Our Trip on Uniworld River Princess

[couchking]

Hi,

Just wanted to give an overview of our trip from Budapest to Prague.

Firstly, if you leave from the New York area, here is a suggestion to fly non-stop.

I booked my own air through Orbitz. I left from JFK on Malev(Hungarian Airline)and returned from Prague direct to Newark of Czek airline. The price was about the same, and it does wonders for your trip to fly direct.

Don't ask Uniworld to book these flights for you. They will not book flights on two different airlines.

We arrived in Budapest the day before the cruise. We took the mini bus from the airport. It was easy and pretty inexpensive.

I reserved my own room via hotels.com. I was being cheap, and should have picked a better location, on the Danube, but it was OK. The weather was pretty crappy the first couple of days, cool and rainy.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then took a cab to the boat. Don't leave your Taxi until you are sure you find your boat. There are several boats, but the cabs don't seem to know where they are. They are docked on the Pest side. We took our bags to the boat and went to see the Synagogue. If you want to to this, make sure you go early on Sunday since it closes early. We got there 15 min. before closing.

The next day we went on a 2-3 hour tour of Budapest.

We went back to boat and had an overview of our trip. We kept eyeing people, but weren't sure how friendly people would be.

At dinner sat with a nice couple.

I'll make it shorter from now on.

Next day was Vienna. Rainy and cold. Sort of ruined the day.

Found most of the people on the boat were friendly. Not much entertainment(piano player at night), but we hung out in the bar at night and had lots of fun. We met a group of college friends that were having a reunion(40th), and they were lots of fun.

The rest of the trip, weather was pretty nice. The small towns of Melk and Passau were quaint. The local guide had alot to do with how good our tour was.

We had a great guide in Regensbug. He was American that had moved to Germany. I think he had been an English teacher in Germany. He was fantastic.

Nuremberg is very interesting. It was Hitler's favorite place. The tour was OK. Would have rathered see more of historical WWII things like the museum, but that wasn't on the tour an we didn't have time to go back to where it was(Parade Grounds)

The trip to Prague seemed to take all day. We were the first bus to leave, and the last one to arrive(5 hrs. later) Our bus driver went sooooooooo slow.

The hotel in Prague was great and had a great location. Renassiance.

We spent alot of time in the old square. A couple of people hired a walking tour guide(see the consieur) and had a great time. I wish we would have done that.

Prague is said to be the next Paris---Don't know about that, but we really liked it there. Lots of cafe's. If you want a great place to eat dinner, try

U Prince Hotel. Take the elevator to 4th floor and walk up to the roof. The view is unbelievable from here. See Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and the whole square. The view is worth the price(which happens to be reasonable)

All in all we had a great time. We felt the breakfasts were fine, the lunches were the best meal and the dinners lacked variety. The amount was fine, but if you have been on an Ocean Cruise, don't think the food is the same--it's not.

We took a side trip to Terezin. For those who don't know, it was a concentration camp. It was a worthwhile trip.

The cruise director was adequate. She was very organized, but didn't have the finesse or the patience to handle the crowd, especially if there were complaints. We were told that she is not an employee of Uniworld, but an independent contractor. Don't know this for sure.

Most of the passengers were very friendly, and if you wanted to mingle, had not problem. We met some great people. There were alot of Canadians, and even a couple from Austrailia.

We would take a River Cruise again. We had a room on the bottom level. I would not waste money to spend for a higher level. The only negative was the washer and dryer was not supposed to be used after 10. They were and when they were done, they made a sound like an alarm clock.

We were lucky with the weather, since we went at the end of Sept. Make sure you dress in layers.

Casual clothes is the rule of thumb. I brought one sport jacket, but could have gotten along without it.

Try a River Cruise if you want to see alot of places, but don't care about the pomp and flash of an Ocean Cruise. The only thing that is the same, is they are both called cruises and they travel on water.

Larry

[LHT28]

How was the ship, accommodations and food onboard??

[richardgail]

Hi,

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then took a cab to the boat. Don't leave your Taxi until you are sure you find your boat. There are several boats, but the cabs don't seem to know where they are. They are docked on the Pest side.

 

We are doing this itinerary with Amadeus Waterways in April but will end our trip in Budapest. We are thinking about arranging our own transfer to the airport with a company called World Airport Transfer. They would pick us up at our boat which will be docked at the Elizabeth Bridge Dock at 6:30 AM. Your comment about the cabs not knowing where the boats are has concerned us. Would you please give us your opinion if this would be a good option for getting to the airport. We can book a transer with Amadeus Waterways but it will cost $30 more, but might be worth it for the peace of mind that Amadeus would get us to the airport on time. Thank you!

[couchking]

I would think that a company that advertises transfers would know where the boats are. Just let them know what boat you are on. Most of the times boats are docked two or three deep. You have to walk through one to get to the next. Generally you are docked with other boats in the same companys fleet. With what it is costing you for the trip, I wouldn't worry about another $30.

[eldercruser]

We will traveling on Uniworld next June. What was the gratuity policy?

[couchking]

I think it was $10 or $12per day per person for crew(I forget which) and $4 per day per person for cuise director. Unlike large cruise ships, you put your tip in an envelope and leave it at the desk. We gave the crew the suggested tip, but did not give the cruise director as much as was suggested.

[eldercruser]

Thanks for the feedback. I have been away the past few days.