Ship's Wake Posted December 18, 2008 #1 Share Posted December 18, 2008 One of the things my wife and I noticed when planning our recently completed cruise was the lack of detailed information on the type and quality of food found on Uniworld. We hope the following information will be helpful for those considering booking a cruise with Uniworld. We’ve learned so much from Cruise Critic that we feel the need to share when we have something relevant to offer. Cruise Details: Uniworld River Empress Danube Holiday Markets Passau to Budapest December 7 – December 14, 2008 Open seating for all meals Breakfast and lunch consisted of buffets Dinner was open seating at a fixed time, usually 7pm Table reservations were not allowed Four tables for two available, with the remaining tables seating four, six, or eight No room service 24/7 complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate – this was very popular among the guests. You could get a cup of coffee, espresso, cappuccino, hot chocolate, wiener mélange at anytime at a machine that was in what was called the patio area. As this was a Christmas cruise, there was gingerbread, chocolates, cookies, and candies readily available on the ship for those who had a sweet tooth or the munchies. Unlimited red or white house wine was served with dinner each evening Complimentary bottle water was placed in stateroom and replenished if needed Dress for breakfast and lunch was casual Dress for dinner was casual, with no jeans or t-shirts allowed The majority of men wore sweaters, button-down or polo shirts, and slacks A very small minority wore sport coats at the captain’s welcome dinner Women wore slacks and sweaters or knit shirts About 20 percent of passengers wore jeans on first night aboard or on last night. This was understandable, as several passengers embarked the cruise around 5:30 pm and the last day required everyone to pack for departure. Chef was from Slovakia (previously worked for Princess for several years), with sous chef from Romania, pastry chef from Hungary, and rest of kitchen crew from Hungary or Slovakia. This was important because their execution was flawless. Quite a contrast to ocean cruises where you often have South Asians preparing recipes that they have no idea how they should taste. We rate the quality and presentation of the food on Uniworld as being a step above Holland America and Princess, though not quite at Oceania’s level (these lines we have cruised before). We recommend Uniworld without any hesitation to those looking to cruise a river in Europe. We had two passengers indicate that the food on Uniworld was better than they had experienced on their previous Grand Circle river cruise. As we have not cruise on GCT, we cannot make a judgment on this. However this was our second Uniworld cruise and both times that have really wowed us. Every day the lunch and dinner menu had some type of cuisine of the country or area we were visiting that day. We thought this was a really nice touch and welcomed the opportunity to have goulash, wiener schnitzel, sausages, sauerkraut soup, Austrian cheese soup, and local desserts. Items on the breakfast buffet included: Juice, milk, coffee, tea, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, water melon, and pineapple, cereal, parfait, yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs, omelets, bacon, sausage, hash browns or country potatoes, and porridge (it was better than it sounded) Items on lunch buffet included: Pasta station, sandwiches, soup, a hot entrée such as turkey breast and mashed potatoes or lamb with noodles or fish and chips, pre-made salads, salad bar One of the guests asked for a copy of the dinner menus – the very next day every guest received these. Here they are: (Note: a grilled chicken breast or steak could be ordered every night if that was your preference) Sunday December 7 – Passau Starter Chef’s salad – mixed fresh garden greens with ham and cheese, croutons and tomato served with a light yogurt dressing Or Traditional Balkan salad with feta cheese, cucumber and olives Soup Carrots and ginger cream soup Or Vegetable broth with sautéed mushrooms Main Course Grilled corn fed chicken breast on red wine sauce served with bell pepper vegetables and green peas pure Or Poached fillet of salmon on dill sauce, served with sautéed zucchini, grilled tomato, and rice Or Quiche with vegetable and tarragon sauce Dessert Crème brule – vanilla mascarpone cream Or Dame Blanche – vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce Or Assorted European cheeses with crackers – Gouda, Appenzeller, Taleggio Coffee or tea Monday December 8 – Passau Captain’s Welcome Dinner Amuse bouche Honey melon with Coppa di Parma (Italian high quality dried cured ham) and balsamic reduction Clear beef soup with liver dumpling and vegetable dumpling Seafood bags with risotto di mare on parley veloute Wellington style veal tenderloin wrapped in bacon on morel sauce served with arrangement of vegetables and gratin potato Or Ravioli stuffed with mushrooms tossed in chunky tomato sauce Hot chocolate soufflé with mocha hazelnut sauce and vanilla ice cream Or Assorted European cheeses with crackers (Brie, Cambozzola, Chaumes) Coffee or tea Tuesday December 9 – Linz Starter Chicken salad on grilled pineapple with blueberry sauce Or Avocado and shrimp cocktail with light yogurt dressing Soup Mustard cream soup with pernod cream topping Or Vegetable consommé Main Course Roasted turkey breast with bread stuffing on cranberry juice, creamy black salsify and sweet mashed potatoes Or Pan fried pike perch filet with beurre blanc sauce served with kohlrabi, corn