Meeting the Cruise Ship

My notes for the next part of this trip are really succint — and accurate: “We are going to love this boat!”

Jan had gotten us a reservation for a suite for our first river cruise, which we thought would be a great idea after a somewhat cramped “suite” on an Alaskan cruise. We had checked the deck plans before we left home and realized that instead of “additional rooms,” the River Beatrice suites just had “extra room.” However, the only larger place on the boat was the owner’s suite, and that clearly wasn’t going to be available to us. But when we first opened the door, we were blown away. Nothing we had read ahead of time prepared us for the spacious layout and the reality of Uniworld’s all-inclusive first-class amenities for its suite passengers. Uniworld, if you need to refer any of your potential clients to satisfied passengers, send them to us.

I know we have a lot learn about travel, even after our lifetime together. I really do. But we’ve spent most of our travel days well “below the salt,” to use an old-fashioned expression. This trip on this ship, we went the other direction. Why haven’t we done this before! We just weren’t prepared to have something called a “luggage mat” on the bed, so we could open our well-traveled bags without dirtying our duvet. We acted like the newbies we were when we noticed each little extra we had never seen before. Maybe that’s part of what keeps us young! Life is a series of new experiences, some good, some wihout impact, and some, perhaps a little disappointing. No disappontments here! What did we find in our “suite”?

(I’ll quit referring to suite in quotation marks soon, and just talk about our cabin if I have to. But it tickled me no end to realize that even river cruise boats bought the large cruise ship euphemism.)

A minibar is nothing special, of course, and advance preparation had prepared us for a welcoming bottle of wine on the counter. The fresh fruit, cookies, and candy jar were also not a surprise. Uniworld advertises this sort of thing. TVs, phones, plush robes and slippers (sized for tiny people)—all were expected. But the three liquor decanters, filled within a millimeter of each other, were a new experience for us. When Judy mentioned to our butler (Viorel) that she preferred Boubon to the liquors in the decanters, no one blinked. Viorel just made a note.

We did look out the window, but were not impressed. It was getting dark, and there wasn’t much to see from our side of the ship. Just darkening woods across the river and a few smaller and faster boats running around. We went through the usual first-night-on-board orientation, meeting at our designated place for the safety drill. We stayed in the lounge for the Captain’s welcome, heard some of the officers introductions, and moved back to the cabin for a change of clothes in preparation for dinner. Lo and behold, there on the counter was a bottle of Jack Daniels. Viorel was Judy’s new best friend.

Eventually we cleaned up, changed, and went to dinner. That turned out to be just a foretaste of the week to come. Interesting conversations with new friends, and local dishes accompanied by appropriate local beverages. What a lovely and relaxing way to end our first day in Central Europe. By the end of the meal, we were encouraged to move to the upper deck to see Budapest from the river by night.

This is without doubt the most frequently photographed building in Budapest: Parliament Building. You can see more photos from the night cruise around Margaret Island, watch a short video of fireworks over Buda Castle, and see photos we made on our guided tour of Budapest on a separate page.

When the fireworks were done and the ship safely moored again, we headed to bed. But we had to have just one more look out the window, because our new mooring was at the center of the city, next to the Liberty Bridge. We were lucky to be on the “pretty side” of the ship that night. Sleep was great, especially after such a wonderful beginning to our river cruise vacation. But we looked forward to the next day and our first real—and awake—look at Budapest.

Remember this photo, by the way. You’ll see more details in a photo we made the next morning when we saw things in a different light.