TR: Uniworld Bordeaux River Cruise & Amsterdam Pre-Cruise (Oct 2015)

[n2wdw]

Saturday Night (Oct 10) Dinner at 5A5 in Amsterdam || Deck plan of the Uniworld River Royale

 

 

(In what matters probably only to me and DW, we actually took the Viator tours on Saturday, not Friday as I said above. Also, the red light tour and pizza at the W Hotel after were on Friday night.)

 

 

I forgot, Saturday night in Amsterdam after the museum tours we looked for an italian place for dinner (since we were going on a Bordeaux cruise and expected to eat alot of French influenced food). But it seemed like all the italian places in Amsterdam were already booked.

 

So with the help of the W concierge, we got a reservation at 5A5, a Michelin 2 star. We weren't looking for such a nice restaurant. The last thing we wanted was a multicourse meal when we were about to get on an all-inclusive boat. Also, we weren't too excited about its molecular menu -- too much thinking involved. But the price was reasonable so we decided to go there. As it turned out, we had a good time.

 

 

 

The 5A5 is right next to the Doubletree Hilton Centraal Station. It has a great view of the river.

 

 

 

Unlike other places with tasting menus, they didn't require everyone to get the same thing. So I got the 8 course tasting menu and my wife got the 5. We got the matching wines as well. We shared the non-common courses (along with the accompanying wine). Here's a picture of us with the river in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a deck plan of the River Royale. As I write this post, our cruise has actually ended and we are in the Bordeaux Airport. I didn't post while on the cruise because, honestly, the wifi was horrendous. You could get on pretty easily, but it was very slow. For example, it wouldn't let Photobucket to load. People were having constant problems getting on their email. Luckily, we bought cellular plans for our phones. No matter where we were -- either docked or sailing -- we could access our email and internet via cell. The best coverage was on the top deck, although I could coverage in our room if I sat next to the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caviargal]

Internet quality- actually, the lack thereof - seems to be a consistent theme with Uniworld. We were on a very new vessel and the internet was horrible. And we were docked in good sized cities most of the trip, so no excuses. Having done the same route with AMA, where we had great internet, it was very disappointing.

 

I have my own business and being unable to access the internet for a week is simply not an option.

 

We are seriously looking at Bordeaux for next spring, most likely with AMA. We loved our Rhone cruises and are very much into wine, so this seems like a perfect fit. Looking forward to reading about the ports.

[bubbulz]

Internet quality- actually, the lack thereof - seems to be a consistent theme with Uniworld. We were on a very new vessel and the internet was horrible. And we were docked in good sized cities most of the trip, so no excuses. Having done the same route with AMA, where we had great internet, it was very disappointing.

 

I have my own business and being unable to access the internet for a week is simply not an option.

 

We are seriously looking at Bordeaux for next spring, most likely with AMA. We loved our Rhone cruises and are very much into wine, so this seems like a perfect fit. Looking forward to reading about the ports.

 

This also was the case on our cruise on the Rhine on the Antoinette. It was the major (and honestly, the only) complaint we had on the trip. I don't understand why they feel the need to throttle the WiFi so significantly and place so many restrictions on it that it becomes unusable.

[JVilleGal]

Humm internet on Avalon on our A to B sailing was great!

[bubbulz]

Humm internet on Avalon on our A to B sailing was great!

 

Yeah, it seems like Uniworld is doing some weird stuff with their WiFi, blocking ports that don't really need to be blocked. They'll open them if people know enough to ask (and if they have someone onboard who is knowledgeable enough to unblock them on request).

[bubbulz]

Love all the detail and pics, b2wdw! Brings back some great memories of Amsterdam. Looking forward to the rest of your report!

[Lois R]

You are a lovely looking couple:) and thanks for sharing your experience

with us:)

[n2wdw]

Comments on the River Royale deck plan

 

I meant to include these comments with my last post but they called our plan to board. I wanted to provide some observations on our ship, the River Royale, before getting into the day-by-day itinerary. Here's the deck plan again for reference.

 

 

 

 

* Our room was 217. On our floor, all the rooms had a huge window that didn't open. We found that more than enough, especially since it was somewhat chilly so we wouldn't have sat on a balcony anyway. The floor above (the 300 rooms) had french balconies. All the sliding glass doors opened up onto a thin (maybe 6-12 inches) common ledge. No one we spoke to really used it, but again maybe that was the weather. I don't think the upcharge from the 2nd floor to the 3rd was big, but I don't think it's needed

 

* The ship had a small jacuzzi at the rear of the ship. It doesn't get hot like a hot tub, it's more like a heated pool with bubbles. I saw a few brave souls using it, and on the last day the sun was out and I was tempted, but we ended up never using it.

