Uniworld SS Antoinette from a different perspective

[papa B me]

My wife and I are spending our last night in Switzerland after completing the Uniworld SS Antoinette's Castles on the Rhine July 13-20. JP did such a wonderful job in his thread with pictures and commentary that I will not go over the day to day as he has done. Instead I would like to discuss our trip from a perspective that may help some. When researching my trip I was looking for a luxury experience with as big a room as I could find and a ship that had amenities that were first class. I understand that most are not looking for this so I ask for your patience as I describe my experience from this perspective for those who may be looking for the same.

 

Uniworld Pre Cruise to Amsterdam:

 

Being my wife and I's first European experience I chose to utilize Uniworld's pre cruise stay in Amsterdam. It is true that it can be booked cheaper on your own. However, we found it to be a wonderful experience for several reasons. First we were met as soon as we came through customs by our driver who collected all of our luggage and got us to the car in less the 5 minutes. Took us directly to our Motel in City Center. We were immediately introduced to a local guide who would be our host for the 3 days. She gave us her cell phone and a quick orientation as to what to expect. She told us of the included city tour the next day and an orientation meeting we could attend that evening with the other Uniworld guests who had booked the precruise. This turned out to be worth the precruise. There were about 10 couples at this original meeting. By the time we reached the ship on Sunday we had already become friends with at least half those couples and added to the cruise experience with people to eat with and share excursions with. It made for a wonderful experience. The local guide also offered two optional excursion. We took both of them and they were wonderful

 

The Suite: The antoinette has I believe 7 or 8 suites that are approx. 300 sq ft which is about 100 sq ft larger then the next level and nearly double the size of the basic room. It has a french window infront of the bed and a true balcony with 2 chairs a table and a television with a window that goes down with a touch of a button give you an open air balcony. I used this area extensively early morning and as my wife got ready for dinner. We were only blocked by another ship in one port for a few hours. The bathroom has double sinks. As others have said on CC you are out of your room a lot and if the extra space doesn't matter to you then you can save money. We were able to look at our new friends cabins below the suite and they are very nice but we personally enjoyed the extra room. Finally the suite comes with Butler Service that I will explain below.

 

Butler Service: We are not butler type people and I would never choose to pay for butler service. However it is included with the suite and it really was wonderful. There are two butlers assigned to the 8 suites. Some of the features they provide are daily fruit trays with 5 or more pieces of fruit provided each day. Cookies are placed in your room at least once each day. Different snacks from popcorn to nuts to banana trips are provided daily. A fully stocked mini bar with beer, wine, soft drinks, etc... is refreshed at least daily. Uniworld provided washers and dryers free of charge with laundry detergent for all guests. We found the need to do two loads of wash after about 5 days. Our butler saw us coming out of the room with our laundry bags and he grabbed them out of our hands and said that he would take care of it. After insisting for over 5 minutes that he didn't need to do that we finally gave up and the next day it came back washed, folded, and pressed as needed. They also provide breakfast in your room. It isn't a set menu but you can ask for what ever you want and they will have it there at the time desired. We only did this once but it was great since we had an early excursion. In short they were always there to greet us with a smile and always asking what they could do to make our trip more enjoyable. The last night of our cruise they brought us a bottle of wine to take home with us.

 

The ship:

 

The ship was just beautiful. I understand that some have found it over the top compared to the scandinavian look of many of their competitors. But we found it beautifully decorated with art, tile mosaics and other small touches. It also includes a pool that has jets that allows you to swim against the current for exercise. It also has a small gym with treadmill, eliptical, bike, weights, etc.. We found this helpful in working off some of the wonderful food. They also have bikes available at all ports.

 

All inclusive: Uniworld truly is all inclusive with the exception of three optional exursions. Alcohol, softdrinks, coffee, water, etc.. is available all day and not just at meal times. All tips for crew, guides, drivers, transfers, etc.. are included.

