Cruising on the River Beatrice with Uniworld

Even among the adult guests the average age has been falling. “In the last five years, we’ve really seen it come down,” Sprau says. “The entire river market just seems to be booming. We have a really good mixture of people now, from around their mid-40s upwards, and we get younger couples too – we’ve even had some on their honeymoons.

Indeed, on our sailing I notice a few passengers around my age, 31; some travelling with a parent as I am, but one or two in a couple or travelling solo.

Sprau admits Uniworld’s more relaxed approach – both in its dress codes as well as the way it operates its voyages – may have helped in attracting a younger demographic. “We really do consider ourselves to be a floating hotel – we want our guests to feel totally at home.

“Our dress code is much more informal [than other lines], though we do have two formal nights, the welcome dinner and gala dinner.

And we don’t have any public announcements – we changed that around four years ago,” she says, before admitting that it was this move in particular that proved most controversial among the staff.

“We were really against it at first – we thought, how will guests know what to do, and where to meet,” she laughs. “We love it now though – guests don’t like being ‘babied’. We hear other ships doing their announcements now when we pull alongside them, and they make us smile.”

The ships might have an informal atmosphere, but the service, rich furnishings and overall decor are worthy of a six-star hotel. Our suite is incredibly spacious for a river ship, and even the smaller staterooms seem roomy.

Meanwhile the velvet ochre walls, adorned with sketchings by Matisse that line the corridor outside our room, feel more befitting of a chateau than a ship. As one of the older ships in the fleet however, River Beatrice is more understated than the line’s newer vessels, and while its furnishings are still plush, its decor is more about comfort than opulence.

Evening meals comprise a range of three-course – sometimes six-course – a la carte dinners, and even when a buffet is offered instead, it contains a wide range of options – all equally delicious, and all local.

A common complaint of those reluctant to try cruising – river or ocean – is a fear of missing out on the opportunity to sample local flavours. With Uniworld, we could only taste local specialities: “Porkolt” (Hungarian beef goulash) in Budapest; “Nussdorfer” platter (cured ham and cheese) in Bratislava; and Wiener Schnitzel (breaded veal escalope) in Vienna.

It is the ship’s staff who really make our cruise though. When we first board Beatrice, we are welcomed by name, and each member of the crew takes pains to remember and greet us personally with a smile every time we pass.

On our first night, dad unintentionally puts our butler Boris to the test, spilling bright orange paprika sauce down his shirt. After leaving it in the laundry bag, it is whisked away and returned a day later, like new – all for no extra cost. Boris later admits to me that the stain was so deep he had to wash it twice, and was only apologetic that it couldn’t be done more quickly.

Another day, as the guests huddle together up on deck, braving the cold to witness Beatrice navigating a complicated lock, the crew appear with mugs of mulled wine and hot chocolate.

These moments run through my head as I sit cross-legged facing Denisa. While I might be younger than the average guest I confess to her that I am well and truly converted. Returning to my cabin, my zen fully restored, I catch my dad packing the Uniworld brochure into his suitcase. “Well,” he grins, “I thought I better bring your mother next time.”

Book it: A 10-day Highlights of Eastern Europe cruise onboard River Beatrice starts from £3,039pp based on two sharing a stateroom and including transfers.

uniworld.com