River cruising is changing!

[editor@cruisecritic]

Love the photos, wow, the tulips really popped!

 

Carolyn

 

Hi Carolyn,

 

We'd cruised on medium-size (or "small" by today's standards) ocean-going vessels, enjoying them all, then found Windstar vessels (which were smaller), and we enjoyed them, too, and then discovered Uniworld river cruises. Since then we've been hooked on Uniworld, with one European river cruise three years in a row. In now our fourth year since our first river cruise, we're booked on Uniworld for one of the new Paris in December itineraries this year.

 

We've posted just a few of our pictures on our home web site at http://www.hillrisefarm.us/Cruising.html . At the bottom of that page are the links to our Uniworld cruises, and some of those pages contain links to the daily programs and port handouts if they might be useful.

 

Have a terrific time! We'll look forward to reading about your cruise when you return. Cheers!

 

...Karl

[croozbabe]

Carolyn,

 

Hope your river cruise is simply lovely! Since you're going before me, will you be writing a brief review of it on here which I can read before I leave? I've already read some others and everything written is just glowing :-)

 

I also received my documents yesterday and was very favorably impressed too. I had an unusual reaction when I opened them up - I suddenly felt quite emotional which I attribute to knowing now that I am finally doing something which I have desired for many years...and also, sadly, that I will be alone with no one to share it with. Oh well, I can't believe that 4 weeks from now I will be on the River Beatrice seeing some glorious European scenery!

 

Bon voyage to you!

 

Debbie

[boards]

We just completed that cruise on the River Beatrice. You will thoroughly enjoy the ship and the staff. They are great and so friendly and helpful. Alina the concierge new on the job was so helpful to us. The food was so good too. I wish the ship went on a different route, we would love to cruise again on that ship.

[editor@cruisecritic]

Debbie, you do have someone to share it with: all of us here on the boards! Frankly, we're a better and more receptive audience than loved ones who can't travel with you and whose eyes (in my experience, LOL) glaze over when you talk about your trips. But you come here -- and you'll be peppered with questions.

 

Also, I think on smaller ship cruises (river, luxury or otherwise) it's so much easier to connect with people onboard and make friends. I don't think you'll feel alone on your trip -- but do keep me posted.

 

I will be writing a review and one of our Come Aboard features (this is a series on Cruise Critic that blends onboard and onshore; link to it is here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/area.cfm?ID=29.

 

But I'm happy to answer any questions (best bet is to email me at editor@cruisecritic.com).

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn,

 

Hope your river cruise is simply lovely! Since you're going before me, will you be writing a brief review of it on here which I can read before I leave? I've already read some others and everything written is just glowing :-)

 

I also received my documents yesterday and was very favorably impressed too. I had an unusual reaction when I opened them up - I suddenly felt quite emotional which I attribute to knowing now that I am finally doing something which I have desired for many years...and also, sadly, that I will be alone with no one to share it with. Oh well, I can't believe that 4 weeks from now I will be on the River Beatrice seeing some glorious European scenery!

 

Bon voyage to you!

 

Debbie

[croozbabe]

Carolyn,

 

Thanks so much for the encouraging words! I do know that cruise passengers are mostly very friendly and welcoming folks from previous cruises which I have sailed alone so I have no doubt that some of my fellow passengers will "adopt" me.

 

I really look forward to reading your review and the Come Aboard feature.

 

Safe travels,

Debbie

[editor@cruisecritic]

So I'm heading to Europe to sample Holland America Line's Eurodam and then to Uniworld's River Beatrice.

 

One interesting distinction.

 

HAL asked me to download my trip "booklet" to save, so it said, on killing trees. Not sure how my printing out the trip info is any different from HAL's printing it out.

 

Uniworld sent a lovely leather like pouch with key info.

 

Have to say -- HAL's feels like a Carnival-esque experience (I don't mind saying first impressions are key), Uniworld's feels luxe-like.

 

We'll see of course if first impressions are followed through....

 

Carolyn

[p598738]

HAL is of course owned by Carnival. It's one up from the Carnival named ships I think.

[CAPinBoynton]

Just in case anyone is interested, we have just posted the review of our recent Danube River cruise (Budapest to Prague) on the AMA Waterways Amalyra on our website www.thepreismans.com. It is very long, so much so that we had to do it in two parts. There are way too many photos in the review. We do apologize to those people with slow Internet connectivity for putting in so many photos; but with so many beautiful churches and other lovely places on this trip, we couldn’t resist.

 

There are also links at the end of each part of the review to our SnapFish albums that have photos in a larger format and many that we did not put in the review. They have been put into four separate albums to provide for faster download.

 

This was our first European river cruise and we just loved it. If you have been on a Danube River cruise before, we hope that this review will bring back some fond memories. If you have never been on a river cruise, hopefully the review will show you what they are like. Enjoy!

