Uniworld Paris to Normandy Impressions

[RetiredandTravel]

We have already vacationed in Paris and are looking at the Uniworld Paris to Normandy cruise as an alternative to basing in Paris to visit Monet's Gardens & Normandy.

 

If you have taken the cruise please let me know your impressions.  Specifically the food, wine & excursions.

 

thanks

 

 

[acwmom]

On 6/24/2021 at 8:45 AM, RetiredandTravel said:

We have already vacationed in Paris and are looking at the Uniworld Paris to Normandy cruise as an alternative to basing in Paris to visit Monet's Gardens & Normandy.

 

If you have taken the cruise please let me know your impressions.  Specifically the food, wine & excursions.

 

thanks

 

 

I've done this cruise twice with Uniworld. We went in late March each time, so Monet's Gardens weren't yet open. I did a review from our 2018 cruise.

 

First, the SS Joie de Vivre is a beautiful ship. The food was good. The alcohol selection was more than adequate. We are not wine drinkers, but our friends are and found the selection and quality to be good. On our second cruise, we did some of the more "obscure" excursions. Between the two cruises, we felt the excursions to be fantastic. 

 

Depending on your interests, however, it may be best to stay in Paris as a base and travel from there. If you want an in-depth Normandy experience, you will need more than the day that any cruise line will have. If a one day trip is sufficient, then the offerings from Uniworld are quite in-depth. 

 

Our favorite excursions were the Calvados Farm, where we had a farm-to-table lunch and sampled Calvados, the golf outing to Etretat, and the day-long trip to Mont St. Michel.

 

Here is a link to my 2018 review:

 

 

[knoxclone]

This is a fabulous review. Especially appreciate the menus!  

 

We are sailing on an abbreviated cruise this fall - chartered through the WWII museum in New Orleans, 4 nights aboard the Joie de Vivre starting Paris and disembarking in Bayeux. 

 

Have sailed w Viking river numerous times, and have been pleased - but I am looking forward to trying Uniworld.  

 

Your your comments about the poor wifi concerns me (especially since Vikings on board wifi service is very good).  Was it poor throughout the trip, or just in certain more rural areas?  

 

Thanks again for such a great report.

 

 

 

[RetiredandTravel]

 

 

4 hours ago, acwmom said:

I've done this cruise twice with Uniworld. We went in late March each time, so Monet's Gardens weren't yet open. I did a review from our 2018 cruise.

 

First, the SS Joie de Vivre is a beautiful ship. The food was good. The alcohol selection was more than adequate. We are not wine drinkers, but our friends are and found the selection and quality to be good. On our second cruise, we did some of the more "obscure" excursions. Between the two cruises, we felt the excursions to be fantastic. 

 

Depending on your interests, however, it may be best to stay in Paris as a base and travel from there. If you want an in-depth Normandy experience, you will need more than the day that any cruise line will have. If a one day trip is sufficient, then the offerings from Uniworld are quite in-depth. 

 

Our favorite excursions were the Calvados Farm, where we had a farm-to-table lunch and sampled Calvados, the golf outing to Etretat, and the day-long trip to Mont St. Michel.

 

Here is a link to my 2018 review:

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to write the thoughtful answer.

 

I'm surprised Uniworld doesn't have their own section given the number of ships they have.

 

We're leaning towards the cruise at this point, Paris as a home base is quite expensive and the trip to Normandy is a long one. Can't beat the food though.    Our plan is to go to Burgundy in conjunction with the river cruise.  There are also some ocean cruises which go to St Petersburg/Scandinavia  and the low countries including Normandy.   Our issue with an ocean cruise in this case is you lose much of the local flavor/culture.

 

There were some complaints in the reviews about the air conditioning.  I'm guessing that being you travelled in March this wasn't an issue for you.  We would probably go in May/June.  Do you have any knowledge of A/C issue's on the boat?

 

Did you find the food selection too limited at dinner?

 

Does the ship stay docked in towns so you could go to local restaurants in town for dinner?

 

The last time (on business) I was in the Cincinnati airport was shortly after 9/11 and they had a security breach so they had to empty the entire airport so everyone could go thru security again.   I ended at the very end of the line, an airport employee told me it would take 6-7 hours to get thru security.  I actually took a cab to Columbus because the trip would be 5-6 hours shorter. 😬

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, RetiredandTravel said:

I'm surprised Uniworld doesn't have their own section given the number of ships they have.

They don't really have a large number of ships; in fact, they are probably one of the smaller cruise lines that caters to the North American market.

 

None of the river cruise lines have their own forums except the US based ones, which I understand is for historical reasons.

