Uniworld's River Tosca?

[49er]

I guess it would have been nice if UniWorld notified their customers 1st before having to read this on CC. Oh well, so far we have not been to impressed with them so this comes as no surprise. Looking forward to seeing Egypt and all it's wonders on the good ship "fill in the blank".

49er

[49er]

We are scheduled for a February Splendours of the Nile cruise. Now that it's official that the Tosca will be out of service then, does anyone know which ship will replace it? We booked with the expectation of a suite--this is a major disappointment.

 

Just talked to UniWorld.... MS Miriam will be the substitute ship

 

49er

[next trip?]

Yes, it would have been very nice if the customers had been notified first about the change in ships. this entire scenario has been bizarre!

Will there be any compensation since you will be on a different ship that does not have the suites.? Hopefully so!

As you noticed from my former posts we would have been extremely disappointed if our cruise was not on the Tosca. Like several of you, we booked only because it was new and had suites!!!

next trip?

[jperkin1]

Well, it will be interesting to see how this all turns out..... Guess I should learn not to book anything before it's built!! (Booked a wedding venue 3 months before it was scheduled to open for a wedding 7 months away, it never opened...) Live and learn!

 

We are scheduled for the Splendors trip that starts Feb 5th. 49er, you're scheduled after us, are you not? It will all turn out well, I'm sure!

[jperkin1]

The MS Miriam looks very nice, think it will be hard to go wrong!

 

http://www.egypthotels.net/msmiriam/

[49er]

jperkin1

Have you been in touch with UniWorld? We called yesterday and it looks like they are trying to make things "right". I found that web site yesterday and also found a few pictures of the Miriam on Flickr. The colors are a bit strange for the staterooms and the beds look as hard a rocks. I also wonder, since this ship is not owned by UniWorld, if there will be other tour groups on board from different companies. Oh well, gotta go with the flow I guess. We are on the Feb 26 Splendors tour so we will be after you.

49er

[Uniworld River Cruises]

Dear Valued Uniworld Travelers,

 

There has been quite a bit of information written about the River Tosca since it launched a couple of months ago, and I wanted to take this opportunity to personally give you an update on where things stand.

 

Over the last several years, we have seen a growing interest in Egypt, which is a glorious destination. As a company, we saw the need and opportunity to provide travelers to Egypt with a Nile River cruise ship that would be of a similar high standard as our ships in Europe. Uniworld commissioned the River Tosca with the goal that it would be one of the most luxurious ships to sail the Nile.

 

Unfortunately, we experienced some unexpected challenges in introducing the River Tosca and we are not happy with the current quality of workmanship finishes in several areas of the ship. The most obvious examples are the floors in the staterooms, main stairwell and corridors which were damaged and scratched during the installation; the mosaic tiles in the restaurant; and the paint and woodwork in the staterooms. We have therefore made the decision to dry dock the ship for seven weeks to correct the current deficiencies. The ship will therefore be out of service between February 1, 2010 and March 19, 2010.

 

We do have an alternative ship, the Miriam, which we will use while the River Tosca is dry docked. Uniworld has successfully used the Miriam prior to introducing the River Tosca and the ship is a good substitute. The crew from the River Tosca – including the Hotel Manager, Executive Chef, and Executive Housekeeper, all Uniworld employees from our European operation, will be onboard the Miriam. We will also bring onto the Miriam some of the special amenities currently available on the River Tosca, such as bed linens, robes, slippers, and bath products. We will be offering a compensation package to those clients sailing on the Miriam as we understand that some of our guests will be disappointed with the ship change; however, we will work very hard to ensure they still have a wonderful vacation in Egypt.

 

We are also going to proactively reach out to our guests who are traveling prior to February 1 to update them on the status of the River Tosca.

 

This was a very difficult decision because we know that this will have an impact on our valued guests – some who have chosen to travel with Uniworld because they wanted to experience the new River Tosca. It is also a difficult decision because, even with the current deficiencies of the ship, the overall feedback we have been receiving from guests who have already traveled on the River Tosca is very positive. The Cairo program, the Tour Managers, the excursions, the food, and the service onboard the ship have all been very well received. And of course the destination itself is fabulous. It is however the right decision for us to make.

 

Uniworld has built our very good reputation today on being a very reliable river cruise operator and we are committed to providing our guests with a fantastic vacation experience and value – in every region where we operate. When we re-launch the River Tosca in March, we are confident that we will achieve this commitment in Egypt.

