Embarkation day timing Uniworld question

To my Uniworld gurus. You have all been so helpful as I plan our first river cruise. This question is about timing for boarding. For our ocean cruises, we enjoyed boarding early around 11:00 and relaxing on the back of the ship with a cool drink. But in reading materials for Uniworld I am getting the impression that the boat is not ready for us until later in the afternoon. We will have been in Budapest several days before embarkation. Should I plan for lunch and an activity on embarkation day?

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To my Uniworld gurus. You have all been so helpful as I plan our first river cruise. This question is about timing for boarding. For our ocean cruises, we enjoyed boarding early around 11:00 and relaxing on the back of the ship with a cool drink. But in reading materials for Uniworld I am getting the impression that the boat is not ready for us until later in the afternoon. We will have been in Budapest several days before embarkation. Should I plan for lunch and an activity on embarkation day?

 

 

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Your cabin won't be ready until around 3pm, but you're welcome to board earlier. I think 11 or 12 is reasonable. On our cruise, there was a couple who boarded around 8am, and, honestly, I thought that was a little early. Perhaps it was because she kept walking around the dining room, watching all of the departing passengers eat:-)

I"m not sure what time they start serving a lite lunch, but they will have something available.

Robin

Your cabin won't be ready until around 3pm, but you're welcome to board earlier. I think 11 or 12 is reasonable. On our cruise, there was a couple who boarded around 8am, and, honestly, I thought that was a little early. Perhaps it was because she kept walking around the dining room, watching all of the departing passengers eat:-)

 

 

 

I"m not sure what time they start serving a lite lunch, but they will have something available.

 

 

 

Robin

Robin

Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate it. It will give us another opportunity to squeeze in a walk and interesting lunch in Budapest.

It also gives me the opportunity to join others in thanking you for your outstanding review with glorious pictures. Many thanks for that fabulous report.

Catherine

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We did arrive at 11. Coffee was served in the lounge. Lunch was served at 1 pm. Cabins ready a 3 pm.

Enjoy your cruise.

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We did arrive at 11. Coffee was served in the lounge. Lunch was served at 1 pm. Cabins ready a 3 pm.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

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That was our experience on two Uniworld cruises (Budapest to Amsterdam and the Seine). On the first we checked out of our hotel at noon (at checkout time) and were on the ship by 12:15. Passengers that had arrived by plane from the States were already on board. We all had lunch around 12:30 or 1 and by the time we finished, our cabins were ready. On the Seine cruise we arrived directly from the airport around 11 am and waited in the lounge (manned with a bartender if drinks were desired) until lunch was served. Again our luggage was in the cabin by the time we finished lunch. The staff couldn't have been more accommodating on both cruises and never made anyone feel like we were in the way.

On my Vienna to Basel cruise in 2011, I arrived at the ship about 8 in the morning. I rested on the sundeck for a while (and got a bit of a sunburn, because my sunscreen was buried in my luggage), and later I was able to take out a bicycle for a bit of a ride along the Danube park. No one made me feel unwanted; I knew I couldn't get my cabin until 3, but other than that I had the run of the ship.

Robin

Thank you for the quick response. I appreciate it. It will give us another opportunity to squeeze in a walk and interesting lunch in Budapest.

 

It also gives me the opportunity to join others in thanking you for your outstanding review with glorious pictures. Many thanks for that fabulous report.

 

Catherine

 

 

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You are most welcome, and thank you for the compliments. I love taking pictures, and my poor husband has learned to stop frequently:-) This trip was different for us, in that we repeated the route, and it was essentially unplanned....made it a little more spontaneous, as well as relaxing.

Robin

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Uniworld is rather flexible. Ours was the first cruise of the season so our rooms were ready on boarding (early) but thereafter, it's mid-afternoon.

You're welcome to board for lunch and sit around and avail yourself to the lounges / drinks / snacks ... pretty much any part of the ship that isn't off limits (e.g. the cabin area) - we were a late departure due to flights and got to see a few of the new boarders come on and people watch.

There is also the option to leave late and/or store luggage on the ship whilst you wander the port if you have a PM flight on departure.

Thank you everyone. Looks like it is quite similar to our experience on Oceania where we had the run of the ship while our room was being prepared. We are very excited for this new experience!

Catherine

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My last Uniworld Cruise was in Bordeaux. We dropped our bags off around 10:30AM and went off touring the town on our own. It appeared there were a few suffering jet lag sleeping and snoring on the upper sun deck. Made for a very funny photo but thought the better of showing it to the cruisers. These are small ships and they know where you live!

My last Uniworld Cruise was in Bordeaux. We dropped our bags off around 10:30AM and went off touring the town on our own. It appeared there were a few suffering jet lag sleeping and snoring on the upper sun deck. Made for a very funny photo but thought the better of showing it to the cruisers. These are small ships and they know where you live!

We had the pleasure of being in Bordeaux last year. What a wonderful port to start in. These posts are getting me more and more excited.

Catherine

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Same for Amsterdam "Castles on the Rhine" embarkation, noonish for us and possibly earlier for bags.?

Uniworld is very accommodating and allows cruisers to board whenever they arrive. In December our flight arrived in Paris at 7AM and we were onboard before 10:AM. We were offered coffee and drinks until lunch and had full use of all public areas of the ship until our cabins were ready. A few weeks ago when we were returning from the Danube cruise we were told that we were welcomed to spend the entire day onboard (after vacating our cabins)and could eat lunch and dinner. The only requirement was that we needed to disembark before they sailed!

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