Uniworld - Portugal/Douro River review

[cigloo]

First off I have to say past guest on Uniworld (4 times) AMA Waterways 4 and Tauck 3. Our age is 48 & 53 and we love river cruising until this trip!

We just got back from our Uniworld Cruise sailing on the Douro River and have to say in all our river cruise travels this was the worst river cruise we have ever been on. :( It was extremely disappointing, not even close to the caliber of the other Uniworld cruises or AMA Waterways or Tauck. We were hesitant about booking this cruise because of the reviews here, but the thought of the beautiful scenery and that is what finally won us over, so we went ahead and did this. Big mistake!!

I will try and keep it brief; We met lots of lovely folk on the cruise which really saved the day and we were in a Junior Suite. The trip was not what we have come to expect from Uniworld and I would call it more 2.5* to 3* rather than the five star we are used to on our previous journeys. The food selection was very limited, often tired and overripe and not well presented. Examples are overripe melons, oranges and fruit with mold. Ice cream served in bowl was like soup. Main courses did not match their description and several times it was the same meat or fish with just a different sauce. Out of all the meals the breakfast was the best as you could get fresh eggs. The dining room service was so in disarray and nothing felt smooth or polished.

In regards to the crew, we were very impressed with Ercilia the tour director she was wonderful. Pilar was very efficient and gave lots of information and some great travel tips. As for the rest of the crew generally okay. I wouldn’t say nice or great. They were not well trained at all in service department and customer service wasn’t present at all. They really kept to themselves and did not seem happy to be there and it showed. There were several looks amongst them when a guest would ask for something, you would see a roll of the eyes and then a comment under their breath. English was spoken very little and not understood. We both speak Italian and Spanish which helped a bit, but they just didn’t care. There were several crew members who reported for work extremely hung over and not put together. Dress attire was sporadic, not clean and fresh. We even saw one bus boy drinking from half empty wine glasses on the night of the BBQ on deck when he cleared dishes and put them to the side. Our manager Pedro who spent very little time interacting with passengers and sat alone in the alfresco area at meals being waited on by other staff and had no concerns when we voiced our displeasure about something. He also spent a lot of time standing at the bar. This has not been our previous experience with Hotel Managers. The first pianist was a disaster he played mainly for himself and nothing to dance to or to sing with and his playing time was about 10 minutes then long breaks. During the day we hardly saw him. He left for personal reasons and his replacement was fabulous he played heaps and lots of folk were up dancing and singing it was so different and showed the influence of one person. On a good note, the rooms were spotless and the cleaning staff really efficient.

The scenery was fabulous and the river lovely to be on. In all of our journeys so far this is the only one we would never repeat nor recommend. The cruise did not meet Uniworld’s standards that we have previously experienced and wasn't a value for money. Our feeling from the whole cruise is that the crew knows there isn’t anything Uniworld can do because they have to hire locally and are not allowed to bring in outside employees so their job is cushioned.

The excursions were good, not great and there really is nothing in the ports, you have to be bused to the sights so you do spend a great amount of time on buses.

I would also say, we were not the only ones who experienced this on board. Many guest we talked to submitted their comment cards half way through the cruise to let them know their displeasure. Usually we receive a survey when we come back from Uniworld and so far we have not.

Our friends had gotten home 2 weeks prior to us and had very similar situation but had not spoken to them until our return. That was interesting to hear.

All in all, we cannot recommend this cruise and it is unfortunate for Uniworld. As for going with AMA or Viking on this river, I can’t say if the are the same experience. I would recommend if someone wants to sail this river, they do try AMA over Uniworld for the price difference.

All just our two cents worth.

Jen and Sam

[ewizabeff]

Ouch. As a soon-to-be Uniworld customer, I'd be hard-pressed to try the line again if I had an experience like this. What really got me was your description of the food. I'm expecting a fantastic dining experience on our Danube cruise in 2 weeks.

 

Sorry the trip was not what you expected. Hopefully Uniworld takes your feedback to heart.

[Barrheadlass]

Wow, we had a totally different experience on the Douro with Uniworld 2 years ago. I'm saddened and sorry to hear of your horrible trip.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Ouch. As a soon-to-be Uniworld customer, I'd be hard-pressed to try the line again if I had an experience like this. What really got me was your description of the food. I'm expecting a fantastic dining experience on our Danube cruise in 2 weeks.

 

Sorry the trip was not what you expected. Hopefully Uniworld takes your feedback to heart.