 

After several years of successfully launching ships in Europe, the experience in Egypt has been a humbling one for me and the entire Uniworld team. I want to personally apologize to any of our guests who we may have let down and please know that we are working hard to achieve our stated goal of operating a luxury product in Egypt.

 

Kind regards,

 

Guy Young

President & CEO

Uniworld River Cruises, Inc.

[jperkin1]

49er - We have not been in touch with Uniworld. I was getting ready to get in touch with my travel agent, just to see if she had heard anything.

 

Honestly, we are not that distressed about it. Our cruising experience, so far, has been the big ships, we have never done a river cruise. As mentioned, I really didn't book this trip for the ship, I booked it for the Egypt experience, which, thankfully, there seems to be no complaints about that part of it! We will be celebrating our 29th anniversary, we'll be traveling with friends that knew us before we were married, and we're checking off a place on our bucket list :) As long as Continental is still flying, and there's a ship that is sailing, I'm as excited as I have been since we booked it!

[jcrandle]

Well, it will be interesting to see how this all turns out..... Guess I should learn not to book anything before it's built!! (Booked a wedding venue 3 months before it was scheduled to open for a wedding 7 months away, it never opened...) Live and learn!

 

We are scheduled for the Splendors trip that starts Feb 5th. 49er, you're scheduled after us, are you not? It will all turn out well, I'm sure!

 

I hope the marriage turned out better than the wedding venue.;)

[jperkin1]

jcrandle: so far, so good :) It was my daughters wedding, the original venue took care of placing us elsewhere, at a place we never would have looked at, because it was too expensive! All's well that ends well...

[letsgo39]

http://www.icruise.com/ships/uniworld-river-cruises-m.s.-miriam.html

 

 

It looks very nice.

[Jete]

We are booked on the Feb 19 Splendours cruise. Have any of you heard what amenities, compensations, etc. will be offered for those of us who booked on the cruise with the expectation of an all-suite luxury ship? We have traveled with Uniworld before--they go the extra mile and make the trip fabulous. Hope this lives up to our expectations.

[letsgo39]

We are booked on the Feb 19 Splendours cruise. Have any of you heard what amenities, compensations, etc. will be offered for those of us who booked on the cruise with the expectation of an all-suite luxury ship? We have traveled with Uniworld before--they go the extra mile and make the trip fabulous. Hope this lives up to our expectations.

 

 

You might post your question directly on the Uniworld Facebook page.They respond quickly on there.

[Uniworld]

We understand that our guests who are currently booked to sail on the River Tosca may have questions about their upcoming trip. We are currently in the process of contacting all bookings for River Tosca sailings between now and March 19, 2010. In the meantime, if you would like to speak with one of our representatives about your upcoming River Tosca cruise, please contact your Preferred Travel Professional or Uniworld at customerservice@uniworld.com or by calling us at 1-800-733-7820, Monday through Friday, 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Pacific Time.

 

Thank you very much.

 

The Uniworld Team

[jperkin1]

49er: my e-mail address is ellies fav at g mail dot com (no spaces and figure you know the rest..). E mail me, if you would like to :)

[geddyupgo]

Hi Everyone ~

We are new to cruising and to cruise critic but I am so glad I found this group! Sounds like you have a wealth of information and knowledge, all of which I'm going to need to get through this "vacation" with my sanity somewhat intact. My friend and I decided to take the "trip of a life time" to Egypt and, of course, booked on the River Tosca for the Feb. 12 tour. To his credit, our agent at ***** called us with the news about the Tosca dry dock about an hour before it posted on the Uniworld site. He didn't have a great deal of info about the substitute ship (MS Miriam) but he did have the information about the discounts Uniworld was offering us because of the ship change. I think some of the discounts may vary depending on when and what (category) you booked but I believe everyone will be offered some type of compensation if you choose to take the substitute ship.

 

We are going to Egypt for the experience of the culture and the marvelous monuments but I have to admit we were looking forward to that spanking brand new ship. I've been reading some of the earlier posts and it sounds like true travelers with an adventurous spirit just accepted the conditions of the decor as part of the experience but I do understand Uniworld's point in maintaining the image of their ships. Look out for maiden voyages!

