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Uniworld are wonderful. You don’t need a roll call, honestly you get to know people quickly. Have an amazing trip.

 

 

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Thank you! We have done a lot of research and are very excited for this trip based on all the terrific feedback.

Catherine

Thank you all for the math angle. Had not considered that! Makes perfect sense.

Catherine

We are new to river cruising (as my many earlier posts can attest) but we are not new to ocean cruising or to joining roll calls on CC to meet fellow travelers ahead of time. Yes, mostly to create DIY private excursions when in ports, but it was also fun to "know" folks before we boarded.

I must confess I am missing having a roll call. Are river cruise roll calls not popular because excursions are built in so there is no need for them? Or perhaps because the boat is small and we will get to know most people once on board? Would love to know.

Catherine

PS, we will be on Uniworld's Budapest to Prague in July. We will be the definite newbies! Looking forward to meeting other CCers who are on that cruise.

I think we will try the cooking class! We generally love them as well. Thanks to all for your mouthwatering posts and for a gastronomic tour of the region.

This sounds exciting and your response is making my mouth water! Are there specialties we should look out for - even apart from the cooking class.

Catherine

Our Uniworld cruise Budapest to Prague in July includes an optional Bavarian country cooking class. On past trips, we have enjoyed this type of excursion. Does anyone have experience with this particular one?

As always, and lately it has been always, thank you for the tips!Catherine

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I believe you cook some of the things you bought ashore but you come back later for the meal prepared by staff

 

At least that is how I understood previous posts on the topic

We never do Oceania ship excursions but we are very glad we made an exception for our food market Shopping with Chef, lunch, and paella demonstration in Valencia Spain. It was expensive but exceptional. I did hear rumors that Oceania was going to “experiment” with Market shopping trips on Sirena but we did not have one on our trip last year.

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My last Uniworld Cruise was in Bordeaux. We dropped our bags off around 10:30AM and went off touring the town on our own. It appeared there were a few suffering jet lag sleeping and snoring on the upper sun deck. Made for a very funny photo but thought the better of showing it to the cruisers. These are small ships and they know where you live!

We had the pleasure of being in Bordeaux last year. What a wonderful port to start in. These posts are getting me more and more excited.

Catherine

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Thank you everyone. Looks like it is quite similar to our experience on Oceania where we had the run of the ship while our room was being prepared. We are very excited for this new experience!

Catherine

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I recall when we were there two years ago that St. Nicholas church was having concerts. I thought you could get the tickets at the door but not 100% sure about that.

 

Church on Tyn also has them: https://www.pragueexperience.com/opera-concerts/opera-concerts.asp

Thank you so much. We spoke about nabbing St Nicholas tix online before we head over.

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Your cabin won't be ready until around 3pm, but you're welcome to board earlier. I think 11 or 12 is reasonable. On our cruise, there was a couple who boarded around 8am, and, honestly, I thought that was a little early. Perhaps it was because she kept walking around the dining room, watching all of the departing passengers eat:-)

 

 

 

I"m not sure what time they start serving a lite lunch, but they will have something available.

 

 

 

Robin

Robin

Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate it. It will give us another opportunity to squeeze in a walk and interesting lunch in Budapest.

It also gives me the opportunity to join others in thanking you for your outstanding review with glorious pictures. Many thanks for that fabulous report.

Catherine

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Thank you both for your replies. Delighted to hear that 20 years has not changed this beautiful Prague tradition. Can’t wait.

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To my Uniworld gurus. You have all been so helpful as I plan our first river cruise. This question is about timing for boarding. For our ocean cruises, we enjoyed boarding early around 11:00 and relaxing on the back of the ship with a cool drink. But in reading materials for Uniworld I am getting the impression that the boat is not ready for us until later in the afternoon. We will have been in Budapest several days before embarkation. Should I plan for lunch and an activity on embarkation day?

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This is a question about the Prague classical concerts. We will be staying in Prague post river cruise. for a few days. The last time I was there was 1998. I remember very fondly how the churches opened their doors to the most beautiful classical and baroque concerts. We would just walk in that evening and pay at the door. My question is whether I need to secure tickets in advance. There are several websites that sell them. But I was not sure if we need to get them ahead of time.

