We're back - Uniworld 14 day Vienna to Nuremberg to Basel

[sailaway5]

We just returned from our 14 day river cruise from Vienna to Nuremberg to Basel. We opted for the 2-day pre cruise in Vienna, stayed at the Hilton Vienna and were taken care of by our Uniworld guide, Christian, as to tour options. Our ship sailed with only 66 passengers for the first 7 days to Nuremberg. Then others joined, bringing the total passengers to about 104 for the next 7 day cruise on to Basel. We stayed in Lucerne for a 3-day post-cruise at the Hotel Astoria, arranged by Uniworld. Our tour guide, Mark, recommended many options. We really enjoyed the Cog Wheel train ride up to Mt Pilatis for great views of Lucerene and the Alps. The gondola rides down the mountain was also a thrill.

 

The weather was good most of the time (high 60's), some sunny days allowing for good site seeing on the sun deck. The second leg of the journey was off limits on the sun decks due to low bridges for a coupe of days. There were many many locks also (more than 50) on the Danube & Main.

 

We enjoyed all included tours and also opted for the optional tours which were all good. We were not disappointed in any of the excursions. We also sampled all of the local foods, beverages etc.

 

The crew on the ship were very congenial and attentive. The food was good, and wine was provided with dinners.

 

Would be happy to answer any questions about our cruise, ports or excursions.

[wbell2]

Sounds like a nice trip. We're taking our first river cruise later this summer (Castles on the Rhine). Do you know if Uniworld allows passengers to drink their own wine or liquor while on board? We're looking forward to buying some while in different towns and enjoying in our room or on the sun deck, if possible.

 

Thanks!

[pacmom]

Uniworld and other river cruise lines allow you to bring as much wine, etc. on board. If it is in the dining room there is a small corkage fee. If you drink in your room or the sun deck--no fee. Nothing better than sailing along drinking wine and maybe eating some cheese you also bought ashore. Pat

[genmasjoy]

I'm glad you had such a nice trip. Was your tour manager Christian Basel? He was on our trip earlier this year on the River Princess, from Paris to Nuremberg (the ship went further but that was our segment). We were very impressed with his professionalism. And, we loved Uniworld. I am not to the point of making a reservation yet, but hope to go again in 2010, hopefully on one that we can include a precruise stay in Lucerne - there are a couple offered.

[sailaway5]

Sounds like a nice trip. We're taking our first river cruise later this summer (Castles on the Rhine). Do you know if Uniworld allows passengers to drink their own wine or liquor while on board? We're looking forward to buying some while in different towns and enjoying in our room or on the sun deck, if possible.

 

Thanks!

Yes - we also bought the local wines from a lot of the towns we visited (also from the winery tours we went on). We drank it in our room and on the sun deck --- was great. The white wines were very reasonable in Germany. The ship charges about 5 euro per glass at the bar. However, all wine (red and white) was included with the dinner meal. They filled your glasses too!! They did try to serve wines from the local area which we were visiting.

 

You will have a great time - enjoy your cruise. What ports will you visit?

[sailaway5]

I'm glad you had such a nice trip. Was your tour manager Christian Basel? He was on our trip earlier this year on the River Princess, from Paris to Nuremberg (the ship went further but that was our segment). We were very impressed with his professionalism. And, we loved Uniworld. I am not to the point of making a reservation yet, but hope to go again in 2010, hopefully on one that we can include a precruise stay in Lucerne - there are a couple offered.

 

Yes - Christian Basel greeted us when we arrived for our pre-cruise stay in Vienna (which is his home town). We had a nice walking tour along the RingStrad , a walk thru Stadtpark across the Vienna River near our hotel and a visit to Mozart's house/museum. We also went on an optional tour of a musical concert -Vienna style. Christian recommended many things to see and do. We tried to cram it all in. Our ship also spent the night in Vienna which allowed us more time to explore. Visited the Schonbrunn Palace --- also saw the Lipizzanener Stallions at the Hofberg Palace. Ate at the local resturants and had Vienna schnitzle and ate at the Goulash Museum.. It was very evident he enjoyed his "work" and enjoyed meeting people. We also managed to have a "horse and buggy ride" on the Vienna cobblestone streets near the Cathedral. Christian is a first-class tour director (cruise manager) and added to our overall experience. He joined us on the first half of our journey to Nurenberg. Then he departed and Hildegard took over from Nurenberg to Basel (Lucerne).

