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Post by brp on Mar 4, 2024 17:47:31 GMT -5
I had not heard of Tauck. With a quick glance, they look quite a bit more expensive than some of the other lines. Comments I've read on CruiseCritic seem to indicate that they're a bit more upscale, so that may account for the price. but I was seeing like $2K/person more for similar trips/dates.
Cheers.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Mar 5, 2024 3:47:34 GMT -5
I guess my answer is yes and yes. It is hard it is to compare prices on cruises because it is next to impossible to compare the quality of the excursions and guides, with most travel companies we have used it seems to be you get what you pay for. We did a Tauck land tour that included London and Paris, ABD did pretty much the same tour and the prices were almost the same with Tauck being slightly cheaper after perks from Tauck (extra night on arrival) and our TA . We went with Tauck because we like the included stops a bit better than the ABD but it was a hard decision. Tauck also stays in pretty nice hotels. For the Paris part of our upcoming Paris/Rhone trip Tauck uses the InterContinental Paris le Grand which is pretty nice and is across the street from the Opera Garnier. We like it because it is not down in the ultra tourist area by the river and the tower yet it is a pretty easy walk if you want to go there. You also get nice rooms, not the ones stuck in the corner that the hotel they can't sell. We did a CIE tour of Ireland (we joined our daughter so we were traveling on her budget not ours,,,) and it was a wonderful trip because it was just as things were opening up after COVID and there was no-one at any of the attractions. The lodging, food, buses and guide (who was also the bus driver) used were a very obvious downgrade from what you get with Tauck. We have done four tours with Tauck and thought we got our moneys worth but then again maybe we have just gotten lucky...
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Post by brp on Mar 5, 2024 9:50:39 GMT -5
Thanks. We may do some land time on either/both ends, but we'll do that on our own rather than with the tour company as that's what we usually do in Europe, so that's not a factor. What you've written corroborates some of what I've read/seen about Tauck. It seems higher end, but something different than we're looking for.
Research so far has Avalon grabbing our interest, with Viking a close second. Viking focuses more on the area- art, architecture, history, food. The comment said it's for people who want to "think," and that's what we do in Europe- learn things in advance to prepare. But it tends to be more low key and walking tours. Avalon is somewhat more active and may focus a little less on these things. Also, they have morning yoga classes on deck 
Ama appears to have pools with walk-up bars and more of a party atmosphere. Definitely not what we went.
Still more research to do as at at least 5 months to booking.
Cheers. |
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Post by gncntry on Mar 6, 2024 12:20:01 GMT -5
We did a Viking cruise in 2023 and enjoyed it. Their price includes 1 excursion at each port. There are also add-on excursions and they tell you what activity level each is. We liked the no kids and no casino. River boats in general have fewer amenities (no pool, etc.) We are 62 and were not the youngest but in the younger group. The excursion size was about 15-20 people in each group and they gave you a headset for the duration of the cruise. It was very helpful. Many of the guides were local to the town we docked at which was very nice. We had some great guides. There was usually a program each day about the next day’s stop.
I will say that river cruises probably have more of a tendency to use buses a lot, at least the one we were on. Some days we would get on a bus for an hour or two to the next port, do the tour, and the ship would catch up to us.
We have another Viking Danube cruise scheduled for May 2025.
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Post by brp on Mar 6, 2024 16:42:52 GMT -5
We did a Viking cruise in 2023 and enjoyed it. Their price includes 1 excursion at each port. There are also add-on excursions and they tell you what activity level each is. We liked the no kids and no casino. River boats in general have fewer amenities (no pool, etc.) We are 62 and were not the youngest but in the younger group. The excursion size was about 15-20 people in each group and they gave you a headset for the duration of the cruise. It was very helpful. Many of the guides were local to the town we docked at which was very nice. We had some great guides. There was usually a program each day about the next day’s stop. I will say that river cruises probably have more of a tendency to use buses a lot, at least the one we were on. Some days we would get on a bus for an hour or two to the next port, do the tour, and the ship would catch up to us. We have another Viking Danube cruise scheduled for May 2025. Thanks. I contacted Viking and they had the same comments about the group size. The bus portion sounds less thrilling, but I know it's required to get further afield. Bike options (Avalon and others) seem like a nice possibility as well. The fewer amenities is a nice feature for us, but the yoga is a nice add for Avalon.
Cheers.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Mar 13, 2024 4:08:33 GMT -5
This is really not Disney-specific since a number of lines run river cruises. But I know that is a knowledgeable and trustworthy cohort, so a good place to discuss this.
We will be doing something similar (Croatia coast and not actually a river) in August and are looking at river cruises beyond that. We'll not book until after that one just to be sure we like it. But never to early to find out more.
Looking about, we're leaning toward Viking River Cruises, but Disney seem similar.
The cruise type we're looking at is like 190 people, so not huge.
One question I have off the bat is about shore excursions. Is it typically the case that these comprise a group of like 200 people and a guide or two with an umbrella, maybe headsets, traipsing through the streets of Europe?
We've seen these when traveling and they do not look like fun. Is this what things tend to be like, or are there other ways to do this that may be more self-guided (with admissions and such covered by the cruise) rather than a throng?
Of course, all river cruise comments/questions welcome.
Cheers.
