Uniworld River Royale 7.7.07

[MrsDave]

We returned home from our trip on 7/19.

It was a fabulous trip. Here are the details:

We arrived in Marseille and the Uniworld rep met us and took us to Arles to meet the ship. We chatted with some of the passengers from the week before and learned that they also had a wonderful time.

We were 76 passengers on our cruise..Americans, UKers, Canadians...

The ship..the newest in the line is beautiful..the rooms are done in china blue toile for the walls and the bathrooms are clean and sleek...very good water pressure in the shower..the bed has additional drawers that pull our for storage...we had the room with the sliding glass doors and balcony.

The food was excellent..the portions just right...not overwhelming and the presentation each night was beautiful...buffet for breakfast and lunch..hot and cold. The staff is always smiling and cannot do enough for you.

Each day when we returned they waited with cool moist towels and greeted us at the door as we stepped in with an iced tea or juice...

This was our first River Cruise and I will not go on a large cruise ship again..the experience was interesting, intimate and delightful.

Our cruise manager was Alexandra Six and she couldn't do more for us.

I was very skeptical as I had heard others on here relay that Uniworld and some of the other lines that are not European are 3 star at best.

We are very picky and as Americans are used to finer quality. I will say that we felt that this ship was 5 star....(sorry for those that find the other lines more appealing). We felt that the relaxed ambiance more than met our needs and we weren't forced into formal gear that some of the European lines require...after all, this is vacation!

We were quite comfortable in all of the announcements being in English and we felt right at home.

During the week there was an accident on the Rhone, a ship transporting cement got stuck and we were unable to sail the last two ports.

We all thought the way Uniworld handled the situation was beautiful. They had the solution thought out before they even told us and the last optional tour to Burgundy was given to all free of charge. It was a great trip to a chateau and wine tasting. And we saw all the ports.

We took the TGV to Paris after the cruise and spent 4 days..another wonderful memory.

If anyone would like any specific details, please feel free to contact me..

Thanks!

Tina

[CincyAL]

Sounds like a great trip. Any advice on hotel in Paris?

[MrsDave]

I would suggest the Best Western Pergolese.

Tina

[KiwiKruiser]

Hi Tina,

 

So good to hear that you had such a great cruise, thank you for the positive report about Uniworld.

We will be on River Princess in September, Amsterdam / Budapest. (one of the older ships I believe) hope we are as lucky as you on our first river cruise. Previously we have enjoyed the large cruise lines and have also visted Europe several times. Now we are looking forward to something different.

 

greetings from NZ

[pacmom]

Mrs. Dave,

 

Welcome back---glad you enjoyed the cruise. It was so wonderful last year. My favorite was Beaune tied with just about everyplace else. Pat

[MrsDave]

Dear Pat,

YOU were so right..thanks for all the information..and..the time you spent with me..answering all of my questions and concerns...

You are the best..already looking into our next river cruise..it's the only way to go.

Tina:)

[pacmom]

Mrs.Dave,

 

Thank you for the kind words. The forum has been so helpful to me--just glad to be able to pass on info and experiences. Maybe someday we'll meet on a cruise. Our next European rive cruise will be Christmas cruise in 2008. Pat

[Trouvailless]

Hi KiwiKruiser. Promised to report back on our River Princess experience, which was all good. If you want to see further details please check my review on the main Reviews page. As you will see we did the Amsterdam/Budapest direction so some of the info may be of particular interest. If you need any further details please post and I will check it from time to time. Have a good holiday.

[aneka]

Hi MrsDave,

My husband and I have been thinking about doing that exact same cruise in Sept 2008. Glad you had a good time and have such positive things to say about Uniworld. We traveled to China with them in 2003 and had a wonderful experience.

 

Did you fly with Uniworld, or arrange your own flights? I see you were met in Marseille, so you must have done Arles to Chalon. Did you do Paris on your own or through Uniworld? Was it easy to arrange to travel from Lyon to Paris?