 

* The exercise room is small but well equipped especially for aerobic exercises. I never saw it used much, but then the schedule is pretty packed (more on that later).

 

* The ship has a very small spa. But let me tell you. This is the best spa I've had on any ship by far, and in my top 10 worldwide. I'll explain why later.

 

* The ship essentially has an open bar 24/7. When Uniworld says all-inclusive, they mean it. And it's not like a Cancun all-inclusive with no name labels. They had a nice selection of beers and spirits and featured wines of the destinations.

 

* The ship is old. The first thing DW and I said when boarding was "Uh oh, this looks old." But really it was no big deal. The age of the ship didn't factor into our experience (although I guess a newer ship might have more amenities).

 

* Our cabin was small but more than sufficient. We didn't spend much time in the room beyond sleeping as it was a busy cruise. The shower was kind of tight though. Given all that I was eating, if I stayed another week or 2 I might have trouble squeezing the shower door closed.

 

* The food: I'd give it a B+/A- overall.

 

Breakfast (a buffet with a limited add-on menu like pancakes) was standard breakfast fair, so it was good. But it was the same every day, they did not have any specials or variety. That's fine for breakfast, but because of no variety I down grade it a little.

 

Lunch (also a buffet) was pretty good. There was a soup at lunch and dinner and they were consistently excellent. Salads were good as were sandwiches. Fish was not dry, unlike other buffets. But, like many ship buffets (and all buffets for that matter), there were some things that sound good but were only so-so. Like the prime rib was tasteless (which seems to be always the case at buffets). I got really excited about the suckling pig but the skin was tough and the meat dry. But, there was enough really good selections to get your fill every day.

 

Dinner: There was only 1 venue, the La Bordelais restaurant. It was sit down and you could arrive anytime you wanted during dining hours. The food was consistency excellent, as good as I've had on any ship and most land restaurants. The portions were also perfect, on the smallish side (but you could order as much as you wanted). The dinner was set up for 5 courses (appetizer, soup/salad, entree, cheese, dessert) but you could order any thing and as much as you wanted. I can't remember any dish I didn't enjoy (or didn't finish). For me, the consistent high quality of the dishes really pushed up the grade.

 

I'll elaborate on these observations as I go through the days.

Edited October 18, 2015 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Day 1: Sunday (Bordeaux)

 

We flew EasyJet from Amsterdam to the Bordeaux airport. EasyJet is completely a la carte so we paid ahead of time to check our 2 bags (and they made sure our 2 carry-ons were true carry-ons -- we had backpacks).

 

The Uniworld bus was at the Bordeaux airport when we arrived. We waited for a few minutes for some other passengers to arrive. Unfortunately the airlines lost bags for a few people so they had to wait around at the airport to fill out the paperwork. So the bus took DW and I (plus 1 other passenger) to the boat. It was a very easy and efficient transfer process.

 

Not much to say about this day. The embarkation process was easy. The people leaving the boat are asked to leave their rooms early (around 930am) so the crew can begin the turnover process, but you can stay on ship all day. We had lunch and hung around in the lounge until our room was ready (it was ready earlier than promised).

 

Here's a picture of the lounge (this may have actually been the afternoon of another day, can't remember). In the picture there's Tania, who was our cruise director. She had alot of energy and information and was very helpful; she was a big part of the reason we enjoyed the cruise.

 

 

 

 

Here a one-pager with the schedule for the cruise. As I mentioned, it was a busy schedule:

 

 

 

 

 

The embarkation lunch buffet was simpler than the other days -- just soup, salad and sandwiches. Didn't take any pictures, but here is the dessert table that they had an the entrance of the dining room every lunch:

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2015 by n2wdw

[CarlyDawwg's Ma]

I just gained five pounds looking at those desserts!!:cool:

 

I'm loving your review and especially all the pictures! Thank you for taking the time to post it all.

 

Liz

[ThreeTwelves]

Omg, amazing pictures and I loved reading your reviews. On our next trip we're definiately taking uniworld.

 

Thank you very much for posting these! Looking forward to reading more:)

[n2wdw]

Day 2: Monday - morning (Bordeaux)

 

We overnighted in Bordeaux. I was okay with that because I like Bordeaux. But that's something you're got to think about if you choose this itinerary -- you'll be spending alot of time in Bordeaux.

 

There were 2 included excursion options this morning, a panoramic bus tour of the vineyards with a tasting at a chateau, or a bike tour with a chateau tasting. We really don't like bus tours so we chose the bike tour.

 

We actually took 3 bike tours this cruise and they were all wonderful. The guides were Paolo, Miguel and FeeFee (short for Philip) and they were great.

