Shoeman1

Paul , we were on Crystal in November and Explora in Jan.  We found Explora to be superior to Crystal in many ways.  

1.  The Sapphire suite on "new" Crystal is a disaster.  There is at least 4" step to the both doors on bath, a disaster in the making.  Internet was off-on and poor selection of channels, forget bluetooth, etc.  TheCrystal  closet could hold enough clothes for 7-10 days if  you pack lightly, guess the world cruisers will be using the dry cleaning...To make matters worse when you walk into the tiny closet you must step to the L to close door and pull out shelves. Only one telephone. The shower on Crystal  is huge and the water spigot from end of shower hits the front and water escapes to the floor.  No great place for makeup, no makeup   The lighting is beyond understanding, and there is no way to have a small light in bath at night.  Explora solved this issue.

2.  Food is subjective and we found Explora to be more up to date.  Juice bar in AM, Servers giving you requested food rather than passengers touching, by far the best baguette, delicious and varied pastas, and superb sorbets (not as sweet as Crystal). Agree that there is nothing as good as Uma Uma. I am a coffee afficienado and no issues, in fact some of the iced coffee drinks were wonderful

3.  Service was terrific in both.

4.  Beds and linens far superior on Explora

5.  We feel like Crystal is an assisted living home on steroids..Far younger crowd on Explorer

6. Agree shops are expensive such as Rolex, Cartier, and nothing in reasonable price range

7.  We find Explora to be inline with high end resort...

Nice to have choices isn't it?

We sail Crystal as well; the ship, tours, cuisine and staff all top notch. We just returned from Scenic Crystal, and it was quite the opposite.  Tours were repetitive, cuisine was ok for lunch and breakfast but inedible at dinner.  Meats were uniformly tough, soups watery, composed salads were yesterday's leftovers in a vinagrette, and desserts uninspired.  Wines were ok, and bar service available all day. Staff is exceedingly polite and ship well maintained (just an old ship) The most insulting item was the lack of nighttime travel; the ship would dock somewhere outside the city,, passengers disembark at 8:30 am for tours then ship would  sail around the city and pick up passengers on the other side and continue on the Rhine.   There was no time when we spent a day in a city, hence no time to enjoy the cities.  IMHO the cost cutting measures on Scenic are glaring; by the way the ship holds 160 and booked to 94.  And to add insult to injury Scenic put us on a 6:30 van to Zurich where we sat until our noon departure.  Crystal ships were purchased by Riverside... let's see how this unfolds.

We were to sail on 8 Jan, Crystal Symphony.  The ship has many positive Covid cases and we think it is not safe to cruise, rather we would like to consider a cruise when Covid is under control  We are confident that cruising will return, and have cruised at the beginning of the return to cruising in 2021. 

Crytal is telling us we can move our booking out until May 2022.  If the cruise we choose has a lesser cost than the one originally booked we forfit any $; no shipboard credit, no $ to another cruise

I am attaching the letter sent to the Crystal Symphony passenger regarding 5 Jan cruise:

• •  90
• September 6, 2011
• TN

Agree totally with Farang. We have 3 Uniworld under our belt. The first was Normandy and  met our expectations, the second was Provence, a great experience and the last was Danube, just as Farang described. Less staff, inedible meals with cost cutting  of product as well as mediocre chef, and guides who were uninterested in the passengers.  After the last Uniworld  cruise we decided to never cruise with them  as our polite requests were met with negative attitude.  

We tried Crystal last year and were pleased with the product. The ships are  new and rooms are far better in design.  Uniworld can be described as Liberace meets Laura Ashley; Crystal is chic.  The meals on Uniworld were of poor quality, and not well presented. Between meals you can find candy only if you want a snack. On Crystal the Bistro offers charcuterie, cheeses, delicious freshly baked breads, and pretzels. and an abundance of sweet items including tortes, cookies and fruit.  Wines were well chosen.There is a 24 hr coffee bar, that has wine, yogurt and cookies.    Crystal's tours were terrific, a far better experience than Uniworld.  

JKLC123 here is a great example of Uniworld tours,  We were in Budapest and opted to take the City tour.  The guide dumped us at a church and said she would return in an hour. The group requested to see several sites, and the guide said that would not be possible . We drove through the shopping district of the city and returned the ship.  We certainly did not see the Pest side or any of the very important memorials.  A total waste.  If you want further examples just let me know. 

Agree, and the washer /dryer combo did a superb job of cleaning our clothing.  

We were on the ill fated Bach and the tour is exactly as Skybluewaters described. For many in our grop it was their first trip to Amsterdam . They requested to see several sites including the Anne Frank House . The driver obliged. Don't be afraid to ask.

