If you enjoy touring but hate driving and changing hotels, I have a solution. Take a river cruise. No really! I have taken two with Uniworld. I have also taken two with Windstar but they were in the Mediterranean and the Scottish Sea, so not strictly river cruises, but a similar small ship experience. My most recent was a Uniworld cruise along the Seine from Paris to the Normandy beaches and back to Paris, with stops in many towns along the way. The nice thing about it was the ship pulled right up to land at each port so there are no scary little orange "I'm the captain now" boats to get you to shore like there were with Windstar. You wake up in a new town, walk right off the ship and begin your tour. You take your "hotel" with you! No packing and unpacking! No driving! Ahhhhh.
Uniworld has recently put two brand new ships into service which they built from the ground up, and I was lucky enough to be on one of them. Differences from my last experience with them? Much more luxury and comfort for sure, better food and cocktails, very soft and comfy king size bed in our suite (and pillow selection!), large modern bathroom and shower, lots of plugs for both voltages in the room, plus device charging outlets, tv that drops down from the ceiling above the bed, and two others embedded in mirrors (though the movie service was not working for much of the trip). I was thrilled with the ship.
Another big change from the last Uniworld was that it was totally inclusive--from the airfare to the tips. In the past, alcoholic drinks, tours and tips were not included. On this trip we only paid extra for one special dinner in their wine cellar. Yes, the ship has a wine cellar. Unlike the normal dinner where the wine steward chose a red and a white for each night's service, the wine dinner had a special wine for each course.
The tours were well run and the guides knew their stuff. On past cruises the tours cost a lot extra, and we had a large group, so it was more cost effective for us to hire our own tour guides. I have to admit I preferred that since we were able to customize the tours and times. But it was nice for a change to be free of the tour decisions, guide hiring responsibilities, and the need to carry large amounts in euros to pay the tour guides. It's a trade off I guess.
I'll leave you with a picture I took of our Sabrage ceremony which took place on the top deck of the ship.