 

I would like to know if anyone has sailed on the Miriam before. It is now over 10 years old. The official Miriam website says it was renovated in 2004 and the CEO's message indicated that they would transfer an many items (linens, bath items, window treatments, etc) and staff members as possible. I have an open mind but this is an expensive jaunt and I definitely don't want to have to "take to the oars" with the rest of the galley crew in the middle of the Nile. The Tosca was listed to be pretty "all inclusive"and included free bottled water at dinner and in the rooms so I'm told (by the ads). I will try calling Uniworld tomorrow (right after I talk my friend into continuing with our travel plans -- because who knows when the Tosca will really get out of dry dock!) and see what they have to say.

 

Any info you folks have on Nile cruising, the Miriam, and the over all Egyptian experience will be most welcome. Thanks for your help (and for listening to my rant!).

Geddyupgo

[shoshona2]

Hi geddyupgo,

 

We returned from a two week trip to Egypt and Jordan on November 10th and thoroughly enjoyed our Nile cruise. Our tour started in Egypt and included a three day Nile River cruise and then four days in Jordan. We loved our adventure and looking at all the photos we took will always remind us of this wonderful vacation. The Egyptian people are very warm and friendly -- get used to guards with guns -- since Egypt doesn't want any problem to occur with any tourist there. The sights are fabulous and I picked up glossy tour books along the way. While you are on the cruise, there will be an Egyptian evening --we all bought the local garb which they sold on our boat for $10. It was great fun. I'm sure that you will have a good time and I'm quite sure that Uniworld will make sure you will!!! I suggest you also scroll down to "Ports of Call" and hit on Africa. There are many posts there regarding Egypt travel. Take lots of single $1 bills with you for the postcards and bookmarks that they sell at every site. By the way, I started taking an acidophilus capsule with each meal two weeks before and then chewed a pepto-bismal tablet with every meal while on vacation. I had no stomach distress.

 

Sheila

[opal21]

Has anyone sailed The Nile on The Miriam? Can you give a review? I spoke to Uniworld and they said they are taking all the furniture from the Tosca (including beds) and putting them on the Miriam. One thing we won't have is Wifi.

 

49er are you still sailing on 2/26?

 

Carol

[49er]

I spoke to Uniworld and they said they are taking all the furniture from the Tosca (including beds) and putting them on the Miriam. One thing we won't have is Wifi.

 

49er are you still sailing on 2/26?

 

Carol

Hello Carol,

Yes, we will be on the Miriam sailing the 26th of February. That is good news about the bedding. In reading next trip? 's review, she said the bedding on the Tosca was very comfortable:-) Have you received any written confirmation from UniWorld yet on their "compensation" package for the ship substitution?

We went over to San Francisco yesterday to see the King Tutankhamun exhibition that is currently on tour. Really got us in the mood for our upcoming trip to Egypt:-)

49er

[next trip?]

I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year!

I am so glad to hear that they are moving the bedding to you "new" ship. The River Tosca had very, very comfy beds! Nice mattresses and wonderful fluffy duvets. It sounds as if Uniworld is trying very hard to make everything right and going out of their way to move furniture etc. to make you as comfortable as possible. I know you will enjoy your trip and lucky you, looking forward to a great trip after the holidays!

Merry Christmas!

next trip?

[jperkin1]

next trip? Would love to hear your suggestions about what to pack (or not to pack...)! Were dinners dressy? Would slacks & a nice top be appropriate? Were there some nights that were dressier than others. I'm sure that we'll get this info, but would sure appreciate any insight you may have!

 

Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you also!

[49er]

I guess I will chime in here and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and prosperous New Year, Y2K + 10. Where did that decade go???

 

49er

[geddyupgo]

I too would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday. We're also interested in getting a "jump" start on what to pack. We will be on the Feb13 tour. In addition to the questions about "dressy" evenings and the appropriateness of slacks, does anyone know if the evenings are cool on the Nile in February? Also, I think our intinerary calls for a visit to a Mosque when we are in Cairo. Does anyone know the appropriate dress code for women (arms covered, head scarfs, slacks???)? Any information is appreciated.

 

Deb

[pacmom]

We were there in Feb. The mornings were cool, but as the day advanced it got warmer. Dinners were not dressy. There was one galaba(spelling) nite--some bought from the river vendors at the one lock--great fun to watch, don't nap thru this. Tuck a lite scarf in your purse for the mosque-otherwise you will be given one of theirs. Shoulders and knees need to be covered. Pat

[opal21]

49er our TA did confirm compensation and when I spoke to the Uniworld the rep. he said they will start crediting this week. Excellent recommendation to carry a scarf for entering mosques.

Best wish for Happy Holidays and a very good New Year.

Carol