 

Keep in mind that the Douro is different from all other European river trips in that the boats are owned by a Portuguese company, not the cruise line you book with. This may impact Uniworld's ability to deliver their normal level of service. Your Danube cruise will be pure Uniworld and, based on the reviews I have read, should be wonderful.

[fred111]

I will be on the Uniworld Douro River cruise in a few weeks and will post a review when I return.

 

My wife and I have heard numerous outstanding comments about this cruise and a few less than stellar ones. We are really looking forward to this vacation and will have a good time.

[pinotlover]

Great reading, thanks for the posting. We have booked this Uniworld cruise for next September and looking forward to it. If Uniworld blows it, we won't be doing China with them in 2016!

 

Jazzbeau;

 

In business, we often learn that we can't be all things to all people, nor do good work in all locations for a variety of reasons. If Uniworld, or any other cruise line, find that they can't maintain their level of customer service in a particular market, it is typically better to exit that market then allow their name to become smeared by that market. Blaming the Portugese is not a solution. They should either fix the problem, maintain their level of service, or exit the market, imo.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Great reading, thanks for the posting. We have booked this Uniworld cruise for next September and looking forward to it. If Uniworld blows it, we won't be doing China with them in 2016!

 

Jazzbeau;

 

In business, we often learn that we can't be all things to all people, nor do good work in all locations for a variety of reasons. If Uniworld, or any other cruise line, find that they can't maintain their level of customer service in a particular market, it is typically better to exit that market then allow their name to become smeared by that market. Blaming the Portugese is not a solution. They should either fix the problem, maintain their level of service, or exit the market, imo.

 

That would mean withdrawing from Portugal, Russia, China and many other developing river cruise areas where either the ships are controlled by a local group or the nature of the rivers requires a radically different ship design than the Rhine and Danube model. You can not offer a Douro cruise with one of Uniworld's Danube ships -- the river isn't navigable for a ship of that size and design.

 

What Uniworld and all the other lines need to do is figure out how to adapt the essence of their product to the different circumstances. This one negative review aside, I don't know that Uniworld hasn't done that in Portugal -- certainly Cruise Critic's recent review of AMA's Douro cruise shows that AMA has adapted well with more hits than misses -- but my point was to reassure the poster who was worried that this report implies that they may have a similar experience on the Danube. Uniworld has been delivering that product for a long time with a high rate of satisfaction and can be expected to do so on this upcoming cruise.

[cole]

Keep in mind that the Douro is different from all other European river trips in that the boats are owned by a Portuguese company, not the cruise line you book with. This may impact Uniworld's ability to deliver their normal level of service. Your Danube cruise will be pure Uniworld and, based on the reviews I have read, should be wonderful.

 

 

 

Agree! We understood when we took this cruise with Uniworld that the ship was not owned by them, nor were most of the staff members Uniworld employees. Having taken that into account, the scenery and cruise itself made up for the negatives. Yes, we were bussed to the different sights, but honestly enjoyed the scenery. Hopefully this review will enlighten those who are interested in future Douro cruises and they will still enjoy the experience.

Colw

[Got2Cruise]

I have to say if I purchase a "brand" and that product is advertised as that brand and priced as that brand then I expect the product to live up to the reputation of the brand. If Uniworld puts it's name on a product then the quality should be what the consumer expects. Jmo and my opinion would be the same for any consumer product.

[cigloo]

Great reading everyone's comments about our post. We have to say Got2Cruise nailed it for us;

I have to say if I purchase a "brand" and that product is advertised as that brand and priced as that brand then I expect the product to live up to the reputation of the brand. If Uniworld puts it's name on a product then the quality should be what the consumer expects.

 

We loved the cruise itinerary it was the ship and crew that did not live up to Uniworld's standards. Like it was mentioned, the cruise lines do not own these ships and have a harder time controlling them, running them to the standard one expects from Uniworld.

 

We were just bummed by the experience - it wasn't our usual Uniworld experience. The saving grace was the scenery and our fellow passengers :)

[Uniworld]

Dear Cigloo,

 

Thank you for your review of our Douro program. Your thoughts and opinions are very important to us, and we sincerely apologize for obviously disappointing you. At your convenience, please contact us at customerservice@uniworld.com, and we will do our best to make things right.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to post your feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you.

 

With our appreciation,

 

The Uniworld Guest Relations Team

[amd1234]

We have taken two Uniworld River Cruises and the Douro was on our agenda for a future cruise. Well we a really rethinking this itinerary and probably will eliminate it from our bucket list..