Begete , our cruise with Uniworld in 2017 was delightful.  We had superb cuisine and terrific guides. The 2018 cruise on Maria Theresa was the total opposite.  Penny pinching is the rule of the day.  Let me give you a few examples.  Breakfast had one fresh fruit, a bowl of some sort of yogurt, no danish pastries, frozen crossants, ice cold muffin and doughnut, yuk.  There was a chef making egg dishes to order; she would disappear an hour before breakfast ended.  Any items left were recycled to bizarre concoctions such as red cabbage with white rice.  

We did attend the Mozart Concert in Vienna.  It was delightful and part of the tour.  On the bus returning to the ship the guide reiterated that a snack was awaiting. Imagine seeing goulash soup and hot dogs at 10:30pm.  

If you are thinking that Uniworld will reply , forget it.  Move on .

Good luck. We were on the Maria Theresa and had many issues.  Meals were sub par at best . Tours were haphazard with uninterested guides.  We have cruised Uniworld in previous years . The 2018 product does not resemble what we experienced in years past.  

While on board we mentioned issues to management who always replied that they would discuss with their colleagues.   .  We wrote a polite letter to Uniworld  at the conclusion of the trip, and received the same reply as you. 

They remind me of an airline that went out of business due to poor customer service.  

There are many lines now emerging in the high end river cruise ; no need to pay and not receive.

We were on the Uniworld Maria Therese this summer. Our tour of Budapest was disappointing to say the least. Bad guide who dropped us off at a church and returned in 1+ hr, then a bus ride showing a few streets. By all means secure your own guide and see that gorgeous city. I hope that you have the opportunity to see the city at night; truly spectacular. Safe Travels

We cruised both Uniworld and Crystal this year. It was our 3rd Uniworld and our last. The prices are up, the quality of food down, as were tours. Yes Crystal had issues with their ground personnel, changing itineraries, etc however food and tours were top notch.

The Crystal ships are new, and offer many amenities such as in room refrigerator, and Nespresso machine for that AM coffee.

The Crystal Cove is so much brighter than the same area in the Uniworld ships and in our opinion had better wine list and alcoholic beverages. If you want a snack on Crystal you have the Bistro; on Uniworld there is some candy.

Both had passengers who were new to travel, obnoxiously loud in the dining rooms, and other annoying issues. We realize that is part of the experience and one we do not desire to further experience.

If you have issues don't expect a great reply from either company. Do consider the many other companies that offer top notch food and accommodations.

We will pass on future river cruises as they are too limiting Better we settle into a great hotel, eat when and where we want, and do private tours for the same or less investment.

Everyone has an opinion, and needs to find the right balance . Yes I agree that unpacking one time is just so nice.

We have cruised with Uniworld several times, the last cruise being 2 months ago. Uniworld has had a change for the worse with poor cuisine (for the price point), adequate service, and as the poster pointed out,no refrigerator in the room. We were in the highest class of room before suite and felt it to be uncomfortable. The decor of the Maria Therese is dismal. The original poster was spot on. We found the Uniworld ground service to be lacking, eg making you wait at airport for 2 hr before going to boat (and then you have to roll your luggage to the bus)

We just returned form our first Crystal river cruise. The cuisine is far better as is the service. The tours were an improvement over Uniworld. Crystal ground staff in Europe is a mess to say the least. Passengers were not met at the airport, those taking the precruise hotel package were not given the city tour, the itinerary changed multiple times but no passenger and/or TA notified. Excuse is that the rivers are low which of course has nothing to do with pre-cruise activities.

I have been on enough river cruises to know that situations with high water as well as low are prevalent. It is how the line handles the situation that makes for return passengers.

We have cruised both Uniworld and Crystal. We found the age of passengers to be mainly in the 65-85 range with some younger depending on the timing of the cruise. For unknown reasons all of our Uniworld trips have had passengers with assisted devices such as wheel chairs, and walkers, not so on the Crystal cruise. We have cruised with multi-generational families , singles and couples.

Hapy, a few observations, Food: Breakfast Lunch are similar in taste and presentation to Crystal Ocean, just on smaller scale. Fresh fruit, delicious pastries, multiple salads and hot entrees abound. Wine selections were good, and if you did not like today's choice the sommlier was glad to bring your selection. Palm Court served mixed drinks, and wine, all prepared to your liking. The Bistro was a smaller version of the Ocean room. Dinners, well a mixed bag from heavy soups, unusual combinations, and some hits and misses. Lobster was the best we have experienced at sea, and that is saying alot after 30+ cruises. Poultry was hard/dry and fish was surprisingly ill prepared. Example, a delicious veal tenderloin was paired with an overpowering porcini risotto. Lunch desserts were terrific, dinner choices need to be thrown out (Kolsch beer mousse? ) We just completed a Uniworld River cruise and felt that every aspect of Crystal ran circles around the food now offered by Uniworld though. Uniworld cuisine went from delicious to barely passable, all in one year.

