Uniworld Confirms Four More "Super Ship" River Cruise Rebuilds For 2021

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Cruise Critic:

Uniworld Confirms Four More "Super Ship" River Cruise Rebuilds For 2021

 

Trivia contest:  Why does the quote at the end of this article make me think that Uniworld UK Managing Director Chris Townson is a Beatles fan?

[acwmom]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

New article on Cruise Critic:

Uniworld Confirms Four More "Super Ship" River Cruise Rebuilds For 2021

 

Trivia contest:  Why does the quote at the end of this article make me think that Uniworld UK Managing Director Chris Townson is a Beatles fan?

I really enjoy the Uniworld product, but the rooms on these ships are small. They aren't going to make them bigger with these renovations. That's a concern for me. 150sf for a french balcony cabin is tight (not as tight as the 128sf on the Baroness, now the "B" though). It's disappointing they aren't building new, like their competitors.

 

We are definitely looking at a variety of lines for our next cruise.

 

Robin

[jpalbny]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Trivia contest:  Why does the quote at the end of this article make me think that Uniworld UK Managing Director Chris Townson is a Beatles fan?

 

I was expecting something along the lines of, "Picture yourself in a boat on a river..." but I don't see that quote. Unless the tangerine trees and marmalade skies obscured my view?

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

I was expecting something along the lines of, "Picture yourself in a boat on a river..." but I don't see that quote. Unless the tangerine trees and marmalade skies obscured my view?

 

No.  Not tangerines or marmalade.  Maybe a martini (shaken, not stirred).

[acwmom]

15 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

I was expecting something along the lines of, "Picture yourself in a boat on a river..." but I don't see that quote. Unless the tangerine trees and marmalade skies obscured my view?

OFF TOPIC:

Nice "new" profile pic! Where were you?

 

Robin

[jpalbny]

Thanks Robin. That was from our Silversea cruise to Iceland last month. Red parkas courtesy of SS. Go visit, if you haven't been. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

OK, either the question was too difficult or I'm the only grammar nit-picker left.

 

UK Managing Director Chris Townson ... said: "Quite simply, our aim is to have the best very best river cruise ship on every river we sail on."

 

Which reminded me of the Beatles' Live and Let Die:

"But if this ever-changing world in which we live in ..."

[jpalbny]

Jazz, thanks. Now I get it. But I had no chance without you explaining it.

 

But wasn't that song done by Paul McCartney and Wings, after The Beatles? Then Guns & Roses covered it.

Edited September 17, 2019 by jpalbny

[Host Jazzbeau]

You're right JP, it was Paul in that 'other' band.  So I lose my own trivia contest!

[Roz]

That was a very obtuse reference to the Beatles.  🙄  Thanks for the explanation.  It went over my head.

[acwmom]

Way over mine as well

[Got2Cruise]

On 9/16/2019 at 4:39 PM, acwmom said:

I really enjoy the Uniworld product, but the rooms on these ships are small. They aren't going to make them bigger with these renovations. That's a concern for me. 150sf for a french balcony cabin is tight (not as tight as the 128sf on the Baroness, now the "B" though). It's disappointing they aren't building new, like their competitors.

 

We are definitely looking at a variety of lines for our next cruise.

 

Robin

From my understanding (not that great lol), there will be many more suites $$$ and less average cabins. My main concern is that the Suite Pax are not given special privileges as on ocean cruises such as first for dinner and excursion reservations. That would be a deal breaker for me. 

 

With 2 suites currently, if those pax discretely received special privileges out of 70 cabins it’s not a biggie. 

[G.M.T.]

More rafting.

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

More rafting.

Why should refurbishing existing ships lead to more rafting? Or was your response directed at some other specific post?

[acwmom]

14 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

From my understanding (not that great lol), there will be many more suites $$$ and less average cabins. My main concern is that the Suite Pax are not given special privileges as on ocean cruises such as first for dinner and excursion reservations. That would be a deal breaker for me. 

 

With 2 suites currently, if those pax discretely received special privileges out of 70 cabins it’s not a biggie. 

These ships currently have 4 suites. I honestly can't see them adding more than 2 additional. The unique thing about these four ships is that they are "multi-level" and only the top level has french balconies. There are currently 18 french balconies, and if they take away say, 4 to make suites, then that takes the number of balconies down to 14. 

 

With regard to increasing to four restaurants, that will be interesting as well, again, due to the multi-level nature of their builds. The River Countess (soon to be SS Venezia) already has the Osteria as a second restaurant. I'm sure they will take part of the lounge for a bistro-type restaurant. But not sure where the 4th would go.

 

Since Uniworld is come when you want dining, I don't know that a "first for dinner" would be considered a "privilege". Excursion preference, yes. When we were treated with a suite last year, we very much liked the ability to have laundry done daily, if needed. We also enjoyed our afternoon canapés, and having a butler at our disposal. On our particular ship, a nice perk would have been complimentary internet hotspots. The service was terrible on the JDV (had been fantastic on the Baroness, three years earlier, so it isn't the area that's the problem) and the ship had a limited number of hotspot devices available for rent. A large group of travel agents (on a FAM trip) snatched them up, leaving none for the remainder of the pax. 

[dolllover]

On our Italy cruise next Sept our room got moved to another location to make room for an additional suite. 

[Got2Cruise]

@acwmom I can’t imagine with four dining venues it will remain “come anytime”. It would be total chaos. 

 

The idea of the suites is to attract pax from the luxury ocean cruise lines. They have certain expectations based on their past experiences. 

[acwmom]

3 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

@acwmom I can’t imagine with four dining venues it will remain “come anytime”. It would be total chaos. 

 

The idea of the suites is to attract pax from the luxury ocean cruise lines. They have certain expectations based on their past experiences. 

I think the main dining room will remain come at any time. It's one aspect of Uniworld we really like. We had to make reservations for the special dinner on the JDV, so I can see suites maybe getting advance notice for something like that. Venues #3 and 4 may also be limited hour venues, like on their other ships. (The Bistro being more a lunch/afternoon offering, IIRC) There was also an added cost venue, maybe that could be a complimentary offering to a suite passenger......or not:-)