CRUISE CHRISTMAS MARKETS DESTINATIONS Jingle A Christmas markets cruise


with Uniworld gets Hollie-Rae Merrick in the festive mood


I


've got a confession to make: I love Christmas. A lot. A


worrying amount, actually. I put my tree up in November and don’t take it down until February (it would still be up now if I had my way). I could happily watch Elf or Miracle on 34th Street every day of the year, and I wish my brother had never told me that Santa wasn’t real. So the prospect of a Christmas markets river cruise sent me into


overdrive: the thought of hourly servings of mulled wine, carol singers, twinkling lights all around and, of course, the opportunity to stock up on a new range of beautifully ornate decorations had me as excited as I would be on, well, Christmas morning.


w SHIP SHAPE I joined Uniworld’s quaint-yet- quirky vessel Antoinette in Cologne. The decor of Uniworld’s fleet is unlike anything else sailing Europe’s waterways and Antoinette embodies over-the- top glamour but manages to avoid being kitsch. It’s what you


might expect of a historic and luxurious French palace – a floating Versailles, if you will. The 154-passenger ship was


Uniworld’s first newly built vessel when it launched in 2011; before that the line had bought existing ships. The grand design of Antoinette starts in the ship’s central atrium, where an extravagant crystal chandelier is surrounded by a grand two-deck staircase. At Christmas, this area is transformed into a winter wonderland, with pretty white lights wrapped around the staircase, a beautifully


sells


dressed Christmas tree standing proudly, alongside a showstopper of a gingerbread house. When launched, Antoinette


redefined much of the river cruise sector, with lots of firsts – a cinema and indoor swimming pool among them – that have gone on to be replicated by countless other river cruise lines. Another feature unique back


in 2011 but also now commonplace on the rivers is the retractable windows in staterooms which, at the click of a switch, turn cabins into an open-air balcony. The snowy conditions of December


9 June 2016 travelweekly.co.uk 49


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