Roll Call - Uniworld All European Jewels Cruises 2009

[jollyroger2]

Hello, everyone, hoping to get a roll call going for The European Jewels tours - Amsterdam to Budapest or Budapest to Amsterdam. My DH and I will be on our first river cruise and are flying into Amsterdam on Oct. 8/09, boarding the ship Oct. 11, disembarking in Budapest Oct. 25 and flying home to Canada Oct. 28. Have been reading lots of the posts and are getting excited already, looking forward to 134 passengers instead of the 2450 on a NCL cruise. As you can see we did a B2B on the Jade last April and really want to see as much of Europe as we can while we are young enough to take the long flights. Look forward to hearing from fellow travelers. Sherri

[doc&bug]

We are booked on the European Jewels ,The River Queen on August 22, 2009. This is our first river cruise, so we really don't know what to expect. We booked with Costco and have booked two extra days at the Grand Softotel in Amsterdam.

[texastart]

See my reply to Doc&Bug....LOVE RIVER CRUISES!!!

[Margaret1]

Sherri, we will be taking the same cruise October 11 Amsterdam to Budapest. This will also be our first river boat cruise. Must say, I am also getting excited. Brian and I have always sailed on large cruise ships. We are both looking forward to a smaller, laid back cruise. This is definately going to be an experience.

 

See you on board.

Gail

[schullsr]

Sherri,

My wife and I are getting packed to go on the May 10 Budapest-Amsterdam sailing. This will be our first river cruise and first time in Europe so we are really looking forward to the adventure. Will let you know how it goes on our return.

 

Steve

Dallas TX

[KarlS]

Hi,

 

We haven't done this itinerary (yet), but we did sail on River Queen, Amsterdam to Basel, in May last year. She was terrific, a bit more unique than some of the other Uniworld European ships, and her crew/staff were excellent (as they were on our two River Duchess cruises). We have a few pics on our web site, along with copies of the daily programs and port info sheets. Scroll to the bottom of http://www.hillrisefarm.us/Cruising.html and click on the link next to the River Queen photo. If you have any questions about River Queen, you can email me at karl@hillrisefarm.us. Cheers! :)

[jollyroger2]

Hi, Karl, we are looking to take the Amsterdam to Basel for our next river cruise. Would you recommend this trip? Viking also has a similar trip, so don't know which line to go with. I'll look up your link and enjoy the pictures. Sherri

[KarlS]

Would you recommend this trip? Viking also has a similar trip, so don't know which line to go with. Sherri

 

Hi Sherri,

 

We would absolutely recommend the Amsterdam-to-Basel itinerary with Uniworld. We had a wonderful time. Going down the Moselle and enjoying the villages and cities along the way was definitely a fun voyage. As you can see from our signature, we've cruised with Uniworld now three times in three years, and we've booked the Uniworld River Baroness Paris-to-Paris "trip" (since the ship only moves twice in seven nights, it's hardly a "cruise" ;) ) beginning December 12th.

 

Although we've never sailed with Viking, my sense from my original research and following threads/postings here, Uniworld and Viking are very similar. Just do your own comparison on itinerary first, find out which excursions/tours are included in the booking price, etc., peruse postings in the River Cruising forum, and then book your cruise. I'm sure you can't go wrong with either Uniworld or Viking. :)

 

Cheers!

 

...Karl

[jollyroger2]

Sherri, we will be taking the same cruise October 11 Amsterdam to Budapest. This will also be our first river boat cruise. Must say, I am also getting excited. Brian and I have always sailed on large cruise ships. We are both looking forward to a smaller, laid back cruise. This is definately going to be an experience.

 

See you on board.

Gail

 

Hi, Gail and Brian, Don and I look forward to meeting you on board on Oct. 11. When I set up the roll call I really didn't think I would find anyone on our exact cruising date! When are you flying into Amsterdam? Sherri

[jollyroger2]

Hi Sherri,

 

We would absolutely recommend the Amsterdam-to-Basel itinerary with Uniworld. We had a wonderful time. Going down the Moselle and enjoying the villages and cities along the way was definitely a fun voyage. As you can see from our signature, we've cruised with Uniworld now three times in three years, and we've booked the Uniworld River Baroness Paris-to-Paris "trip" (since the ship only moves twice in seven nights, it's hardly a "cruise" ;) ) beginning December 12th.

 

Although we've never sailed with Viking, my sense from my original research and following threads/postings here, Uniworld and Viking are very similar. Just do your own comparison on itinerary first, find out which excursions/tours are included in the booking price, etc., peruse postings in the River Cruising forum, and then book your cruise. I'm sure you can't go wrong with either Uniworld or Viking. :)

 

Cheers!

