Titan and Uniworld River Empress Review

I have recently enjoyed a tour around the Titan and Uniworld ship the River Empress whilst she was berthed in Amsterdam and she really is a lovely ship. I had previously been shown around the flagship SS Antoinette and being an older ship (2001) the River Empress had a lot of work to do to impress me. She did not disappoint.

My tour started in the restaurant and whilst I was not keen on the red leather chairs the overall ambience was modern and fresh. With only a maximum of 130 passengers on board the restaurant plays host to open dining across a 2 hour period and offers intimacy with the majority of tables seating just 4 passengers. As is standard across the fleet they offer 2 appertisers, 2 soups and 4 main courses, meat, fish, pasta and vegetarian each evening, followed by dessert and cheese.

We moved onto the suites starting at the top on Rhine Deck. These have French Balconies – full length sliding windows but where the seating is inside the cabin in the breeze provided. Please note that the seating though is not always in front of the doors with some balconies opening by the bed. As you can see the suites are large in size and the bathrooms luxurious. The cabins on the River Empress were all refurbished 3 years ago and the decor still looks new.

The final cabin types are the cat 4 and 5 cabins on the Moselle Deck and they have a high window as shown below.

These are great if you would rather save your money for other things, the windows are clear and at a suitable height to see out of. I have always thought that a small window is useful for seeing what the weather is like and deciding what to wear in the morning.

A point to note is that the category 5 cabins can be noisy due to their position by a crew door and the laundry room.

The public areas of the River Empress are being completely refurbished this winter with a new entertainments system being installed throughout. I was disappointed in the gymnasium, it is small which is fine as I am sure that it probably isn’t used much but there was little light in here and it all seemed very squashed in. I would have taken one or two machines out or added more mirrors if windows were not possible.

For sporty people there are also 10 bicycles on board which can be used complimentary by guests. These can be used to follow the ship along the river with customers often disembarking in one place and cycling along to the next stop. I am quite an active person and would contemplate doing this, although if I am totally honest I am more likely to use the well equipped sundeck and watch my fellow cruisers speed by.

Other open spaces included a 24 hour ground coffee machine with a huge selection of tea bags and little international newspapers produced by Uniworld and internet area. There was also a spa area and sauna on board in which to luxuriate and a self-service laundry room should you require it.

The Patio area offered an additional ‘bistro style’ venue, again with a 24 hour speciality coffee and tea machine, iced tea and and juices and offering an extendend breakfast service – hopefully you can read the menu below.

The River Empress did not have the plushness of the SS Antoinette and she did not have the extra facilities such as an indoor swimming pool and cinema. However she did have all of the charm that you require and a wonderful ambiance on board. She was subdtedly decorated and much more to my taste than the Antoinette and her staff were unbelievably friendly. I can confidently still call her a luxury river cruise ship and personally if I was booking a river cruise I would pick this ship over the Antoinette as she is not so ornate.  Both of them have certainly given me a bug for river cruising and for the Titan and Uniworld brands. I look forward to going back and spending longer on board.

To read my review of the SS Antoinette just click here