 

Thanks for your input. If you would prefer to email me I can be found at aneka0925@aol.com. Thanks for you help,

Annette Thomson

[KiwiKruiser]

I have read your review on the member review pages, your descriptions leave me feeling confident that the River Princess will live up to our expectaions. How nice to be treated to a birthday cake complete with sparkler on top! Is it possible to stay on board when the included tours are scheduled? We will enjoy visiting the ports etc. but may just occasionally take a break. The very hot weather being experienced there recently should be more pleasant in the early autumn.

Thank you for filing the report, our bookings are all in place so now we wait in anticipation.

[hobse]

KiwiKruiser,

 

Yes, you can stay on board during included tours, nothing is mandatory. Enjoy !

[Bobblsc]

Hi Tina,

So good to hear that you had such a great cruise, thank you for the positive report about Uniworld.

We will be on River Princess in September, Amsterdam / Budapest. (one of the older ships I believe) hope we are as lucky as you on our first river cruise. Previously we have enjoyed the large cruise lines and have also visited Europe several times. Now we are looking forward to something different.

greetings from NZ

I saw kiwi and I knew I had to chime-in. I am in love with Kiri Te Kanawa. She has the most exquisite soprano voice I will ever hear. Unfortunately, I have never heard her in person, but there is a TV program which we get here that often has her singing so beautifully. This is "Classic Arts" which is shown here from 11:00 pm till the late hours. We have listened to her many times and I have recorded several of her songs. We also have CD's including her singing Madame Butterfly arias and "Kiri and Friends", recorded, I think, in New Zealand in 2004. I have never written a fan letter, but if I could find the place to send one, I would do so to her. What you in New Zealand may lack in quantity, you certainly have in quality.

 

But the USA should have kept the America's Cup.

 

We took a Uniworld river cruise on the Danube in 2005. This was from Bucharest, via Constanta, to Budapest. It was generally very good. The only major problem was that the front desk was confused about the 12 hour and the 24 hour clock. This caused a problem when we left the ship to go to the airport. Otherwise all was very good. We recently returned from a Uniworld tour in China, and that was fairly well done. Our major complaint was that there was absolutely no time on our own to explore stores there. We made up for this somewhat by going to Japan on our own after the tour.

 

If you like music, go to the Budapest State Opera. The building is beautiful and the performance will be great. If you decide to go, get your tickets now. When I found the web site it was too close to the performance date and the best tickets I could get were third row box. However it was center and we had almost the full stage in sight. The tickets cost only $2.00 each. That is not a mis-type, $2.00 each. Better seats will cost more, of course.

 

You can find a good web site to purchase tickets. If you can't let me know.

 

One final thing. Watch out for the Budapest taxis. Some will cheat you even though they are metered.

 

If you need more info, write me.

 

Bob :cool:

bobe at uark dot edu

[KiwiKruiser]

Yes, we are proud of our opera star, earlier this year Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was singing with the New Zealand Symphony orchestra on a national tour.

On August 18th 2007 she will be performing with the same orchestra at the Hawkes Bay Opera House. P. O. Box 303. Hastings. New zealand.

 

This years Americas cup was very exciting, the whole country was behind our team. They are already preparing for the next. Did you know that New Zealanders were represented in crews from other countries, they are much in demand.

 

Thanks for your info about the Budapest State Opera, I will look that up.

I am thankful we have transfer arrangements made with uniworld so should not require taxis, I have noted your warning about over charging. I have picked up such a lot of useful hints from these boards.

Thank you all.

