In April my husband (both in our 60s) took our first ever river cruise. We chose Uniworld’s SS Antoinette (“Castles Along the Rhine”/Basel to Amsterdam/eight days-seven nights) as a result of a recommendation from AMEX travel folks…and we could not have been more pleased. Everything about the trip was excellent. From the moment we arrived on board, we were given first class-plus service. The staff who were always helpful, efficient, and friendly learned our names and likes/preferences within a day. Our cruise events director coordinated and organized all the excursions perfectly. The food and ... beverage service was outstanding. The entertainment was great and kept us singing and dancing late into every night. And our suite (definitely worth getting one for many reasons but chief among them are the two wonderful butlers we had) was so comfortable and luxurious. The pool, movie theater, and fitness rooms were extra bonuses and very much appreciated. We cannot say enough positive about this cruise company, and can only assume that all of their ships and staff are as top notch as this one. Read More...

My husband and I just retured from the May 10 - 24 trip to China, Tibet, and the Yangtze, and words cannot describe the experience! Above all, though, we feel this trip would not have been nearly as memorable if not for our fantastic tour guide, Hubert. His knowledge of Chinese history, caring nature, sense of humor, and willingness to constantly go above and beyond what was expected (he would always tell us he was on-call 24/7) made for an unmatched experience.

Before the trip was over, Hubert felt more like a family member than a tour guide. ... We have taken four vacations with Uniworld over the past few years, but Hubert stands head and shoulders above everyone else we have travelled with. High praise indeed, as all of our experiences have been excellent. If there's such a thing as Tour Guide of the Year - heck, Tour Guide of the Century! - Hubert would win hands-down. Read More...

Spectacular ship very comfortable stateroom with enclosed balcony with sliding down window. Very helpful and charming staff, delicious food, interesting wines,wonderful week cruising the Rhine with beautiful scenery. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Perhaps river cruising is somewhat a well-kept secret as we found very few reviews across multiple sites prior to our booking and our hope is that this review will introduce you to a new way of travel and/or influence your decision to experience UniWorld.

We are 40/50ish couple from Sonoma/Napa Valley with a passion for food, wine and sailing and while this was not our first Luxury Link (LL) purchase, it was our first cruise and organized tour of any kind. This was a last minute getaway (within 3 weeks from departure) and LL (where we discovered UniWorld) ... and UniWorld collaborated seamlessly to finalize logistics timely (ticketing, transfers, land extensions, etc.) for the Imperial Cities Danube River cruise starting in Instanbul (land extension) and finishing in Vienna.

We started with a land extension in Instanbul. [One tip on visiting Instanbul. UniWorld must advise to get your Visa in advance and will recommend a company to do so. Due to limited time between booking and departure, this company was unable to guarantee receipt of our Visas before departure. I contacted the Turkish embassy in LA and the gentleman informed me to avoid paying high cost Visa service providers and to simply get the Visa upon arrival at the airport in Instanbul. He said it would cost $20 USD CASH and that it is simple. He was 100% correct and saved us $300 USD.

From the moment we stepped aboard our floating boutique hotel to disembarkation, we received continuous outstanding service, ate exquisitely prepared meals with local influences paired with delicious wines, enjoyed onboard entertainment (either by classically trained house musician Freddy or local musicians/performers) and explored each destination with expert guides.

Boutique Boat: Overall, we consider Uniworld's website extremely resourceful and accurate at representing the boat, the itinerary, and all other aspects of the cruise. The info and photos were accurate, in other words, there were no surprises. We were greeted by the ships crew in Guigui, Romania where we boarded our ship. My heart skipped a beat at first; as there isn't much curb appeal to the Princess from the exterior (or any other river cruisers we passed along the way); however, a modern with European bistro flare, well equipped, meticulous boutique ship awaits you on the inside. The ship is plenty large to accommodate guests and crew for all on board activities. We enjoyed lectures and entertainment in the lounge, relaxing and dining on the patio deck at lunch or while cruising, and strolling through towns and cities on the free bikes offered by UniWorld.

