Uniworld Excursion Information

[wanderingoz]

41 minutes ago, pully8 said:

It looks as if Amsterdam to Bucharest is a combination of 2 cruises?

did you have a change of passengers on the cruise?

Yes it is a combination, back to back in ocean cruise parlance, but marketed by Uniworld as a single, complete, option as well.

I am gathering there will be some change of passengers at Budapest as we have a Captain's Farewell Dinner on Day 8 and a Welcome Dinner on Day 10.

Steve

[pully8]

Enjoy your cruise. Autumn is lovely.

[HoneyJan]

I have been on two Uniworld cruises and neither of them had trips that filled up and were closed to others. One cruise (Bordeaux) had colored tags put out on the reception desk during dinner. People picked the color for a certain outing the next day. If you were worried about it, you could walk to the reception between courses. Most people just waited until they were walking by after dinner. I never was closed out of a trip, I don’t know anyone who was.

[Roz]

9 hours ago, wanderingoz said:

Yes it is a combination, back to back in ocean cruise parlance, but marketed by Uniworld as a single, complete, option as well.

I am gathering there will be some change of passengers at Budapest as we have a Captain's Farewell Dinner on Day 8 and a Welcome Dinner on Day 10.

Steve

 

Are you doing the 25-day Ultimate European Journey?

 

Roz

[HappyTvlr]

It was a combination with the change in Budapest.  It was flawless for those of us staying onboard, and they even planned a day trip to two wineries.  It was fantastic.  We lost and gained around 100 people which was interesting.  We had a good group of 30+ that stayed on, and I think did a great job of integrating with the new passengers.

[wanderingoz]

6 hours ago, Roz said:

 

Are you doing the 25-day Ultimate European Journey?

 

Roz

Yes that's  the one.

[wanderingoz]

5 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

It was a combination with the change in Budapest.  It was flawless for those of us staying onboard, and they even planned a day trip to two wineries.  It was fantastic.  We lost and gained around 100 people which was interesting.  We had a good group of 30+ that stayed on, and I think did a great job of integrating with the new passengers.

That's good to know about the tours in Budapest. I've been investigating what we could do ourselves for that day.

Steve

[Roz]

43 minutes ago, wanderingoz said:

Yes that's  the one.

 

You have to travel so far, you may as well make the most of it if you have the time and money.  25 days sounds like heaven.

 

Roz

[Mimosa09]

To HappyTrvl,

   Thanks for posting about your cruise experience. I have to say I’m a little surprise to hear that there was limited slots on the regular excursions. We did not experience this on our fall cruise with Uniworld in Bordeaux. The only tours that seemed to have limits were the bike tours. And we did see some people miss out on the first bike tour, but staff made sure that they did get on the list for the next bike tour opportunity.

   On our Bordeaux cruise they offered an excursion to Remy Martin that was not on the original itinerary. This excursion was like the Masterpiece ones - extra cost and they only had 40 slots. By the time I went to sign up, it was full, but they had a waiting list which I signed for. When all was said and done, they got a second bus and anybody who wanted to go (& pay the cost) got to go. 

   Also, thanks for letting us know about the winery excursion in Budapest for those of us continuing on. I hope that is repeated bc that would be something we will be interested in. It will be interesting to see how many of us were will be taking the full trip. 

-Rose

[Mimosa09]

To wanderingoz (Steve),

  After reading that you already got your documents, we called our travel agent asking about ours. We should be getting them Saturday or Tuesday (Monday is a holiday in the States).  That should really get us going on our packing. 

   And we too, are interested in the Peles Castle tour. Hope we can sign up for it when we get to Bucharest. We couldn’t see any other way to sign up for it until we got there. 

  So 31 more days!

- Rose

[HappyTvlr]

1 hour ago, Mimosa09 said:

To wanderingoz (Steve),

  After reading that you already got your documents, we called our travel agent asking about ours. We should be getting them Saturday or Tuesday (Monday is a holiday in the States).  That should really get us going on our packing. 

   And we too, are interested in the Peles Castle tour. Hope we can sign up for it when we get to Bucharest. We couldn’t see any other way to sign up for it until we got there. 

  So 31 more days!

- Rose

I was interested in it as well, but decided against it when I found out about the driving time required. The drive out was about 2.5 hrs, and return 3.5 depending on traffic. They didn’t get the minimum to sign up, but offered to organize a private trip for the 8 interested at a slightly higher price. Not sure if anyone ended up going.

 I am guessing they won’t sign people up pre-cruise because they want everyone aware of the journey. I appreciate this because it avoids non-refundable prepayment issues.

[wanderingoz]

2 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

I was interested in it as well, but decided against it when I found out about the driving time required. The drive out was about 2.5 hrs, and return 3.5 depending on traffic. They didn’t get the minimum to sign up, but offered to organize a private trip for the 8 interested at a slightly higher price. Not sure if anyone ended up going.

 I am guessing they won’t sign people up pre-cruise because they want everyone aware of the journey. I appreciate this because it avoids non-refundable prepayment issues.

Hmmm.. that will make us think twice about it as well.  While I'm sure the castle is spectacular I doubt it will be the last castle we get to see on the trip.

I wonder what the minimum numbers would be?  Many minivans are 8 seaters and quite common for tours of that length.

