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

[AttilaTheFun]

Thanks for the info, AttilatheFun! Hoo boy- sounds like I'll be setting an alarm after all & working out in the pm.

After reading the Cruise Companion itinerary, it appears as if there are very few optional pay tours & that they are mostly included. Very nice.....

Were there any tours that you wouldn't recommend bothering with? We tend to get bored of churches & buildings rather quickly & prefer to immerse ourselves in the food & beverage culture while people watching. I'd hate to spend all day on a bus if I could have walked around & seen the same sights. We're all very active & ambulatory & prefer not to be carted around. We want to see the important sights but don't necessarily need to know every detail, nook & cranny on them. Hopefully there's enough time to wander around after the tours....

 

My recommendation is to go on all the tours. Out of all of them that we did, only one of them had significant time spent on a bus. I thought the pacing was very well-done and they didn't go so in-depth that you got bored, instead opting for a nice overview.

 

The one excursion that has a good amount of time on the bus is from Linz to Salzburg, but it would be a shame to miss that town, so a bus ride is just the reality of the situation. Otherwise, you're docked fairly close to the towns and places you're visiting. In Vienna, the bus ride was around 20-30 min to get into the city, but we also hit morning rush hour traffic. I suppose you could use public transit to get around there on your own, but I liked the tour of the Austrian National Library, which I haven't detailed on here yet.

 

In Budapest, I would highly recommend the "Budapest Walking Tour of National Treasures" over the other option. The walking tour includes a visit to Parliament, which is difficult to get tickets for on your own, and I heard that the other tour spent more time on a motorcoach driving past sights, with very little time to actually see them off the bus.

 

Hope that helps!

[glamour]

Thanks for your response- very helpful! It's good to know the tours aren't the type that inundate you with TMI. Looks like we'll be doing the bus trip to Salzberg- I imagine the drive to be picturesque.

[Jernhon]

Thank you so much for the time & thoughtful effort that went into this fabulous post. It's an enormous help to those of us considering our first river cruise. Well done!

[TeaBag]

Yes, I add my thanks too for the wonderful pictures and descriptive posts. We, too are, looking at our first river cruise and we want to get it right considering the terrible experiences some had this year because of the floods.

[AttilaTheFun]

I think if you can afford it, you can't go wrong with Uniworld! From what I remember, they handled the floods very well in terms of offering refunds and future credits, even though they weren't required to. I think it says the most about a company when you have to deal with them during unfortunate situations and how they handle it!

[TeaBag]

I think if you can afford it, you can't go wrong with Uniworld! From what I remember, they handled the floods very well in terms of offering refunds and future credits, even though they weren't required to. I think it says the most about a company when you have to deal with them during unfortunate situations and how they handle it!

How right you are. I always thought Viking was the Mercedes of river cruising and now see I was completely wrong. You learn a lot from the CC boards, thanks to people like you. Thank you for the heads up re Uniworld.

[glamour]

Attilathefun....hoping you've got time in between your travels to discuss Vienna & Budapest. Your tips and pics have made my Danube trip planning so easy.

Did you get to try a coffee and dessert at Gerbeaud or is it a tourist trap like Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires? Christmas decorations have been erected already in stores here so I'm getting really excited for our Holiday Markets cruise.

[MTdreaming]

I just came across this thoughtful and informative thread. Thank you. We are trying to decide on a family trip for next year. We did a caribbean cruise with my two kiddos 4 years ago for high school graduation. We are now contemplating a southern Caribbean cruise or a European River cruise for college graduation. They are both (22 and 28) interested in history and culture, but also love water sports and are adventurous eaters. I am glad to see someone younger evaluating these trips as the impression is that river cruising is definitely the 55+ set now. My husband and I did two river cruises years ago in our early 30's (Nile and Rhine) loved them but know they are different now. Any advice? or thoughts? I know we are looking at two vastly different experiences. Thanks.

[AttilaTheFun]

Attilathefun....hoping you've got time in between your travels to discuss Vienna & Budapest. Your tips and pics have made my Danube trip planning so easy.

