Uniworld Grand Value Cruising?

[MarinaMama]

Uniworld is offering Grand Value cruises in April (Amsterdam-Amsterdam, a Danube cruise with Budapest, Vienna) for what appear to me to be amazingly low prices. What's missing is all the guided tours and excursions--they provide some, but mainly leave days ashore free for the traveler. That might not be so bad, and the price is right. Has anyone out there tried one of these?

[MarinaMama]

;) The April cruises are Amsterdam-Amsterdam (doesn't include Belgium as they usually do) and Frankfurt-Frankfurt. Which cruise to take if I do decide to go with one of these do to the unbeatable (I think) price? We'd go the second week of April.

[TerryG]

These are new for 2006. The ships are two deckers and have fewer passangers, which can be an advantage. With special prices starting at $800 from NY, how can you go wrong.

[Louisana cruiser]

My husband and I are going on the "Uniworld Grand Value" roundtrip Frankfurt cruise April 16 departure. We have never been on a European river cruise, so the price was attractive to us. We thought it would give us a good opportunity to try "European" river cruising at an unbelievable price. Of course, not all excursions are included and wine is not included with dinner (as is on other river cruises), but we still felt it was an exceptional deal when you consider air alone to Europe can be quite expensive. We have cruised a few U.S. river cruises and loved it, so we are hopeful that this will be another delightful river cruise experience. If you're going before us, I'd appreciate feedback.

[rundent]

From what I've read you should be aware that the packages that include airfare sort of misstate the cost. Airfare will cost hundreds of dollars more. I would ask them for a ballpark figure. It still sounds like a great price [no rowing involved?]. This seems particularly attractive if you are independant and don't like to tour around in a bus herded from site to site.

[Carhut]

I suppose those aren't bad prices, but a 7 day cruise with Uniworld (I know they say 9 days, but 2 of those days are used for flying to and from) is just about par for the course. You have to look a little further. I looked at Uniworld sites and the offer says $800. but if you look further that's without air. With air it was more like $1600-1800. from NY. More from other cities. Then you have to add government taxes, port charges and various surcharges and other fees, maybe insurance , you'll be around $2000. per person. I'm taking a 16 day river cruise for less than $4000. in the height of tourist season, and my cruise includes a lot of tours and wine with dinner. So all in all if you just want a short cruise to try out European river cruising, go for it. I'll guarantee you'll be back for more.

As far as what cruise to choose from, I suppose the Amsterdam one has the tulips, but not much else that is scenic. The Frankfort one is the most scenic part of the Rhine. Danube is nice between Vienna and Budapest. Those are both great cities to explore. Keep us informed as to what you choose and how the trip was after you come home.

[PH]

We are going on the April 1, 2006 cruise. Our total price including all taxes is $1195 each and that includes insurance. PH

[ontheweb]

These are new for 2006. The ships are two deckers and have fewer passangers, which can be an advantage. With special prices starting at $800 from NY, how can you go wrong.

 

How can you go wrong? LET ME TELL YOU! My wife and I booked a Uniworld cruise in Holland and Belgium for the Christmas/New Year's break in 2003/2004. We paid our deposit and later the full fare and had an assigned cabin. AND THEN THEY CHARTERED THE SHIP OUT FROM UNDER US!

 

And let me tell you, it is much more difficult to get them to credit the money back to your credit card (because you now need the credit immediately available to plan a last minute vacation) than it is for them to take your payment. Even though they cancelled the trip, it took several calls and them acting like they were doing you a favor to process it within a few days!

 

We have so far only done ocean cruises, but do intend someday to do a river cruise. BUT, WE WOULD NOT EVER CONSIDER BOOKING AGAIN WITH UNIWORLD.

[GlobeMan]

How can you go wrong? LET ME TELL YOU! My wife and I booked a Uniworld cruise in Holland and Belgium for the Christmas/New Year's break in 2003/2004. We paid our deposit and later the full fare and had an assigned cabin. AND THEN THEY CHARTERED THE SHIP OUT FROM UNDER US!

 

And let me tell you, it is much more difficult to get them to credit the money back to your credit card (because you now need the credit immediately available to plan a last minute vacation) than it is for them to take your payment. Even though they cancelled the trip, it took several calls and them acting like they were doing you a favor to process it within a few days!

 

We have so far only done ocean cruises, but do intend someday to do a river cruise. BUT, WE WOULD NOT EVER CONSIDER BOOKING AGAIN WITH UNIWORLD.

