clcmdse Posted May 11, 2018 #1 Share Posted May 11, 2018 To my Uniworld gurus. You have all been so helpful as I plan our first river cruise. This question is about timing for boarding. For our ocean cruises, we enjoyed boarding early around 11:00 and relaxing on the back of the ship with a cool drink. But in reading materials for Uniworld I am getting the impression that the boat is not ready for us until later in the afternoon. We will have been in Budapest several days before embarkation. Should I plan for lunch and an activity on embarkation day? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acwmom Posted May 11, 2018 #2 Share Posted May 11, 2018 To my Uniworld gurus. You have all been so helpful as I plan our first river cruise. This question is about timing for boarding. For our ocean cruises, we enjoyed boarding early around 11:00 and relaxing on the back of the ship with a cool drink. But in reading materials for Uniworld I am getting the impression that the boat is not ready for us until later in the afternoon. We will have been in Budapest several days before embarkation. Should I plan for lunch and an activity on embarkation day? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Your cabin won't be ready until around 3pm, but you're welcome to board earlier. I think 11 or 12 is reasonable. On our cruise, there was a couple who boarded around 8am, and, honestly, I thought that was a little early. Perhaps it was because she kept walking around the dining room, watching all of the departing passengers eat:-) I"m not sure what time they start serving a lite lunch, but they will have something available. Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clcmdse Posted May 11, 2018 Author #3 Share Posted May 11, 2018 Your cabin won't be ready until around 3pm, but you're welcome to board earlier. I think 11 or 12 is reasonable. On our cruise, there was a couple who boarded around 8am, and, honestly, I thought that was a little early. Perhaps it was because she kept walking around the dining room, watching all of the departing passengers eat:-) I"m not sure what time they start serving a lite lunch, but they will have something available. Robin Robin Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate it. It will give us another opportunity to squeeze in a walk and interesting lunch in Budapest. It also gives me the opportunity to join others in thanking you for your outstanding review with glorious pictures. Many thanks for that fabulous report. Catherine Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallasm Posted May 12, 2018 #4 Share Posted May 12, 2018 We did arrive at 11. Coffee was served in the lounge. Lunch was served at 1 pm. Cabins ready a 3 pm. Enjoy your cruise. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capriccio Posted May 12, 2018 #5 Share Posted May 12, 2018 We did arrive at 11. Coffee was served in the lounge. Lunch was served at 1 pm. Cabins ready a 3 pm. Enjoy your cruise. Sent from my iPad using Forums That was our experience on two Uniworld cruises (Budapest to Amsterdam and the Seine). On the first we checked out of our hotel at noon (at checkout time) and were on the ship by 12:15. Passengers that had arrived by plane from the States were already on board. We all had lunch around 12:30 or 1 and by the time we finished, our cabins were ready. On the Seine cruise we arrived directly from the airport around 11 am and waited in the lounge (manned with a bartender if drinks were desired) until lunch was served. Again our luggage was in the cabin by the time we finished lunch. The staff couldn't have been more accommodating on both cruises and never made anyone feel like we were in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare gnome12 Posted May 13, 2018 #6 Share Posted May 13, 2018 On my Vienna to Basel cruise in 2011, I arrived at the ship about 8 in the morning. I rested on the sundeck for a while (and got a bit of a sunburn, because my sunscreen was buried in my luggage), and later I was able to take out a bicycle for a bit of a ride along the Danube park. No one made me feel unwanted; I knew I couldn't get my cabin until 3, but other than that I had the run of the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acwmom Posted May 13, 2018 #7 Share Posted May 13, 2018 RobinThank you for the quick response. I appreciate it. It will give us another opportunity to squeeze in a walk and interesting lunch in Budapest. It also gives me the opportunity to join others in thanking you for your outstanding review with glorious pictures. Many thanks for that fabulous report. Catherine Sent from my iPhone using Forums Catherine, You are most welcome, and thank you for the compliments. I love taking pictures, and my poor husband has learned to stop frequently:-) This trip was different for us, in that we repeated the route, and it was essentially unplanned....made it a little more spontaneous, as well as relaxing. Robin Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bestie098 Posted May 13, 2018 #8 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Uniworld is rather flexible. Ours was the first cruise of the season so our rooms were ready on boarding (early) but thereafter, it's mid-afternoon. You're welcome to board for lunch and sit around and avail yourself to the lounges / drinks / snacks ... pretty much any part of the ship that isn't off limits (e.g. the cabin area) - we were a late departure due to flights and got to see a few of the new boarders come on and people watch. There is also the option to leave late and/or store luggage on the ship whilst you wander the port if you have a PM flight on departure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clcmdse Posted May 14, 2018 Author #9 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Thank you everyone. Looks like it is quite similar to our experience on Oceania where we had the run of the ship while our room was being prepared. We are very excited for this new experience! Catherine Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2travel90266 Posted May 14, 2018 #10 Share Posted May 14, 2018 My last Uniworld Cruise was in Bordeaux. We dropped our bags off around 10:30AM and went off touring the town on our own. It appeared there were a few suffering jet lag sleeping and snoring on the upper sun deck. Made for a very funny photo but thought the better of showing it to the cruisers. These are small ships and they know where you live! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clcmdse Posted May 15, 2018 Author #11 Share Posted May 15, 2018 My last Uniworld Cruise was in Bordeaux. We dropped our bags off around 10:30AM and went off touring the town on our own. It appeared there were a few suffering jet lag sleeping and snoring on the upper sun deck. Made for a very funny photo but thought the better of showing it to the cruisers. These are small ships and they know where you live! We had the pleasure of being in Bordeaux last year. What a wonderful port to start in. These posts are getting me more and more excited. Catherine Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryInIL Posted May 27, 2018 #12 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Same for Amsterdam "Castles on the Rhine" embarkation, noonish for us and possibly earlier for bags.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraB2 Posted May 30, 2018 #13 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Uniworld is very accommodating and allows cruisers to board whenever they arrive. In December our flight arrived in Paris at 7AM and we were onboard before 10:AM. We were offered coffee and drinks until lunch and had full use of all public areas of the ship until our cabins were ready. A few weeks ago when we were returning from the Danube cruise we were told that we were welcomed to spend the entire day onboard (after vacating our cabins)and could eat lunch and dinner. The only requirement was that we needed to disembark before they sailed! Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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