Did you get to try a coffee and dessert at Gerbeaud or is it a tourist trap like Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires? Christmas decorations have been erected already in stores here so I'm getting really excited for our Holiday Markets cruise.

 

So sorry, I am way behind, but planning on updating! There has been a lot of travel lately, but I have a lot of Vienna and Budapest pictures to comb through and tips to share! We stopped at Cafe Central and it was a beautiful building with decent service and very good pastry/coffee. It's definitely a tourist trap, but one worth visiting!

 

We only have 39 days left before we leave for Amsterdam!

[AttilaTheFun]

I just came across this thoughtful and informative thread. Thank you. We are trying to decide on a family trip for next year. We did a caribbean cruise with my two kiddos 4 years ago for high school graduation. We are now contemplating a southern Caribbean cruise or a European River cruise for college graduation. They are both (22 and 28) interested in history and culture, but also love water sports and are adventurous eaters. I am glad to see someone younger evaluating these trips as the impression is that river cruising is definitely the 55+ set now. My husband and I did two river cruises years ago in our early 30's (Nile and Rhine) loved them but know they are different now. Any advice? or thoughts? I know we are looking at two vastly different experiences. Thanks.

 

That's a tricky question! It really depends on what you want to get out of the vacation. The experience of a Caribbean cruise and a river cruise are nearly polar opposites:

 

• Huge price difference (if this is a factor)
  
• On a river cruise, the ship is pretty bare-bones in terms of entertainment and amenities, since you don't spend much time on it. The destinations are really the draw. Contrast that to some of the newest and most innovative cruise ships in the Caribbean right now, where you can spend a week onboard and still not have seen/done everything you wanted to!
  
• A river cruise is more akin to an organized tour - things are fairly regimented in terms of tours, meals, etc. although you can break off on your own at times or skip the included tours. The schedule is usually pretty packed and we were tired after it all - and we're only in our 20s! A Caribbean cruise is all about sun and relaxation - you can do as much or as little as you want.
  

Have you considered a potential happy medium of trying an ocean cruise in Europe? There are some fantastic Mediterranean itineraries from Barcelona to Venice, or vice-versa, that are usually around 12 nights and include visits to places like Istanbul, Athens, Mykonos, Rome (Civitavecchia), Florence (Livorno), and more? My sister and I did this itinerary on Princess last year and had a wonderful time. The watch-out is that ocean cruise ships typically dock further from the city center and transportation time getting to/from the major cities (especially Florence and Rome) can eat into your time in port. However, the port locations in Venice, Istanbul, Mykonos (had we stopped there), Naples, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona were all very convenient. You may also want to budget for some shore excursions/tours to make the most of your time, but we were able to DIY for several ports and see the major sights on our own.

 

There is an unfinished review of that cruise in my signature if you're interested in reading more, but that option could help provide the culture of Europe with the amenities/options of an ocean cruise ship. Just an idea!

Edited October 22, 2013 by AttilaTheFun

[MTdreaming]

Thank you for taking time to answer my questions in such detail. Those are really good points to ponder. I will look at your trip in the Med. We did take them 5 years ago to both Rome (10days) and Amsterdam (7 days), so that might be a happy medium as you say. I will ask them if they are more into the sights or the relaxation thing at this point as well.:)

 

On a side note, love that you travel so much and share that with all of us here.

[jc foster]

Hi again Attila the fun. We leave in three days for our cruise on the S.S. Antoinette , and we just did a reread of this review of the River Beatrice. I am aware of your Dec. sailing on the Antoinette, and I will attempt to post some type of review. Although I lack few computer skills I may be able to post some photos with my daughters assistance. Your post has been extremely helpful. My wife is an organizational nut and is currently preparing to cross pack our clothes using packing folders . It appears we will be carrying a 25 inch bag and a backpack each and will wear our cold weather gear on the plane ( cannot afford an airline loss such as you encountered in cold weather). Thanks again, Clark

[AttilaTheFun]