[rhoude]

Or so I'm thinking. After a million (exaggerating slightly :) ) cruises on big ships, luxe ships, cheap vessels and those in the middle, I'm embarking on a whole new focus next month: the river cruise.

 

Ultimately it was not for this 40-something, active gal interested in food, wine, nature (to a point), culture (absolutely) and bicycle riding expeditions. I haven't been back. Until...next month.

 

So in my first river cruise in more than a decade, I'm wondering: has this potentially wonderfully niche of cruising, where you can dock right in the midst of major European cities and just walk on around, evolved past stuffy-musty-fusty-traditional notions of what cruising has been about?

 

I'm reasonably adventurous, appreciate the good life within reason, and want to try the cruise-thing in Europe that goes more in-depth, ventures beyond coastal cities.

 

You might just develop a thing for the Bike & Boat formula then. Combine lodging and eating on a cozy river cruise ship like the M/V Latitude Amsterdam and its intimate 16-passenger capacity with active discovery of the St-Lawrence River on bikes... and there you go!

 

Check it out at www.bikeandboat.ca, you might never live river cruising quite the same way ever again!

 

Cheers,

Ron

[L0vet0travel]

Will be traveling on Uniworld later this summer, through some great wine country. I understand we get fine wines with our dinner, but what is their policy about bringing wine on board? That before dinner sip at the french balcony? Thanks for your input. Love2

[editor@cruisecritic]

I just finished Mike's two-part photo feature and wow! It was fascinating and also I appreciate how much time he put into it. It's a great resource for anyone, on any ship cruising the Danube. Thanks, Mike.

 

Carolyn

 

 

Just in case anyone is interested, we have just posted the review of our recent Danube River cruise (Budapest to Prague) on the AMA Waterways Amalyra on our website www.thepreismans.com. It is very long, so much so that we had to do it in two parts. There are way too many photos in the review. We do apologize to those people with slow Internet connectivity for putting in so many photos; but with so many beautiful churches and other lovely places on this trip, we couldn’t resist.

 

There are also links at the end of each part of the review to our SnapFish albums that have photos in a larger format and many that we did not put in the review. They have been put into four separate albums to provide for faster download.

 

This was our first European river cruise and we just loved it. If you have been on a Danube River cruise before, we hope that this review will bring back some fond memories. If you have never been on a river cruise, hopefully the review will show you what they are like. Enjoy!

[editor@cruisecritic]

Hi, Ron, interestingly enough my husband (who's editor of a cruise industry business-to-business magazine called Cruise Business Review , cruisebusiness.com) was just up in Canada for a cruise industry conference and told me about the St. Lawrence boat/bike trip. Now I have to say -- I reviewed St. Lawrence Seaways a few years back and thought it was very well done and an especially good option for older folks. But as much as I liked the places we visited, as a more active traveler, I was a bit...bored.

 

I'd love to try a biking trip along the St. Lawrence and Cruise Critic is going to check y'all out. Do you have more info to share? Please don't hesitate to drop me a note at editor@cruisecritic.com).

 

Carolyn

 

You might just develop a thing for the Bike & Boat formula then. Combine lodging and eating on a cozy river cruise ship like the M/V Latitude Amsterdam and its intimate 16-passenger capacity with active discovery of the St-Lawrence River on bikes... and there you go!

 

Check it out at www.bikeandboat.ca, you might never live river cruising quite the same way ever again!

 

Cheers,

Ron

[editor@cruisecritic]

Great question and right up my alley! I'll investigate and report back :)

 

Carolyn

 

 

 

Will be traveling on Uniworld later this summer, through some great wine country. I understand we get fine wines with our dinner, but what is their policy about bringing wine on board? That before dinner sip at the french balcony? Thanks for your input. Love2

[MVPinBoynton]

I just finished Mike's two-part photo feature and wow! It was fascinating and also I appreciate how much time he put into it. It's a great resource for anyone, on any ship cruising the Danube. Thanks, Mike.

 

Carolyn

 

Thanks Carolyn. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully it helps in planning for your upcoming river cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed. And you are right about it taking a long time to prepare. It was worth it for us to be able to remember everything we did and to share it with those thinking about and/or planning for a river cruise.

[Happy Traveler]

loge ... when are you doing the Rhine cruise, and on which ship/line. We're on Viking Sun on August 16 ... any chance we'll see you there?

 

Susan

[steamboats]

Will be traveling on Uniworld later this summer, through some great wine country. I understand we get fine wines with our dinner, but what is their policy about bringing wine on board? That before dinner sip at the french balcony? Thanks for your input. Love2

 

Great question and right up my alley! I'll investigate and report back :)

 

Carolyn

 

Bringing wine aboard is usually no problem as long as you consume it in your cabin. As far as I remember Viking is charging a corkage fee when you want to have the wine for dinner.

 

steamboats