Uniworld trip

[jibeho52]

Hello, We have just booked our first river cruise on Uniworld's European Serenade, on the River Duchess. Could anyone provide me some advice or comments on Uniworld, its ships etc. Thanks and have a great day.

[Studebaker59]

We're going on our second Uniworld trip this June. Obviously, we loved it!

 

It's very relaxing and intimate. The audio earpieces for the shore excursions made it so easy to hear the tour guide while taking the walking excursions. The food was excellent. The cabin is small, but really was fine.

 

This year, wine will be included at dinner. Breakfast & lunch were buffet-style. Dinner was served sit-down.

 

We wore comfortable clothes and shoes. We wore the nicest of our outfits for the Welcome & Farewell Dinners, but certainly, not as dressy as on a big ship cruise. The entertainment was local musicians.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions.:)

[tiggypooo]

Hi Ji:

I did that exact cruise last year.

Email me at tiggypooo@yahoo.ca and I'll answer any questions that you have and I'll also send you some of my pics.

tiggy

[Bobblsc]

Hello, We have just booked our first river cruise on Uniworld's European Serenade, on the River Duchess. Could anyone provide me some advice or comments on Uniworld, its ships etc. Thanks and have a great day.

 

We have taken a Uniworld Danube from Bucharest to Budapest. It did not actually start in Bucharest, but did have two nights there before busing to Constanta to start the river cruise. Our ship/boat was the Countess or Princess and the cabin was fine, about 150 square feet. The food was good, if not great. The tours from the ship were all well done, particularly the ones from Bucharest, where the guide was a great and intelligent young lady.

 

Our only major problem was a time misunderstanding for our flight from Budapest, and an awakening which was much too early that morning.

 

My memory is that the Duchess is an older boat with smaller cabins, but it should still be OK.

 

We also recently took a tour in China with Uniworld, and it was fine.

 

While currently expensive because of the Euro, you will find that river cruises are very interesting. We have been on three.

 

If you are ever in Budapest, go to the State Opera. It is beautiful and very inexpensive. Because it is inexpensive, seats sell rapidly, so book early from the U. S.

 

Bob :cool:

[pacmom]

We have taken 5 trips with Uniworld. One was on the River Countess a sister to the Duchess. They are clones. Our cabin was 172 sq.ft. The bathroom was more than adequate. Plenty of storage space. The only mistake we made was to take a cabin forward on the 2 level. BOW THRUSTERS!!!!!! We sailed from the Black Sea to amsterdam---lots of locks, some during the nite. At dinner they would serve a regional dish along with others. We love the open seating at all meals. The ship was immaculate. Room usually cleaned by the time we returned from breakfast. The self-serve laundry became a meeting place and the were no problems getting your laundry done. Staff and guides were very good. In fact, when we reached Budapest, the chef and maitre'd were replaced. The hotel manager was not pleased with their behind the scenes performance. During that time the food was quite good. They also replaced 2 of the wait staff. These were not vacation replacements. Have always felt that you get good value for the price. We have done one Viking--only complaint was the cabin--one daybed and one pull down. All cabins on this trip were exactly alike. Everything else was very good. Everyone has a favorite line--some never deviate, others look at the itinerary and then pick the line. You should be able to have a comfortable cruise. Enjoy. Pat

[captgeo]

We were on Uniworld's River Duchess a few years ago from Amsterdam to Vienna; it was a great trip in every respect. We didn't hesitate to go with Uniworld again this past October on Portugal's Douro River. We didn't have a single complaint on either trip. Hope your experience is as good as our's.

Best wishes...

[CruiseLiz]

Here is what we really enjoyed about cruising with Uniworld:

 

• Fellow passengers were well traveled, friendly and all English speakers. At dinner one evening we enjoyed the company of a well known children's book author and a Lt. General of the US Air Force.
  
• Our cruise director was very visible and helpful with tips on the destinations we visited.
  
• Food was very very good.
  
• No attempt to up-sell you at any time.
  
• Lovely ship and comfortable stateroom.
  
• Great guides in each stop. The tour guides were so knowledgeable.
  
• Little extras like a hot drink when you come aboard, lunches with authentic regional cuisine in some ports, lovely gingerbread cookies all over the place, etc.
  
• Lots of Uniworld repeat passengers, so they must be doing something right.

I honestly can't think of one thing we didn't like about the cruise. It was perfect.

 

And now they've added wine with dinner, you can't go wrong.

Enjoy your cruise!

[badger71]

as msot of the meals are on board, do people feel they are missing out on part of the European trip by not eating in local restaurants?:)

[KarlS]

I second CruiseLiz's comments.

