New to River Cruising ...Uniworld Questions

[katiebeth]

Greetings,

 

I am new to river cruising and have a few questions, especially as they relate to Uniworld. We have traveled extensively by land and sea in Europe but have never had the pleasure of a river cruise. My daughter who is 19 and myself with be traveling on the S.S. Catherine on May 17th on the Burgundy and Provence sailing. Originally, my husband and I were booked on this cruise, but work commitments have prevented him from traveling during this time. My daughter is well-traveled and studying Art History in college, so I am confident she will enjoy the cruise; and I am so looking forward to having her with me. I understand that she will most likely be the youngest person on the sailing, but we are both o.k. with that and hope others onboard will be too!

 

Please know I am somewhat challenged from a technology stand-point, and have tried to search the forum for answers, but have not had any luck ...user problem ....I know. So please forgive me in advance for asking questions that I am certain have been answered on this forum.

 

My first question is regarding dress code on the river cruises ...especially for the welcome and farewell dinners. We have cruised Celebrity, RCCL, Azamara, and Oceania, so we know what is expected in terms of formal, semi-formal, casual, and country club attire. As a family, we always compile with the suggested dress code of the evening. For those of you that have sailed with Uniworld, would you mind sharing what is expected attire at dinner, and is the welcome and farewell dinner attire more dressy than other nights? Also, I understand it is open seating and wondering if tables for 2 are available or will we be seated at larger tables with other guests?

 

Also, as far as the excursions that are included and those that are offered but cost additional money ...do we need to sign-up in advance, prior to embarkation? From what I have read, it appears that we can choose to either join in on the excursions or do them on our own ...or a combination of both.

 

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

Nancy

[jpalbny]

Greetings,

 

I am new to river cruising and have a few questions, especially as they relate to Uniworld. We have traveled extensively by land and sea in Europe but have never had the pleasure of a river cruise. My daughter who is 19 and myself with be traveling on the S.S. Catherine on May 17th on the Burgundy and Provence sailing. Originally, my husband and I were booked on this cruise, but work commitments have prevented him from traveling during this time. My daughter is well-traveled and studying Art History in college, so I am confident she will enjoy the cruise; and I am so looking forward to having her with me. I understand that she will most likely be the youngest person on the sailing, but we are both o.k. with that and hope others onboard will be too!

 

Please know I am somewhat challenged from a technology stand-point, and have tried to search the forum for answers, but have not had any luck ...user problem ....I know. So please forgive me in advance for asking questions that I am certain have been answered on this forum.

 

My first question is regarding dress code on the river cruises ...especially for the welcome and farewell dinners. We have cruised Celebrity, RCCL, Azamara, and Oceania, so we know what is expected in terms of formal, semi-formal, casual, and country club attire. As a family, we always compile with the suggested dress code of the evening. For those of you that have sailed with Uniworld, would you mind sharing what is expected attire at dinner, and is the welcome and farewell dinner attire more dressy than other nights? Also, I understand it is open seating and wondering if tables for 2 are available or will we be seated at larger tables with other guests?

 

Also, as far as the excursions that are included and those that are offered but cost additional money ...do we need to sign-up in advance, prior to embarkation? From what I have read, it appears that we can choose to either join in on the excursions or do them on our own ...or a combination of both.

 

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

Nancy

 

Welcome to Uniworld - come join us on the general roll call for all 2015 SS Catherine sailings.

 

With regard to your questions - we are packing tonight for our Friday evening departure... :D Chris has a few casual dresses and some slacks/casual shirts for dinners. The welcome and farewell dinners are a little fancier but certainly nothing semi-formal. I am bringing a few button-down shirts and I'll bring a casual jacket and a tie, which I'll wear if I feel like getting dressed up fancy. Chris has packed two slightly dressier dresses, one of which might qualify as a cocktail dress, for those nights. We probably don't need to dress up that much but it will be fun.

 

The optional excursions are generally announced the evening prior (at the pre-dinner briefing) and you can sign up that night. No need to sign up before that. For the included tours, there is plenty of space and you usually don't have to sign up, though on occasion they ask you to do so the night before if they have to arrange transportation, for example. Bottom line - go to the pre-dinner briefings, grab a glass of wine, and listen to what the CD tells you and you'll be all set. At least that's our plan!

 

Dining - it's self-seating. Mostly 4-tops with a few bigger tables on SS Antoinette, but if you sit by the entranceway often you get the table to yourself because everyone passes you by to get to the main part of the DR where the action is. They do not seat you.

 

Regarding tours - you can do as many or as few as you wish with them, or you can do whatever you'd like on your own. We really enjoyed our Castles on the Rhine trip with Uniworld last year and are really excited to meet up with them again in less than a week.