vegetable and mushroom risotto Or Vegetable curry with steamed basmati rice Dessert Linzer cake with raspberry coulis Or Ice coupe Romanoff – strawberry and vanilla ice cream with vodka marinated strawberries Or Assorted cheeses with grapes and crackers (Camembert, Gouda, Biragni) Coffee or tea Wednesday December 10 – Krems Starter Smoked duck breast on waldorf salad with Cumberland sauce Or Mixed garden green salad with blue cheese and cranberry vinaigrette Soup Cream of broccoli with roasted almonds Or vegetable consommé with tilapia wantoni Main Course Pink roasted rack of lamb provencal with mint flavored jus, served with ratatouille and creamy polenta Or Poached red gurnard fish with lemon butter sauce, sautéed Chinese cabbage and buttered tagliatelle Or Austrian potato gulash Dessert Christmas chocolate pie on Bailey’s custard Or Vanilla chocolate Christmas Ice tree with mix berries coulis Or Assorted European cheeses with crackers (Rambol, Brie, Cambozolla) Coffee or tea Thursday December 11 – Vienna Starter Tomato mozzarella with pesto Or Fresh garden salad with apple, raisin, and pumpkin seed oil Soup Austrian cheese soup Or Chicken consommé with pancake strips Main Course Vienna style schnitzel – breaded escalope of pork loin with cucumber salad and warm potato salad Or Baked kabeljou filet with tomato basil topping, sautéed French beans, and roasted potato Or Vegetarian lasagna on cheese sauce Dessert Traditional Austrian strudel with vanilla sauce Or Vienna ice café – vanilla ice cream in café mélange with hipped cream Or Assorted cheeses with crackers Coffee or tea Friday December 12 – Bratislava Captain’s Farewell Dinner Amuse bouche Variation of salmon and trout with honey mustard dressing Porcini cappuccino creamy mushroom soup with frothy milk topping Grilled king tiger prawn on saffron risotto Rasberry granite with champagne Slice of roasted beef tenderloin on a duet of sauces served with summer vegetables and duchesse potato Baked Alaska served with berries and chocolate sauce Coffee or tea Saturday December 13 – Budapest Starter River Empress Caesar salad – Romana lettuce with anchovies, capers and garlic croutons Or Seafood cocktail with thousand island dressing Soup Crème of cauliflower Or Minestrone soup Main Course Roasted duck breast with orange sause, braised red cabbage, potato croquets and brussel sprouts Or Poached tilapia fish with cardinal sauce, sautéed spinach and streamed potatoes Or Mushroom pie with parsley potatoes and chives sour cream Dessert Somloi galuska – Hungarian fluffy sponge cake with chocolate sauce Or Pistachio ice cream with marinated dried fruits and whipped cream Or Assorted European cheese with crackers Coffee or tea We hope you find this food review and menu postings for our Uniworld cruise helpful. Feel free to post any questions you might have. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggypooo Posted December 18, 2008 #2 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Joe, I applaude you on such a detailed review of Uniworld and their cuisine. I also have had 2 cruises with them and totally agree with all that you've said. My cruises were on River Duchess and the food equally as good on that ship. Thanks from all who reads it for taking all that time to post such a good review. Tiggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZPam Posted December 18, 2008 #3 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Wish I had thought to get the dinner menu's from my recent Grand Circle Christmas Markets trip. Looking at yours, I would say Grand Circle served very similar menus for all meals. Similar seating arrangements with no reservations allowed either. I will say after about 3 nights of people rushing in trying to get the larger tables, they put a couple of 6 tops together to form two tables for 12 and that seemed to take care of some of the seating problems. We did not have any tables for 2. I was surprised at how much people seemed to get dressed up for dinner on this trip. Lots of jackets for the men and sparkly blouses for the women at the welcome and farewell dinners. Grand Circle also had the coffee/hot chocolate/cookies available at all times. We would often be welcomed aboard with hot cider, hot tea, etc when returning from tours. That was a nice touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred111 Posted December 18, 2008 #4 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Great review. We were on the River Duchess for the recent Christmas Market trip from Budapest to Regensburg. I would like to emphasize how professional and friendly the wait staff and the chefs were. Great meals and great service. We are looking at taking another Uniworld cruise soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship's Wake Posted December 18, 2008 Author #5 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Thanks for the kind comments. Like AZPam's cruise, our Uniworld cruise also welcomed us back from some of the excursions with a hot towel to clean the grime off your hands and a cup of hot cider. Definitely a nice touch. In the evening of the departure from Bratislava sailing towards Budapest, there was an onboard Christmas market where items picked up by the crew in different cities were for sale as well as some items from the gift shop. They also had a demonstration on how to make gluwein, going over the recipe and then making enough for everyone to enjoy as much as they liked. This was a fun time and seemed to be a hit with everyone. Every passenger also received in their staterooms an advent calendar filled with chocolates and a box of chocolate covered almonds. These little details all added up to make it a great overall experience. