Uniworld vs Tauck - New Cruiser Help!

[Jessie James]

I am also looking at Uniworld vs. Tauk and I have a question that is only for people who are fairly knowledgeable about wine and appreciate good wine. How would you rate the  wine (particularly by the glass options) on Uniworld and Tauk? I recently took an Ama Waterways Rhine/Moselle cruise and the complementary wine was garbage, comparable to what can be found in a low-end supermarket. I would have been HAPPY to pay for something drinkable but that was not an option. It was either the swill that they served for free or nothing. Interestingly they did have premium cocktails (not free) but not wine. Wine by the bottle was better, but not much selection and as I solo traveler, I like to drink by the glass. Looking forward to hearing from you.

[tulok]

I have been on 3 Uniworld cruises. Two in France and One in Germany. Every cruise they used local wines. In Lyon, they were loading cases from a local winery that we went to visit. I like red and champagne, and thought the selections were good. The champagne selections were Feuillatte or Widow Maker. There may have been another but I am a Feuillatte fan so I stuck with it. It may have to do with the itinerary.

Sorry, never tried Tauck to help with them. 

[bubbulz]

I’ve always been happy with the standard selections on my Uniworld cruises, but they also have additional wines available for purchase. The only time I have tried any of them was when there was extra OBC at the end of a cruise. 

[worldtraveller99]

I am also fussy about my wine. Haven't travelled on Uniworld yet, but the Tauck wines served at dinners were all local wines and perfectly drinkable. As part of the daily "talk before dinner about what you will do tomorrow", the sommelier came forward and "bigged them up" to us, which did make me more favourably disposed towards them, so was a good idea. There wasn't any choice (though you could have had a cocktail or a beer instead I think), but they were designed to match the meal and they did.

[bubbulz]

3 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

I am also fussy about my wine. Haven't travelled on Uniworld yet, but the Tauck wines served at dinners were all local wines and perfectly drinkable. As part of the daily "talk before dinner about what you will do tomorrow", the sommelier came forward and "bigged them up" to us, which did make me more favourably disposed towards them, so was a good idea. There wasn't any choice (though you could have had a cocktail or a beer instead I think), but they were designed to match the meal and they did.

This was somewhat similar to what Uniworld does, in terms of presenting the wine selections each night, but you could always choose another wine they had if you didn’t like the nightly wine selections.

[Gourmet Gal]

Having sailed both Tauck and Uniworld and until I took my final 2 disastrous cruises with Tauck I would have recommended them but now I would say it’s a good decision for the OP to go with Uniworld.  Service and food are better and I would strongly recommend booking the largest suite possible because even the largest river suites are smaller than a typical ocean cabin.  As for wines, the nice aspect of both lines is they serve very local wines.  Excursions tend to be smaller groups on Tauck but on my final two cruises with them the quality of the guides had declined and they tended to be chaotic.  

[Lois R]

11 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Having sailed both Tauck and Uniworld and until I took my final 2 disastrous cruises with Tauck I would have recommended them but now I would say it’s a good decision for the OP to go with Uniworld.  Service and food are better and I would strongly recommend booking the largest suite possible because even the largest river suites are smaller than a typical ocean cabin.  As for wines, the nice aspect of both lines is they serve very local wines.  Excursions tend to be smaller groups on Tauck but on my final two cruises with them the quality of the guides had declined and they tended to be chaotic.  

Sorry your last 2 on Tauck were not good.

I am sailing with them in April and hoping for a better experience.