Question:

We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent? — squeezie51 squeezie51’s Profile: http://travelforums.org/forums/member.php?userid=419 View this thread: http://travelforums.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61737 This post was submitted via http://www.TravelForums.org

Response:

We’ve done a couple Uniworld cruises and loved them both.  Christmas Markets in Germany, and the French Wine cruise. It’s not a luxury main stream ocean cruise to be sure, but we would book with them again in a minute.  We had no problems what so ever, and the one in France was one of our best vacations ever. .

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. > Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent? > — > squeezie51 > squeezie51’s Profile: http://travelforums.org/forums/member.php?userid=419 > View this thread: http://travelforums.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61737 > This post was submitted via http://www.TravelForums.org

Response:

 A friend took one & was not happy !   Food choice was very limited, almost every day it was fish or fish or local fish & i don’t like fish!  Also there is no pool , no casino , no hot tubs , no shows  no safe in cabins ,All provided at a very high price!   My wife wanted to go ,till we checked it out !   Don’t forget the dollar isn’t worth zilch in Europe now!   BILL

Response:

Good Morning:  We have no personal experience with Uniworld so cannot speak about their product. We have been on Viking River Cruises, Rhone River in France, and loved every aspect of it. We went in mid October and had great weather. Ship was clean and neat, food was limited in choice but excellent preparation and service. Best part of it was that there was no pool, no casino, no big gaudy floor shows, nothing to detract from the relaxing River Cruise Experience. We would repeat that trip in a minute and hope to do so in the near future. If you do need the distractions however, and are easily amused by bright shiny objects, then you should reconsider. Stay with Caribbean Cruises or trips to Vegas. Cal Ford Lido Deck Cruises – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. >Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent?

Response:

>We are investigating taking a Uniworld River >Cruise in Russia or Italy. Does anyone have >any experience with them, good, bad, or >indifferent?

We booked a Uniworld cruise in Holland and Belgium for between Christmas 2003 and just after New Years’ 2004. They took our deposit and final payment, and then they sold out the ship to some group leaving us high and dry. We had to hassle them to get our credit card credited. We did eventually take a land trip to Amsterdam in that period, but we would not consider another Uniworld cruise even if they gave it to us for free.

Response:

> We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. > Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent?

We "sort of" took a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia last summer. The "sort of" means that we traveled with a group that had booked space on a Uniworld ship, the M.S. Litvinov. There were aspects of our cruise that were provided by Uniworld — food and shipboard accommodations — and aspects of our trip that were provided by our tour company — guides and transportation at each destination. The Litvinov’s cabins are adquately-sized with limited but efficient storage space. The bathroom is quite spartan, with the shower being a plastic curtain marking off an area within the bathroom. The beds are adequate, but beds are a hot item in the ocean-going cruise/hotel industry so the Litvinov’s beds don’t approach the "Perfect Bed" or "Comfort Bed" or whatever trade name each company is touting. The food is surprisingly good and there is a serious attempt made to accommodate special diets. The area where I perceived Uniworld to be weak is in the area of guides. They sent their shipboard personnel — social hostesses, etc. — along with guests to destinations. Something makes me think that these shipboard workers were the only guides. In contrast, our group picked up specialists at each of our destinations. I would check out this aspect of the cruise. Over all, we found our trip to Russia fascinating and had no regrets about the experience. Karen Selwyn

Response:

We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent? — squeezie51 squeezie51’s Profile: http://travelforums.org/forums/member.php?userid=419 View this thread: http://travelforums.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61737 This post was submitted via http://www.TravelForums.org

Response:

> We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. > Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent?

We "sort of" took a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia last summer. The "sort of" means that we traveled with a group that had booked space on a Uniworld ship, the M.S. Litvinov. There were aspects of our cruise that were provided by Uniworld — food and shipboard accommodations — and aspects of our trip that were provided by our tour company — guides and transportation at each destination. The Litvinov’s cabins are adquately-sized with limited but efficient storage space. The bathroom is quite spartan, with the shower being a plastic curtain marking off an area within the bathroom. The beds are adequate, but beds are a hot item in the ocean-going cruise/hotel industry so the Litvinov’s beds don’t approach the "Perfect Bed" or "Comfort Bed" or whatever trade name each company is touting. The food is surprisingly good and there is a serious attempt made to accommodate special diets. The area where I perceived Uniworld to be weak is in the area of guides. They sent their shipboard personnel — social hostesses, etc. — along with guests to destinations. Something makes me think that these shipboard workers were the only guides. In contrast, our group picked up specialists at each of our destinations. I would check out this aspect of the cruise. Over all, we found our trip to Russia fascinating and had no regrets about the experience. Karen Selwyn

Response:

>We are investigating taking a Uniworld River >Cruise in Russia or Italy. Does anyone have >any experience with them, good, bad, or >indifferent?

We booked a Uniworld cruise in Holland and Belgium for between Christmas 2003 and just after New Years’ 2004. They took our deposit and final payment, and then they sold out the ship to some group leaving us high and dry. We had to hassle them to get our credit card credited. We did eventually take a land trip to Amsterdam in that period, but we would not consider another Uniworld cruise even if they gave it to us for free.

Response:

We’ve done a couple Uniworld cruises and loved them both.  Christmas Markets in Germany, and the French Wine cruise. It’s not a luxury main stream ocean cruise to be sure, but we would book with them again in a minute.  We had no problems what so ever, and the one in France was one of our best vacations ever. .

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. > Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent? > — > squeezie51 > squeezie51’s Profile: http://travelforums.org/forums/member.php?userid=419 > View this thread: http://travelforums.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61737 > This post was submitted via http://www.TravelForums.org

Response:

 A friend took one & was not happy !   Food choice was very limited, almost every day it was fish or fish or local fish & i don’t like fish!  Also there is no pool , no casino , no hot tubs , no shows  no safe in cabins ,All provided at a very high price!   My wife wanted to go ,till we checked it out !   Don’t forget the dollar isn’t worth zilch in Europe now!   BILL

Response:

Good Morning:  We have no personal experience with Uniworld so cannot speak about their product. We have been on Viking River Cruises, Rhone River in France, and loved every aspect of it. We went in mid October and had great weather. Ship was clean and neat, food was limited in choice but excellent preparation and service. Best part of it was that there was no pool, no casino, no big gaudy floor shows, nothing to detract from the relaxing River Cruise Experience. We would repeat that trip in a minute and hope to do so in the near future. If you do need the distractions however, and are easily amused by bright shiny objects, then you should reconsider. Stay with Caribbean Cruises or trips to Vegas. Cal Ford Lido Deck Cruises – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->We are investigating taking a Uniworld River Cruise in Russia or Italy. >Does anyone have any experience with them, good, bad, or indifferent?

Response: