Help with decision making!

[jmlh]

Hope that some of you experienced river cruisers can help us make a decision for next summer. We are trying to decide between Uniworld's European Jewels and AMA Waterways Magnificent Europe. They are the same length of time and cover basically the same itinerary.

 

How would you compare the cabins, food, tours, etc.? Do you think there is an advantage of one cruise line over the other? Any comments/help is much appreciated - we need to make a decision!:)

[pjtraveler]

We have had no experience with AMA, so can't compare directly. However, we've had three great trips with Uniworld (2 in Europe, 1 in Egypt). The ships in Europe are very nice and the cabins small (like all river ships) but quite comfortable with plenty of storage.

 

We enjoyed the food--buffet at breakfast and lunch with a nice dinner with menu choices. We have found the cruise directors to be really good--they're the ones who take care of all the tours and optional excursions. We would highly recommend Uniworld! If you will do a search on this site, you can find other comments about both companies.:)

[LynneM44]

Hope that some of you experienced river cruisers can help us make a decision for next summer. We are trying to decide between Uniworld's European Jewels and AMA Waterways Magnificent Europe. They are the same length of time and cover basically the same itinerary.

 

How would you compare the cabins, food, tours, etc.? Do you think there is an advantage of one cruise line over the other? Any comments/help is much appreciated - we need to make a decision!:)

We are going on Amadeus Waterways because when we checked the size of the cabins, theirs were larger than the others (about the same size as some of the ocean-going ships, like Windstar). They are also a very new line, some of their vessels just going out for the 1st time this year, so they haven't been battered by lots of use..

[p598738]

I would try to deal with a company who owns their ships. I have had very good experience with GCT. Very bad experience with Gate 1.

[letsgoeverywhere]

Also from Ontario! We chose AMA but booked through a US travel company. Will post our experiences on our return in early October.

[jmlh]

Thanks so much for your responses - they are very helpful. We are trying to research very carefully & make a good decision. Letsgoeverywhere - could you e-mail me you name of your travel agent (djh1@rogers.com)? It would be great to have a reliable resource.

 

If there is any more information out there, please pass it on. Many thanks.

 

Jan:)

[tiggypooo]

Hi Jan:

I also am a fellow Ontario neighbour. (Oshawa)

I have not been with AMA, but have had 2 cruises with Uniworld on River Duchess. You didn't mention what month that you'll be going but there are 2 ships that do the Uniworld itinerary.

River Empress is the same as River Duchess. Just different decor.

River Queen is one of their older ships. I had a tour of it this April and really liked the layout.

If you'd like to see a few pictures and ask a few specific questions, email me at tiggypooo@yahoo.ca and I'll try to answer you.

[letsgoeverywhere]

Jan, I have emailed you the requested info!

 

:)

[GlobeMan]

Hi Jan:

I also am a fellow Ontario neighbour. (Oshawa)

I have not been with AMA, but have had 2 cruises with Uniworld on River Duchess. You didn't mention what month that you'll be going but there are 2 ships that do the Uniworld itinerary.

River Empress is the same as River Duchess. Just different decor.

River Queen is one of their older ships. I had a tour of it this April and really liked the layout.

If you'd like to see a few pictures and ask a few specific questions, email me at tiggypooo@yahoo.ca and I'll try to answer you.

We've been on 4 Uniworld tours. #5 is scheduled in October '08. Obviously, we're quite satisfied with them.

 

They also have the River Ambassador which has slightly smaller cabins and public areas than the Empress & Dutchess. We didn't find this to be a problem. We thought the food on the Ambassador to be superior but maybe standards across the board have improved over the past few years.

[MSEm]

Does Uniworld have self serive Landry on all of their vessels?

Does Uniworld or AMA include most tours, with few optional purchase tours?

What is tips policy on Uniworld or AMA

 

If anyone can answer those questions, it may help with choice between Uniworld and AMA.

 

MSEm

[GlobeMan]

Uniworld's River Empress, River Countess class ships have self serv laundry facilities. The River Ambassador has laundry service available (extra charge).

Determine which ship you'd be on then check it out at:

http://www.uniworld.com/cruiseships.asp

 

Most tours are included but there are also optional tours. IMO they are mostly not worth the extra charges. Uniworld serves a fairly good quality complimentary wine at dinner and they pour it freely.

[boards]

We are also Ontario people and are booked on our first river cruise River Beatrice next June 2009 - Enchanting Danube. It looks very interesting, we are only doing a seven day one with some extra days either at the beginning in Prague or at the end in Butapest, not sure which place to stay in.

[tiggypooo]

Hi Boards..... Ontario here too.

I had to reply to your post,as I might run into you next year on The Beatrice.

I'm planning to do the same itinerary in June next year with the Prague extension pre cruise.

You will love the itinerary. I've visited most of the cities that it stops in.

We chose the pre cruise stay in Prague as it's the new "it" place.

They say to visit it before the prices climb to the lofty heights that the rest of Europe has.

I find also that a pre-cruise stay works well, asit allows you to recuperate from the journey over.