Hi again Attila the fun. We leave in three days for our cruise on the S.S. Antoinette , and we just did a reread of this review of the River Beatrice. I am aware of your Dec. sailing on the Antoinette, and I will attempt to post some type of review. Although I lack few computer skills I may be able to post some photos with my daughters assistance. Your post has been extremely helpful. My wife is an organizational nut and is currently preparing to cross pack our clothes using packing folders . It appears we will be carrying a 25 inch bag and a backpack each and will wear our cold weather gear on the plane ( cannot afford an airline loss such as you encountered in cold weather). Thanks again, Clark

 

Hope you have a fantastic cruise and please share your thoughts on the sailing! We have only about 4 weeks left before we leave for Europe! Glad my posts have been helpful.

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna

 

Apologies for the severe delay, which was partly from being busy/traveling and partly from procrastination! Between my sister and I, we have a ton of pictures of Vienna and Budapest, so it's become a bit daunting to cull them down to a reasonable number. I'm just going to dive in and see where things end up!

 

Our morning in Vienna started out with some light rain/drizzle. The River Beatrice docked near the intersection of Handelskai and Hausteinstrasse and the same Viking ship was docked with us, along with two other Uniworld ships - the River Princess and River Empress.

 

 

 

The bus ride into the heart of Vienna took about 30 minutes, but I think it was due to hitting rush hour traffic more than anything, since the other rides were closer to 10-15 minutes. We also did a loop around the Ringstrasse with the tour guide narrating about a couple of the sights along the way. The architecture was breathtaking, but looked so much better later in the day, when the rain had stopped and we explored on our own on foot.

 

 

Disappointingly, this is the only picture I got of the Secession Building, from the bus

 

 

 

The bus stopped near the Austrian National Library entrance, which is part of the Hofburg Palace. With umbrellas in tow, we walked a short distance and started the library tour. As a side-note, I quickly found that the iPhone is not great with pictures in low-lighting, so I'll use some of my sister's digital camera pictures of Vienna.

 

 

Entrance to the Austrian National Library

 

 

 

Entering the library

 

 

 

The carved statues were all incredibly intricte

 

 

 

The dome of the library

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

After the library tour, we passed by the stables of the Lipizzaner Stallions, but only caught glimpses of them.

 

 

 

Then we arrived at the entrance to the Hofburg Palace, which is so large and expansive that it's hard to get all in one picture!

 

 

 

 

 

The tour continued down another street, until we hit a pedestrian walkway. The tour guide was very informative about the history and accomplishments of Vienna.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2013 by AttilaTheFun

[AttilaTheFun]

Hm, looks like Google+ is acting up with my photos and some in my original Vienna post didn't turn out. Here they are again:

 

Entrance to the Austrian National Library

 

 

 

Dome of the library

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

The Plague Column

 

 

 

 

The guided tour ended at St. Stephen's Cathedral and we had two options - either wander around on our own for about 30 minutes and meet back to ride the shuttle back to the ship or find lunch in Vienna and stick around. The guide strongly encouraged the latter, saying it was easy to take the public transportation back to the ship, but we chose to meet up and use the shuttle back to the ship and get lunch onboard. During our free time, we managed to see the inside of St. Stephen's and St. Peter's Church.

 

St. Stephen's Cathedral

 

 

 

The inside was fairly plain, when compared to the other cathedrals we saw, and the windows had colored cellophane over them for some reason. You also aren't allowed to walk around the main part of the cathedral, although they let certain people in and we couldn't figure out why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2013 by AttilaTheFun

[Coli]

If you are there to pray - they let you in. I love St. Stephen's - after all that Baroque architecture, the Gothic style was a good change :)

 

Wonderful pictures and such a fantastic review of Beatrice and your trip. Thank you so much for sharing.

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

After walking around St. Stephen's, we still had some time left, so I wanted to look for the astronomical clock, which my GoogleMap pointed out as being right behind St. Peter's Church. However, the marker was definitely wrong, so we gave up and just went inside St. Peter's Church instead, which was fairly small, but incredibly ornate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By then, it was time to meet back with the guide to catch the shuttle back to the ship, so we speed-walked back to St. Stephen's. While waiting, we asked the guide about the location of the astronomical clock and he scoffed at us, saying the one in Prague was much better.