Stateroom: We upgraded to a Category 1 stateroom (Cabin 423) which gives you a room on the Rhine Deck (top floor) and a door that opens to the great outdoors (not more square footage). The use of space in the stateroom is brilliant with plenty of closet space and luggage storage under the bed (2 x 29, 1 x 20 inch luggage, camera bag). The beds were extremely comfortable with linens like silk. Bathrooms are small compared to hotel standards, however, as boat owners, offered more than enough space, were totally functional and equipped as described with L'Occitane shampoo, conditioner, hand soap & lotion. Deseslava did a fantastic job preparing our room day and night, managing to complete this without ever interrupting our privacy.

Food & Wine: We ate exquisitely prepared meals with local influences paired with delicious wines. The variety for breakfasts (served buffet style with made to order chef specials, eggs, omelets, etc.), lunches (patio or dining room options available) and 4 course dinners was typically a spectrum of delicacies with fantastic quality. They catered to specific needs and half way through the cruise requested a guest survey to improve the dinning experience. The next day, guests including our suggestions were implemented. The complimentary wines were worth exploring and for those interested in expanding their tasting horizons, the wine list was interesting and fairly priced. Martin and his staff are to be commended for our fabulous dining experiences.

Excursions: Our Cruise manager Bart was a blast. He made us laugh often, he arranged spontaneous walking excursions and was one of the best guides overall, and he was truly committed to ensuring a positive experience by all. We took advantage of most included and many optional excursions (additional fee) and considered the majority to be fantastic with tour guides that were subject matter experts and enthusiastic teachers. Often there were overlapping excursions and choosing was difficult; however, there was typically an overview tour (e.g, city) and an alternative more specific tour (e.g., fine arts museum). Uniworld had excursions for both the first time or repeat visitors and did a wonderful job ensuring enough guides to accommodate group size and ensure a more personalized experience. We appreciate the balance required for each tour and time needed. While many excursions are half or full day and guides are sensitive to group pace, many are fast paced for content and so the time allocated may not be enough for all (e.g., a half day at a fine art museum may be frustrating for a real art buff.) For the adventurous (us) with time to research/plan in advance (not us), you may consider planning your own excursions/ exploration which adds to the overall experience, explore at your pace, and this approach could also be money saving if cost is your concern. Given the nature of this specific cruise, there was a significant amount of motorcoaching involved for some destinations and each time, the accommodations were top notch (brand new coaches with AC and WCs). The convenience of the excursions adds to the overall relaxation. Guests are expected to tip the guides and drivers (and they are so good you'll want to). Uniworld does a fantastic job to recommend customary tipping guides, however, we look forward to 2014 and our understanding that UniWorld will adopt a truly cashless system and include all gratuities for excursions in the package price. We considered the following Optional Excursion highlights: Bosphorous cruise, Spice bazzar, Night in Budapest, Bodor Mayor Horse Farm,

Service: The service we received was as wonderful as the places we visited. The entire River Princess crew is to be commended for delivering exceptional professional, helpful, and friendly service. It is clear that UniWorld prides itself on service delivery. Our expectations were exceeded in every level and we look forward to going aboard a UniWorld river cruise in the very near future. Our only dilemna, which one?

Thank you LL for introducing s and UniWorld for providing a most memorable vacation.

River cruising is a wonderful way to experience a destination and will certainly become a new way of travel for us! Read More...

I became "altitude challenged" in Tibet. Head, ear and abdominal discomforts prevented my first and second Tibet days of sightseeing. Mr. Lee came to my room-had soup and other foods made avail to me. He always reminded us to "call him if anything needed at any time". On the last Tibet day I was still very weak-but Mr.lee reassured me if I wanted to , he would help me to see Tibet Palace( Potala) and if I could not continue he would assist me back to hotel. I did go to the Palace with his physical arm assist ... of walking steps made Palace climb-I did not feel secure to try activity but he's proactive reassurance of my safety option motivated me to "try". Tibet was particularly the area I was most interested in. Had Mr. Lee not acted with such compassion-a lifelong dream would not have been realized. Consistently, Mr. Lee showed same concern and proactive planning for all tour members. His knowledge of Chinese history and willingness to share personal as well as economic political views -did much to broaden our views and understandings of 'current China'. I have been on various 'guided tours '-None come close to the enjoyment, sense of security and relaxation that Mr. Lee provides for all. Because of Mr. Lee's caring and expertise, I will look forward another tour. Read More...