Catherine

I second most everything the PPers have suggested. Here are a couple of other thoughts;

 

 

 

Look into booking your own hotel at either end - we saved significant dollars by doing so. We did the opposite direction from you so we spent a few days in Salzburg and then took the train to Passau. (We wanted to spend the time in Munich but there was a HUGE convention going on and hotels were crazy priced - like $500 a night for a bad hotel!). At the end of the cruise, we stayed in a beautiful hotel in Budapest for a few days again at a significant savings over what Viking offered with their extension. The difference at both ends was that we had to arrange our own transportation to and from the airport/boat. Finding the boat in Passau was easy....I might have some concerns doing so in Budapest as there are sooooo many boats there. But I am sure some others will come along that can advise you on that.

 

 

 

We enjoyed the cruise and my biggest complaint was Viking's refusal/inability to provide a better idea of times in ports or to even follow the general times they do provide before the cruise. We were traveling with another couple so the four of us each took two ports and researched options for our free time there. I had some town along the way where the Viking info said we would arrive after lunch, have our included city tour, then dinner on board with departure late that evening "allowing time to explore after dinner on board". So I researched and found TripAdvisor's best dessert, plotted a route from the dock to the dessertry taking us by a couple of historic places....well don't cha know, we arrived before breakfast, had our tour and left while we were having lunch! Viking says it is due to the uncertainties of the locks and such...but I don't buy it, not being half a day off! LOL For a planner like me, not being able to plan was a disappointment.

 

 

 

While in Vienna, the conceirge announced a previously unmentioned trip to the market with the chef - it was free, you just had to pay for the subway ticket, which she bought and added to our on board account - 3 euros as I recall. It was a great afternoon! LOTS of tastings and very enjoyable. At the end, you could ride back with her and the chef or do as we did and explore some more and take the subway back by yourself, which was very easy.

 

 

 

In Budapest, I HIGHLY (can do so enough) recommend going to the Market. We arranged a market tour and cooking class which we really enjoyed. We also had a great meal in Budapest one evening at a TripAdvisor recommedation. The day we departed the ship, we went to the turkish baths and had a great soak.

 

 

 

Have a great time!

We will be in Budapest this summer. The cooking class sounds wonderful. Can you provide any further details?

Catherine

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Holding a PH cabin on Sirena and have a few questions...

Is there a vibration in the aft section? (Other former R ships have this issue.)

Is there noise coming from the Lido above during breakfast hours?

Does the shower have a grab bar?

How comfortable is in-suite dining?

How crowded/full are the shore excursions and buses?

This past summer we were on Sirena in 8056. A PH3. We too were worried about the room when we booked. Primarily because we are used to staying on the O ships on the 10th deck sandwiched between two decks of rooms. No public spaces. But we did not hear a thing. No noise. And any vibrations were very minimal. Our friends in 8054 would say the same thing. I would book that room again.

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We sailed on the Maria Teresa Budapest to Passau for a Christmas Market cruise in 2015. I did a day by day review. It will be different in that it was a Christmas market cruise but will highlight some of the same ports and I talked a great deal about this ship and services as well. Below is a link to my review

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2284201&highlight=Uniworld+holiday+markets

 

Be happy to answer any questions about the MT. It's a wonderful ship and the crew and food are amazing. Have a great trip.

Papa B me and Ewizabeff. Thank you both for your excellent reviews and detailed posts. Papa B me, we will be staying in Suite 408 and our friends will be in Suite 407 so I really appreciated reading about the details of the room and the butler service.

I did not know that our suite came with butler service, but count us as ones who are thrilled by that, having experienced it on ocean cruising for the past five years. My only problem with butler service is that I have to return home without these fabulous people! And many thanks for the specific tips on booking and shopping and your experience with the excursions.

One question regarding the research you conducted. I must have missed it when I was on the Uniworld website, but I did not read about the kind of amenities that you described for suites. Did I miss its location?

Catherine

This seems to be the norm with several cruise lines. As one of our cruise agents once explained, the "loyal" long time customers are already loyal and do not need upgrades. But newbies need inducements to make them loyal customers :(.