 

We took our first river cruise on River Duchess in the spring of 2006, "Tulips and Windmills". We liked that experience so much, we took Uniworld again in May 2007, also on River Duchess (only because of the itinerary/dates), from Vienna to Amsterdam. The second cruise was even better than the first. Maybe half of the staff was familiar on our second cruise, so that bodes well for passenger satisfaction. We're booked on River Queen's "Legendary Rhine & Moselle" this coming May.

 

If I were forced to come up with something that could be improved, it would be adding email access aboard. It's not that we couldn't find Internet cafes ashore, but sometimes when there are emergencies at home, you need email while underway.

 

Just two months from today, we'll be having our first dinner aboard, in Amsterdam. Hooray!!! :)

[KarlS]

as msot of the meals are on board, do people feel they are missing out on part of the European trip by not eating in local restaurants?:)

On our "Tulips & Windmills" and Vienna-to-Amsterdam itineraries on River Duchess, we found many of the days ashore you have plenty of free time after the part-day local walking tour to duck into local restaurants for afternoon snacks, tea, etc., or after supper to stroll around and pop in to a local spot for a drink. :)

[micked10@earthlink.net]

KarlS,

We are taking the windmills and Tulips cruise on the River Queen on Apr. 16, 2008. I noticed from your post that you have already taken it. Is there anything or any suggestions you might have for us?? Any information will be helpful. We are arriving in Amsterdam 2 days before the cruise and although we were there 3 years ago for several days we are open to any suggestions. We are also staying in Brussels 5 days at the completion of the cruise. Anything special to do or see?

Thanks for any help.

micked10

[dakrewser]

as msot of the meals are on board, do people feel they are missing out on part of the European trip by not eating in local restaurants?:)

 

No more so than on any cruise...

[KarlS]

We are taking the windmills and Tulips cruise on the River Queen on Apr. 16, 2008. Anything special to do or see?

I wish I could help. (There are others posting here that'll have good info for you).

 

Since you've already been in Amsterdam (more days than we've been), you know what a nice city it is to explore. We're going through our tourist books now ourselves, trying to figure out what we'll do with our two days (the day we arrive, and then the first full day with Uniworld (when we'll go out to explore on our own because we already "did" the local guide tour on our "Tulips" cruise)) on our upcoming "Legendary Rhine & Moselle" cruise. There are several good Amsterdam tourist bureau web sites, so you might try them. We never got a chance to see Brussels, since the ship docks in Antwerp, and we only saw the Brussels airport on the day we disembarked River Duchess. (I couldn't coerce my wife to stay a few extra days to see Brussels on that trip). ;)

 

Have a terrific cruise!!

[micked10@earthlink.net]

Thanks KarlS for your quick response. I think we will go to the Keukonhoff Gardens on our own so we are not rushed. The tour only seems to spend 1/2 day there and although that may be enough I don't want to feel like I have to hurry through. I will look inot the tourist web-sites and I am sure we will find many things to do.

You have probably taken the canla cruise but if not it was interesting. Also, the Anne Frank House is well worth a visit. Enjoy your cruise too.

micked10

[KarlS]

You have probably taken the canla cruise but if not it was interesting. Also, the Anne Frank House is well worth a visit.

We did get to the Anne Frank House before, which was humbling, to be sure. (My wife taught the "Diary of Anne Frank", so it was a "must" for us). We have a canal cruise on our list for this coming trip to do on our own while everyone else is on the included day tour. Last year's Legendary itinerary spent extra time in Amsterdam at the beginning of the cruise, so they had time to include the canal cruise, (which isn't included this year).

 

If you do have extra time, you'd be well off spending it at Keukonhoff. We only had the half day, and we could've spent many hours more. We did feel a bit rushed.

 

Have a fun cruise!!! :)

[micked10@earthlink.net]

Thanks KarlS. We get into Amsterdam on the 14th in midafternoon and will probably be exhausted from our long flight from Missouri. I feel we probably won't do much that aft. We are going to spend the day ( or however long it takes us) on the 15th at the Gardens. We board our cruise around 5:00 on the 16th so we will be able to take in a few more sights.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Gardens.

have fun on your cruise too.

micked10

[Suite 16]

A few years ago we visited Madurodam, which is Holland in miniature (but not tiny.) We took a bus from Amsterdam, as I recall, and spent an hour or more walking along the paths. All of Holland is spread out to enjoy - dikes, airport, cities, people, etc. We were charmed! Also a chance to see some of the country side.