We recently were on the River Royale for the Burgundy and Provence trip, The ship was very beautiful. All the public areas were tastefully decorated and our stateroom was exquisite with beautiful fabrics etc.The bathroom was the best small ship bathroom ever--luxuriously appointed with a great shower. The food on board was excellent--plenty of choice and served with different very good wines of the region.The service especially in the dining room was wonderful--our servers were so gracious and anticipated our every need. We always made sure to sit in their area. Excursions were terrific-well organized. The highlight was a private ... small group tour and lunch at a Chateau hosted by the Comte himself. Kudos to Uniworld (our 3rd Trip) Read More...

My husband and I have recently travelled from Beiging to Shanghai with Uniworld. Our tour guide "LI" was outstanding. We travelled on the Century Paragon along the Yanghtze, the ship was beautiful . My only criticism is that by the time we had boarded the ship we were tired of eating Chinese - WAY TOO MUCH!  It would have been nice to have a western menu.

This was my first cruise and I went by myself. I was somewhat concerned about that as I am a 70 yr. old female traveling alone. I wasn't sure how friendly people would be. The experience was great! People were friendly and welcoming from the start. Because there were only 129 guests it didn't seem crowded and overwhelming.

I can't say enough good things about the Captain and the crew - very friendly and willing to do anything to make your trip fun. Our cruise director worked very hard to arrange great entertainments ... for us.

The food and amenities were also wonderful! I will definitely cruise with UniWorld again! Read More...

We took this cruise from June 24, 2012 to July 3, 2012.

The river portion began at Nuremberg, GE, and ended at Trier, GE. We passed through 17 locks during the cruise, most at night and the crew handled the boat so gently that we seldom knew that we were passing through passing through a lock. The boat was beautiful and immaculate, the accommodations were luxurious and the food was wonderful. We took every possible shore excursion and loved every minute of the trip. The excursion guides were knowledgeable and professional as was ... Peter, the cruise director.

The Paris portion began with a bus trip from Trier to Paris. The only negative thing that occurred on the whole trip occurred on that leg: the bus driver on our bus was an ill-tempered person who was rude to several of the bus passengers, including me. We reported him to the cruise director upon arriving in Paris and I suspect that he will no longer be driving tour buses for Uniworld tours. Our stay in Paris was great and we had several nice excursions, including one to the Versailles Palace.

We enjoyed our 2012 Uniworld cruise so much that we are taking one in Italy in July 2013. Read More...

My husband and I had been on a few ocean cruises in the past and didn't really love them - so when we decided to try a river cruise, it was with some apprehension. When we arrived at the ship (in snow and wind) our concerns soon vanished. From the minute the crew took our bags and we stepped aboard - we felt totally in the lap of luxury. Everyone - from the front desk to the dining room to the hotel staff - made us very comfortable and took care of our every wish. Our ... cruise director, Gongi, was a true delight! Always upbeat, enthusiastic and a true diplomat!

The tours were very interesting and the options and variety was perfect. The Nikolaihof Winery tour in the Wachau Valley was exceptional. We learned a lot and had a great time on all the tours. The meals were delicious and beautifully served. And with the open seating arrangement, we met lots of interesting people from many parts of the world.

The only problem was the weather - it snowed 6 out of 8 days - so we have clearly angered the Weather Gods - but the staff made up for it. The one day we were able to enjoy the sun deck (even though it was very cold) they provided blankets for the ones who ventured up.

The ship is beautiful - very well appointed and comfortable. Our cabin (a suite) was very roomy and had plenty of storage space. Another big plus is being able to see various locations and only having to unpack once. That was great!

Since our trip we can't stop telling our friends how much we LOVED this trip and that all of them should take a river cruise on a Uniworld ship. It is truly a luxury that everyone should enjoy. Read More...