 

Excursions: The excursion were wonderful except for one where the local guide was a little slow and difficult to understand for our taste so we just let him know we were breaking away and went out on our own for the rest of the time. The three optional exursions ranged from 39 Euros to 69 Euros. We took 2 of the three and were pleased we did althought the included ones at the same time were difficult to turn down.

 

Food: The food was outstanding. There were plenty of choices at each meal and they always served Salmon, Steak, or Chicken if you didn't like any of the featured dishes. In the whole week we only chose the standard alternatives once. We also found that any request was granted in regards to food. Adding or subtracting something from the featured dishes was never a problem.

 

Service: Every staff member we encountered seemed to truly enjoy their work and were alway accomodating and welcoming.

 

In closing, this was our first river cruise and definitely won't be our last. Uniworld promises a first class experience and they delivered on that promise. If you are looking for a luxury experience on a river cruise then I would highly recommend Uniworlds SS Antoinette and the Castles on the Rhine cruise. I'm sure we will be booking one of their two newer ships Catherine and Teresa in the near future.

 

I hope some find this helpful

[nana541]

Thanks for taking the time! I actually shared your review with a family member who really wants to do a river cruise with me !

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jklc123]

We will be on the same cruise in the fall, also in a suite. We're not used to butlers either (although we had one on our cruise on Regent) so it's good to know what they provide on Uniworld. Thanks for your comments.

[bunnybear]

My hubby and I will be on the SS Antoinette August 24th sailing. I am so looking forward to the experience. I appreciate you taking the time to post your thoughts.

[didicruiser]

Great review. Thank you!

[mimmy52]

What a wonderful experience! I'll never be able to do it, but I enjoyed reading about it.

[super_grover]

I really enjoyed this write up, thanks so much!

[papa B me]

I wish you all the best on your upcoming cruises. I'm sure you will enjoy yours as much as we enjoyed ours. Have a great time!

[whatnot]

We will be on the Antoinette in May of 2015. We are a group of 10. So we are bringing our own party! Really enjoyed your comments. They were quite helpful. Thanks!

[Los_Pepes]

We did the Beatrice this spring and were asking how to book another Uniworld cruise with 3 nights left. I came a strong advocate of the brand as they delivered on their promise.

[dotshub]

My wife and I are spending our last night in Switzerland after completing the Uniworld SS Antoinette's Castles on the Rhine July 13-20. JP did such a wonderful job in his thread with pictures and commentary that I will not go over the day to day as he has done. Instead I would like to discuss our trip from a perspective that may help some. When researching my trip I was looking for a luxury experience with as big a room as I could find and a ship that had amenities that were first class. I understand that most are not looking for this so I ask for your patience as I describe my experience from this perspective for those who may be looking for the same.

 

Uniworld Pre Cruise to Amsterdam:

 

Being my wife and I's first European experience I chose to utilize Uniworld's pre cruise stay in Amsterdam. It is true that it can be booked cheaper on your own. However, we found it to be a wonderful experience for several reasons. First we were met as soon as we came through customs by our driver who collected all of our luggage and got us to the car in less the 5 minutes. Took us directly to our Motel in City Center. We were immediately introduced to a local guide who would be our host for the 3 days. She gave us her cell phone and a quick orientation as to what to expect. She told us of the included city tour the next day and an orientation meeting we could attend that evening with the other Uniworld guests who had booked the precruise. This turned out to be worth the precruise. There were about 10 couples at this original meeting. By the time we reached the ship on Sunday we had already become friends with at least half those couples and added to the cruise experience with people to eat with and share excursions with. It made for a wonderful experience. The local guide also offered two optional excursion. We took both of them and they were wonderful

 

The Suite: The antoinette has I believe 7 or 8 suites that are approx. 300 sq ft which is about 100 sq ft larger then the next level and nearly double the size of the basic room. It has a french window infront of the bed and a true balcony with 2 chairs a table and a television with a window that goes down with a touch of a button give you an open air balcony. I used this area extensively early morning and as my wife got ready for dinner. We were only blocked by another ship in one port for a few hours. The bathroom has double sinks. As others have said on CC you are out of your room a lot and if the extra space doesn't matter to you then you can save money. We were able to look at our new friends cabins below the suite and they are very nice but we personally enjoyed the extra room. Finally the suite comes with Butler Service that I will explain below.

