Live Aboard the SS Antoinette

Hello everyone, I am in the middle of my first river cruise. We selected Uniworld specifically from the information on this thread. Will we do another river cruise. The jury is still out on that one. Major disappointment, we are currently docked in Germerschein on the Rhine. The destination for today is Speyer. That is 20 km. by bus. We are docked at a construction site. To reach the shuttle you turn left off the ship walk 300m. Then turn 180 and walk back past the ship 400 m to get to the buses.if you want to go into Speyer at times other than the set tour a shuttle leaves at 1:30 pm which will bring you back at 4:30. No information about Germerschein. Big disappointment very little time actually in ports on actual river. Yesterday Rudesheim was wonderful. Docked in town easy walk back and forth. Dinner time. More later.

Uniworld review. Great ship. Great staff. No request is too much. Staff very attentive. Food good not fabulous. Dinners are supposed to be gourmet. More than adequate choices. Service very prompt. Breakfast and lunch buffet with hot dishes and lot of choices. Everything onboard the ship is excellent. Off the ship is when the disappointment begins. Cruise manager seems harried. Inadequate staff off the boat. I previously expressed my disappointment with lack of port time. We have passed many gorgeous villages with docks marked for other cruise lines that we bypassed. The problem may be with my selection of lines or itineraries. We don't sail down a beautiful river on a beautiful ship to be packed on buses at every turn. On to Strasbourg and Colmar. By the way this cruis is from Amsterdam to Breisach. I do not think any Uniworld cruises will make it to Basel. More layer

Did you go into Germersheim? It has a large 19th century fort, lots of history.

Hello gatechie72,

Thank you for posting. Did you stop in Cologne and Koblenz? Both ports are directly at the town centre. If you did not dock close to the Cathedral in Cologne you must have been close, nevertheless.

Germersheim looks a nice place to explore: http://www.suedpfalz-tourismus.de/en/kultur-geschichte/festung-germersheim.html

An old town with its own specific history, a strategic place with that fort there, it seems.

Some companies have to use these "relief ports" and bus you but 20 kms does not sound too bad.

It is certainly a pity to have too little time in port, as you feel you have. Something to write to Uniworld about with the suggestion to alter things perhaps?

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, Breisach is a nice place to finish off your cruise. From what I have heard, Basel is not necessarily the most beautiful port to see... Zurich is preferred for sightseeing by the CC community, I have gathered the opinion over the past three years.

notamermaid

Thanks so much for posting. We are also taking our first River cruise in June, the same itinerary you are on in reverse, and we are on Scenic. My expectation is that the ship will be docking in city and town locations, not commercial areas, so am interested to read about the rest of your journey!

Hello sunsetbeachgal,

in Cologne you will probably dock right in town, but I have looked up your itinerary and it appears you have the option of going to Schloss Burg in the hills overlooking the Wupper river valley. Sounds great, I have not been there, but the estimated (i.e. my estimate) 45 minute bus ride seems well worth it: http://www.schlossburg.de/home/ My default settings only give me a German language option.

Hope you have a great cruise.

notamermaid

We are in Strasbourg today. This is the first day that I felt we were not quite so tied to the ship tours. Early this morning we did the canal boat tour with the ships group. We had four different shuttle bus times back to the ship. We had a wonderful time in Strasbourg with no rush. Wonderful lunch of salad and foie gras. This is what we are looking for with no rush. Tomorrow we go to Colmar. We have to be on the only return bus to the ship. No leisurely lunch allowed. Yes we did stop in Koblenz arrived in the morning. Time for a quick walk around and back on the ship before lunch. No time enjoying. Yes we did dock in Cologne. Konrad Adenauer number 9. To visit Cologne you had to get off the ship at 1:30 at a dock some miles from town and ride a bus. If you got off the ship to do the tour you could not reboard until 5:30. The tour left you at the Cathedral and you made your own way several km to the ship. At Germerschein we literally docked in an active construction site. The only information or maps that Uniworld give you is for the included tours. No maps no information, the cruise manager said in his briefing: Germerschein is an industrial area, you won't like it. Today in Strasbourg we are docked in an industrial area with a dirt and mud parking lot. If you don't want to take a bus you are stuck . For everybody who has provided great information to me on CC thanks. I am not down on river cruising. I am simply giving you the first impression of new river cruiser. Uniworld on the ship is wonderful. My disappointment is simply that there are so many wonderful places on the Rhine to visit and so very little time on shore to visit them.