Service, typical Crystal with staff going stopping their work when you walked by. Very provincial IMHO. Butler and maid for every suite, and suites are well appointed. A few mistakes were made and you can read about those in the review section of CC

Tours, We had good guides. The tours are not as advertised so be aware that a tour advertised as having little walking can turn into 3 hours of walking.

At the end of the day Crystal positions itself as the best on the River; they have a long way to go for that title. I agree with John that the paltry $250 thrown at us is poor compensation. I doubt if many passengers will return to Crystal. There are many options now in this market that provide a far better and more organized experience. Passengers should realize that for the same per diem (1000) per day per couple one can find a 5 star hotel, terrific meals/liquor and one on one guides.

Glad to answer any questions

Happy, join the growing list of Crystal cruisers who experienced similar situations. The European office has alot of catching up before it can call itself 6 star. We are home a week from our first (and last) Crystal River cruise. Communication between the corporate office and passengers is non existent. We had 2 significant changes in the itinerary, one communicated in advance and the other change was made known after we boarded. We lost $ with prearranged tours. Passengers were never picked up at the Frankfurt airport, prearranged tours never took place, no cruise representative at the precise hotel; I will stop here.

I contacted the River cruise Butler on several occasions prior to departing. They were most polite and totally clueless pushing passengers to write the customer service team who in turn send back an email saying that the cruise has been changed and you will enjoy the cruise. Got to love those Crystal Balls. Crystal's excuse is that they are new to river cruising.

Many new passengers on our cruise; most expressed negative views of Crystal and will not be moving forward with the line. River cruising is exploding and many high end companies are offering competitive products.

Johng,please update this board on the Bach trip. Are you on the second leg of this journey? I am so sorry that this cruise did not meet your expectations and I am especially disappointed in Crystal communication. For a top of the line cruise company they have not met the bar on communication to passengers, TA or even their river butler staff.

Notamermaid, thank you for the timely updates. You have been a lifeline for those of us embarking a Rhine River journey

Histiomom, lucky you to be going to Strasbourg. Do take the time to view the famous clock , and by all means take time to walk around that gorgeous city. Food in Strasbourg is outstanding as many cultures combine for tasty treats.The onion tarte is not to be missed.

Any reports on Crystal river out there?

This was our 3rd Uniworld cruise and it began and ended on a slightly sour note. We met the rep, should say we waited for the rep over 1 1/2 hr in the Munich airport until he appeared. Then we walked quite a distance with luggage in hand to to coach. The nice rep did not have enough beverages for the passengers. On departure we had a 10am flight from Budapest , and Uni insisted we depart at 6am for the 30 minute drive to the airport. Airlines would not check anyone in as most desk personnel do not arrive before 7am

Food: A huge disappointment from our previous Uniworld cruises. Breakfast buffet had the appearance of a Residence Inn buffet with precut cheeses, no danish, little fresh fruit although you could get berries on request, waffles that could double as hockey pucks and weak coffee. There was always a lady making egg dishes and she would disappear 45 minutes before the buffet closed. Lunches were also buffet always with a soup , sandwich, salad bar, pasta dish, vegetables and a few poorly executed desserts. Most of the items were recycle from the evening meal . Our 2nd cruise on the Catherine offered superb pasta creations, divine desserts and exceptional local items; the Maria Therese was the exact opposite.

Dinner was a seated dinner and nothing was well prepared. We were a group of 4 and met other past passengers who were in the same group of passengers who were questioning how there could be such a decline.

Tours were a mixed bag with some great guides and others who were mediocre at best. Our guide in Budapest was a disaster, leaving us at ABC for over an hour and then taking us on an abbreviated tour of the glorious city. Passengers would ask knowledgeable questions regarding sites; she cut them off.

There was an evening Mozart concert in Vienna; it was a delight. We returned to the ship(10:30pm) to Frankfurters and goulash soup; not exactly an evening snack.

Bar service was great, and wines were fine; albeit very low budget wines. Tea time should be missed

Service is very polite, and most make every effort to please passengers.

We were in the highest category of rooms and found the beds to take up the entire room. You might as well take a lower deck, and save $

Good friends were on the Joie de Vivre at the same time and voiced similar issues with the food. A simple request for a small green salad was denied..Now I can see this on a large ship with reduced staff but not Uniworld where you pay top dollar.

I certainly get having a bad meal or 2, a bad guide, etc . When cutback are very noticeable I abandon the vendor, and in this case the cutbacks are glaring.

