river cruising

[jshearon]

We plan to take a river cruise to Southern France in 2010.We want a nice room with real beds and good food. We are looking at Viking, Uniworld, and, Grand Circle Travel. We are in our mid 50's, love the small villages, and walking tours. Wine tours and seeing flowers are also of interest. Any ideas?

Janis

[Druke I]

We were quite satisfied with Grand Circle Travel for a cruise on the Danube, Budapest to the Black Sea (Constanza).

[parkie]

We did our first river cruise on Viking in southern France several years ago and had a wonderful time. Nice excursions, good food, comfortable rooms aboard the ship, etc. Subsequent trips on Viking (Paris to Normandy two years ago and a Paris to Prague journey this past year) proved to be less satisfactory as I thought that while the price was right, they tended to cut back on the quality of the food.

[pacmom]

We took Uniworld's River Royale in the summer of 2006. It was fantastic for an inaugral season. We tied up near a Viking ship and saw that the lower level cabins had pull down beds as did the GCT one. Uniworld now has free wine with dinner. You will find my review of the cruise in the archives on the board River and barge cruises. You also might post your question on that board. Pat

[rescuespringers]

River cruises are wonderful and Uniworld thinks of everything to make your trip smooth and relaxing on board.

Uniworld provides all the tours and each person has their own headset so you can walk at your own pace. The tour guides all speak perfect English and are very knowledgeable about their town.

The food was so far above average, it was to die for!

Uniworld adds some great touches like serving you a warm drink when you come back from a cold tour on land, wine with dinner as much as you can drink. Nice captains dinner with free drinks.

I love the fact that they are docked in town and stay in town many times until 1 or 2 am so you can come and go from the ship as you like. They have a warm relaxed atmosphere and very great customer service.They always went out of their way to make our visit special.

The cruise we took with them to Paris and Normandy was fantastic! They just go out of their way to make you enjoy it. I would recommend Uniworld to anyone who loves service, but does not need the wild life of the big box boats. Only 100 people on board and a very relaxed atmosphere.

[seahorse]

River cruises are wonderful and Uniworld thinks of everything to make your trip smooth and relaxing on board.

Uniworld provides all the tours and each person has their own headset so you can walk at your own pace. The tour guides all speak perfect English and are very knowledgeable about their town.

The food was so far above average, it was to die for!

Uniworld adds some great touches like serving you a warm drink when you come back from a cold tour on land, wine with dinner as much as you can drink. Nice captains dinner with free drinks.

I love the fact that they are docked in town and stay in town many times until 1 or 2 am so you can come and go from the ship as you like. They have a warm relaxed atmosphere and very great customer service.They always went out of their way to make our visit special.

The cruise we took with them to Paris and Normandy was fantastic! They just go out of their way to make you enjoy it. I would recommend Uniworld to anyone who loves service, but does not need the wild life of the big box boats. Only 100 people on board and a very relaxed atmosphere.

I just booked this cruise:) Can you tell me about the day in Normandy and how many beaches? or any other experiences?

I have done river cruises in France but not this location nor this line. I am sooooooo excited about this one. The last one we had to abandon the boat at night because of rising rivers:eek: That was an excitement that we could have done without:rolleyes:

[franski]

We also did the Paris & Normandy with Uniworld (Trafalgar) - and echo everything that rescuespringers has said. Our day at the Beaches was a bit different, as the Cruise Manager arranged for 6 of us "Canucks" to do a side tour to Juno Beach and the Canadian Cemetary at Benys-sur-mer before we caught up with the rest of the group at Arromanche --> we then went to the American cemetary, and Point-du-Hoc. We were not expecting to see the Canadian beaches - so it was wonderful when this could be arranged.

 

The cruise is wonderful. The optional to Versaille is worth the time and money... We did not do the optional to the Calvados distillery. Instead, we stayed in Honfleur - walked around and ate at a small little restaurant, watching the people as they walked by. Giverny (Monet's home) is amazing - and then we were able to actually see the original Waterlilies at the Orangerie in Paris... Didn't realize how big they actually were!!!

 

I described the trip to a friend as a "floating 5-star hotel" - although we didn't have to "dress" for dinner... We are looking into booking another river cruise in 2010 - just trying to figure out where we want to go...

 

Fran

[JerseyGem]

We plan to take a river cruise to Southern France in 2010.We want a nice room with real beds and good food. We are looking at Viking, Uniworld, and, Grand Circle Travel. We are in our mid 50's, love the small villages, and walking tours. Wine tours and seeing flowers are also of interest. Any ideas?

Janis

 

I suggest posting your questions on the River Cruises forum- and clarify "real beds" (do you want a cabin where the bed is always made up as a bed rather than the flip-down beds on GCT?)

[Retired Cruiser09]

We plan to take a river cruise to Southern France in 2010.We want a nice room with real beds and good food. We are looking at Viking, Uniworld, and, Grand Circle Travel. We are in our mid 50's, love the small villages, and walking tours. Wine tours and seeing flowers are also of interest. Any ideas?

Janis[/quot

 

We're on this trip in October 2009 with Uniworld. I think Uniworld will meet and exceed your expectations. This will be our third trip.

 

I believe the bottom deck of the Royale is two single beds. The other decks are hotel type beds. If beds are an issue be sure to check. Many of the pictures I've seen have single beds on Viking and GCT.

[pacmom]

Yes, the lower deck of the Royale has twin beds--real beds not pullman style like those on GCT and the lower deck of Viking. Those daybed, pullman style are hard on the back and hard to adjust if you are tall. Pat

[mncruise]

I am on AMA Waterways right now (free internet on most of their ships) and it is a wonderful experience. Now we are docked in Frankfurt close to shops, eating, etc.. Food is very good, ship clean and crew nice. Wine with dinner and nice size cabins; we have a French Window. Check them out also.

[maroon23]

Have you considered Avalon Waterways? We went on the Flavors of Burgundy and Provence in late Oct. It was very enjoyable but a little cool. It started in Nice and then on to Arles,Avignon, etc. It had excursions to little towns like Uzes,Vienne and Oingt. We had a wine tasting there of Le Beaujolais. You are bussed back to Paris. The food was excellent with the chef preparing made to order selections for lunch. Only about 100 people on board and we hit market day in three little villages.

[cdhdeh]

Also very disappointing food on Viking cruise, Russia. I see a trend here with them.

[janetcbl]

Also very disappointing food on Viking cruise, Russia. I see a trend here with them.

I disagree with the above post. We just returned from a Russia Viking River Cruise and the food was fine. If there was nothing on the menu you liked, you could order a steak (good), chicken or a salad. The ice cream was terrific!