As I titled this tread live from the Antoinette . Another bit of information from Strasbourg you might find interesting. We docked in Kehl today as is common. If you wonder what I mean by industrial areas and think I might be exaggerating . The view out my stateroom window is of grain silos and railroad freight cars. Anyway we were told this morning to bring our passports with us to Strasbourg. Our bus was stopped by French police at the bridge into France. Our tour guide spoke to the police and we moved right on into Strasbourg. This afternoon on our way out of France. The French police were stopping all traffic crossing into France and traffic was backed up as far as I could see. We were not stopped obviously since we were leaving France. I realize that this is my first post on CC but I am happy to answer any questions you may have. If you are coming onto your first river cruise like me. Do not be concerned. You will enjoy it. Just be more prepared than I was with information about my itinerary and the items you really want to see.

As I titled this tread live from the Antoinette . Another bit of information from Strasbourg you might find interesting. We docked in Kehl today as is common. If you wonder what I mean by industrial areas and think I might be exaggerating .

We docked twice in Kehl and did not find it so unappealing. There is a small town center not far from where we were docked and a lovely restaurant and hotel facing the water was our view. We took a long walk one day very early in the morning and the homes were very pretty. This was on AMA.

In Cologne, we docked a bit away from the center but very much enjoyed walking back to the boat after a late lunch in town. It was about a 40 minute walk at a good pace and the views from the bridge were great!

We like to maximize our time in port and have done that itinerary on the Rhine twice with AMA. We stay in town and enjoy a local lunch as going back to the boat for a meal (1) is not a priority for us and (2) takes up too much time that we would rather spend enjoying the destination.

YMMV

I have only been on one river cruise (Uniworld). I now know to expect some stops to be right in the middle of what I want to see and other stops to require a bus. That is what happens with a river - some towns have their houses and stores right on the river, others use the river as an area of commerce.

I have a lot of Ocean cruise experience, with virtually every port in an industrial location. So I kind of view the river cruise glass as half full rather than half empty.

If having to take a 20 minute bus ride (usually in pretty high end touring busses) is your idea of a "major disappointment", I hope all my disappointments are that "major".

When river cruising newbies come here, the folks try to explain the differences between ocean and river cruising. But this case seems to be one area where ocean and river cruising are actually similar. Sometimes the ship docks right in town [Koper] while other times a bus ride is required [Florence]. Also, whether the town is right there or not, all cruises are like the Tastings Menu at a fine restaurant: each course will only whet your appetite -- I'm remembering one exquisite meal where the first course was 1 scallop, and second course was 1 shrimp, and I was still hungry when desert was served but still enjoyed the meal tremendously because of the chance to try so many different things. After the cruise "taste," if you decide you like a place you need to go back on a land trip to experience it in depth. But the cruise gives you all these tastes as part of a package of relaxed sailing, dining, and sleeping the same bed for a week or two.

Host Jazz that was perfect!

OK folks last post on my Uniworld Rhine Cruise. As I said on my very first post on this thread, these are only my feelings of how my first river cruise differed from expectations. I did not mean to touch a nerve. I simply reported what things were different from what I expected. There are many more eloquent reviewers on here than me. For instance I follow every post and review from jpalbany and host jazzbeau.

I have said that I was happy that I chose Uniworld because the ships and service have been good. I am sorry if I upset some because I said the food is a bit pedestrian. As other posters have said some weeks are great others are not. The chef on this voyage is Portuguese, maybe he hasn't hit his stride yet or maybe he is serving what his line tells him to serve. The food is perfectly acceptable for serving 120 people at the same time 3 meals per day.

Today's excursion to Colmar is a perfect example of why I talked about not getting enough time in cities. We had less than 3 hours to tour the entirety of Colmar. We had to leave at 12:15 to return to the ship. After our first bit of walking I asked our guide where we were to meet the bus at the end of the tour if we wanted to go off independently. She would not tell me. Her reply was that I will show you where we will meet at the end of our tour.Only then can you go off on your own. At the end she showed us the mystery spot, then walked us back to where the buses had been from the beginning. No time for a cup of coffee and a pastry at the covered market. Have you ever tried eating lunch in a French village and being through by 12:15.

Jazzbeau I totally agree with your assessment. I have plenty of ideas for future land based trips. I am new to river cruising not new to European travel or ocean cruising. I hope all the people who read this will give river cruising a try. I will again with a lot more emphasis on ports of call and time in ports.

I do know that we were docked across from gain silos and freight cars in Kehl. I am not blind. I do know that our port in Germerschein was in an active construction zone, 4 feet from the end of the gangway. There were big yellow excavators and dirt packers moving back and forth.

The actual cruising on the river was fascinating. The scenery was breathtaking and the villages we passed were beautiful. Traversing the locks was very interesting with the large wall on side and another cruise ship on the other. Literally inches apart on both sides.

