skinnylegs

3 hours ago, Flight96 said:

Well its a bit nerve wracking reading this thread ! LOL...We fly out in 1 week and sail on Sept 9th from Nuremberg to Vienna. Hoping for rain before we get there. Anyone know if Uniworld has cancelled any sailings on this route recently ?

Uniworld seems to have cruise itinerary changes on their "Port locations" page. As of now, they are not stating any changes to your itinerary. The S.S. Antoinette and the River Duchess seem to have slight changes to their itineraries for the next few days.

.

Thank you for your suggestions! We have several good options. I put in a request in to Private Prague Guide because it includes a tour of Cesky Krumlov (and also has good ratings on Trip Advisor) and we will use Prague Transport if they are not available. I will report back after our trip in September.

Hi, we need transport for 4 from Prague to Passau to join our Uniworld Danube cruise. We chose to do this pre-cruise city on our own. We'd like to stop in Cesky Krumlov for a few hours. Has anyone used a car service that they would recommend?  We are considering Prague Transport. Our travel advisor also mentioned Carey International. Thank you!

Our boat, Uniworld's S.S. Maria Theresa, will leave from Passau to Budapest on September 11. From what I read, we might run into water level problems going into Budapest. Are there any other parts of the river between these two towns that we should be concerned about? Notamermaid's comment about Linz has me concerned. I'd be ok with having some of our trip on the river but I don't want to be on a bus the whole time.  I'm not sure if we can postpone the trip at this point. Is there a chance that conditions will improve in 3 weeks? 

1 hour ago, Zonko said:

There may be no way to know, but I’ll ask anyway: How much rain would it take to get the Danube back to a level for cruising? I’m drawing some hope from the 14-day weather forecast. 

Yes, we are causing the Danube in a month and I'm wondering if we can move our cruise to October.

Gourmet Gal, Sorry, I meant those three Uniworld ships: S.S. Antoinette, Joie de Vivre and S.S. Catherine.

I have been on 3 Uniworld cruises: Rhine, Seine and Rhone. We are traveling the Danube this September. I believe all ships had a small gym with a treadmill, bike, some dumbbells at a minimum.

For a first cruise, the benefit of the Rhine (our first cruise) and the Danube is that you get to travel through several countries with little effort (you unpack once, hopefully) and planning. They are major rivers with a lot going on. The villages along the Rhine were right out of a story book.

The Seine and Rhone rivers were more quiet. I loved our Burgundy/Provence cruise last year. We traveled with many Covid restrictions in place so it was more quiet than usual. We started in Lyon, known for its food, Roman ruins and the French Resistance. All the towns along the Rhone and Saone were charming with endless opportunities to drink rose and other wines. Arles was one of our favorites with more Roman ruins and the site of many Van Gogh paintings. After our trip we took a train on our own from Avignon to Nice which was wonderful.

I enjoyed our Seine cruise since it was my first visit to Paris. However, if you have already visited Paris, Giverny and Versailles, it might not be your choice for a first cruise. Another thing to consider is that several of the excursions involved long bus trips such as the beaches of Normandy and Mont Saint Michel. I felt it was less about the river and more about the excursions, which were wonderful. 

All our cruises have been in September. The percentage of men wearing jackets for the captain's dinner and possibly the last night was about 33% on average, but more on the Rhone cruise. 

We used our credits primarily on extra excursions such as Mont Saint Michel on our Seine cruise. We didn't do any of the extra excursions on the Rhine cruise in 2018, but I think there was an opportunity to take a cooking class with a local chef in one of the towns.

I would be concerned about booking a Danube cruise leaving in a few weeks due to the low water levels of the river. We have a cruise scheduled for September and are anxiously watching water levels. Thanks to Notamermaid for all her help in this area.

I'm a big fan of Uniworld but I would be very disappointed if this happened to me. I think they should have offered you a larger credit. I'm sure you'll love the Rhone cruise. All the ports are beautiful!

It's been three years since we were on Joie de Vivre but they have English entertainment (I remember movies) on the TV's and I assume news. Most of their guests are english speaking.

There may have been a few tables for two. If it's important to you, I'm sure the dining staff can help you out.

If you booked a suite, with a butler, they should be able to serve you in your room. 

