Uniworld River Beatrice, Enchanting Danube: Thoughts, pictures, and menus

[Ship's Wake]

I would also like to commend you Atilla, for excellent and accurate reporting (calling your work a review does not do it justice). We have done 3 Uniworld trips and think highly of them.

 

One thing I would like to offer to people considering a Uniworld or similar river cruise: special diets. My lady has some fairly severe food allergies and eats a primarily vegetarian/vegan diet. On Uniworld, literally every day the head waiter or Matre’d would find us and go over the menu to ensure there were safe offerings for her. The level of care taken was most impressive.

 

Agree completely. We've been on three river cruises so far (all on Uniworld) and have been quite impressed by their attention to detail.

[Ozjohnno]

I too would like to add my compliments to Atilla for one of the finest presentations I've ever read on CC. You are to be complimented on your attention to every detail of your cruise outlined by your words and pictures. Well done.

[Cruzin Terri]

Thanks so much for your informative review and wonderful photos. It is really helpful for those of us making decisions regarding future river cruises.

Terri

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

We are new to river cruising and will take our first next year. You have presented a fantastic summary of river cruising with pictures and text. Even though we will be on a different line, you have illustrated and described what I am sure will be a very similar experience for us.

[Keith1010]

wonderful photos and comments.

 

Keith

[STUR]

Your Pictures are fantastic

We will be on Uniworld Ambassador June 30th 15 days

Cant wait

 

STUR DAYTON,OHIO

[coolerchick]

Thank you SOOOOO much! I was trying to decide which line to take but after seeing that dessert table... Uniworld is back on top!

 

Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[nana541]

What an incredible review, beautiful pictures, menus, wow wow wow!

Thank you for taking the time to share your great journey :)

 

 

So nice to read good and happy news for a change.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for a great review so far. Looking forward to the next part (which should be dinner -- yum!).

[AttilaTheFun]

I'm back! Thank you everyone for the very kind words!

 

Before I get to dinner, wanted to cover off on...

 

Miscellaneous Meals

• Compared to an ocean cruise ship, I thought I would miss the 24/7 food availability and a huge buffet. However, we did not go hungry and found that Uniworld did their best to provide food outside of the normal meals.
  
• The Lounge had an assortment of food items available from after lunch time through the beginning of dinner time. I never used this option, but the menu had some light entrees and desserts, along with a cheese platter.
  
• Tea time was in the Lounge each day from 4-5pm, but we weren't very impressed by the offering. We only went on embarkation day and the food consisted of three types of mini pastries, three types of sliced fruits, and three types of finger sandwiches that had the thinnest amount of filling physically possible and must be made on the European equivalent of Wonder Bread. Of course, there was tea and coffee available as well. This was a very disappointing food offering as we look forward to tea time on cruises. Princess offers many more sandwich and pastry options that were tastier than what Uniworld had to offer.
  
• Three times during the cruise, there was a special dinner hosted in the Captain's Lounge at the back of the ship, which was transformed into a very intimate dining room for the occasion. The first instance of this dinner, I believe was on embarkation night and was only available to suite guests. The second two instances were available to everyone else on a first-come, first-served basis by reserving at the Reception Desk. There were only about six tables of four each, so it's important to sign up for this opportunity right away if interested! The Reception Desk had both menus available so that we could choose which one sounded better. Note that there are no options - it's a set menu. The dinner was a very nice experience and they even used metal cloches when bringing the hot food to the table to make a dramatic, coordinated presentation of lifting them. The meal consisted of a salad, soup, entree, and dessert and we thought was excellent.
  
• There were also 2-3 cocktail receptions before dinner with free sparkling wine cocktails, which was a nice touch.
  
• At two separate places on the ship, there were coffee/espresso machines available 24/7. I found the quality to be very good for a machine. Near the one in the Captain's Lounge, there was also a setup with iced tea, water, and two kinds of cookies (changed daily).
  

 

 

 

 

Tea time spread in the Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Captain's Lounge transformed for the Captain's Dinner - can't beat the view!

 

 

 

Salmon salad at the Captain's Dinner

 

 

 

 

Bacon-wrapped veal at the Captain's Dinner

 

 

 

 

Linzer tart and ice cream dessert at the Captain's Dinner

 

 

 

 

One of the sparkling wine cocktails in the Lounge, I think before the Captain's Farewell Dinner

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Coffee/espresso machine in the Captain's Lounge

 

 

 

 

Water, iced tea, and cookies in the Captain's Lounge

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Dinner

• We thought dinner was very good to excellent each night. As mentioned before, sometimes we had to add some salt or pepper, but the food quality was high and the options varied.
  
• Table sizes ranged from 4-8. I didn't see any tables for two, but I suppose if you went to dinner very late, maybe you could get a table of four for just two of you. Basically, make some friends and sit with them or move around and meet new people each night.
  
• I am not a wine connoisseur by any means, but enjoy a glass every now and then. I found the wine to be very good, with some nights being better than others, but probably just personal preference. I never heard one complaints about the complimentary wines, including from a couple that owns a wine store!
  
• Portion sizes were on the small side. We were often so torn between multiple appetizers or entrees that we asked our waiter for a couple options. He was at first a bit baffled, but came to expect this from us after a few nights - whether that's a good or bad thing! :D
  
• Bear with me... I took pictures of the food and can't remember what most of it is at this point! The dinner menu always included a list of three appetizers, two soups, four entrees, and three desserts (with one always being a fruit plate). Vegetables & starches were listed in a separate section of the menu, but not really meant to order separately - each dish came with one or two.
  