Sorry for digging up an old thread but we were working on some vacation details and I was thinking about this thread. In my previous post I don't think I commented on the you using the Croatia trip as a basis to make a river cruise decision. You don't mention the size of ship you will be on or if it will be stopping at the same ports as the larger ships but I would caution against using a ocean cruise to make a decision about a river cruise. The two types of cruising couldn't be more different. If you are on even one of the smaller ocean ships if the are stopping in the normal port of calls they are still dumping Thousands of tourist into those areas. Even at a busy stop on the river the river boats are only putting a few hundred people out, we have found it much easy to get off the beaten path on the river boats than on the ocean boats we have been on. We have also found that the ocean boats seem to be more about life on the boat, there is a good chance you may find guest on board that never plan on leaving the boat vs the river boats are all about the excursions. Plus there is never any rough seas on the river, it is as smooth as it can be, you know you're moving but that is about it. Personally I am still to be convince that we are ocean cruisers but we love the river cruises. If you do end up taking a river cruise I would suggest getting a room from middle of the boat forward, some the the rear rooms can pick up noise and vibrations from the engines. I |
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Post by brp on Mar 13, 2024 8:45:27 GMT -5
This is really not Disney-specific since a number of lines run river cruises. But I know that is a knowledgeable and trustworthy cohort, so a good place to discuss this.
We will be doing something similar (Croatia coast and not actually a river) in August and are looking at river cruises beyond that. We'll not book until after that one just to be sure we like it. But never to early to find out more.
Looking about, we're leaning toward Viking River Cruises, but Disney seem similar.
The cruise type we're looking at is like 190 people, so not huge.
One question I have off the bat is about shore excursions. Is it typically the case that these comprise a group of like 200 people and a guide or two with an umbrella, maybe headsets, traipsing through the streets of Europe?
We've seen these when traveling and they do not look like fun. Is this what things tend to be like, or are there other ways to do this that may be more self-guided (with admissions and such covered by the cruise) rather than a throng?
Of course, all river cruise comments/questions welcome.
Cheers.
Sorry for digging up an old thread but we were working on some vacation details and I was thinking about this thread. In my previous post I don't think I commented on the you using the Croatia trip as a basis to make a river cruise decision. You don't mention the size of ship you will be on or if it will be stopping at the same ports as the larger ships but I would caution against using a ocean cruise to make a decision about a river cruise. The two types of cruising couldn't be more different. If you are on even one of the smaller ocean ships if the are stopping in the normal port of calls they are still dumping Thousands of tourist into those areas. Even at a busy stop on the river the river boats are only putting a few hundred people out, we have found it much easy to get off the beaten path on the river boats than on the ocean boats we have been on. We have also found that the ocean boats seem to be more about life on the boat, there is a good chance you may find guest on board that never plan on leaving the boat vs the river boats are all about the excursions. Plus there is never any rough seas on the river, it is as smooth as it can be, you know you're moving but that is about it. Personally I am still to be convince that we are ocean cruisers but we love the river cruises. If you do end up taking a river cruise I would suggest getting a room from middle of the boat forward, some the the rear rooms can pick up noise and vibrations from the engines. So, I recently learned that there are not ocean cruises for the Dalmation coast in Croatia. Small ports and the big ships don't fit. This is much more akin to a river cruise as we are in a port every day with very small groups. Our boat holds 38. This is not even a little about life on the boat as we use it as a night time floating hotel and not even all dinners are on the boat (they are with river cruises). So this is not quite the same either, but seems much closer to the river cruise than the ocean cruise. And even this will be more intimate than the vast majority of river cruises, so a fair model.
We found some YouTube videos from a TA named Beth Schulberg that were great. One compared Tauck, Avalon and Viking, Another on Croatia. Even though we typically do our own research and book on our own, we may work with her agency for our 2025 cruise for the details as she is very knowledgeable, and the videos are great. And she's only $300, and often has deals beyond what we can find, so may well pay for herself.
Cheers.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Mar 13, 2024 9:10:08 GMT -5
The Croatia trip sounds great, can you tell us who you are using?
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Post by brp on Mar 13, 2024 17:28:50 GMT -5
The Croatia trip sounds great, can you tell us who you are using? We are on a ship called M/S Avantura. Not sure if it's part of a cruise line as this was arranged by friends of my brother's family- folks that we know as well. Her 50th, and daughter's 21st. We are the whole ship.
I also saw a nice video from the Beth named above about a cruise line called Katarina with similar-size ships. Worth watching.
Cheers.
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Post by Kerri jo on Mar 19, 2024 8:54:12 GMT -5
We took our first Viking cruise last summer (Basel to Amsterdam) and absolutely loved it! I had the high bid on the cruise at a charity auction, having no awareness that we are NOT their age demographic, and having never cruised before. The initial appeal to us was the small number of guests, the convenience of the itinerary sandwiched between our European travels to other countries (we did our own airfare and pre- and post- extensions) and most of the things on the NO list. There were other couples close to our age, and several 20-somethings. We booked most of the add-on excursions, typically choosing the "demanding" to ensure we were going to move at a pace we were more accustomed to, and definitely booked "privileged access" when offered.
I am a super picky eater and the food was exceptional! We had a balcony on the third deck of the ship and sat outside twice the entire 8 days because we were so busy, but I would book this category again for the comfort and convenience of being near the very limited outdoor dining area and the quiet of the library. The low level with the "swan" windows would be too claustrophobic for me, and the second deck (the level for embark/disembark and main dining area) was more bustling and seemed to be preferred by the older crowd as they could avoid the stairs.
If you haven't decided yet, and want more info on Viking, let me know. We are planning additional cruises with Viking, including one with our kids who are over 18.
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