Uniworld Paris & The Heart of Europe

[mickym]

We will be doing this cruise in July on the River Princess. It will be our first river cruise and we are very excited. Has anyone done this cruise or are planning to do it? If so, which are the not to be missed of the optional tours? What was your favorite part of the cruise? How did you like the whole experience in general? Any information would be helpful not to mention fun to hear about!

[trvlgirl99]

My husband and I sailed the shorter version of this trip (Paris and European River Romance) this summer with my mother-in-law, it is a beautiful trip and we enjoyed every part of it. The ship was beautiful, we were told the public areas had all just been redone at the end of last year and that the cabins were being redone at the end of this year so it should be lovely when you are on board. The staff was great - very friendly and really went above / beyond to make sure everyone had a great time and all requests were met.

 

Our favorite part were the "berg" cities in Germany - Wurgzberg, Bamberg, Rothenberg - all very historic, medieval towns that were very interesting to walk through. We also really enjoyed just relaxing and sailing along the Rhine - beautiful scenery and what a luxurious way to spend the afternoon - sailing through wine valley's, reading a book, sipping a drink - that's the life!

 

You will really enjoy the trip - let me know if you have other questions I can answer.

[mickym]

Thank you Trvlgrl! It sounds wonderful! Did you take any of the optional tours? Did you need some kind of an adapter for your electrical things?

[trvlgirl99]

We did take part in the full day tour to Heidelberg which we really enjoyed, it was a lovely town and the tour included a visit to the castle ruins that sit up on the hill overlooking the city. We also took part in the off-ship dinner in Rudesheim (at a local restaurant) and REALLY enjoyed that - the food was delicious, it included entertainment and gave us a chance to visit with people from the ship we hadn't met yet. We could have just gotten off the ship and went to a restaurant by ourselves and had a similar meal, but we thought it was a lot of fun to go with the group - and many of the staff from the ship went which made it even more fun.

 

We did take a adapter & converter with us - I had been told that each cabin had one 110 plug in, but I wasn't sure where it was located (for ease of drying hair and using curling iron) and it turned out good that I had the converter & adapter as the plug in closest to the mirror was not the 110 vl plug in, it was in one of the night stands over by the sliding doors (worked well to charge the cell phone though). My curling iron is actually dual voltage so it turned out I just needed the adapter for it, but in the hotels that didn't have the 100 vl plug I did need both.

 

Hope that helps, let me know if you have other questions I can answer.

[mickym]

What did you do in Paris on your extra time there? Thank you so much for your help! Though we have done ocean cruises this will be a whole new experience for us.

[trvlgirl99]

Mickym -

We decided to fly into Paris one day ahead of when the actual cruise/tour would start, neither my husband or mother in law had been to Paris before so we wanted the extra time to make sure we saw all of the highlights and didn't feel overly rushed.

 

When we arrived we purchased tickets on the double decker bus and used that to get around most of the time. It is definitely a tourist attraction but one of the best ways to see the major sights and hear something about them at the same time. We took a 1/2 day and went to the Louvre, took another 1/2 day and just rode some of the bus routes listening to the commentary and taking pictures, and we spent some time just wandering through book stores, the Latin Quarter, and eating ice cream. Uniworld includes a 1/2 day city sightseeing tour as part of the program, but we ended up not taking part in it because we decided to go tour Notre Dame on our own the morning the tour was taking place.

 

One evening we had dinner in Montmarte, followed by Moulin Rouge - and another evening we booked dinner at the Eiffel Tower - amazing view and the food was pretty good too! There is enough in Paris to keep you busy for weeks, but overall we felt like we were able to fit in the major sights and a few extra's in the time we had. If we'd had more time we would have gone to Giverney or Versailles - hopefully next time!

[mickym]

Thank you so much trvlgrl! All very helpful information. Sounds like a wonderful trip. Every time I go somewhere I think I need to go back and see what I missed. The problem is there are way to many places to see and to little time and money.

Thanks again!!

[mini moe]

I am also going on the Paris & the Heart of Europe leaving July 5, 2010. This is my first post....so far I have just been lurking.

 

Sorry I don't have any wisdom to share with you, but, thanks for asking those questions. This will be my first cruise of any kind and my first time to Europe so I am very green.

 

I was motivated because they offered the single supplement and my retirement plan has always been to travel Europe. I just didn't wait for retirement. :)

[mickym]

Hello Mini Moe,

I guess we will be meeting you in July. I won't be much help since we are fellow new comers to river cruising but with all the wonderful things we will be seeing I don't see how we can go to wrong.