[Trouvailless]

Hi KiwiKruiser. Bet you can hardly wait. Yes it is more than possible to stay on board, and the night before an excursion there is a briefing about 6.30 (before dinner) when you are given the very fullest description of what you can do and see, how long the excursion will probably be, and what the terrain will be like - for instance about 500 yards of cobbled road, or perhaps 20 steps - just to help you decide whether or not to avoid going ashore at that time. On staying aboard there are usually a handful of guests who do so, some because they want a break, some because they have overdone the walking and visiting the day before! Depends, but on two occasions when we stayed on board whilst the boat re-moored at a place further up the river/canal than the excursion party had been dropped off, afternoon tea was provided. Don't know if this is always the case, but think it could be. The upside is of course plenty of time to enjoy your buffet lunch, which is probably as much as one usually eats at the main dining on most cruises, then of course being able to relax and perhaps to chat to others who have not been in your particular group or whatever. On deck the Captain also is ever present as the wheelhouse is in the centre of the sundeck, and he gives info from time to time on what the boat is about to pass, the height of the bridges or locks, etc., and it is definitely worth doing if the option is yet another Bishop's Palace or Baroque church and the heat of going ashore.

 

I didn't mention the laundrette in my review by the way for those who are interested. There is one, and it is free to use, although the Ariel tablets have to be purchased at €2.10 for a double tablet pack. There are two washing machines and two driers, and an ironing board. There is also quite a queue for using these and an afternoon onboard is a good way to get ahead of the line and out of the way before the others come back! There is a small library, a couple of tables and easy chairs, and tea and coffee machines, with fresh fruit available as well, in the area just near the laundrette, so pretty convenient. No charge is made for the drinks of course. Someone else queried whether there was any latte and capuccino available. This is a river cruise with a limited number of staff and there is no continuous supply of anything like that, but all the landing places have excellent cafes so no need to suffer caffeine withdrawal symptoms. There IS continually offered coffee and teas of all sorts during the mealtimes, however.

 

The River Princess program included an evening in Vienna, as I think I mentioned, and, although not the Vienna State Opera, it was absolutely splendid, with quality performances. In Budapest where we stayed for the two days after the cruise, we were situated just by the Opera House but didn't have time or indeed inclination with the temperature at 39 degrees, to spend the evening indoors. However there didn't seem to be any sort of line outside so I guess it is quite easy to get tickets as they have performances all through the year. In case you are in Budapest on a Sunday, although it is a Catholic country and the majority of the shops are closed, the town is very lively, and certainly the main clothing and fancy goods stores were open in the afternoon. There were several New Zealand couples on board on our trip, and of course many Australians. The North Americans made up the main part of the passenger list, and we were only four from Europe, two being from the UK and us two from the Channel Islands. Expect there will be more in future when we have spread the word!! Hope you have a really good trip. Look forward to your post-cruise postings.

[Trouvailless]

Oh dear, Mrs Dave. I don't want to start World War III here but what makes you think that Americans are pickier than Europeans when it comes to hotel and dining quality? I can assure you that we have very very high standards, and are very quick to comment to hotels, cruises, etc when anything is not quite up to scratch. We always choose American cruise liners and in this case river cruisers because we enjoy the joie de vivre of the Americans, but are sure that the standard of cuisine and accommodation on comparable European-owned vessels meet the expectations appropriate to their claimed star ratings. We travel extensively and constantly in France and the Netherlands, and have in the past done so in Spain and Italy, and obviously do not always hit gold, but probably 85% of the time the star rating expected has been achieved. Enjoy anyway.

[MrsDave]

Oh dear, Mrs Dave. I don't want to start World War III here but what makes you think that Americans are pickier than Europeans when it comes to hotel and dining quality? I can assure you that we have very very high standards, and are very quick to comment to hotels, cruises, etc when anything is not quite up to scratch. We always choose American cruise liners and in this case river cruisers because we enjoy the joie de vivre of the Americans, but are sure that the standard of cuisine and accommodation on comparable European-owned vessels meet the expectations appropriate to their claimed star ratings. We travel extensively and constantly in France and the Netherlands, and have in the past done so in Spain and Italy, and obviously do not always hit gold, but probably 85% of the time the star rating expected has been achieved. Enjoy anyway.

 

Dear Trouvailless...