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaya&Papu Posted December 18, 2008 #6 Share Posted December 18, 2008 We sailed on RQ from Cologne to Basel, which was 7 nights from Nov 30 to disembarkation on Sun Dec 7. Agree totally with food assessment and service. Although, I did think the desserts were better at lunch than at dinner. It was fun to see Josef, our waiter from last year's R.Countess, back on board with us. In addition to 24hr coffee,etc in the "patio", we also had a bowl of fresh fruit, which changed daily. In addition to the Advent calendar, we had a cellophane bag of cookies and candy waiting on the bed when we arrived. Also, because we were on board for the feast of St.Nicholas, we had a visit from him in the lounge where he read in his book if we had been naughty or nice. Also that night we put our shoes in the hallway and Sinterklaas left everyone an orange and a chocolate Santa. My husband left a beer for Santa and he got a different beer in exchange! It was a fun trip and we would not hesitate to sail again. (this was our 5th Uniworld cruise and I think they get better each time) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneadam12 Posted December 18, 2008 #7 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Thank you Oysterdam for the the review & menus! We're going on the new River Beatrice in April and are looking forward to the good times. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genmasjoy Posted December 19, 2008 #8 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Thank you for the information. We are going on a Uniworld cruise in March, it will be our first river cruise although we have lots of past cruises on ocean liners. Sounds like it will be a nice, relaxed time, with just having one seating for dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micked10@earthlink.net Posted December 19, 2008 #9 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Thanks for posting such detailed information on the River Duchess and the meals that were served. We were on the River Queen in Apr. and thought the food was excellent. We have also sailed on Viking and although the food was good it was not as good as our Uniworld trip. We have booked another Uniworld tirp next Nov. for Egypt, since they are going to have a brand new ship called the River Tosca that sails the Nile. All cabins are at least 300 sq. ft. so we are looking forward to that experience. Tanks for sharing you information micked10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare franski Posted December 20, 2008 #10 Share Posted December 20, 2008 We were on the River Baroness in September, and the food/service were excellent there as well. I did not see any tables for 2 - but there were quite a few tables for 4 & 6. Larger tables were limited - so one group often sent one person down to sit at a table during the port talk (sort of an unofficial reservation). Although there was no room service, you could get bar service up on deck - and they often would bring some munchies with the drinks. I would imagine that having a drink on the deck isn't really that popular on a winter cruise, however... <grin> We did get chocolates in our room with the turn-down at night - and chocolate covered nuts on the last evening. I am not a chocolate fan particularly, but the dark Valhrona chocolate was amazing... Fran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship's Wake Posted December 20, 2008 Author #11 Share Posted December 20, 2008 We were on the River Baroness in September, and the food/service were excellent there as well. I did not see any tables for 2 - but there were quite a few tables for 4 & 6. Larger tables were limited - so one group often sent one person down to sit at a table during the port talk (sort of an unofficial reservation). Although there was no room service, you could get bar service up on deck - and they often would bring some munchies with the drinks. I would imagine that having a drink on the deck isn't really that popular on a winter cruise, however... <grin> We did get chocolates in our room with the turn-down at night - and chocolate covered nuts on the last evening. I am not a chocolate fan particularly, but the dark Valhrona chocolate was amazing... Fran On our River Queen cruise back in December 2005 there was only one table for two. Our most recent River Empress cruise has four tables for two, while your River Baroness cruise had zero. Looks like this is a ship specific thing. I like eating with my fellow passengers, but there are times when you want a "date night" or on our cruise when a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary chose a table for two. It seems based on everyone's feedback on this thread that Uniworld's food is good to excellent. I'm glad to know that we were not alone in enjoying what they offered. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted December 20, 2008 #12 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Thank you for the good reviews and comments about Uniworld cruises. We are on the River Beatrice in June 2009 - Enchanting Danube 9 days. We have been on 12 cruises and this will be our first river cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarTrkGeek Posted February 21, 2009 #13 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Oysterdam, You mentioned that table wine was served at dinner (for free). How would you assess the quality of the wine? Most river cruise lines serve free wine with dinner, but I was wondering if any of them serve free beer. On your cruise, was free beer served at dinner? Thanks. