Uniworld, Viking, Avalon, Vantage for Danube Cruise?

[Byairorsea]

Hoping to book a Danube cruise to the Black Sea for late summer or fall 2005. How does one choose from the above other than cabin size and/or price? All seem to be similarly priced for 14 day cruise. I find the most "reviews" on Viking, but how does it compare with the others? We are in mid-50's, numerous ocean cruises, but this will be our first river cruise. I'm especially excited about the eastern ports and countries - a new frontier for us. Your comparisons most welcomed !!!

[bwm]

We have travelled with Viking (Rhine cruise - 05/03) and Uniworld (Danube cruise - 05/05). We have also docked (barged) with Avalon and Vantage ships so we have been on all of them.

 

Viking is a little more hands on as far as keeping up with their passengers on shore tours. They like you to wear name tags and stay in groups, etc. I found Uniworld to be a little more easy going in that respect. They provide group opportunities but also let you know you are free to do your own thing if you choose. We did not have name tags at all.

 

The dining room service on Viking was better than Uniworld. We found a great waiters on both of our river cruises and tried to sit in their section. Once we found the waiters we liked, the service was comparable.

 

I also thought the food was comparable on each cruise. You will hear people complaining about every line you travel with and there is a lot of envy for the other lines. Everyone always thought the other ships we docked with had better stuff than us. For the most part, this was not true.

 

A really nice feature with Uniworld was they would meet you at the door with a cool fruity drink almost every time we returned to ship. They acted genuinely pleased to see you return. Yeah, I know that is their job! The entire Uniworld atmosphere is more casual. The captain and co-captain were friendly and approachable. We called them by their first names and chatted with them frequently. On Viking, we did not see the captain or co-captain much and they did not mix with the passengers at any time other than the welcome evening and the farewell dinner. There was a language barrier so that may have been part of the issue there.

 

Cabins were almost identical on each ship we travelled. (Viking Danube and Uniworld River Princess). They had hotel style beds (double or twin) with almost identical square footage. Uniworld provides robes for each passenger - a nice little touch. A few of the Vantage and Avalon ships we barged with had the beds that let down from the wall. Those cabins are about 20 sq ft smaller which doesn't sound like a lot. Take my word for it - it makes a huge difference. The other side of that coin is that you are not in the room a lot so you can decide if that is important to you.

 

The local guides used by each line were excellent and the included shore excursions were great. Neither line nickel and dimes you or encourages you to buy "extras". For that matter, there are not that many extras unless you are a big drinker.

 

Bottom line - I don't think you could go wrong with Viking or Uniworld. From everything I know, I feel you would probably be equally happy with Avalon or Vantage. We were thrilled with both of our cruises. Good luck and have fun!

[lilreckster]

I'm not sure about your info on Avalon cabin size. We purposely booked with them because they have larger cabins than the others. go to Avalon.com and you will see the cabin sizes and configuration. Other lines are much smaller.

[obriendan]

I would strongly suggest that you include Grand Circle Tarvel in your search for a quality river cruise. They have eigh river boats that are quite new. We have taken one of their river cruises and it was excellent. You can't beat GCT for quality and value. See another tread in this section concerning GCT.

[DGF]

Hoping to book a Danube cruise to the Black Sea for late summer or fall 2005. How does one choose from the above other than cabin size and/or price? All seem to be similarly priced for 14 day cruise. I find the most "reviews" on Viking, but how does it compare with the others? We are in mid-50's, numerous ocean cruises, but this will be our first river cruise. I'm especially excited about the eastern ports and countries - a new frontier for us. Your comparisons most welcomed !!!

 

Just noted your post and were wondering if you did proceed with your Eastern Danube Cruise and your experiences. We are considering it for Sept 07

 

Thanks

[pacmom]

DFG,

 

We took this cruise in Aug 2004. I strongly suggest that you take it from the Black Sea to Budapest, amsterdam or Vienna. We went all the way to Amsterdam. The countries of Bulgaria and Romania are still quite depressed and not a great way to end a cruise. We used Uniworld. It was wonderful. You just need to research all the companies--see what they offer for the included price, what the itinerary is and go from there. Safe travels. Pat

[nowornever]

Be sure you get a detailed, & I do mean detailed, itinerary & you know exactly how active or inactive the trip is. We found the trip on the Amadeus Princess from Black Sea to Passau to be entirely too inactive & we're early 60's. (See Amadeus Princess Thread) It all depends on what you're looking for & what you've seen before. You can't lose with a Tauck itinerary, & we had friends who did Viking who loved it. Are you doing the whole Danube/Rhine or just the lower part of the Danube?