Uniworld Parisian Royal Holiday at Christmas Time

We sailed on the Joie de Vivre on its first Royal Holiday sailinf on 6 Dec. This was never posted as a Christmas market cruise, but we did manage to find some.

Today's thread is about the ship. She is just beautiful!!!!! we were in cabin 302. Don't know how it was listed, but it was a bit larger than our friends' in cabin 303.

We had a huge bathroom --large shower with both rain shower head and the handheld shower. Heated floors, night light, heated towel rack--all able to be turned on and off. There was plenty of storage space in the bathroom. The cabin itself one of the most comfortable beds ever slept in. The walls were covered half in cloth and half wainscotting. There were 2 chairs and a small table in between. There was a vanity area with 2 shallow drawers. The TV was embedded in the mirror at the vanity. Closet space unbelievable. The doors were mirrored-4 of them. One end was for long hanging clothes. It is where we kept our dirty clothes. The other end was divided into 2 rows of 1/2 hanging clothes, like shirts or pants. The middle 2 doors opened to shelves and drawers the width of the 2 doors.

The lounge was so comfortable. The bartender and staff really great. Anna the bartender had been awarded bartender of the year last year. The entire staff in the bar knew our drink preferences by the second day.

The restaurant==tables for 2, 4 or six. There were 5 of us so we ate most of our meals at a 6 top in Augustin's area. Never hard to find a place to sit. Food in the main dining room and the sharing table was excellent. The bistro on the other hand was unremarkable. We did eat there once. Those of us having the dover sole had to debone it ourselves. Those who had streak frites found it to be very thin and overcooked..

Tomorrow a day to day start to the voyage.

Happy New Year's Eve. Pat

Jazz, can you please move this to the main river board. Thank you, Pat

Jazz, can you please move this to the main river board. Thank you, Pat

Done, and title changed to make it more explanatory.

Sorry for the delay in writing more about the trip. It has been quite cold here in the Dayton, Ohio area. Finally above freezing today for the first time in almost 2 weeks.

Embarkation. We took a cab from our hotel to the boat. Paris is very congested like all large cities. We arrived , luggage spirited away to our cabin. Checked in at reception, pictures taken and shown to our cabin. It was lovely. Huge bathroom, lots of storage space and very understated decor.

There was fruit waiting because we were returning pax. After we were settled, we took off for the market at LaDefense. It was wonderful over 200 stalls--very international in the food offerings.

Spent an enjoyable evening with our friends and getting to know some of the other pax. This boat has the BEST bar staff we have ever encountered on a river cruise.

Woke up the next am in Vernon--fond memories of Monet's garden in warmer weather. Took a tour of LaRocheGuyon--like many chateau no furniture because they brought it with them for short visits. Then back for another wonderful lunch. At about 4:30pm we drove to Chateau Bizy for a concert and reception. Very interesting classical music played on Violin and guitar.

Gala dinner followed back on boat.

More tomorrow, I promise. Pat:)

Pacmom

Thank so much for posting (and for your future posts ;)). I actually started a thread a few days ago asking about this same sailing (looking at late Dec18 either over Christmas or New Years) so will read with interest your port experiences. Having never sailed Uniworld - I have already gathered a lot of information from the boards and feel like it will be a great fit - so its really the ports and excursions that interest me - and the fact that they are being done in December vs spring, summer or fall.

Thanks so much

Bob

Friday December 8th found us in Rouen. It had rained and sleeted and a bit of snow overnite. After another wonderful breakfast, we 5 set off on our own because we had been here before in warmer seasons. Their Christmas market by the Joan of Arc church wasn't quite finished and the church was locked, so we found a cafe and had hot drinks--hot chocolate was decadent. We kept walking up up towards the cathedral--enjoying the hustle and bustle of the season and the decorations. The market at the cathedral was small but lovely. Found some lego made of chocolate for one grandson.

Neither department store would allow us to use bathrooms--claimed they didn't have them.

We did find a bistro. had a wonderful lunch surrounded by locals and a few "ladies who lunch". They also had a bathroom-yahoo!

We did wander around the cathedral and came out to freezing rain. We went back to the boat and hunkered down because of the weather.

Forgot to mention that the 7th was our friend Bill's birthday. After dinner his cake appeared, but no crowd singing, made him very happy.

Rouen is a lovely town, wish it had been drier.

More tomorrow, Pat

From Rouen we sailed to Mantes-La-Jolie. We five were the only ones on board after everyone left for Versailles. We had all been there during warmer times. Those who went reported that the indoor part of the trip was wonderful. Outdoors was a different story. Lots of mud to slog thru even some snow.

We went into the small town of Mantes-La-Jolie, found a lovely bistro and everyone was practicing their English., great fun.

Food was excellent. It was also the funeral of Johnny Holliday, one of their beloved singers. Since we knew nothing about him, the host explained his history to us.

After lunch we walked about the town and, of course, went into the church. Interesting they were getting ready for a wedding. After that it was getting very blustery, so we wandered back to the boat. The Christmas market in town was still being set up. The placemats in the bistro showed the schedule, but it was 10 days away..

Back on board, we enjoyed the quiet.

That evening there was another birthday in our group. We ate at the "sharing table"---wonderful French bistro good. There were only 7 of us--our five plus a mother and daughter from Australia and Singapore. It was a lovely nite. After tasting all the wonderful came a birthday cake--so many groans from all of us. We all seemed to find room for a bite or two.

Next installment Return to Paris. Pat

Dec 10 return to Paris.

Rain again--not a downpour, but enough to make touring uncomfortable. Came on the trip with compression in cervical 5 and 6. Damp weather not my friend. So I was very pickt about where I went. DH decided to go to Sacre Couer and the Montmarte area. He arrived back after lunch. Many of us remained on board. Those who went on the walking tour of the Latin Quarter enjoyed it. Having been there a few times before, I could understand the enjoyment.

Before dinner we went on a bus tour to see Paris at night, ending with the lighting of the Eiffle Tower. Traffic was horrendous, so we couldn't see as much as sopposed to.

Dinner was followed by the crew carol sing. What fun.

Monday 11Dec. Morning tour of the Paris Opera House was very good, such a beautiful place. And yes there is a lake under it. After the tour we walked over to see the windows at Gallery Lafayette and Printemps. GF theme was pigeons and the ones at Printemps were sponsored by companies who sold things there. Very blustery, so back to the bus and the boat.

Another wonderful dinner and time in the lounge afterward.

Tuesday, our last full day. The five of us decided not to take the long bus ride to the Chateau deVauxLe Vicomte. Dh and I wandered to a few spots in Paris. Don't remember where our friends went. As we were returning to the boat, our entrance to the dock area was blocked by the National Police. We could not convince them to allow us to our boat. One of the tour buses was returning. Finally they allowed all to walk down to the boat. The security for the Paris Accord was very tight. Police cars and caravans all afternoon and evening. All police boats and one group of important people on a sightseeing boat with 8 police boats around it. We were thinking that this was the perfect time for criminals to get away with what criminals do.

Packed and ready to head off in the am. Even tho we made our own flight arrangements, Uniworld provided transport to the airport.

First cruise ever that we had no bill to pay before leaving.

Would love to do this trip in the fall. Oh wait we did 15 years ago with Uniworld. Would do it again tho. Pat