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggypooo Posted February 21, 2009 #14 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hi Star Trk..........Uniworld does serve free beer also for those that do not drink wine. Boards.........What date are you doing the Enchanting Danube in June? There's a good chance that I'll be on the Beatrice in June. Not sure which one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted February 21, 2009 #15 Share Posted February 21, 2009 WE are on the Enchanting Danube June 14 - 21. We will be in Prague first for three days and then Budapest an extra two days. Are you planning to be on that cruise too? That would be great. Then we can discuss how well the Spitfires and the Generals fare in the playoffs, if you are a hockey fan, of course. Spitfires hope to be in the Memorial Cup Series. Hope this will not discourage you from joining us, DW not a hockey fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cole Posted February 21, 2009 #16 Share Posted February 21, 2009 The review was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to post. We are tempting some family members to book with us in 2010 to do the Burgundy/Provence trip and this review should seal the deal with them! By the way, has anyone done this particular river cruise on Uniworld? If so, it would be great to hear from you as to what your experience was like, what time of year you did the cruise, etc. It's amazing what information is shared on this website that has been so helpful is so many ways. B. Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship's Wake Posted February 22, 2009 Author #17 Share Posted February 22, 2009 The review was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to post. We are tempting some family members to book with us in 2010 to do the Burgundy/Provence trip and this review should seal the deal with them! By the way, has anyone done this particular river cruise on Uniworld? If so, it would be great to hear from you as to what your experience was like, what time of year you did the cruise, etc. It's amazing what information is shared on this website that has been so helpful is so many ways.B. Cole Glad to be of help!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship's Wake Posted February 22, 2009 Author #18 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I found this short video about Uniworld's dining that gives somes nice images of what has been discussed on this and other threads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fqLC8Z9eoE Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggypooo Posted February 22, 2009 #19 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Boards.......I'm not really a hockey fan, BUT I do love it when the Generals are playing well. Of course we have just lost our best player Tavares. Not that we were cleaning up when we still had him. At least we made it to the playoffs last year. There is a chance that I will be on that cruise too with the Prague extension. Haven't totally nailed down the date, but that is one one the ones under consideration. That would be fun to see you onboard..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare boards Posted February 22, 2009 #20 Share Posted February 22, 2009 It would sure be good, (if we win) to have someone to brag to. I have the privilege of seeing him with he visits Windsor (I'm the timekeeper). Can you tell me if we will be using Euros in Prague or Budapest? We will be seeing our TA Mar. 4, but if the Euro hits a good rate now it might be worth buying some in advance. Our TA has sent us figures for our hotels stated in Euros. Can you give some advance information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeriatricNurse Posted February 22, 2009 #21 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Oysterdam, You mentioned that table wine was served at dinner (for free). How would you assess the quality of the wine? Most river cruise lines serve free wine with dinner, but I was wondering if any of them serve free beer. On your cruise, was free beer served at dinner? Thanks. Alan Hi Alan: With AMA Waterways, we were able to be served complimentary beer with dinner if we did not wish to have wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggypooo Posted February 22, 2009 #22 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Good Morning Boards...............email me at tiggypooo@yahoo.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacmom Posted February 22, 2009 #23 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Oysterdam, Thanks for such a great thread. Uniworld remains our favorite river cruise company, but sometimes itineraries from other companies will just snag us. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarTrkGeek Posted February 22, 2009 #24 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi Alan: With AMA Waterways, we were able to be served complimentary beer with dinner if we did not wish to have wine. Do both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer? Is it local, German beer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeriatricNurse Posted February 22, 2009 #25 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Do both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer? Is it local, German beer?[/quote] Hi Alan: I do not know whether both Uniworld and Tauck serve free beer. I have only cruised with AMA Waterways and they serve complimentary beer at dinner if you do not want to have the complimentary wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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