Our next river cruise is on Crystal; stay tuned

We returned from our 3rd Uniworld cruise recently. This cruise was on the ss Maria Therese

Our previous cruises were superb . The recent cruise was very disappointing. Do you have any specific areas such as cuisine,tours,service,rooms,entertainment?..

Glad to give you our impressions

TwoBoys, please do not miss the concert in Vienna; it was the highlight of the trip

The Salzburg day tour was poorly executed; Linz was delightful with a lunch at a Farm to Table restaurant. The restaurant sits atop a hill and the view is very "Sound of Music"

If you are good riders do consider the cycle options. Uniworld does a great job with having bicycles available for you.

If you have not seen the Cathedral at Melk by all means take the time to see the Cathedral and then mill around in the small town.

Durnstein is tiny and very walk able. There is a gorgeous hotel at the end of the main street. Do stop for a cocktail; it is a Relais and Chateaux property.

Sadly our 3 hour tour of Budapest was a major disappointment on our cruise due to a poor guide who dropped us off at a church and returned hours later. Budapest is the highlight of the trip and you might consider options outside of Uniworld. Budapest is a fabulous city, and you do not want to miss this port.

Are you going to stay in Munich, if so do make reservations at the BMW world; They have tours of the museum and the plant.

Safe travels!

glad to speak directly if you like, email or phone? again pack lightly and take sunscreen /hat. I checked the weather .com prior to departure and the forecast was wrong every single day, yep every single day In my next life I will be a weatherman as you are paid whether correct or incorrect

We just returned home from the Uniworld Danube cruise, our 3rd Uniworld cruise. I would suspect warm weather so pack light. While I saw no shorts in the evening dress is casual . No need to bring a sports jacket unless you just want to have it along in case you decide to go ashore to a great restaurant.

Don't forget to take sunscreen!

safe travels, and glad to answer any questions

Sadly we were a group that had traveled with Uniworld hence our desire to continue with them due to service, cuisine and excursions. Everyone agreed this was a subpar experience to say the least. I did not mention the long and I mean long wait at airport with no Uniworld rep in site, then having to drag luggage to the bus, the poor entertainment, and more. It just pains me to see such a great line decline. I do think that much of this began this year.

We had other friends on the Joie de Vivre. They experienced the same disappointing cuisine. Example, one evening a guest requested a green salad and was told that it was just too difficult to honor the request. A green salad, lettuce, tomatoes, and some dressing.

The cutbacks are in effect; and as one of our group said, this is just Viking on steroids.

Agree that The Charles in Munich is wonderful. We just returned from another Uniworld cruise and began our journey at the Charles. Do use AMEX Platinum if you have that card as the benefits are superb.

We have taken many cruises on Uniworld and found the product to be outstanding. Not so any longer. Food was mediocre at best, with tough cuts of meat, both beef and veal, repetitive breads, dry pastries, minimal fresh fruit, and more recycling than one can imagine. The buffets were left empty well before closing time with no replenishment of cheese boards. Breakfast buffet had hard as a rock muffins, and doughnuts, never any Viennese pastries, coffee cakes, etc. The pancakes, and waffles on the buffet could have been used to kill someone as they were hard as rocks. The multi-course dinner in Bar Lepard was totally inedible . There was a snack offered following the superb evening Strauss and Mozart concert with frankfurters, pretzel rolls and goulash soup, not exactly what I want to eat at 10:30pm. Friends just returned from Joie de Vivre with similar experiences.

Excursions were a mixed bag. The day tour of Linz was outstanding with a lunch at a Farm to Table restaurant. Most were just poorly executed with long stays at ABC.

Our room was a Tier 1 yet seemed smaller than the same room on a similar SS ship. Our room was well maintained throughout the cruise.

Service is superb and the crew is delightful.

We agree with the original poster. We did 10 days on the Encore, in July and found it to be grossly overpriced. The food was mediocre, service ok, and entertainment pitiful. Suites are superb with many amenities. While the internet is painfully slow it is the fact that all other ships in the luxury category allow at least one free hr per day but not penny pinching Seabourn. We tendered in every port ,and had no shuttles to city centers. Guess this is what happens when Carnival takes over so live and learn.

Had we paid Oceania pricing we would have been placated. As we heard time and time again, there is no value on this ship.

We just departed the Encore. The beds were comfortable, and we added a topper. I found the sheets to be a bit scratchy; husband was ok with the product. The suites are lovely and well appointed.

The entertainment, food and service were a huge disappointment considering Seabourn calls itself a luxury line.

Having sailed the 4 luxury lines , Crystal, Seabourn, Silversea and Regent I would give Seabourn bottom rank