Edited August 26, 2014 by amd1234

[BooBooTX]

I am just off this Uniworld Cruise ending August 3. While I would rank it fourth among my four Uniworld cruises, I was not nearly as disappointed as cigloo. Our Cruise Manager Luis was very good. He was always around, very eager to help and keep us happy, knowledgeable and fun. I was also impressed with the front desk staff who went to lengths to solve some problems I experienced.

 

We found the dining room staff to be excellent, attentive and extremely friendly. Absolutely nothing was too much trouble for Silvino the Restaurant Manager, and he was truly proactive about meeting special dietary requirements for the night we enjoyed dinner at a winery. It seemed he knew everyone's name in the first day or two and was always checking to see that we were happy. I agree with cigloo that the food on the ship was not great, and we were told that the chef had been with them only 3 weeks with no previous cruise experience. The chef was never present in the dining room. The egg station at breakfast was a disaster with every omelette served raw, even with repeated reminders to PLEASE cook thoroughly. And the young lady only prepared one egg dish at a time which created long lines.

 

I was also not thrilled with all the busing but recognized that to be a geographical necessity.

 

Many of these differing viewpoints seem to highlight how critical the managerial staff is to the experience. The only manager in common between cigloo's cruise and mine seems to be Pedro the Hotel Manager. I also found him to be a bit aloof and not interactive with guests. But our Captain, Cruise Manager and Restaurant Manager were friendly, visible and all that I have come to expect from Uniworld.

[bobalink]

Thanks for your review. We have been considering the Douro River for our next river cruise.

 

We love AmaWaterways, but have been seriously considering doing the Douro River with Uniworld. In fact, I just received a quote from them.

 

I think we will stick with AmaWaterways for the Douro.

 

We have just returned from a Seine River cruise on the AmaLegro, and it was fabulous, as was our Danube cruise with them on the AmaLyra last year.

 

I did see the response on here from Uniworld, so that is a good sign. Hopefully they will take your review into consideration and make the necessary adjustments.

 

The "river cruise bug" bit us and we are hooked. Can't wait to go again!

[amd1234]

We have completed two fabulous River Cruises with Uniworld. We were considering Douro but after reading reviews on CC we are very apprehensive about this itinerary. Our first River Cruise was the Danube with AMA and the cruise was great the food just terrible. We are not foodies and we were so disappointed. The food on Uniworld is wonderful. One night we had the the Chef sit (AMA)at our table with our other table mates and express our displeasure with the food. When I returned I wrote a letter to AMA expressing how disappointed we were with our dining experience. He wrote a reply in essence he didn't have any complaints about the food and maybe our expectations were too high..so we won't be cruising again with AMA. We have friends that love AMA and from this forum people give them high marks..Maybe things have changed but we will stick with Uniworld..

[Los_Pepes]

It is nice the Uniworld CS chimed in on this thread. We did our first Uniworld cruise this past April on the Beatrice. While on board we actively tried to book another cruise. When we got home we recruited another couple and booked Castles on The Rhine for next March.

 

Our experience with them is that they delivered what they promised. It was fantastic and I consider myself a proactive promoter of their product. Please do not consider withdrawing consideration of Uniworld based and a review of Portugal.

 

In a candid moment with a Uniworld employee while on the Danube, he admitted that they sometimes have service issues with their charter boats. He explained that it is very difficult to deliver service with employees that don't report to you. He added that it was especially difficult in Russia where they don't exactly have a service culture.

 

I fully intend on taking most of Uniworld's sailings over the next few years. Uniworld rocks and I will tell this to anyone who asks.

[fred111]

My wife and I arrived in Lisbon yesterday, a day early for our Uniworld Douro River cruise.

 

We are staying at the Tiara Park Hotel and are extremely pleased with it. We took the hop on hop off bus last evening to get a "feel" of Lisbon. We found a great wine shop just up the street from the hotel and, since we were tired, ate in the hotel restaurant.

 

The hotel restaurant was a real surprise. The food was much better than we anticipated. Service was spot on. I would definitely eat there again.

 

We will link up with the Uniworld rep today and will keep updating as we have time.

Edited September 11, 2014 by fred111

[amd1234]

Look forward to your review. Have a great trip..

[fred111]

After half a day walking up and down the hills (plenty of hills) we met Ereilia, the Uniworld Cruise Manager. We found out that not only will she be handling the Lisbon portion but will be on the ship as well.

 

Ereillia seems to be really squared away. She had maps and lists of things to do ready to go. Well organized!!! First meeting is 6PM tonight.

