Save Your Money

I had heard this was a concierge cruise, but it turned out to be a floating infirmary.

This was our first river cruise ever. We booked the Budapest to Amsterdam, August 25 – September 11, 2016, dates along with the pre and post cruise extensions tours.

Though we found the rates for the 2-day extensions tours high, $600 per person in Budapest and $960 per person in Amsterdam, we expected they would be great tours with lovely hotel rooms. However, we were given a mediocre room in the Budapest Corinthia hotel and at the Amsterdam Movenpick hotel; both of which I found on-line to be under $200 for double occupancy. Nor were the tours, themselves of the anticipated quality.

Our cruise commenced August 28th- September 11, 2016. Upon arrival, we learned from fellow cruise traveler that our cruise was a singles cruse and that there was no single occupancy supplement being charged for rooms with only one occupant. By doing this, Uniworld was effectively charging couples more for a shared room than they were charging a single person occupying the same room type. And, by not having to share the room, the single person was far more comfortable than we were in our room, while we paid twice the amount for the same room type.

The cleaning was sloppy. Our glasses in the bathroom were left dirty for several days. I reported this to the front desk and the house keeping head apologized.

Perhaps this lack of attention to cleanliness was why as the cruise unfolded, one-by-one, the crew became ill with a respiratory disease. Yet they still continued to service our cruise. Next, the guests became ill with a respiratory disease. By mid-cruise, 25% of the guests were sick with high fever, head congestion and coughing. An unknown number of crew was visibly coughing and sick as well. Five days before our final stop, Amsterdam, both my husband and I became ill. When we returned home, my husband was diagnosed with pneumonia. A few days later I followed with a temperature of over 105 degrees and I also was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Given that this cruise with extensions cost close to $20K, I thought if I contacted Uniworld regarding our negative experience that they would be more than happy to offer good-wiil and offer some sort of discount or refund but I thought wrong, they were not.

The entertainment had a mediocre singer during happy hour. A couple of guest entertainers. The dinners were ok and the "free" wine was not of the best quality. The red was not drinkable and the whites were ok, given that the cruse was in Germany mostly the north. The port excursions were interesting though some were canceled.