 

 

 

Hank

We must have been the beneficiaries of this strategy that Hank notes. On a different thread I wrote that on this Xmas cruise we received an upgrade from a mini suite to a full suite with all the perks. Thing is, this was our first Princess cruise in nearly 15 years. We had switched to a different cruise line. I thought “why us? Why not a loyal longtime Princess cruiser?”

Now I know. Hank is right. At least in our case. We were hooked by the cabin and the extras. We are already planning for the next time when we will be able to sail Princess and book that suite which we adored and felt grateful to receive.

Catherine

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We were there in August on the Caribbean Princess. As others have stated, the ship docked in Cobh. We took an independent excursion to Blarney Castle and Kinsale. The bus went through Cork. I did not see much of that city that made me wish we had done it instead of the sights we saw.

Have to jump in to say the train is VERY easy to take. It was literally right off our ship. Inexpensive and nice ride. We enjoyed our walk around Cork very much. Town is filled with shops and pubs. Very friendly people and one seriously good wine store in the heart of town.

Enjoy!

Catherine

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On each of our 3 Uniworld cruises (Budapest to Amsterdam in August 2015, the Seine in May 2016, and the Rhone in June 2016) the chef offered a special tasting menu dinner with wine pairings on certain nights to 20 diners per evening (it was held on multiple evenings to accommodate everyone interested). Anyone could sign up for it and it was free. The food and wine were delicious, the service first rate, and the scenery when it was held in a small, covered area on the deck on the Budapest to Amsterdam and the Seine cruises absolutely beautiful. Our Rhone cruise was on one of the super ships and the dinner was held in the Leopard lounge (if I remember the name correctly) which was a very cozy venue. I don't know if it is still offered but if it is, I highly recommend it.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice and the exceptional blog posts and pics. I agree that there is a wealth of advance knowledge we can glean from participating on Cruise Critic. I have definitely been the beneficiary on this thread!

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We have taken two trips with Uniworld and look forward to our third in 2018. If you're looking for detailed information about meals, excursions, cities, etc., you may be interested in the blog from our 2014 cruise on the River Ambassador from Vienna to Prague. While the ship is a very different style, I'd expect much of the food and tours to be the same. You can find all the posts on the trip index page of our blog: http://grosstravelchronicles.blogspot.com/p/trip-index.html

Thank you. Will definitely check it out. I have appreciated so much the time and care that others have taken to write detailed reviews.

A couple of specific and somewhat tiny questions. On our ocean cruises on Oceania we have enjoyed bringing wine on board at ports we were visiting or on embarkation. Happy to pay corkage if necessary. Is this allowed? Also is there room service? One of our joys has been early morning coffee on a balcony

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Roz

Thank you for your quick response. I really appreciate it.

To our experienced riverboat cruisers,

We have cruised extensively, but we have never done a river cruise. We are very excited for our cruise from Budapest to Prague this summer on Uniworld. We will be on the SS Maria Theresa. I have done research on the differences between ocean and river cruising and am beginning to familiarize myself with the different tours available for this itinerary. On that note, thank you to everyone who has posted wonderful reviews of their own journeys.

Now I am hoping for some tips from our Cruise Critic gurus about this riverboat or about Uniworld in general that we should know (food to check out; places on the boat to enjoy; specifics to enjoy on this itinerary).

Thanks to all in advance,

Catherine

Ship Ruby Princess

Class

Deck Dolphin Deck 9

Cabin # D736

Category vista suite

Port/Starboard/Bow/Stern Port aft

Connects With Cabin # No

Accessible

Quiet VERY QUIET. At the end of the hallway

Balcony Size Very large fully covered balcony off the back of the ship. comes with two lounge chairs and table with four chairs

View Gorgeous view off the back of the ship

Privacy Issues Fully private

Wind No wind issues. Could use the balcony while ship was sailing

Soot No problems

Problems No problems

Comments; This room is a perfect room for those who want to splurge on a suite. Good full bathroom small walk in closet and many cupboards and drawers. Comes with small granite bar area as well. Balcony is the best and really suited to warm weather travel.

We are just getting off Ruby Princess (sigh) and enjoyed beautiful breakfasts every morning in the Crown Grill because we had a suite. An upgrade we are still pinching ourselves over. The wait staff was fantastic, the food was lovely and the mimosas were flowing

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