 

We had a great time in one of the Tuk Tuks today. After sightseeing and shopping downtown, we waited, and waited, and waited for one of the Gray Line hop on hop off busses to take us back near the hotel. After we got bored waiting, I spotted one of the TukTuks down the street. It is a little open air three wheeled motor scooter. We rented it and had a thrilling ride from the waterfront to the hotel. Highly recommend it!!! We will rent it again for a couple of hours tomorrow to tour the Alfama district.

 

Pleased with everything so far except for USAir which screwed up our seats. After flying them for over 25 years, I see their standards dropping below acceptable levels.

[Ship's Wake]

Fred111, thank you for taking the time to share the details of your trip. :)

 

Look forward to reading about your journey when you have time to post.

Edited September 11, 2014 by oysterdam

[lizglea]

Fred111 I am on this cruse next week with Uniworld. It would be great to hear first hand your experiences. I have sailed with Uniworld many times so I am not too concerned with their service. More interested in the weather, the stops along the river, what tours you took and any suggestions in Lisbon on your own. If you have a change to drop me a line at ejg720@aol.com I would appreciate it. Happy sailing!!!

[fred111]

First, our cruise manager's name is really Ercelia. Misspelling on my part on the last post.

 

We had our in briefing last evening and it was well run. There seems to be a good mix of Americans, Canadian, Brits, and Australians in this group. More diverse than other cruises we have been on. People are very nice so far but most were jet lagged. I recommend coming in a day early and sleeping.

 

Today, we had breakfast in the hotel. Typical buffet, but very crowed. In addition to our Uniworld group, there are people joining a Silverseas cruise, a Windstar cruise, and a large group from AMA, all trying to eat at the same time.

 

Our tour of Belem and Lisbon lasted a little over four hours. Very well run by good tour guides. There are seven large cruise ships in town so it was busy everywhere. After the tour we just stayed in town, ate and the wives shopped. We ate at a sidewalk cafe in the square downtown. Two young ladies put on a belly dancing demonstration right in front of out table. They earned quite a bit of money from the appreciative crowd.

 

Locals told us that this has been a crazy summer. Not real hot and a lot of rain. Of the three days we have been here, it rained very hard all day the first day, a little the second day, and none today. Temperatures have been in the upper 70's and relatively humid.

 

We are taking the optional tour to Sintra tomorrow, as are most of the people on the cruise.

 

P.S. for anyone concerned, the buses are large and pretty comfortable. I usually have a problem with not having enough leg room on a bus but am not having problems on these buses.

 

One more note, if you are taking the hop on hop off bus, there are three companies; Gray Lines, Yellow Bus, and Sightseeing Portugal (I think that is the name). We took Gray Lines. It was clean and the audio worked, but they had significantly fewer buses than the other companies. Given the option, I would take Sightseeing Portugal the next time.

Edited September 12, 2014 by fred111

[Alaskanb]

Looking forward to following your trip….we are river cruising maybes...

[fred111]

My wife wanted to go to hear/see Fado so last night we took Ercilia's suggestion and went to see a show rather than a full dinner show. I thought it would sound like two cats fighting on a fence but it wasn't bad. The others with us liked it but given an option, I'd rather see Willy Nelson.

 

Today is the Sintra tour. I'll post a review when we get back.

[fred111]

OK. Just got back on the internet. Two days reviews and a quick review of the ship follows.

 

On Saturday we took the optional tour to Sintra. First, the buses are good sized so no knee squeeze problems. Second, the tour guides were really good. Our first stop was at a palace. Nice, but not as fancy as Versailles or the St Petersburg.

 

Next stop was Sintra. We didn't go to the palace but just walked around the town. This part was well worth the money for the entire trip. Do not miss this town. If you don't take the tour, you can take a train.

 

Third stop was a beach town for lunch. Very good seafood and good stop overall.

 

Now for the big question; would I take the tour again. YES. Trip was comfortable, guides were good, and it was much easier than taking the train.

 

Today we bused from Lisbon to the ship in Porto (really the dock across the river). The ride was easy with a "rest stop", a good lunch, and a tour of the University in Coimbra. Uniworld made this transfer very easy. No complaints at all.

 

Now for the ship. It is new, clean, well maintained, and manned by a very friendly staff. The bar tender really knows how to make good drinks and the pianist is super. We had dinner tonight and the meal and the service was far better than any we had in Lisbon. I had Proscuitto and melon, onion soup, beef, and gelato. My wife had the proscuitto and melon, onion soup, corvina, and fresh fruit for desert. Plenty of wine and port.

 

Just a few hours on the ship is not nearly enough to post an in-depth review; however, first impressions have been very good.

 

Early night tonight. Write more later.