Sailing Through Dreamscapes: A Uniworld River Cruise Journey from Budapest to Passau

Imagine relaxing on a lounge chair atop a riverboat, a soft warm breeze brushing your face while gazing at blue skies contrasted by green hills covered with vineyards. Quaint, cobblestone towns with church steeples reach up high along the hillside. The sound of water gently lapping against the boat mixed with laughter and the tinkling of champagne glasses celebrates the moment, the hour, and life. Ask anyone on the cruise...It was the perfect day.

Uniworld River Cruises gifted this perfect day to its 150 passengers on the SS Marie Theresa, and we will forever be grateful. I was asked to blog about this cruise from Budapest to Passau, Germany, and while it’s easy to write about what happened, it’s difficult to relay our true experience.

Do I write about the Budapest Parliament and Palace illuminated at night along the River or the exclusive before-hours tour of the Vienna Fine Arts Museum? Maybe I should mention the wine tour to Nikolaishof vineyard in Austria where we toured this family’s 2000 year old wine cellar and sat in their courtyard tasting their refreshing Riesling while the bell tower rang every half hour? How about the afternoon in Melk Austria, gazing up at the majestic Melk Abbey from the biergarten on the river?

Really though, it’s all about Uniworld. Because Uniworld provided the transportation, accommodations, staff, service, cuisine, libation, and the guests so the experiences would not have happened if not for Uniworld River Cruises. When you first step onto the marble floors of the SS Maria Theresa and see the grand staircase with the intricate chandelier hanging over a large painting of Maria Theresa, you feel special, important, and exclusive. You tingle with excitement because you know right then that the next 8 days will be unforgettable. Have you had an experience where the answer is always yes? It doesn’t happen often, but it happens on a Uniworld River cruise.