on the Rhine River in April 2009, so I will refer you to that review which tells a lot about Uniworld and is located in the Member's Review section of cruisecritic.com. This review will tell you about the Burgundy and Provence region of France and is also being posted in the Member's Review section. As with our first sailing with Uniworld, this cruise was equally as good and Uniworld seems to go out of their way to make sure you have a wonderful cruise. The food was delicious with a French pastry chef who out did himself every day! Some of the chocolate on our pillow in the evening was Valrhona Chocolate that our cruise director said was the best in the world and chefs all over the world use it. We were able to visit the store in Tain Hermitage where we got to sample almost everything they made. The tours were all great and we took all four of the optional tours--we were afraid we would miss something if we didn't. Those who stayed on the ship traveled to a new port and we were told that the scenery was not all that scenic, so we were glad we took the optional tours. As an aside, we found the river cruising scenery the best on the Danube River and the Rhine River, while the Rhone River was not that scenic. But what was scenic on the Rhone were the ports--each one was wonderful, scenic, quaint, medieval, Provencal, etc. I can't say enough about the wonderful villages and great tour guides. This is a very special region of France and a wonderful river cruise.

 

For those who would like to do a pre and/or post cruise, we spent four days in Paris pre-cruise and three days at the Pullman Hotel at Marseille airport post-cruise. The Pullman Hotel at the airport made a good base for further exploring Southern France. The hotel had a five minute shuttle to/from the airport and we were able to get a bus at the airport to: Aix, Salon de Provence and Cassis. All three cities were wonderful and complemented all the other cities we saw on the cruise.

 

We do not drink wine, so I cannot comment on the wine quality as Bill has. But the tours to the wineries are very special because of what you get to see on the way--one tour we stopped twice to take pictures of the quaintest villages and old churches. Then the two winery tours we took ended in castles now being used as wineries. Instead of the wine tasting, we hiked around the area, toured the castle and I got some spectacular pictures.

 

You won't be disappointed in choosing this itinerary of charming Southern France.