 

The ride back to the ship was fairly quick and we enjoyed lunch onboard. Uniworld actually ran a few shuttles in the afternoon from the ship into the heart of Vienna, which was very nice, because the second half of the day was just free time and they weren't obligated to do so. We hopped on the free shuttle back into the city, which dropped us off at the Vienna Opera House, and we explored on foot. I had printed a map ahead of time with some of the major sights marked, including a mandatory visit to Cafe Central to experience Vienna's cafe culture.

 

We didn't go inside most of the buildings, so these pictures will mostly be to give you an idea of the fascinating architecture of Vienna. Apologies that I don't have more information on what each of these sights. All of these things were around the Ringstrasse and made for a fantastic stroll.

 

Vienna Opera House

 

 

 

Hotel Sacher, where the famous Sacher Torte was created

 

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

 

 

Side of the Hofburg Palace - the Austrian National Library entrance is on the far left

 

 

 

There were far too many delicious-looking pastries in Vienna!

 

 

 

Cafe Central - one of the most recommended cafes in Vienna and we certainly agree!

 

 

 

The gorgeous inside of Cafe Central

 

 

 

It's quite a large place and while it was immediately clear that most patrons were tourists, the food and ambiance were excellent and the service was fine

 

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

At Cafe Central, I had to try the Sacher Torte while in Vienna and it was excellent - very rich

 

 

 

 

I can't remember what kind of drink I ordered, but I believe it included apricot liqueur

 

 

 

 

My sister tried a coffee drink with ice cream

 

 

 

 

We didn't realize that the pastries were on display to choose from until we were leaving

 

 

 

 

The University of Vienna

 

 

 

 

 

[MTdreaming]

I love Vienna! spent a week or so there 30 years ago. Went to the opera, the different sites, walked, walked, and walked. Definitely on my list to go again, and this is making me more anxious to do so. Thanks for taking the time to post pictures and do this review.

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

Some additional pictures from our afternoon DIY touring...

 

 

 

 

 

 

This statue appears to depict horse-punching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't remember if we missed the last Uniworld shuttle bus back to the ship or if the timing was inconvenient, but we used the Vienna metro on our own to return, using the Karlplatz station. The fare was 2 euros per person and could be purchased at a self-service kiosk. However, I had to use my debit card because it required a PIN number with the card to complete the transaction. The stop closest to where the river cruise ships dock is Vorgartenstrasse on the red line (U1) going towards Leopoldau (similar to DC, the direction of the metro is indicated by the last stop). From that stop, it was about a 10 minute walk back to the ship.

 

If you plan on using the Vienna metro, I highly recommend printing a copy of this map and taking it with you. It also came in useful for the following day, when we went out to Schonbrunn Palace on our own via metro.

http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//7/78/U-Bahn_Wien.png

Edited November 3, 2013 by AttilaTheFun

[GoldyClaire]

I will never take an ocean cruise again. The differences are all pluses to me in the River Cruise category. It is sophisticated and elegant. Ocean cruises are like Vegas or Disney - loud, crowded, cheap, tacky and filled with obnoxious partiers and screaming children. Ocean cruises are like Vienna - classic, full of art and history. No comparison for me. I refer the Louvre to the casino and theme park atmosphere of an Ocean cruise.

[AttilaTheFun]

Vienna (cont.)

 

That concludes our first day of Vienna. Uniworld's itinerary is fairly unique in that you have more than one day to experience Vienna. The first day, you have an included tour in the morning and then free time to explore and then the morning of a second day in Vienna and the ship sails around lunchtime. There was an optional concert excursion on the first evening that we did not attend.

 

I have some additional travel, but will hopefully finish writing up our second day in Vienna, which we spent exploring Schonbrunn Palace, by this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised last night to see The Amazing Race stop in Vienna and also visit Schonbrunn Palace - must be a sign that I need to wrap up this review! ;)