River Royale Review

5.0 / 5.0
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Uniworld Burgundy and Provence April 2012

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on River Royale
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JoanneCam
10+ Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Apr 2012
Cabin: Stateroom with Window

My husband and I are veteran cruisers, mostly on the smaller lines like Windstar and SeaDream, a few on the mid sized Oceania ships and one each on Celebrity Eclipse and Oceania Marina just to try the larger experience. We prefer the smaller, and since we are always looking for a convenient way to travel in Europe that avoids renting a car, which we do only when absolutely necessary, a river cruise seemed like a good idea. After some research we settled on Uniworld and the recently refurbished River Royale sailing the Saone and Rhone rivers in southern France.

After four cold and rainy days in Paris we took the train from Paris Bercy to Chalon-sur-Saone where, on the advice of a Tripadvisor friend, arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us to the ship for 12E (A.B. TAXIS www.taxi-chalon.com). They were right where they said they would be and easily recognizable as they had emailed me a picture of their vehicle. It was a short ride but not walkable with luggage.

We were welcomed on the boat and informed a light lunch would be served at 12:30 as our cabins would not be available until 3:00. After soup and a sandwich we ventured into Chalon only to discover the Sunday market was just finishing at 1:30pm. I wish I had known. The town was lovely, but largely shut down for the rest of the day. At 3:00 we were shown our cabin on the lowest deck (the least expensive) and one on the second lowest, an offered upgrade for about $400 instead of the $1000 quoted precruise. The cabins were identical except for the large picture windows instead of portholes. We opted for the upgrade and enjoyed it, especially since the weather was not conducive to sitting up on the top deck, but because much of the sailing was done after dark, and we were often docked against the pier or with another boat rafted along side eliminating any view at port, I'm not sure it would have been worth the price if paid in full.

Cabin Review

Stateroom with Window

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