River Duchess Review

European waterways

Review for Europe Cruise on River Duchess
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lynnsi
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2017

Uniworld stresses that they will honor special diets and require the client to call before the cruise to state those needs. There was no such record, nor were my diet concerns addressed, although lip service was paid, for the first 2 weeks of the cruise. I walked out of several meals because there was nothing I could eat. Not until my husband vociferously complained did anything get served to me that I could eat (not rocket science--just low salt). Uniworld says no children on the cruises, yet the captain's 2-year-old was on the cruise, riding his trike over clients' feet and screeching and riding through all the public areas. I went on this cruise NOT to be with children--yet here I had to endure it. At a mighty cost. No client is allowed in the wheelhouse, for safety concerns. Yet the captain's child and his strewn toys were in the wheelhouse. Uniworld says no wheelchairs, yet one client had one, and when that client was on a tour, the other clients had to wait for and assist her. Not what I paid for. Again. Ninety percent of the passengers came down with acute bronchitis. Uniworld turned its head at this, refusing to acknowledge there was a problem. I was blamed for not wearing a scarf around my neck, as to the cause of my illness. Hygiene on the ship is unacceptable, forcing clients to share serving spoons, with no enforcement of hand sanitizing or wiping down of the arms of dining chairs, repeated use of the same plastic gloves as cleaners move from cabin to cabin, spreading germs, and candy in jars into which clients stick their hands. To top it off, Uniworld made us pay for a cab to/from a hospital to treat the bronchitis. Really? The daily handout on things to do/see in a particular stopping point are mere cuttings and pastings that someone has slapped together and have little relevance. Why mention shopping and nightlife when we are stopping in a town for 2 hours during the day and have no access to such areas? Why state that what follows in the printout are 10 restaurants to experience--and just 3 are listed. Does no one even read what is dispensed daily? This trip was an unforgivable waste of my money. Uniworld should be ashamed.

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