Steve

[HappyTvlr]

11 hours ago, wanderingoz said:

Hmmm.. that will make us think twice about it as well.  While I'm sure the castle is spectacular I doubt it will be the last castle we get to see on the trip.

I wonder what the minimum numbers would be?  Many minivans are 8 seaters and quite common for tours of that length.

Steve

The minimum on ours was 25, and only 8 signed up.  Not sure which direction you are going, but for us this was the last day before flying unless you extended on your own.  We were certainly "cooked", and couldn't face a long coach ride.  We did the Dictator's home which was over the top extravagant, and the MC people's palace.  Palace has interesting history, and was beautiful inside.  It lacked a bit of wow factor when compared to other things we visited which is saying a lot, but well worth a couple hours and few euros to see. 

We really loved Bucharest.  Easy to city to walk, fantastic local food in old town, great restaurants in the hotel, and ridiculously good craft beer.  Safe city, but we were told to beware of pick pocketers.  Not unusual.

[wanderingoz]

12 hours ago, HappyTvlr said:

The minimum on ours was 25, and only 8 signed up.  Not sure which direction you are going, but for us this was the last day before flying unless you extended on your own.  We were certainly "cooked", and couldn't face a long coach ride.  We did the Dictator's home which was over the top extravagant, and the MC people's palace.  Palace has interesting history, and was beautiful inside.  It lacked a bit of wow factor when compared to other things we visited which is saying a lot, but well worth a couple hours and few euros to see. 

We really loved Bucharest.  Easy to city to walk, fantastic local food in old town, great restaurants in the hotel, and ridiculously good craft beer.  Safe city, but we were told to beware of pick pocketers.  Not unusual.

We are starting in Bucharest so this is our first day after the delightful flight from Australia.  5+ hrs on a bus isn't the most enticing of propositions.

Your description of Bucharest is exactly what we are hoping for so depending on how we are feeling we may just spend the day exploring.

Pickpockets are pretty much a given now.  I couldn't believe how good the ones in Barcelona were.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Mimosa09]

Well, now my husband is rethinking the Peles Castle tour as well. I still want to go, but I can see that if not enough people sign up, it may be a no go. We will be arriving in Bucharest on Sept 29th from Paris where we will have disembark from the Paris to Normandy cruise. We will only have a one hour time change to deal with flying to Bucharest so we won’t be as tired as if we were arriving from the States.  Anyway, thanks for the heads up. 

- Rose

[Mimosa09]

Our cruise documents came today. 👏👏👏

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, Mimosa09 said:

Our cruise documents came today. 👏👏👏

 

I got my cruise documents yesterday

[Farang]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:56 AM, HappyTvlr said:

Just off Uniworld Amsterdam to Bucharest.  Prior to departure I was concerned about the Masterpiece options filling up, and little did I know there was a risk of the listed options also filling up.  I certainly don't mean to cause you concern, but pass on the information because it was what I would have wanted.  We had two cruise managers (CM) on board as the first departed mid-cruise.  Both had different ways of booking what I am calling listed excursions like do as the locals or bike tours.  The first had a meeting day two to book the days 3-9, and a second meeting to book 10-15.  We were not "allowed" to book up to day 15 on day 2.  I was very concerned about excursions filling up that I booked specifically to see, and I told the CM that we would have a problem if the day 12 excursion was unavailable.  At the end of each of the two meetings there was a mad dash to sign up.  Not at all dignified, and not acceptable to me based on the price and expected level of service.  Imagine having a mobility issue and not being able to get to the front of the line.  Horrible.  The second CM held a meeting and opened up booking for the rest of the cruise.  Again there was a dash, but not as much because there were more slots in each option.  As a note, others said that on previous Uniworld cruises they had to book every single night for the next day. Outrageous in my opinion.

In the end most people got their first choice which added a bit of frustration for creating a negative situation.  I hated looking at the faces of friends I had made at the back of the line knowing I may have taken the last spot.  We all paid the same and should have the same options because there is no mention whatsoever of limits placed on the listed excursions in the brochure.

I have traveled extensively but this was my first full river cruise, and I will be looking into other options that do not have the same issue with limits and inconsistency in the booking process.  It is up to the CM how things are done on board, and I am a traveler that likes to plan and know I am getting what I signed up and paid for.  I am most interested in Scenic because I traveled through Egypt and Jordan with them and there were no limits on any of the options.  Not sure if the same goes for their river cruises, but I will be looking into them. 

Just returned from Bucharest to Prague.  This was our fourth cruise with Uniworld.  Our experience with the availability and sign-up process was the same - unorganized lineup "up" the staircase from front desk to foyer of upper deck immediately after CM briefing (actually second time around the lineup began before CM finished his presentation).  Personally experienced being shut out of a brochure listed optional excursion.  Never had experienced such a scene on previous cruises with Uniworld.  In addition, many on board disappointed at last minute removal of BMW factory visit.

[HappyTvlr]

Thanks for the update, but I am so sorry. It’s so disappointing because they have such wonderful itineraries, but I feel they can’t be counted on. I enjoyed them immensely in India because everyone was allowed to do anything offered without restrictions, but they have a different and inconsistent operation in Europe that doesn’t work for me.