No..of course you aren't starting WWIII...we so enjoyed the friends we made...New Zealanders....UK'ers...Aussies...to be quite honest and blunt..there were several posts awhile ago..from someone who indicated that Americans are not as aware of 5* luxury like Europeans who enjoy going on European lines...it kind of made my blood boil..and..to be frank I was trying to make a point!..so, I apologize if I was taken out of context...but, the individual said that Uniworld was 3* at best...I wonder if they have been to NYC?...<smile>

Have a great and wonderful trip..we are already looking into another cruise...

Tina

[Trouvailless]

Dear Mrs Dave. All is forgiven! We also really like the opportunity to meet people from other parts of the World and hear their take on all sorts of things. I hadn't seen the previous messages you referred to, but can now understand your comment. I do believe that there are major, indeed very major, cruise lines, where a sort of class system exists. Many friends indicate that according to the type of stateroom you have chosen for whatever reason, on some cruisers you are only entitled to use some of the facilities, including restaurants, within your category. Wow! Whatever one pays for a cruise the whole liner should be available to use, I believe, as the advertising which would have encouraged one to book that cruise in the first place would have made great play about all the things there would be to do, and never mentioned that there were restrictions according to "class". Sounds like the Dark Ages to me. Certainly Celebrity, RCCL and Uniworld, which are the companies we use, don't have that attitude, and we always enjoy our cruises. Good luck in your search for your next cruise.

[letsgo39]

We are very picky and as Americans are used to finer quality. I will say that we felt that this ship was 5 star....(sorry for those that find the other lines more appealing). We felt that the relaxed ambiance more than met our needs and we weren't forced into formal gear that some of the European lines require...after all, this is vacation!

We were quite comfortable in all of the announcements being in English and we felt right at home.

 

Mrs Dave,

 

I am an American and I have traveled to Europe many times.I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. This statement was really arrogant.:eek: I am embarrased for you. The very best part of traveling is absorbing the culture of the other countries.

[MrsDave]

We are very picky and as Americans are used to finer quality. I will say that we felt that this ship was 5 star....(sorry for those that find the other lines more appealing). We felt that the relaxed ambiance more than met our needs and we weren't forced into formal gear that some of the European lines require...after all, this is vacation!

We were quite comfortable in all of the announcements being in English and we felt right at home.

 

Mrs Dave,

 

I am an American and I have traveled to Europe many times.I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. This statement was really arrogant.:eek: I am embarrased for you. The very best part of traveling is absorbing the culture of the other countries.

 

Dear LetsGo,

If you have been on the boards I am sure you have come in contact with a person who will remain unamed...who continually and without forethought...speaks of the American geared River Cruise lines as being less than desirable..or as they put it "3*at best"....my "comments" were a subtle way of letting them know...that whatever makes anyone happy should be sufficient...so, please don't feel "embarrassed" for me..as I am proud to be an American and all it stands for...I have a love for my country and a respect for others...it seems interesting...that the person subtley referenced...who has been so vocal in the past...remains ever silent.....perhaps things are not always as they seem, Dear LetsGo and should not be judged but should be discussed.

Tina

[steamboats]

If you have been on the boards I am sure you have come in contact with a person who will remain unamed...who continually and without forethought...speaks of the American geared River Cruise lines as being less than desirable..or as they put it "3*at best"....

 

Tina,

 

Your comment sounds like you´re speaking of my person. I´m am rating the river cruise companies focused on the US market as 3-4 stars. I never said that the US cruise lines are "less disireable". No, definitely not! I´m convinced that these lines do provide a very good product which is pleasing the focused group of travelers very well. These companies definitely did their homework and know the market and what the passengers are expecting.

 

But if anyone is asking for the most luxurious cruise line (and a real 5 star experience) then I have to answer there are others out there providing a more luxurious experience. This has nothing to do with the fact that those two cruise lines aren´t US but German. They are simply focusing on another crowd of passengers. Believe there are cruise ships out there on the German market which I won´t advise you to go on. But there´s definitely nothing wrong with the major cruise lines plying the US market.