 

Good luck on your planning!!

[wbell2]

Our itinerary is, as follows:

 

Day 1: Amsterdam (embark)

Day 2: Cologne

Day 3: Cologne and Koblenz

Day 4: Koblenz and Rudesheim

Day 5: Speyer

Day 6: Strasbourg

Day 7: Strasbourg, Breisach (Colmar)

Day 8: Basel (disembark)

Glad to hear that wine/food can be purchased ashore and enjoyed onboard.

Thanks for your helpful replies!

[lmrumley]

Great to hear you had a wonderful trip.

We are doing the same cruise in November and would love to hear about the optional tours that you took and the price for each.

Also we are going a day early to Basel ( where ship embarks) were you able to spend anytime in Basel and if so what were the highlights?

I am really in to photography, was it possible on the tours to take photos or would doing so slow the group down.

Thanks in advance for any info you can give. Also do you plan to write a review?

[sailaway5]

Our itinerary is, as follows:

 

Day 1: Amsterdam (embark)

Day 2: Cologne

Day 3: Cologne and Koblenz

Day 4: Koblenz and Rudesheim

Day 5: Speyer

Day 6: Strasbourg

Day 7: Strasbourg, Breisach (Colmar)

Day 8: Basel (disembark)

 

Glad to hear that wine/food can be purchased ashore and enjoyed onboard.

 

Thanks for your helpful replies!

 

We stopped in Rudesheim, Speyer, Strasbourg and actually disembarked in Breisach (rather than Basel), as one of the locks was broken (closed) and it slowed all ship traffic down. We then took the bus to Basel (1 hour) and on to Lucerne for our post-cruise stay (another hour bus ride). All of these ports were great.

[sailaway5]

Great to hear you had a wonderful trip.

We are doing the same cruise in November and would love to hear about the optional tours that you took and the price for each.

Also we are going a day early to Basel ( where ship embarks) were you able to spend anytime in Basel and if so what were the highlights?

I am really in to photography, was it possible on the tours to take photos or would doing so slow the group down.

Thanks in advance for any info you can give. Also do you plan to write a review?

 

We took most of the optional tours - Will check on my paperwork to let you know the actual costs of the optional tours and which ones we took.

 

As far as Basel, our ship was not able to disembark there due to a broken or closed lock on the Rhine which slowed all ship traffic down. We were suppose to end in Basel, but instead ended in Breisach (an hour by bus away). The people that were suppose to board the ship in Basel were also bused to Breisach for boarding. So I can't tell you much about Basel as we only drove thru it on our way to Lucerne for a post-cruise excursion. Lucerne was beautiful. Uniworld handled any minor changes in itinerary most professionally and smoothly.

 

As far as photography, no problem in taking your photo shots. I took about 1500 pictures and was snapping them on ALL of our walking tours. They use Vox Boxes so you can hear the guide even though you may be lagging behind (or up front for the perfect photo shots of fortresses and castle walls & stone bridges). The guide walks slow to ensure the entire group is accounted for (around 15 people and some walk slow with canes etc). There were many of us taking pictures. You will also get some great photo opportunities on the ship itself as you sail thru the Wachu Valley --- beautiful. I especially enjoyed all of the swans along the river banks - when we were docked too.

 

Do you sail all the way to Vienna? Are you staying there for a post-cruise?

[franski]

I am glad that Christian was your tour director for at least part of your tour. He was the cruise manager on the River Baroness when we did Paris/Normandy last September - and told us that he was retiring. We thought it was a loss for Uniworld as he is so knowledgeable and personable.