[49er]

mickym and mini moe

 

We are considering this itinerary for next year. Will be very interested in any comments you might have upon your return. Paris is our most favorite citiy in Europe. You will have a great time there and the first time you get a glimpse of the Eiffel tower will be unforgettable:-)

 

49er

[angler]

Hi 49er. I see you only have 19 days to your next cruise, have a great time.

 

Regards Angler.

[49er]

Hi 49er. I see you only have 19 days to your next cruise, have a great time.

 

Regards Angler.

 

Hello Angler,

Yes, we are really looking forward to our upcoming trip to Egypt. This will be our first river cruise as well. Seems like ages ago we were sailing to Hawaii with you guys and our Cruise to Australia last year is really a distant memory now, although I still wear my hat I got in Cairns all the time:-) I thought you guys had a few more trips/cruises planned for this year but I don't see any in your CC queue? Hope your summer has not been to hot. Our winter has produced record snowfall (for us, 7 inches) in December and lots of rain which has been really a good thing for California. We are looking forward to some warmer weather when we visit Egypt though:-) Give my best to your family.

 

49er

 

PS Sorry mickym for hijacking your thread:-(

[mickym]

No problem 49er. It was just so exciting to see some activity on my thread. I am used to ocean cruises and those threads are so much more active. Have a wonderful trip. Egypt sounds very exciting!

[Yelks]

Hello Mickym and Mini Moe, we will be doing this cruise in July but we will extend it with Eastern Europe through to Istanbul. This will be our first river cruise it will be a change from the big ships. I do hope all goes well and that the volcano does not spoil our trip like it has done for others.

[mickym]

Hi Yelks,

We'll look forward to meeting you on the cruise. Hopefully the volcano will be all settled down by then.

[Yelks]

Hi mickym, we look forwrd to meeting you too, at the moment we are carefully monitoring the situation in regards to the volcano and flights.

[mini moe]

Hello Yelks and hello again mickym

We now have USA, Canada and Australian covered. This is my first tour to Europe and as a solo traveller I thought I should play it safe and stick to the main tour agenda. I have since done more research and reading on travel message boards. I now wish I would have extended my time and booked my flight to arrive a few days earlier. Oh well.. next trip.

[mickym]

Hello again Moe,

Yes, I agree, I would have liked to have had a couple extra days in Paris but I am just thrilled to be going and will enjoy it in the time we are there. I have yet to come home from anywhere and not wish I could have had more time there but there is so much to see and so little time so have to just keep working on fitting it all in between work and family, etc. and still not break the bank. It sounds like you have a good start on seeing the world so that's good. Well, it will be here before you know it and hopefully all will go well for us when the time is here.

[mini moe]

When I said we have USA, Canada and Australia covered I was referring to the cruise Mickym (USA) mini moe (Canada) and Yelks (Australia). I have travelled alot in Canada and some in the USA and a bit in Mexico but other than that I have a long way to go to be considered "travelled", but, I hope to work on it from now on. :D

[mickym]

Oh ok, got it now, ha. Yes, we'd better keep moving to get it all covered. It's a fun dream and an exciting project.

[Yelks]

Hi mini moe and mickym, we have decided to go to Paris a few days earlier this would allow us time to get over the jet lag as well as see a bit of the city prior to the tour commencing. We are sure counting the days and praying that nothing goes wrong.

[mickym]

Hi mini moe and mickym, we have decided to go to Paris a few days earlier this would allow us time to get over the jet lag as well as see a bit of the city prior to the tour commencing. We are sure counting the days and praying that nothing goes wrong.

 

I'm envious Yelk. I wish we had done that too. We've never been to Paris and I'm very excited about seeing it. Have you looked at any of the optional tours for the cruise? Trying to decide which would be worth the time and money.

[Yelks]

Hi mickym, I have had a glance at the optional tours but at this stage have not decided on anything. Not sure what the price of them would be, do you know? Are there any that take your fancy?

Nice that the river cruises have a lot of shore tours included, a change to the cruise ships where all your tours are optional. Can get quite costly!

[mickym]

I want to do the concert in Vienna for sure but beyond that haven't decided. No, I have no idea what the prices are and it sounds like we won't know till we are on the cruise. The other thing I don't know, having never been on a river boat cruise before, is how much free time I need to see the things I want to see on my own or how tired I will be with touring every day instead of the sea days in between like we are used to. A whole new experience but just don't want to miss out on anything that is a must see or do since, chances are, I won't be back to these places again.

[Yelks]

A concert in Vienna would be lovely! This is our first time on a river cruise and from what I can see there are no scheduled (time) arrivals and departures at ports as on the big ships. The itinerary shows that each day we arrive in a different city and that the departures and arrivals can be at any time during the day. Might have to read up on some reviews to find out how the days are organised, I believe there might be a daily schedule handed out.