8 Nights | Classic Christmas Markets

A journey that will make you believe in holiday magic all over againOnce upon a time, people gathered on cobblestone squares to buy the special tools and ingredients they needed to make the treats of the season. They kept warm with hot spiced wine, music and games while they shopped and chatted with the local tradesmen. Those were the first Christmas markets, 500 years ago. Today, though the light comes from twinkling electric bulbs rather than torches, bonhomie and fun still prevail.Discover villages with fairytale houses and a friendly, festive atmosphere. Share traditional holiday goodies with the people who made them. Watch as modern children abandon their usual electronics and discover the enchantment of hand-carved wooden toys, as scents of cinnamon and roasting nuts fill the air. Sail through Christmas country, trying Frankfurt’s famous apple cider, Bamberg’s specially brewed holiday beer and Nuremberg’s gingerbread. Throughout, cozy up to steaming mugs of glühwein (warm spiced wine) and do as the locals do by collecting different mugs from each stall and town you visit. Embrace the holiday spirit in Germany, the land where many Christmas traditions began, and find the magic of the season in the smiles that you meet along the way.Who will enjoy this cruiseThose wanting to experience the quintessential magic of the holidays while shopping for one-of-akind treasures and discovering the legends behind some of our most popular holiday traditions.Generations Family Program (select sailing)Share the magic of a European holiday with the special young people in your life on this multigenerational “Classic Christmas Markets” cruise filled with lots of family holiday merrymaking.

Highlights

YOUR CRUISE PACKAGE INCLUDES:

TRAVEL
7-night cruise in a riverview stateroom on the regal River Queen

All transfers on arrival and departure days

TASTE
All meals onboard, prepared using the finest and freshest ingredients

7 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 7 dinners

Captain’s Welcome and Farewell Receptions

Welcome and Farewell Gala Dinners

Unlimited beverages onboard, including fine wine, beer, spirits, soft drinks, specialty coffee and tea, and mineral water

EXPLORE

1 country

6 days of excursions, including “Choice Is Yours” options, all fully hosted by English-speaking local experts

Guided “Taste of Christmas,” “Village Day,” and “Gentle Walking” programs

2 UNESCO World Heritage sites

Services of an experienced Uniworld Cruise Manager

State-of-the-art Quietvox portable audio-headset system on all shore excursions

Use of Nordic walking sticks

EXPERIENCE

Captivating onboard local entertainment

Cultural enrichment, including a Signature Lecture: “Christmas Traditions in Germany”

Exclusive Multigenerational Family-Friendly Program in December

Terms, conditions and restrictions apply; pricing, availability, and other details subject to change and/ or apply to US or Canadian residents. Please confirm details and booking information with your travel advisor.

You will visit the following 6 places:

Frankfurt am Main

Frankfurt am Main, commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2009 population of 672,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,295,000 in 2010. The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region which has a population of 5,600,000 and is Germany's second largest metropolitan area. In English, this city's name translates to Frankfurt on the Main (pronounced like English mine or German mein). The city is located on an ancient ford on the river Main, the German word for which is "Furt". A part of early Franconia, the inhabitants were the early Franks. Thus the city's name reveals its legacy as being the "ford of the Franks".

Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. When people think of Nuremberg, they usually think of gingerbread, toys, Christmas, the Reich Party Rally Grounds, or the Nuremberg Trials. But the old town of Nuremberg is much more than this and indeed Nuremberg probably comes closest to many tourists' expectations of a typical German city: On the one hand one can find half-timbered houses, gothic churches within a medival city wall in the shadow of the towering imperial castle, which was one of the most important residences of the emporers of the Holy Roman Empire.