[Maggie Mae]

We are booked on the AMA Amalyra for July of next year. They gave us several discounts and now we are in the process of getting our air and hotel for a pre cruise stay in Prague. Besides the discounts the ship will be brand new and AMA has an excellent reputation as do some other companies.

[boards]

We are booked for the June 13th cruise. We are waiting on our TA to book flights and our extended stay. She is recommending the 3 days in Prague and at least one in Budapest. We are thinking about it. This appears to be a cruise that needs you to be in good shape. We did a Med. cruise (15 days - 8 tours) and we were pretty tired when we got home. We are only doing the seven day one for now to see how it works out for us. There are some longer ones that look very interesting we might try another time.

[kbella]

Att:MaggieMae,

Did you book directly with AMA for the discounts or did you use a TA? We are also considering AMA for 2009.

Thanks,

Karen

[tiggypooo]

Hey Boards:

That could very well be the same one that we end up on. I haven't really decided on the exact date, but that one was one of the choices.

I would definately do the 3 day Pre offered by Uniworld. Just getting the transfers with the pkg. is reason enough. Getting from Prague to Passau is not easy on your own.

[boards]

Thanks for your infro, we are waiting for TA, she handles all our travels and we have alot of confidents in her. She is from Crotia. BTW we are located in Windsor. We just paid our deposit to take advantage of the early booking. We have booked cabin 307. That's it so far. Good chatting with you.

[LynneM44]

Does Uniworld have self serive Landry on all of their vessels?

Does Uniworld or AMA include most tours, with few optional purchase tours?

What is tips policy on Uniworld or AMA

 

If anyone can answer those questions, it may help with choice between Uniworld and AMA.

 

MSEm

AMA includes most tours in the price. There are a few optional tours, but we are only doing 3 optional for our Danube cruise starting next week, as recommended on these boards.

[Maggie Mae]

Att:MaggieMae,

Did you book directly with AMA for the discounts or did you use a TA? We are also considering AMA for 2009.

Thanks,

Karen

 

Karen

Yes, we booked directly with AMA for our 07/06/09 trip and are receiving a discount for not using a TA. AMA is very helpful and that has not been a problem. We are receiving another discount because there are 10 of us, and they also offer a $100.00 AARP discount. We are each saving about $600.00 per person by using all three discounts. We are also taking care of our own air and hotel in Prague and arranging our own transportation to the ship which is always a great savings.

Good Luck

Maggie

[jmlh]

We still have not made a decision although we ae getting closer. Scenic Cruises is now in the mix!! We can see that cruises are being booked and that we need to make up our minds. We have contacted various travel agents (thanks to out friends on these boards) as well as the companies themselves. Does anyone have anymore words of wisdom for us?

[Maggie Mae]

I'm not sure these are words of wisdom but we started by picking the itinerary we liked the best - most companies offer the same itinerarys but a few are different and we were able to eliminate a few that way. We wanted to book early because we knew there would be at least 10 of us and we didn't want to get closed out of a cruise, or not get the cabins we wanted - AMA came out with their 09 schedule first, have new ships, and offered discounts so we went with the. We are having a local international TA help us with air reservations and she said we picked the best! Made us feel better seeing this is the first river cruise for all of us.

 

Good Luck

[boards]

There is Review by Trash Queen of a cruise on Amadante (14 day) that is kind of bothering us. We have never been on a River cruise and if that review is a fair review of what they are like, I not to sure they are for us. Those of you who have been on a Uniworld cruise, do you agree that is very much like that in your Uniworld ship experience. The dining experience does not sound like very enjoyable. Fact the whole thing did not sound very enjoyable. The tours even less fun.

[blueeyes1950]

Hi,

I am a newbie to river cruises. What companies do you recommend besides Grand Circle.

Thanks

[WIT]

There is Review by Trash Queen of a cruise on Amadante (14 day) that is kind of bothering us. We have never been on a River cruise and if that review is a fair review of what they are like, I not to sure they are for us. Those of you who have been on a Uniworld cruise, do you agree that is very much like that in your Uniworld ship experience. The dining experience does not sound like very enjoyable. Fact the whole thing did not sound very enjoyable. The tours even less fun.[/quote

 

I enjoyed reading Trash Queen's review of AMA's Amandante, and I appreciated her detailed discussion of the trip's itinerary. That was especially generous given her intent not to river cruise again.

 

If you require flexible mealtimes and a lot of control over your daily schedule, then a river cruise or a guided land tour of Europe is not for you.

 

If being in close contact with the same 120 or so people for a week or more raises legitimate concerns about viruses, then be advised - none of the companies mentioned on this thread will be able to do much to help once you get sick.

 

Consider also the likelihood of contracting a bug while on the flight over - deliberately dry air makes the sinuses vulnerable and the surfaces one must touch with one's fingers have already been touched by many other passengers. Despite being very careful, I also have gotten sick amongst other travelers.

 

Travel always involves risk and each of us must decide what is acceptable.

 

WIT