jklc123

Uniworld SS Sphinx. New for 2020. We had a fabulous time on their former ship, the Tosca.

Thanks very much, tabber. We’ve been to Budapest twice with Uniworld and visited the same horse farm in 2010. We were just given a strong alcoholic drink and appetizers, not a delicious lunch! We’d definitely want to do the Bucharest/Transylvania visit.

That would be great! Hoping for good weather for you.

Whoops! Thanks. I obviously missed that.

Does anyone else think the Jefferson Airplane music is a bit weird in Celebrity’s tv ad? Conjures up a different kind of trip than one on a luxury cruise ship, seems to me.  😜

We are also interested in the Hudson River cruise, but these comments naturally give us pause. Will look into Blount.

5 hours ago, dairymancruiser said:

Our cruise leaves on 12-27-19 out of Nuremberg and was wonder if they keep the Christmas lights and decorations up through out most of Europe until New Years Eve? Thanks

We were in Vienna last year Dec. 28 — market between Fine Arts and Natural History Museum was open. Arrived in Budapest Dec. 31 —market near cathedral was open. Lights still up most places.

40 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

 

Not sure that Juliana's review would be unbiased toward AMA since she is very unhappy with the Romanian wedding celebration that interfered with her sleep.....I know when I am sleep deprived I can be a pretty witchy woman (at least until my afternoon nap!).

Very well could be, although it seemed that noisy night was the only negative.

Juliana, did you write a review of this cruise? We are interested in that itinerary and are looking at AMA. I’m particularly interested in your impression of the ports and excursions.

Yes, wow! Shoeman1 and  Farang, I am so disappointed in what you experienced. Not at all what one would expect. We’ve been in Budapest twice with Uniworld and had excellent tours, one trip less than a year ago.  Have always been able to get tours we wanted, although now on some itineraries there do seem to be more choices, so I see how some tours could fill up, and we always had groups of fewer than 25, except on the Christmas cruise when all the passengers descended on Princess Anita von Hohenberg at her castle! Thanks to both of you for sharing your concerns. On many evaluation forms I had mentioned the lack of alternative dining sites, but what was done to the Beatrice doesn’t sound like the right way to go on that issue.

Farang, regarding the excursions, what were some of the problems, if you don’t mind giving some specific examples.

Farring, so sorry to hear about your experience. We’ve been with Uniworld for 7 wonderful cruises and are thinking about the Bucharest to Budapest route. Our first cruise was on the original Beatrice so we were looking forward to the new version, but what you have described of course is discouraging. We are also looking at AMA for the same route, which now seems more enticing.

We are considering an AMA cruise and wonder if Bailey’s Irish Cream is included on AMA. We’ve cruised with another line several times and were able to get a bottle of Bailey’s for our room.

Thanks both for your replies.

What is the amount of gratuities suggested for crew, cruise director, excursion guides, etc.? 

I’m dismayed to read the reports of excursions filling up. On 7 cruises with Uniworld, the most recent in December 2018, we’ve never experienced this.

1 hour ago, tabber said:

We leave for AMA’s Gems of SE Europe in just over 2 weeks, Giurgiu to Budapest, and have booked the 4 days pre and 2 days post cruise adventures through AMA.  We haven’t received our documents from our TA yet, so we don’t know what to expect.  I will try to let you know our experience in a few weeks!

Fantastic! I look forward to hearing all about it! Bon voyage!!

Thanks for both replies. Why travel so far without seeing more of Romania? We’ve been to Budapest twice but there’s always more to see. Just exploring options for now, and I take your point, Roz.

Has anyone out there taken the pre- and post-cruise 2 nights each in Bucharest, Brasov and Budapest? I’m interested in what’s included and cruisers’ opinion of the extra days.

I just remembered the Daily Programs we received while on the Nile. Lowest predicted temperatures ranged from 44 degrees to 57, which is certainly cooler than I remembered, to highs between 72 to 80. I did occasionally wear a light sweater as we started out on early excursions but soon left it in the coach. It must have been in the 50’s at night in the Cairo area.

12 hours ago, franski said:

Thanks for that info...  What were the highs & lows (temperature wise) that you encountered?

 

Fran

I can’t tell you for sure. Probably the high 70’s, maybe a little warmer at Abel  Simbel, and lowest, low 60’s with a cold wind at the pyramids at night. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Cairo and on the Nile in January of 2017. The weather was very pleasant throughout, even cool at night in Cairo, especially on the Giza plain. 

We were treated to the illumination sail by the night of Jan. 1 of this year as the Uniworld SS Maria Theresa was repositioned from its dock in the city center to the dock downriver past the Parliament Building for disembarkation the next day. Spectacular. Now we feel very lucky to have experienced it.

I agree -- I was surprised, too, but judging by only this one challenge, I liked his designs best.

i would be interested in a special episode about what previous winners end up doing, after mentoring and funds to start their own lines. Or even how some of the talented runners-up do.

A few years ago I was able to stop their incessant mailing with one email. Apparently this is no longer true. I wasn't successful in getting Oceania to stop their frequent mailings, after one cruise with Regent. These mailings are such an ecological waste. I appreciate Uniworld's one catalog mailing a year.