Dinner menus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Dessert menus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can start the food pics with dessert...

 

Gundel (from last dessert menu)

 

 

 

 

Mango sorbet (from last dessert menu)

 

 

 

 

I think these were the petits fours

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Can't remember what this one was

 

 

 

 

Another beautiful dessert I can't remember the name of

 

 

 

 

Okay, moving backwards to the appetizer pictures!

 

Prosciutto appetizer

 

 

 

 

Caesar salad

 

 

 

 

Tomato and mozzarella appetizer

 

 

 

 

Shrimp salad

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2013 by AttilaTheFun

[AttilaTheFun]

Hungarian filled pancake appetizer with shredded chicken and paprika sauce - one of my favorites!

 

 

 

 

Fried goat cheese salad

 

 

 

 

End appetizers, start entree pics

 

Steak frites

 

 

 

 

Some kind of fish dish

 

 

 

 

Stuffed beef dish

 

 

 

 

Vegetarian cauliflower gratin entree

 

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Wiener schnitzel

 

 

 

 

Combo of two entrees - pork and lobster/shrimp pasta

 

 

 

 

i forgot to mention that in addition to dessert, there was also a cheese table each night at dinner.

 

 

 

 

That's it for my thoughts/pictures on the ship for now. At some point, I'll post some tips on the ports we visited and pictures. Our embarkation port of Passau is currently seeing the worst flooding in five decades, so I hope everyone in that region is safe and making out okay. Very sad news to hear and we feel extremely lucky to have gone when we did.

[remydiva]

Your food pics and buffet, tea, lounge photos are amazing. Shows that Uniworld is head and shoulders over the c**p we were served on one of the new Viking Longships at xmas time. We had a Cat A cabin which was kinda space age in design and a real balcony with two chairs.

Had it not be 0F and windy, we may have even opened the door.

 

It looks like Uniworld wins hands down in the food dept...JMHO.:rolleyes:

[pully8]

lovely pictures.thank you.

[bonecrusher1942]

Add my name to the long list of people giving you kudos for an excellent post covering your river cruise with Uniworld. I love all your photos. I'm ready to go sooner now. Very sad about the current flooding.

 

I had one major question after viewing the menus. There were many occasions when I would have been torn amongst the offered entrees. However, you mentioned the portions were on the conservative side and that you confused them with your requests for a couple of entrees when ordering. Would you say they were opposed to a request for an additional entree once you polished one off and found that you wanted something more? Or would they limit the entrees to what was requested originally because "the kitchen was no longer open" or something.

[remydiva]

I think I saw that your CD was Markus...is that really tall 6'7" Markus? If so, we had him as our CD on our Uniworld Holland Belgium Tulips and Windmills cruise in April 2009 and he was FABULOUS!

 

One day, one of the locks on the river broke and we had to be bussed around while someone went 'into town' to buy parts to get the lock fixed! The boat carried on and met up with us later in the day after our tour to Kohler Muller museum and we had to scramble down a river bank to get onto the ship. Poor Markus had the phone glued to his ear all day negotiating buses, drivers and the ship to make the rendevous happen!

 

He sure was easy to pick out in the crowd being so tall!

[twoboys]

Thank you once again for your generosity. Taking the time to post your amazing photos of the food and the menus is greatly appreciated. It has also given me the incentive I need to drastically diet for the next 2 weeks before I leave on the Queen Isabel! This way I can drink Port and eat dessert, guit free on my vacation :)

[AttilaTheFun]

I had one major question after viewing the menus. There were many occasions when I would have been torn amongst the offered entrees. However, you mentioned the portions were on the conservative side and that you confused them with your requests for a couple of entrees when ordering. Would you say they were opposed to a request for an additional entree once you polished one off and found that you wanted something more? Or would they limit the entrees to what was requested originally because "the kitchen was no longer open" or something.

 

We always asked for the "double entrees" at the time of ordering. I think if you waited until you finished your first entree, that would confuse them even more. I don't know if we were throwing off their rhythm or what... One night, our server gave me both full-sized entrees, but another night, he gave me the full entree and a small portion to try of the other entree. Not a big deal or anything, but our server just seemed really confused about the whole thing. I'm sure he went back and told his colleagues something like, "These Americans can really pack it away!" :eek:

[AttilaTheFun]

I think I saw that your CD was Markus...is that really tall 6'7" Markus? If so, we had him as our CD on our Uniworld Holland Belgium Tulips and Windmills cruise in April 2009 and he was FABULOUS!

 

No, this Markus was maybe 5'8. He was very good, but a bit too long-winded for my tastes.

[jc foster]

Thank you for the great post. We are booked for a Nov. cruise on the S.S. Antoinette, and I noticed that you are booked on her in Dec.. I noticed that your ship had a laundry, and I hope that there will also be one on the Antoinette since we are traveling light and will be traveling to Lucerne post cruise. This will be our first river cruise and we will be sailing from Amsterdam to Basel. Could you please tell me what time you are allowed to board the ship?

[remydiva]

No, this Markus was maybe 5'8. He was very good, but a bit too long-winded for my tastes.

 

AttilatheFun....your name jiggled a memory that i was sure i had read one of your reviews before and now,when I sacn down your signature, I see you did the Grand Med on the Ruby last June...we went in Aug so I had read your reviews etc.

 

THAT was my fav cruise EVER :)