 

Butler Service: We are not butler type people and I would never choose to pay for butler service. However it is included with the suite and it really was wonderful. There are two butlers assigned to the 8 suites. Some of the features they provide are daily fruit trays with 5 or more pieces of fruit provided each day. Cookies are placed in your room at least once each day. Different snacks from popcorn to nuts to banana trips are provided daily. A fully stocked mini bar with beer, wine, soft drinks, etc... is refreshed at least daily. Uniworld provided washers and dryers free of charge with laundry detergent for all guests. We found the need to do two loads of wash after about 5 days. Our butler saw us coming out of the room with our laundry bags and he grabbed them out of our hands and said that he would take care of it. After insisting for over 5 minutes that he didn't need to do that we finally gave up and the next day it came back washed, folded, and pressed as needed. They also provide breakfast in your room. It isn't a set menu but you can ask for what ever you want and they will have it there at the time desired. We only did this once but it was great since we had an early excursion. In short they were always there to greet us with a smile and always asking what they could do to make our trip more enjoyable. The last night of our cruise they brought us a bottle of wine to take home with us.

 

The ship:

 

The ship was just beautiful. I understand that some have found it over the top compared to the scandinavian look of many of their competitors. But we found it beautifully decorated with art, tile mosaics and other small touches. It also includes a pool that has jets that allows you to swim against the current for exercise. It also has a small gym with treadmill, eliptical, bike, weights, etc.. We found this helpful in working off some of the wonderful food. They also have bikes available at all ports.

 

All inclusive: Uniworld truly is all inclusive with the exception of three optional exursions. Alcohol, softdrinks, coffee, water, etc.. is available all day and not just at meal times. All tips for crew, guides, drivers, transfers, etc.. are included.

 

Excursions: The excursion were wonderful except for one where the local guide was a little slow and difficult to understand for our taste so we just let him know we were breaking away and went out on our own for the rest of the time. The three optional exursions ranged from 39 Euros to 69 Euros. We took 2 of the three and were pleased we did althought the included ones at the same time were difficult to turn down.

 

Food: The food was outstanding. There were plenty of choices at each meal and they always served Salmon, Steak, or Chicken if you didn't like any of the featured dishes. In the whole week we only chose the standard alternatives once. We also found that any request was granted in regards to food. Adding or subtracting something from the featured dishes was never a problem.

 

Service: Every staff member we encountered seemed to truly enjoy their work and were alway accomodating and welcoming.

 

In closing, this was our first river cruise and definitely won't be our last. Uniworld promises a first class experience and they delivered on that promise. If you are looking for a luxury experience on a river cruise then I would highly recommend Uniworlds SS Antoinette and the Castles on the Rhine cruise. I'm sure we will be booking one of their two newer ships Catherine and Teresa in the near future.

 

I hope some find this helpful

 

Thanks for the great review. We leave Monday arriving in Amsterdam for a 5 day visit prior to our cruise. All this review has done is make the next 13 days really hard. This is our first River cruise and from the reviews we have read looks like we made the right choice. Again, thanks Dot

[Viktoria]

We are leaving on the same ship in a few weeks. How is the Rhine? Also staying in Lucerne for a few days.:)

[DC0743]

My wife and I are spending our last night in Switzerland after completing the Uniworld SS Antoinette's Castles on the Rhine July 13-20. JP did such a wonderful job in his thread with pictures and commentary that I will not go over the day to day as he has done. Instead I would like to discuss our trip from a perspective that may help some. When researching my trip I was looking for a luxury experience with as big a room as I could find and a ship that had amenities that were first class. I understand that most are not looking for this so I ask for your patience as I describe my experience from this perspective for those who may be looking for the same.