 

I´m glad you had a wonderful cruise experience and felt like you were treated 5 star. I´m just trying to stay objective. Feelings are always subjective. I never do rate anything or anyone just because one waiter didn´t know his job or because I didn´t like a certain fare. But I definitely think there´s a difference between a 4 course dinner and a 9 course dinner, 3 cooks and 10 cooks, 1 waiter for a table of 8 or 4 waiters for a table of 8. Those are the small things which are adding a star or two.

 

I am definitely not very picky but I do know fine quality!

 

steamboats

[MrsDave]

Dear Steamboats...

Thank you for the clarification...I see from your history that you enjoy traveling the American rivers....I am happy that we have aired our differences...it's interesting...because originally I did book on a German line...but, cancelled..due to the smoking policy and I learned that the announcements were made in German and I wasn't sure if I would feel comfortable...I will share that there is a vast difference (in my opinion only...being very careful here as not to be taken out of context and chastised) between the idea of a European 5* hotel and an American's viewpoint...we were not at all thrilled with our choice of hotel in Paris...not because we are arrogant...but, because I think we were expecting something else...in life...expectations set are expectations met...are we thinking of another River Cruise...yes! will we go on Uniworld again?...I don't know...I need to do some research...I have met some wonderful people on here (you know who you are!)...so....we can all agree that this is a wonderful forum for giving and getting information...

Sincerely,

Tina

[gmccune]

Mrs. Dave,

Saw your review on the Uniworld River Royale. Sounded great We're booked for the 08/23/2007 Rhone cruise and can't wait to get there. We've been to Provence, Nice, Arles, and Avignon on other trips but are looking forward to seeing the Rhone river region. Can you comment on the wine service with dinner? Added cost? Included? Are you allowed to bring it back to the boat from the day trips?

Appreciate any info you have.

Gary

[Rockin' Robin]

Mrs. Dave.

We are booked on the Rhone River cruise Sept. 30th. I was happy to read your pleasant review. I'm curious about your train trip to Paris after the cruise. We are doing the same thing. Did you take a train from Chalon Sur Saone to Dijon Ville & then on to Paris? Did you purchase your tickets ahead of time on line? Also, is there a formal night on the cruise? My husband & I like to travel with a minimal amount of luggage & I'd like to know what clothes are appropriate for dinner. I also hear that there are fabulous restaurants in Lyon. Did you eat dinner off the boat? Thanks in advance for all your help & suggestions.

Robin

[mymk4u]

We took this cruise (Chalon to Arles route) in June and loved it! The boat is absolutely beautiful and the crew is great. We didn't order wine with dinner but several in our group did. The cost is extra and will be billed to your cabin. You may bring wine back to the boat but if you want it served in the dining room they charge a "corkage" fee. If you drink it in your room or on the sundeck there is no charge.

 

There are no "formal" nights on river cruises. We did have a Captains farewell dinner and most of the men had jackets. I took a travel knit "little black dress" that worked fine. I would call the dress code for dinner "resort casual". Breakfast and lunches are casual...shorts allowed. No shorts at dinner. Most of the men wore sport or polo shirts and dress pants. Women wore nice pants outfits or casual dresses. We didn't take a ton of clothes (did a lot of mix and match colors) and used the laundry service onboard for shirts. It was pretty hot on the tours even in June and hubby needed to change shirts often.

 

All dinners were on board however we went with a large group and our group leader arranged a special dinner for us at a bistro in Lyon. If you want to dine off the boat for dinner talk to the Captain and see what he says. Dinner is a served meal (no buffet) and they would need to make arrangements for less meals. Also the boat does have a timetable to leave port and you'd want to make sure you're back in time.

 

We did 3 days pre-trip in Paris and we were bused to Chalon. I'm not sure if our travel agency arranged this or Uniworld but it was a 5 hour bus trip. We would take this trip again in a heartbeat. It was fantastic!!!

 

Linda

[pacmom]

Next year Uniworld will be offering free wine with dinner. Pat