 

Most of us have learned that for itinerary questions it is helpful to have information from multiple lines, because they mostly go to the same places. So having all the river cruising information in one forum can be very helpful. You can ask cruise line specific questions or port/excursion specific questions and get answers from a range of cruisers.

 

As to roll calls, they make very little sense on a river cruise; when you have only a maximum of 200 passengers, and generally fewer, the chances of finding someone on your exact cruise is very unlikely. In addition, with most excursions included, one of the main purposes of a roll call is unnecessary; you don't need to make plans for small group excursions to avoid those of the cruise line. In fact, it is very difficult to make independent arrangements at all, because arrival and departure times can change up to the day of arrival, generally due to traffic at locks.

[RetiredandTravel]

I'm really just trying to get information on Uniworld not get in an argument over Cruise Critic content.

 

 

But..

 

I couldn't disagree more, lumping ALL river cruises in one category is ridiculous.  When I had a question I had no idea where to go.  The two categories are 1) river ports, where it states the thread is ONLY about ports, and 2) Q&A with some "experts".

 

Would it really be that big of a deal to add Uniworld, Viking, Crystal River etc cruise categories.  At least break out each river.  They already have sections on cruise fashion and freighters for heavens sake.  Hebridean has its own category after all (don't see a roll call).

 

According to their website Uniworld has 12 ships.  Lets say they average 80 passengers a week, that equals 50,000 cruisers a year. 

 

Is a "roll call" mandatory for every category?

 

 

 

 

[acwmom]

21 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to write the thoughtful answer.

 

I'm surprised Uniworld doesn't have their own section given the number of ships they have.

 

We're leaning towards the cruise at this point, Paris as a home base is quite expensive and the trip to Normandy is a long one. Can't beat the food though.    Our plan is to go to Burgundy in conjunction with the river cruise.  There are also some ocean cruises which go to St Petersburg/Scandinavia  and the low countries including Normandy.   Our issue with an ocean cruise in this case is you lose much of the local flavor/culture.

 

There were some complaints in the reviews about the air conditioning.  I'm guessing that being you travelled in March this wasn't an issue for you.  We would probably go in May/June.  Do you have any knowledge of A/C issue's on the boat?

No knowledge of A/C problems. The wifi was terrible though, which was surprising for a 2yr old ship.

 

21 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Did you find the food selection too limited at dinner?

Not at all. There were plenty of choices. I will say that on the night of the trip to the Normandy Beaches, it was a dinner buffet, not meal service, as the return to the ship was later, and people didn't really have time to clean up for dinner. In addition, three times during the cruise, a family style meal was offered to those who signed up. I can't recall if the Bistro was also open during dinner, or just for lunch and the afternoon.

21 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Does the ship stay docked in towns so you could go to local restaurants in town for dinner?

It sailed at night, leaving around dinner time, except for the final night, when it was docked in Paris.

 

21 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

The last time (on business) I was in the Cincinnati airport was shortly after 9/11 and they had a security breach so they had to empty the entire airport so everyone could go thru security again.   I ended at the very end of the line, an airport employee told me it would take 6-7 hours to get thru security.  I actually took a cab to Columbus because the trip would be 5-6 hours shorter. 😬

 

Thanks again.

We also have Louisville, Dayton and Indy nearby:-)

 

Robin

 

[CPT Trips]

I spent a lot of time during the pandemic touring the Normandy Beaches virtually with https://www.welovenormandy.com. We did one river cruise on the Seine and only had a day at the beaches; not nearly enough time.

 

Knoxclone, are you using Bayeaux as a base for WWII related touring? Anyone interested in spending time at the beaches and surrounding area can get a lot of information at the site above.

[knoxclone]

Thanks for the link!  I had not found that one. 

 

Yes, the group is staying at small chateau/hotel near Bayeax.  We last visited Normandy about 25 years ago as a quick 2 day trip from London traveling with my father,  but we only had time to visit the American Cemetary, St. Mere Englise and Utah/Omaha beach areas, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing the Bayeaux tapestry and Rouen as well. 

 

Im also very interested to see how Uniworld (post covid) compares to previous reports as well as Viking. 

[acwmom]

On 6/25/2021 at 1:52 PM, knoxclone said:

This is a fabulous review. Especially appreciate the menus!  

 

We are sailing on an abbreviated cruise this fall - chartered through the WWII museum in New Orleans, 4 nights aboard the Joie de Vivre starting Paris and disembarking in Bayeux. 

 

Have sailed w Viking river numerous times, and have been pleased - but I am looking forward to trying Uniworld.  

 

Your your comments about the poor wifi concerns me (especially since Vikings on board wifi service is very good).  Was it poor throughout the trip, or just in certain more rural areas?  

 

Thanks again for such a great report.