 

...Karl

 

Hi, Karl, I think I hijacked my thread myself. We'll get it back on track for just the 2009 European Jewel trips. Sherri (although the 2010 with $2000.00 price reduction just came thru email today)

[jollyroger2]

Sherri,

My wife and I are getting packed to go on the May 10 Budapest-Amsterdam sailing. This will be our first river cruise and first time in Europe so we are really looking forward to the adventure. Will let you know how it goes on our return.

 

Steve

Dallas TX

Hi, Steve, how was your trip? All future cruisers would be interested in any imput you have.

Thank you, Sherri

[Margaret1]

Sherri, Brian and I will be flying into Amsterdam early afternoon on October 11 if everything goes according to plan. We are flying with Lufthansa. I just wished they had a direct flight from Newark, NJ but it just didn't work out. We will be going to Munich and than on to Amsterdam. Little nervous about changing planes but I guess it will work out. Can't wait to me you and Don. Gail

[jollyroger2]

Hi, Gail, you should be good with Lufthansa, they are very reliable. Really looking forward to sharing time with you and Brian in October. BTW, I can be reached at whiskey_flynn@msn.com . Sherri

[jollyroger2]

Does anyone know which berth Uniworld has near Central Station in Amsterdam and if we can go from Dam Square (the RHO hotel) to the berth easily with 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons? I'd like to save the taxi fare is possible. Thanks.

[jollyroger2]

Hi, river cruisers, does anyone know if there is such a thing as a bar setup on a river cruise? On our NCL crusies you could order alchol for your room before your trip? Not that we are big drinkers but it was nice to have a pre dinner drink while relaxing in our room.

[schullsr]

To Sherri (and anyone else who is interested)

 

My wife and I did the European Jewels cruise on May 2009 and I must say that it was better than we expected. We flew from Dallas Texas via Luftansa to Frankfurt then connected to Budapest. The flights were long but the connection was pretty much effortless. Unfortunately the AC on our flight to Frankfurt was not up to par which made the flight a little uncomfortable. Once in Budapest we were met at the airport by easily identifiable reps of Uniworld and loaded onto a bus for the ride to the boat.

 

The River Empress was very clean, well maintained and a joy to travel on. The crew went beyound themselves to help out and everyone was in a perpetual good mood no matter what issues were thrown at them. The food was better than many high end restaurants we have eaten in and the wine with dinner was flowing freely and was quite good. The onboard self serve laundry has 2 washers and dryers that are free. Soap is purchased from the front desk for a nominal sum. The dryers are very slow but you can speed up the entire process by running the washer through an additional spin cycle. This will save you hours and aggrevation.

 

The ports of call ranged from large cities such as Neuremburg to small hamlets and all had one thing in common... the people were truely kind and hospitable. We had no trouble with the language as most places had people what were conversant in English. In the few places where we did have language barriers, sign language and gestures served us well.

 

For those that asked about Amsterdam, when we took the cruise we docked at a different slip than what is normal apparently. The usual slip is on the other side of an inlet and very near the Central Station. If this is the one it ultimately docks in for when you sail than it will be within a fairly easy walk from Dam Square. Where we docked was a bit far for a cross country hike with suitcases. I think I would take the cab instead as I don't think it would be that expensive.

 

The Grand Sofetel is very beautiful but is undergoing some remodeling. The room we had was HUGE and the bed was the largest I had ever seen. The location of the hotel is central and an easy walk from the Floating Flower Market, Dom Square and the Red Light District. Be prepared for the smell of burning marijuana as you pass "coffee houses". The one bad experiance we had was choosing an outdoor patio restaurant for a dinner and halfway through the meal having several young ladies sit at 2 tables upwind from us and all of them light up the weed. We soon learned that smoking (of any kind) is prohibited INSIDE the restaurants etc but is allowed outside. One note about Amsterdam...there are approximately 750000 people in this city and 1.4 million bikes. Be very careful where you walk and NEVER step off a curb, no matter how narrow the sidewalk, without looking. You will get run over by a "suicide biker". I would recommend the canal cruise, a short distance from the hotel and across from the Flower Market. You will see some very interesting buildings and barges.

 

Hope this helps.

Steve H

Richardson Texas

[schullsr]

Jollyroger2

On the Uniworld River Empress you could order wine as a bonvoyage gift but you had to do it quite far in advance. Several passengers did buy wine and liquor during the shore excursions and the bar tenders were very good about giving glassware and cork service when asked. I usually made sure I tipped a little extra.

 

Steve H

Richardson Tx

[jollyroger2]

Steve, Thanks for your review and the info. on wine and liquor. I can't believe the trip is coming so soon! Good to hear again that the dress code is more relaxed than a big ship. Just have a few concerns about what the weather will be like in Oct.

Sherri