Uniworld Enchanted Danube River Beatrice writeup

[super_grover]

I'll try to balance description and opinions here but of course if anyone would like more detail or information just let me know!

 

We did Budapest to Passau August 24-31st on the River Beatrice

We are 2 early 30s friends who are usualy much more independant travellers but lucked into this river cruise and had an amazing time!

 

Day 1 - We stayed at the Mariott in Budapest and through a misinterpretation of googlemaps thought it would only be a 20 minute walk to where the ship was docked, past parliament, at the end of the line of ships. It was just over an hour over cobblestones with luggage, so take a taxi!

 

We arrived at the same time as a coach of aprox 30 guests but Dragan our excellent concierge advised that we could skip the madness and head straight to the lounge for lunch, so we did. Sandwhiches, deserts and lasagna greeted us, along with Anna - bartender extraordinaire - whose life mission was to keep the drinks coming. She succeeded!

 

Check in was painless and we were given our barcoded boarding cards, which you swipe in and out every time you leave the ship so they know who is on board. Lots of people had trouble with the scanner but I think it was more of a "general issues with technology" issue as they were quite easy to use.

 

We settled in to room 309 which was more than adequate for our needs. Not a ton of extra room but everything we needed. Our suitcases fit neatly in the closet, didnt even need to use space under the bed.

 

There were a few larger groups on our cruise, notably a gluten free group, so there was a gluten free table at each meal with options specifically for them and all staff were well aware of which options on the breakfast and lunch buffet were ok for their group.

 

I enjoyed the overview talk by Eva the cruise director about how the week would unfold, saw many people taking notes, though some took it WAY too seriously - not quite in vacation mode yet!

 

Around 830pm we set sail for our dock station more directly in the city (just between the bridge and the market) and sailed past the parliament and castle at night which was lovely, but a bit chilly on deck (people were wrapped in their robes and luggage blankets). This was really the only time it was that cold.

[super_grover]

Day 2 - Still in Budapest! We did an ebike tour around the city for 4 hours (on our own) but many reported that the one day was no where near enough time in Budapest. I highly suggest coming in at least a day early!

 

I wanted to do the optional equestrian show excursion that uniworld offered this afternoon but only 5 of the needed 25 participants signed up so they didn't run it. Incase anyone wonders, it would have departed at 130pm and was 39 euro.

 

Instead I went back to the market, fought my way through the crowds for some treats and spent a leisurely afternoon on the sun deck writing postcards.

 

I'll throw day 3 in here as well, since it was mostly scenic cruising. Our first lock was at around 7am, and there were maybe a dozen of us on the sun deck to watch. It was neat to see, and we only went through 2 or 3 the whole trip, so I'm glad I got up.

 

Brief stop listed in the daily as a "technical stop" to offload the Slovakia excursion people (I *think* it was 70 euro for this optional excursion) and then we carried on, arriving in Vienna in the evening.

[Travel1989]

I would love to read more of your review!

[whatnot]

We did this cruise on Uniworld last September so I am enjoying reliving my cruise through your descriptions. Also will be interested in what you think of the all inclusive, since it was not all inclusive then. We did 3 days pre cruise in Budapest and thought it was just right. One day is definitely not enough!

 

I am looking forward to your posts!

[Otis]

Oh gosh, I'd love to see the rest of this. One question....how did you find the crowds at your

destinations in August? We are considering this cruise in late August.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Oh gosh, I'd love to see the rest of this. One question....how did you find the crowds at your destinations in August? We are considering this cruise in late August.

 

As the old [old!] joke goes: "we just got off the ship, and there they were!"