 

Uniworld Pre Cruise to Amsterdam:

 

Being my wife and I's first European experience I chose to utilize Uniworld's pre cruise stay in Amsterdam. It is true that it can be booked cheaper on your own. However, we found it to be a wonderful experience for several reasons. First we were met as soon as we came through customs by our driver who collected all of our luggage and got us to the car in less the 5 minutes. Took us directly to our Motel in City Center. We were immediately introduced to a local guide who would be our host for the 3 days. She gave us her cell phone and a quick orientation as to what to expect. She told us of the included city tour the next day and an orientation meeting we could attend that evening with the other Uniworld guests who had booked the precruise. This turned out to be worth the precruise. There were about 10 couples at this original meeting. By the time we reached the ship on Sunday we had already become friends with at least half those couples and added to the cruise experience with people to eat with and share excursions with. It made for a wonderful experience. The local guide also offered two optional excursion. We took both of them and they were wonderful

 

The Suite: The antoinette has I believe 7 or 8 suites that are approx. 300 sq ft which is about 100 sq ft larger then the next level and nearly double the size of the basic room. It has a french window infront of the bed and a true balcony with 2 chairs a table and a television with a window that goes down with a touch of a button give you an open air balcony. I used this area extensively early morning and as my wife got ready for dinner. We were only blocked by another ship in one port for a few hours. The bathroom has double sinks. As others have said on CC you are out of your room a lot and if the extra space doesn't matter to you then you can save money. We were able to look at our new friends cabins below the suite and they are very nice but we personally enjoyed the extra room. Finally the suite comes with Butler Service that I will explain below.

 

Butler Service: We are not butler type people and I would never choose to pay for butler service. However it is included with the suite and it really was wonderful. There are two butlers assigned to the 8 suites. Some of the features they provide are daily fruit trays with 5 or more pieces of fruit provided each day. Cookies are placed in your room at least once each day. Different snacks from popcorn to nuts to banana trips are provided daily. A fully stocked mini bar with beer, wine, soft drinks, etc... is refreshed at least daily. Uniworld provided washers and dryers free of charge with laundry detergent for all guests. We found the need to do two loads of wash after about 5 days. Our butler saw us coming out of the room with our laundry bags and he grabbed them out of our hands and said that he would take care of it. After insisting for over 5 minutes that he didn't need to do that we finally gave up and the next day it came back washed, folded, and pressed as needed. They also provide breakfast in your room. It isn't a set menu but you can ask for what ever you want and they will have it there at the time desired. We only did this once but it was great since we had an early excursion. In short they were always there to greet us with a smile and always asking what they could do to make our trip more enjoyable. The last night of our cruise they brought us a bottle of wine to take home with us.

 

The ship:

 

The ship was just beautiful. I understand that some have found it over the top compared to the scandinavian look of many of their competitors. But we found it beautifully decorated with art, tile mosaics and other small touches. It also includes a pool that has jets that allows you to swim against the current for exercise. It also has a small gym with treadmill, eliptical, bike, weights, etc.. We found this helpful in working off some of the wonderful food. They also have bikes available at all ports.

 

All inclusive: Uniworld truly is all inclusive with the exception of three optional exursions. Alcohol, softdrinks, coffee, water, etc.. is available all day and not just at meal times. All tips for crew, guides, drivers, transfers, etc.. are included.

 

Excursions: The excursion were wonderful except for one where the local guide was a little slow and difficult to understand for our taste so we just let him know we were breaking away and went out on our own for the rest of the time. The three optional exursions ranged from 39 Euros to 69 Euros. We took 2 of the three and were pleased we did althought the included ones at the same time were difficult to turn down.

 

Food: The food was outstanding. There were plenty of choices at each meal and they always served Salmon, Steak, or Chicken if you didn't like any of the featured dishes. In the whole week we only chose the standard alternatives once. We also found that any request was granted in regards to food. Adding or subtracting something from the featured dishes was never a problem.

 

Service: Every staff member we encountered seemed to truly enjoy their work and were alway accomodating and welcoming.