 

 

 

I'm glad you found the report useful. Though we didn't visit Bayeux on this cruise, we did go the first time and enjoyed seeing Tapestry. Our first cruise was on the River Baroness (now the U by Uniworld "B")  The wifi on the Baroness was great, so I think it was the ship. If you have your own hotspot, you may want to take it. I have AT&T and paid the $10/day to use their network, which worked well.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[RetiredandTravel]

"Acwmom" your comments and reviews are invaluable in understanding the cruise and making decisions.  Thank you.

 

Its very surprising that the wifi isn't good.

 

We are now leaning towards visiting a couple regions in France and using Paris as a home base for Normandy & Giverny.  The Normandy tours look like they take the same amount of time from the ship & Paris.  Giverny (Monet) is an easy trip from Paris.   The overall cost is about the same because we would stay in Paris only 4 nights, the regions are much cheaper.  

 

The trip is still quite a long way away so this will probably change many times. 🙂

 

Thank again.

[Canal archive]

Aim to get to Giverney early our cruise with a different company did and it was certainly worth it we were the only people there so clear views for photographs and seeing the plants etc. When we left the queues were unbelievable. CA

[RetiredandTravel]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Aim to get to Giverney early our cruise with a different company did and it was certainly worth it we were the only people there so clear views for photographs and seeing the plants etc. When we left the queues were unbelievable. CA

 

 

Thanks for the tip.   There are tours to Giverny from Paris that start 7:30-7:45AM, we'll get one of those.   Many of the tours spend 1 1/2 hr at the gardens.  Is that enough time?   Looks like the better tours are about 5 hours and cost about $150 each (2x),  you can pay an extra $50-100 each for "skip the line" and private turs cost about $800 for two.

 

Normandy cost $250-$300 each and the tour is about 13 hours.  Private tours are $2000 for two, ouch.

 

Paris isn't a place for people on a budget.  I looked into several 2-3 star Michelin restaurants, you can buy a small new car for less than dinner for two.  

 

 

 

[gnome12]

Maybe basing yourself in Paris isn’t the way to go. Stay in Normandy to do the WWII beaches. Stay closer to Giverney. Paris is a big city. You can waste a lot of time getting out of it. And, as you note, it is expensive. 

[Canal archive]

Cities like Paris are expensive especially michaline starred restaurants. If you like gardens an hour and a half is not long enough and the house is full of his art. The local cafes and bars are better value for money. I agree with gnome12 Normandy is something special with loads of interesting places to explore and stay. CA

[RetiredandTravel]

My wife has a big interest in Monet's Gardens and I have an interest in Normandy so we are going to each place one day.  I've looked at hotels close to Normandy but they are quite a distance from Giverny. 

 

Travelling in and out of Paris isn't optimal but its a beautiful city and we love our food & wine, so I think that's where we will stay.   We last went to Paris for our 10th anniversary, it was Bill Clinton's first term. 

 

We have to make sure we have enough time in Giverny.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

[CPT Trips]

Look at the Normandy link I posted above. You might be well served to do three days with them.

 

As far as Giverny, consider doing that without a guide and definitely plan on the best part of a day. That will allow you to take your time in the house and garden. In addition to Monet’s house and garden there is another enjoyable museum in easy walking distance ”down the road a piece” on the way to Claude’s gravesite. IIRC, none of the artwork in the house are Monet originals.

Edited June 27, 2021 by CPT Trips

[Host Jazzbeau]

The ideal would be to rent a car and drive to Chartres, Giverny, Rouen, Honfleur and Mont-St-Michel.

 

In Giverny we stayed at Le Clos Fleuri, a delightful B&B.  Monet's house and garden as less than 1 km away, and there is a large parking lot right across from the entrance – or you could even walk from the hotel.

 

[RetiredandTravel]

Staying in Normandy is very compelling, I've come across a beautiful hotel there.  There are a couple issues.  We generally try to make it a rule to only stay in 3 (maybe 4) places, in this case probably 4-5 nights each.  Not big fans of packing & un packing so we will use the hotel as sort of a base.  Currently the plan is to start in Beaune (Burgundy) then go to Nimes (Languedoc Roussillon) then on to Paris  to see Normandy & Giverny and eat spectacular food.  Its quite a trip from Nimes to Normandy.  

 

We're getting older so renting a car is probably a stretch.

 

If anyone has stayed in Burgundy or Languedoc R I'd love to hear your experiences.

 

Many thanks everyone, very helpful.

[gnome12]

6 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

We generally try to make it a rule to only stay in 3 (maybe 4) places, in this case probably 4-5 nights each.  Not big fans of packing & un packing so we will use the hotel as sort of a base.

Do you know about packing cubes? They make it much easier to find things without making a mess of things.