A cotton dress is fine. Some people dress up more for the captain's dinner night. I wore mostly casual dresses but have worn nice jeans and a blouse one night.

Enjoy your trip!

We also stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel Dieu before our Uniworld river cruise. It's a beautiful historic hotel on the Rhone that used to be a hospital and was bombed during WWII (now restored). We could have walked to our boat from the hotel but took a quick Uber. 

The hotel is a quick walk to Vieux or Old Lyon with plenty of restaurants, traboules (secret passage ways) and shops. If you have the chance, go see the Roman theater ruins on Fourvière Hill.  We also walked to the Resistance Museum which was worthwhile if you are spending more than a day. 

We really loved Lyon and every stop along this river cruise was wonderful. You'll have a great time!

We are also fans of Uniworld (took three trips and are booked for a 4th). While our tastes are more modern at home, vacationing on a Uniworld ship is like staying in a grand European hotel. We have only sailed on the "Super Ships," including the S.S. Antoinette on the Rhine, which was our first cruise.  However, we are open to other cruise lines depending on itinerary and price. I think you will be happy with either choice.

We just did this Uniworld cruise in September but started in Lyon. Loved it! I think it was my favorite cruise over the Seine and the Rhine. Arles was probably our favorite town (hard to choose).  I attached one photo from Arles below the coliseum.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct was amazing and although you are docked in Avignon, it is a short bus ride to the aqueduct.

We spent several days in Lyon before the cruise. The city is considered the gastronomical capital of France. We really enjoyed Vieux Lyon, exploring the shops, restaurants, traboules, and the Roman amphitheaters. Attached one photo of Vieux Lyon - lit up at night.

Mary - I'm enjoying reading your blog about this trip and all your other adventures!

nursinadream - We went on Uniworld's Burgundy/Provence cruise (wonderful cruise) in September and had 97 people on board. The boat has a capacity of 150. The group after us was probably half that. I had my passe sanitaire but my husband's did not come in until the last day of our trip. With Uniworld tours, we had copies of our passport and CDC card and that was sufficient. When we were on our own pre and post cruise, my husband got tested every 3 days in the pharmacies, to receive a QR code. In Lyon, two restaurants would not let him in without this code. The test results are emailed in about 15 minutes and it's easy to find a pharmacy to conduct the test.

Thank you all for your insights! I wasn't planning on visiting Prague but may add it on the itinerary.  I thought sailing into Budapest would be a nice finale but I do't think we can go wrong with either direction.

We will be booking a Danube cruise for 2022 (most likely on Uniworld). My inclination is to travel from Passau to Budapest and spend a few days in Budapest post cruise on our own. Since I am organizing this trip for a small group of people Is there any reason to that would make Budapest to Passau the preferred direction? Thanks!

23 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

That’s a nice inclusion that is missing on Uniworld and Tauck unless you’re in a suite.

Uniworld provides 1 free bag of laundry per person if they have cruised previously with the line, no matter what their cabin level is. Once you cruise with them you are considered  a River Heritage member. We enjoyed their Seine - Paris to Normandy Cruise in 2019 and just returned from Burgundy and Provence. We are so fortunate and happy we went. 

A few pictures from Day 2 of the cruise, Beaune and Chateau de Rully in Bourgogne/Burgundy. We took about an hour bus ride to Beaune. Our first tour was the Hotel-Dieu, a hospital for the poor, established in 1443. We could have stayed in the beautiful town of Beaune for lunch but opted for the tour (for an additional cost) of the Chateau de Rully for a wine tasting, lunch and a tour of the chateau by the charming Count Rully, who lives there with his family. The chateau has been in his family's possession for 26 generations. 

jpalbany - lol, I picked my screen name from a hamburger place on St. John, USVI

A few photos from Lyon!  View of hotel from Fourviere Hill, street in Old Lyon, and the Roman theater.

Merci beaucoup!

We will be on the S.S Catherine tomorrow starting in Lyon and ending in Avignon. What were you favorite excursions on this part of your trip?

If all goes well, I'll be on this itinerary next week on Uniworld. Thank you for your updates!

Thank you for the Uniworld Covid policy updates! We're leaving for Burgundy and Provence on 9/5. The Rhine on the S.S. Antoinette was our first river cruise. It was nice reminiscing via your report. Loved that trip!