 

In closing, this was our first river cruise and definitely won't be our last. Uniworld promises a first class experience and they delivered on that promise. If you are looking for a luxury experience on a river cruise then I would highly recommend Uniworlds SS Antoinette and the Castles on the Rhine cruise. I'm sure we will be booking one of their two newer ships Catherine and Teresa in the near future.

 

I hope some find this helpful

 

Thanks for the info. This is very encouraging as we had terrible butler service on the River Beatrice. We will be on the SS Antoinette in two weeks and feel more comfortable with our suite selection.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We will be on the same cruise in the fall, also in a suite. We're not used to butlers either (although we had one on our cruise on Regent) so it's good to know what they provide on Uniworld. Thanks for your comments.

 

I'm interested in what your expectations are about the weather in the fall--how late in the year are you going? I'm looking at river trips sometime in September or October, but we don't want to be cold. So however great the Antoinette sounds, we may have to find a more southerly route.

 

To the OP, thanks for the resounding endorsement of Uniworld! And you have given me a new appreciation of why being part of the pre-cruise itinerary would add to the trip overall.

[caviargal]

Thanks for sharing your experience. :)

[papa B me]

Wendy,

You are welcome for the review. I know your question about going in the fall wasn't for me but based on my research if you take the Antoinette on the Rhine in the fall you are likely going to experience coolish to cold weather. Even in July there were a couple of days that it didn't get to 80. Uniworld has two sister ships to Antoinette. The Catherine is currently in southern France. Next year they have their new ship which is the Teresa that will be sailing a combination of Danube/Rhine between Budapest and Amsterdam. So all of three of these will basically have the suite/butler experience I described. But I think it could be cold on any of the three if you go past September. Other members may have more first hand experience on this subject of Fall weather.

[cb222]

We were on the Rhine last year in mid-Sept.

It was cold and rainy every day except one. Too cold to stand on the top deck to watch the scenery.

 

The previous year we were on the Danube - also mid-Sept. and it was bright and sunny every day.

 

Pack layers.

cb

[whatnot]

We were on the Danube mid September last year and although the ship weather was good, Salzburg was cold and rainy as well as our 4 day post cruise in Prague. Take layers, rain gear and a light pair of gloves. The gloves were what I did not bring!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Thanks all for the weather advice. I suspect the Rhine cruises are out for us, unless we went in early September. Southern Europe is going to suit us better later, southern France perhaps.

[whatnot]

I just went back and found this thread from November. I had remembered reading it and wanted to reread. We just upgraded from a Cat 1 to a suite on SS Antionette for a May Castles on the Rhine Cruise. Some friends had to cancel their suite so we took theirs. It was very helpful as to what to expect with the Butler Service etc. I wanted to bring it back up so others who are going to have the suite experience might get to read your very good review. One question at the moment. Since they will unpack or help you unpack, will they press items that need pressing?

 

We are really looking forward to this trip. We have sailed with Uniworld before and think they do a fabulous job. Just never in a suite.

[papa B me]

We didn't ask them to press after unpacking but I'm sure they would since laundry service is provided and shirts came back pressed when we had our laundry done. So I feel confident that would not be a problem. I'm glad you found my review helpful. We were so impressed we have since booked a suite on Uniworld's new ship the SS Maria Theresa for a Chrismas market cruise this December and a suite for Sept 2016 on the River Countess for the Venice cruise.

 

You will have a wonderful time!

[Tinkindling]

I would just like to say that I share the good opinions about the SS Antoinette and Uniworld. We have enjoyed the Jewels of Egypt and the Nile, and then the Castles of the Rhine with Uniworld, and now we are going to do the Enchanting Danube.

 

For those who feel that Uniworld has higher prices, I think it's important to understand that their packages are truly all inclusive, and their food, service, and ships are totally first rate.

 

And no, I do not work for them, nor have I any interest in the company.

[whatnot]

Well said! In my opinion, in the long run, you normally get what you pay for!