 

We biked about 7 kms on flat roads. It was relaxing unlike the next day (which I'll talk about in Day 3). Here are a couple pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the tour was where our tasting happened -- at Lynch Bages! My wife and I couldn't believe this was where we were going -- we only found out that morning. Lynch is one of our favorite Bordeaux wines. It's expensive, maybe $100 in a normal vintage, but not outrageously unapproachably expensive like Lafite or Mouton. Here are pictures from Lynch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting back to the ship, we should our ship tied to another boat. This was often the case with riverboats sharing the same dock. It was fun walking through another boat to get to yours.

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 2: Monday - Afternoon (Bordeaux)

 

We got back to the ship by lunch. This was the lunch with the suckling pig. As I mentioned, it was somewhat disappointing with the meat dry and the skin tough (instead of crispy and delicious).

 

 

 

 

The lunch buffet always offered a good salad spread. These bottles were above the food and I used them often, opting for olive oil instead of the offered salad dressings.

 

 

 

 

Later that afternoon there was an oyster tasting (oysters being one of the delicacies of the Bordeaux area). Here's the setup.

 

[n2wdw]

More on Day 2 (actually in Paulliac)

 

I made a mistake on Day 2. Actually we woke up in Bordeaux but then that morning we cruised to Pauillac. So our bike ride was actually in Pauillac, not Bordeaux. Here are a couple more pictures of the tasting at Lynch with the 2nd picture showing the 2 wines we tasted.

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 3: Tuesday - Morning (St. Emilion)

 

We overnighted in Pauillac (actually Bourg) and then Tuesday morning we cruised to Libourne. Things are so close in Bordeaux it only takes a couple hours to get to the next port.

 

The morning activity was a short bus ride to St. Emilion, and then a walking tour of St. Emilion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The St. Emilion tour included underground monuments/churches. They're privately owned so pictures weren't allowed. This is a picture from just outside.

 

 

 

After the St. Emilion walking tour we bused to this chateau for a tasting a tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the wine tasting we bused back to the boat in time for lunch. The bus rides were short this day, but it seemed like we were on buses alot. Still it was a busy morning.

[n2wdw]

Day 3: Tuesday - Afternoon (St. Emilion)

 

In the afternoon, you had the option to bus back to St. Emilion for more touring (some people stayed there for lunch rather than returning to the boat). There was also an optional bike tour of St. Emilion. This one cost 40e each. We decided to do this and signed up early as we read other people saying in past cruises the bike tour sold out. There was no risk of that here, and in fact it seemed like Uniworld had no limit to size of the bike tours, they just needed to know if you're going by the night before so they could have enough bikes available.

 

The tour guides gave us the option of a more challenging ride this time (compared to yesterday). The group decided to go with the challenging option, more hills rather than yesteday that was mostly flat. We all made it but it was definitely challenging at times. But I'm glad we did it if for no other reason as exercise like this helped keep my weight down with all the food I was eating. (In this next picture it's the famous Chateau Ausone. We didn't actually go there -- unfortunately -- we just rode by it).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cyber Kat]

That's just what I was thinking. I am a native New Yorker and loved the automat when I was a kid. It was my personal Pie machine. [emoji1]

Denise

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Me too! Going to the Automat was a treat - Horn & Hardart. I think there is one left in NYC - kind of historic thing. I have to do this when we are in Amsterdam next year!

[DKNYC]

Me too! Going to the Automat was a treat - Horn & Hardart. I think there is one left in NYC - kind of historic thing. I have to do this when we are in Amsterdam next year!

According to this article a company called Bamn opened one on the East side in 2006 but it closed in 2009. The Automats mostly became Burger Kings.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat

 

Denise

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[mimmy52]

I love trip reviews with lots of photos. I hope there's more to come.

[DKNYC]

Love this review. I plan to do a river cruise eventually. Appreciate your insights about the differences between this type of cruise compared to mega ship cruises.

Denise

 

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[jpalbny]

N2wdw, we miss you and are eagerly awaiting the next installment. I know how much time and effort these trip reviews can take, but we really appreciate it. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

[eyeu]

would love to read your commentary and photos of the last few days of your cruise. Know it is time consuming, so whenever...thanks..

Rick

[4774Papa]

Thanks for the review, we would like to do this cruise, not necessarily with Uniworld.

We prefer Vantage but they don't offer this cruise.

 

You posted more photos of food than of the sites. Are you in the restaurant business or something?

[n2wdw]

Recap

 

So I'm going to try to finish up this trip report over the next week or so. I'm motivated as my wife and I just recently scheduled another river cruise for the fall (we haven't booked it yet so things may change, but right now we're thinking the new Crystal river cruise on the Danube).

 

First, here's a recap of the trip so far with the ship's daily itineraries for Sunday - Tuesday:

 

 

 

[Lois R]

Re-reading your review:)....... flying to Amsterdam on Tuesday:D