123456con

Glad you came back to share your perspective. Just wanted to ask a question about the dining. On our last two Uniworld cruises, they had an alternative dinner menu a few times during the week, served in a small venue. Was that offered on your sailing?

 

One trick we found to have a quicker dinner is to sit near the entryway of the main restaurant. Usually, everyone else passes by looking for a better table. So we'd end up with a table for 2, leading to faster service. Still not fast, but not slow and drawn-out.

 

Regarding the fact that there is only one dining venue, that may be due to the size of the ship limiting available space, and is probably not unique to Uniworld. River boats can't be any bigger than they currently are, otherwise they wouldn't fit through the locks.

 

So adding a reasonably sized second dining venue, and the galley space to support it, would necessitate removing something else. If passenger cabins were removed, that would cut revenue and possibly raise the price point. I suspect the lines don't want to risk that.

 

It will be interesting to see how Crystal compares to the current luxury options. Hope to hear about your experience, should you go.

Hi, JPAlby

Yes, they did offer the alternative dining on the top deck about twice on our sailing. We didn't try it, but it was also fine dining. We are a big group of 10 pax so we were assigned a table and couldn't switch tables. So all our dinners were rather drawn out; even if we showed up early for dinner.

Another, suggestion we told the ship was having a nespresso machine in the each cabin. It would make early mornings more convenient:D

But all in all, despite these minor tweaks it was a relaxing holiday. Different vibe than an ocean liner cruise. And since the weather was so chilly, Ive never enjoyed and drank so much red wine in my life!

JP and Chris and others. Our favorite cruise line is Silversea, but we've traveled on some of the other brands (small ships) as well. Tried a river cruise from Bucharest to Budapest a couple of years back on Viking and hated it. It felt like a bus tour on the river and would never sail with Viking again for various reasons. But we are thinking of trying a river cruise again with another line. How would the experience of Uniworld compare with Silversea. And would AMA or Scenic compare favorable with a Silversea experience? I am enjoying this thread so much and all the great photos so thinking of taking a chance on another river cruise. Thanks for sharing.

Our favorite cruise line is Crystal which is bigger than Silversea but would be in par in terms of service. We did our first river cruise last October. We choose Uniworld. It had its pros and cons. But the most notable complaint we had was the 1 dining venue for dinner. It was tiring to have a long drawn out dinner every night. Some days we just wanted a quick bite. Luckily, we were in town a few evenings so we were able to do this. The quality of food was above average. A few superb dishes and a few misses. In terms of service, they were very good but not as personalized as Crystal. It being a small boat. Many of the staff had to double up on duty serving other purposes in the boat. The entertainment could be better.

But on the other hand, the cruise director was excellent. The cabins were beautiful and designed very well. TV/ entertainment system was excellent. The staff very friendly and welcoming. And I loved the fact that you didn't have to plan any tours. It was all taken cared of depending which you wanted to do. During disembarkation; they just call a cab for you and not make money on any of the transfers.

Crystal starts it river cruises this July. I would look into it. Haven't seen if they have many dining venues at night.

Sorry for just getting back to you now. Yes, we decided on this cruise for October!

Thank you for the invaluable daily schedule. Im not really a morning person on vacations, but now I can prioritise which days to have an early day!

Did you use the bikes provided often? My husband is a cycling fanatic and was hoping the bikes are good quality.

Enjoy your next cruise:)

JPALBNY,

What a wonderful post! It will be my first river cruise and had decided on this route on the Antoinette. I've been on a few Crystal cruises and was getting confused with river cruising since the websites don't expound too much on the daily tours and how far the town will be. Likewise, was turned off when I read a few reviews saying that boats were docked side by side at night!

I was literally googling each port and trying to figure out how long transfers to town proper would take (don't want to be on a bus for long) till I came across this detailed travel diary. What an experience! Cant wait to sail on the Antoinette too.

You mentioned that you pick which tour you want to go to. I was wondering do they all start at the same time? Or are they staggered throughout the morning. I want this to be relaxing and would prefer having a late start at around 11am. Is there a site where they publish the tour details. What time do the tours leave? Also if we opt out of touring, are there shuttles to say Strasbourg... throughout the day?

And lastly, ocean liners post the time they arrive and leave each port. I don't see that in any of the river cruising websites? We plan on going in October, hoping that we will have as much time in each town as you had.

For those who are on an upcoming trip to Venice thought I should share this link so as not to be too disappointed with not seeing some attractions in Venice with the billboards the mayor has put up that covers the Bridge of sighs and parts of St marks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101004/lf_afp/italycultureartadvertisemuseumsveniceoffbeat