 

There was a mother with her college-age daughter on our cruise last year. They had fun and I'm sure you will too.

Edited March 17, 2015 by jpalbny

[whatnot]

I have sailed once on Uniworld on the Danube and will sail with them again in May on the Rhine. I have sailed on Sea Dream Yacht Club, Windstar, Regent, Celebrity. Princess, Cunard, etc. Sea Dream and Windstar are both yacht casual, meaning no ties for men but collared shirts and optional jackets for men. Nice dresses or slacks and nice tops for ladies. I found Uniworld to even less dressy than the 2 lines I mentioned. I saw very few sport coats and no dressy cocktail dresses on Uniworld. The welcome dinner and the farewell dinner were somewhat dressier than the other evenings. That is where you saw the sport coats, but they were not essential. I plan to take nice slacks that I can mix and match with dressy tops and accent with fun costume jewelry. Jewelry can dress it up or down. Just no jeans in my opinion!

 

They really don't seat you. You just go find the table you want. if you are there early you should be able to find what you want. Not sure I remember any 2 tops but I know there are 4 and 6. Hopefully you will meet someone you wish to dine with.

 

We did not sign up for excursions prior to embarkation. We did sign up for the ones we definitely knew we wanted to do on the first day but the others we did later. There seemed to be plenty of availability and a lot to choose from. And going out on your own in the ports is not hard to do. We did some of theirs and some on our own.

 

Have a great cruise! Love the south of France!

[ewizabeff]

I wore a cocktail dress to the Captain's dinner and I was one of the more dressed up on the trip. Sundresses, skirts/tops, or slacks/tops would be fine pretty much every night.

 

On our Uniworld cruise, they asked us to sign up for some of the optional excursions 2 or 3 days in advance ... but they always tell you what to do at the pre-dinner briefing, so just make sure you attend. You absolutely don't need to sign up for anything prior to embarkation.

 

I'm sure you'll both have a blast!

[texasstar]

Don't be nervous about sitting with other people at dinner. You will meet some lovely people this way and probably leave the cruise with them as friends.

[Kathie859]

I'll take my 4th Uniworld cruise next month and only on one did a couple get dressed to the nines (think sparkles and silks)😳. Most people wear business casual clothes during the day--some shorts and jeans--depending on the weather and venue--and for dinner may change. I wear a pair of black slacks and a dressy top for the welcome dinner and the captain's dinner and most do the same in varying degrees. On one cruise, a lady lived in the J. Jill tank dresses in different fabrics and colors which she wore casually and could dress up with a scarf/wrap and jewelry. I'm more comfortable in slacks and tops so do whatever works for YOU. Have a wonderful time.

[katiebeth]

A big thank you to all have taken time to respond to my questions ....I love cruise critic and these forums ...such great information is exchanged between members!

 

The information that has been provided is wonderful and so helpful with planning what to pack; and also not stressing over signing up for excursions prior to embarkation.

 

Have a fabulous trip jpalbny and I will definitely check out the roll calls!

 

Looking forward to our first river cruise!

 

Nancy

[notamermaid]

Hello katiebeth,

 

I hope your husband does not mind too much about missing the trip, perhaps it can be arranged at a later date for him to go. The scenery is just beautiful. I went to Provence quite a few years back in lovely Spring weather.

 

What an opportunity for a budding art historian! Your daughter (and you) will love it, I am sure. I have heard that Beaune in Burgundy is fantastic. In Provence do not miss the Pont du Gard and make sure you see one of the Roman amphitheatres.

 

http://www.pontdugard.fr/en

 

Here is a fun fact for you (perhaps you already know): the word denim (the jeans trousers) is shortened from serge de Nimes, which literally means " cloth from the town of Nimes". The town you might visit.

 

@JPalbny,

 

pity I missed you on the Rhine last year on the SS Antoinette, have a great time on the SS Catherine.

 

Would go again to Provence in a heartbeat, I am getting a little envious. :D

 

notamermaid

 

On the Rhine days are getting slightly warmer and sunnier, the first few river cruise ships have been "dusted off" and have started cruising.

Edited March 18, 2015 by notamermaid
Additional information

[cruisecriticmember]

Don't be nervous about sitting with other people at dinner. You will meet some lovely people this way and probably leave the cruise with them as friends.

 

Absolutely! One of the best things is to meet many different people from different backgrounds at the meals, on the tours, and in the lounge. We make it a point to try and sit with every/anyone who appears to be friendly and welcoming. Only once was there a group that wanted to insulate themselves from the rest of us and we were fine with letting them do that!:D