If anyone has questions I will be happy to answer them as honestly as I can. After all that is what this forum is all about. Tomorrow it's back to Amsterdam and Kukenhof then home on Tuesday. We are all indeed fortunate to be able vacation and cruise.

Uniworld is indeed all inclusive. I checked my departure bill today and it is $0. Several wines at all meals including breakfast I think. The bar was open all the time for anything you could want. The onboard staff was always available to help you and serve you. The cabin and bathroom were spacious( for a ship). The other folks onboard were interesting and varying ages. No contretemps of any kind that I was aware of. Average age seemed to be mid 60s with some above and below. Gentle walkers were mentioned at the beginning but the assignment to buses and to us seemed much more random than that.(Where are you going get on that bus)

I will sign off now. Everyone enjoy your trips. Safe travels.

GA Tech,

Have a safe trip home, and thanks for posting your final impressions. I think maybe you took some of the comments you received too personally, and viewed them as criticisms. You never know if you're going to like something, or consider repeating the experience again, until you try it for the first time.

I too was amazed when my final bill only had a charge for some postcard stamps I purchased from the front desk.

Roz

Thanks so much for your " live from" thread. I did one once from an ocean cruise so know how much work they are. As a fellow frequent ocean cruiser who is about to do a river cruise I appreciated your inputs as I am adjusting my expectations. Based on the wonderful glossy brochures and tv commercials I also was expecting to be docking mostly in town and to have lots of time to soak up the surroundings and local cuisines . But now I know differently. Thank you again,

Beach Gal, are you doing the same itinerary as GA Tech? I did Budapest to Passau and couldn't have been more please with where we docked and how much time we had in port. Of course your mileage and requirements may vary. I thought Uniworld accurately represented what/where we would be doing.

Roz

Roz, yes doing the same itinerary as gatechie72 but in reverse. Thanks for your inputs. We are on Scenic, not Uniworld, but they are also all inclusive.

For anyone considering a Uniworld cruise, the cruise companion booklets (which are mailed to cruisers with their boarding passes) are on line at http://uniworld.com/already-booked/cruise-companion. It is a day by day examination of the itinerary with info on each stop, excursions offered including length (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full day) and description, which meals are offered on board each day, etc. The first page of the itinerary/cruise excursion section includes a map denoting which towns involve a bus ride ("over land").

We found the cruise companion invaluable in helping keep surprises to a minimum on our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise last summer and when planning our upcoming Grand France cruises.

Capriccio, agree with you that the Cruise Companion was a wealth of information. I guess because I was new to river cruising I read it in detail.

Roz

Capriccio, agree with you that the Cruise Companion was a wealth of information. I guess because I was new to river cruising I read it in detail.

 

Roz

I think I had it memorized before our first cruise :D. I just re-read it today for our upcoming cruise.

 

Uniworld is indeed all inclusive.

There were quite a few optional ($$$) excursions on our Uniworld cruise.

All-inclusive is not quite accurate IMO but it is very close.

There are zero extra charge excursions on our upcoming Scenic cruise. It will be interesting to compare.

Roz, yes doing the same itinerary as gatechie72 but in reverse. Thanks for your inputs. We are on Scenic, not Uniworld, but they are also all inclusive.

Important to note that all lines will be not be the same just because it is the same itinerary. We did the Rhone with both AMA and Uniworld and the itineraries - in terms of actual time spent in port and overnights - was very different.

Important to note that all lines will be not be the same just because it is the same itinerary. We did the Rhone with both AMA and Uniworld and the itineraries - in terms of actual time spent in port and overnights - was very different.

Reverse itineraries on the same line also often have different port schedules.

We were also a bit unhappy with some of the docking sites on the Rhine but several were right where we could walk right into town. We were told that it's up to the port master where each ship can dock, which can vary from cruise to cruise, but also the Antoinette's larger size makes a difference as to where she can dock.

We've never had a guide not be gracious about pointing out on the town map provided at each port where to meet up to get back to the boat if we wanted to break off from the tour.

One intinerary where we docked right in town every time was the Rhone from Lyon to Avignon. Usually the only included bus trip on that Uniworld itinerary is to Beaune. There are optional bus excursions as well, or you get more port or cruising time while the optional excursions occur. (ironically, due to high water issues, the boat cruised from port to port and we were bused, giving us the usual town walking tours plus excursions through the countryside, which were enjoyable but way too much bus time, a real bummer for anyone for whom it was their first river cruise, I would think.)

I really like the Uniworld cruise companion of the Castles on the Rhine itinerary, it gives lots of details. I also noted that it clearly states that the SS Antoinette sails from Breisach.

Viking used to have their cruise companions on line, I cannot seem to find them anymore.

notamermaid