Interesting story. I had a similar experience with GCT. In my case we cancelled the trip with 5 months advance notice. I expected to pay the $250 "administrative" fee. (The cancellation fee is only $150 on Uniworld.)

 

They applied my refund to a different passenger's credit card then told me I would have to contact him and ask him to send me the refund because they had no way to resolve it!

 

This went on for about a month of daily phone calls to GCT. They will not allow you to speak with a supervisor or manager under any circumstances so you have to start from scratch with a new agent everytime you call. On a few occasions they promised to have a manager call me but they never did. The customer service(!) reps insisted it was a "computer error" and there was nothing they could do about it.

 

I finally told them they had 24 hours to apply the credit to my credit card or I would contact the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. That worked!

 

I have been sailing with Uniworld ever since. We once had a problem with flight arrangements and they immediately assigned the issue to a lady who provided her direct phone number and assured us that she would resolve the problem. She called the following day to confirm resolution. We were quite satisfied.

[sle]

We are going on the May 28th sailing, anyone on it? We will be arriving in Frankfurt May 25th, staying at the Courtyard by Marriott. We are planning on visiting Heidelberg for the day. We will probably go on the train. Does anyone know if the train station is close to the old town section?

[onthebalcony]

Uniworld is offering Grand Value cruises in April (Amsterdam-Amsterdam, a Danube cruise with Budapest, Vienna) for what appear to me to be amazingly low prices. What's missing is all the guided tours and excursions--they provide some, but mainly leave days ashore free for the traveler. That might not be so bad, and the price is right. Has anyone out there tried one of these?

We are looking at the June 12 trip from Antwerp to Antwerp on Uniworld. We have never done a river cruise before. This is a nine day trip. I checked with our travel agent and the 1398 rate doesn't include port, air tax, extra flight costs, or insurance. Still sounds like a good deal considering the tours are included.

Has anyone done this trip? How would you rate Uniworld.

[stjohnsun2003]

We have traveled with Uniworld twice -- the Christmas Markets Tour in 2004 and we have just returned from a China Tour (13 days total: Beijing to Shanghai with a 5 night Yantzee River Tour and Xian.) Tour Managers and local guides were all excellent, the river boats and crew were great. I plan on sticking with Uniworld.

[muzzy 10]

Hi. I was reading these posts because I am also Intrigued by Uniworld Grand Value cruises and hope to read reviews about them when you folks come back. Regarding some of the bad experiences, I guess no line is free free from them. My sister and I went on a Viking Danube explorer cruise a couple of years ago and were so impreseed iwht everything about it that we booked Holland Tulip time with them with husbands this year; just got back and there were many glitches and things we were not happy with, altho we still had a great time and would try Viking again(maybe). The problem Globeman had with GCT is horrendous and inexcusable. One question: On Grand Value doo you have to book air thru them or can you book it separately, which is usually much better pricewise and often schedulewise. ?

[Ice Queen]

We (my mother and I) have booked June 12 "Waterways of Holland and Belgium" trip (Antwerp-Antwerp). Total including air, taxes, port charges etc. came to $1800pp. Still a good deal in my opinion. Have cruised numerous times but never done a river cruise. We know you get what you pay for but we see this an adventure and I think we have realistic expectations about what we're getting. Really looking forward to it. The one place I would really like to see that isn't on the itinerary is Bruges. Does anyone know if this is doable one-day trip? If possible I would like to do the first full day of the cruise while we are in Antwerp (the day after we arrive by air).

[sle]

We were on a Princess cruise that had a port call in Zeebrugge. We took a train from there into Brugge for the day, it was a wonderful town for sightseeing. You can go for a canal ride to see much of the town and then walk over lovely bridges, down narrow streets and alleyways. There is a large central plaza where people gather. Be sure and see the Town Hall with its golden statues on top. There is a lovely park with great pathways along the river, which you can visit on your way back to the train station. It was a memorable town to visit. You will not be disappointed!

We are booked on the river cruise from Frankfurt to Frankfurt for May 28th.

Hopefully they have repaired the engines by then on the River Ambassador.

We booked our own air so we could go in 3 days earlier.

[muzzy 10]

Ice queen, i am sure you could also take the train from antwerp to brugges for the day. As sle says, it is a wonderful place to walk around. If your ship departs that evening,tho, be sure to study the train schedule so you don'tget stranded. Wewentfrom Antrewp to Bruugges by group bus and it took about 1 and a halfhrs.