 

I am sure it would be easier doing tours from a set-point (ie: Vienna, with the occasional one day excursion to Nuremburg) instead of being gone 7-10 days at a time.

 

Good to know he hasn't completely retired!!! If there is a chance that we could end up with him as one of our daily tour guides in the Vienna area, this might give us reason to consider this tour in 2011 (have already booked Enchanting Danube for 2010).

[lmrumley]

Thanks for the info. We are sailing all the way to Vienna and hopefully will take all of the optional excursions. We do not plan to take the one in Nuermburg just plan to do on our own. Did they do the concentration camp listed in the Companion Guide and if so did you go on this one? Even though we are not going till November I am very excited already. I tend to want to plan ahead and learn as much as possible in advance. Thanks so much for your post it is much appreciated.

 

Take care,

Mitzi

 

 

 

We took most of the optional tours - Will check on my paperwork to let you know the actual costs of the optional tours and which ones we took.

 

As far as Basel, our ship was not able to disembark there due to a broken or closed lock on the Rhine which slowed all ship traffic down. We were suppose to end in Basel, but instead ended in Breisach (an hour by bus away). The people that were suppose to board the ship in Basel were also bused to Breisach for boarding. So I can't tell you much about Basel as we only drove thru it on our way to Lucerne for a post-cruise excursion. Lucerne was beautiful. Uniworld handled any minor changes in itinerary most professionally and smoothly.

 

As far as photography, no problem in taking your photo shots. I took about 1500 pictures and was snapping them on ALL of our walking tours. They use Vox Boxes so you can hear the guide even though you may be lagging behind (or up front for the perfect photo shots of fortresses and castle walls & stone bridges). The guide walks slow to ensure the entire group is accounted for (around 15 people and some walk slow with canes etc). There were many of us taking pictures. You will also get some great photo opportunities on the ship itself as you sail thru the Wachu Valley --- beautiful. I especially enjoyed all of the swans along the river banks - when we were docked too.

 

Do you sail all the way to Vienna? Are you staying there for a post-cruise?

[pacmom]

You lucky people having Christian Basel as your cd. We had him on our Rhone river trip in June of 2006. What a wealth of info and delightful sense of humor. He was the relief CD and after our cruise was going home to Vienna. He remains one of our favorite CD. Pat

[sailaway5]

Thanks for the info. We are sailing all the way to Vienna and hopefully will take all of the optional excursions. We do not plan to take the one in Nuermburg just plan to do on our own. Did they do the concentration camp listed in the Companion Guide and if so did you go on this one? Even though we are not going till November I am very excited already. I tend to want to plan ahead and learn as much as possible in advance. Thanks so much for your post it is much appreciated.

 

Take care,

Mitzi

 

We took the included Nuremberg City Tour which we found very interesting. Since we spent the night here, we just took the ship's shuttle bus back to town the next morning and chose to be dropped off at the Documentation Center Museum which we toured on our own (cost just a few $ ). It took us about 3 hours to tour it. If you do this, watch all the video's in the various rooms first. Then go back and read the the photo walls and captions (or listen with the recorder). You could spend several hours here if you wanted to take your time and see everything. The bus was picking us up within the 3 hours so we had to be ready to leave then. My DH was very interested in all of this history. Nuremberg was a few miles away from the port so you will want to make sure you take the ship transportation (or take a cab). The bus took you back to the ship around noon (for lunch). Then you could take it back to town around 1:00 or 2:00 pm for a couple hours and be dropped off in the old town market square (for shopping and wandering). Unfortunately the Courtroom 600 where the Nuremberg trials was held was been worked on (turned into a museum) and will not be open until 2010 for visitors. We saw the outside of the building, but could not go inside. There is so much history in this city including medieval fortifications and gateway towers around the city.

 

They did have an optional Flosssenburg Concentration Camp bus tour (all day). They have to have enough people sign up to take this one (I think 15). We did not go on this one as we would not have had time to see Nuremberg too.

 

You will enjoy this cruise!!!

[lmrumley]

Thanks, I think we will go out on our own instead of taking the optional tour.