SteveinPhilly

Actually, as of today 8/11 closing price, they are up to 117.

 

So your 100 shares would have made $1700 this year so far. So a return of 18.8% over 8 months.

 

I wish I had seen this in Jan and bought some stock. :D

You'd only make money if you SOLD it on 8/11. The whole SM is up. And if you sold it, you wouldn't get the OBC. Just saying....;)

What's your definition of a "full balcony?" Viking does have verandas according to two friends that cruised a longship. We had a balcony cabin on GCT. A bigger sample size would help.

My def is one you can walk out and sit on. Vantage has - as far as I know - only French Balconies - sliding door only. And on our Tulip cruise it was too cold (high in low 50s) to need one. But PERFECT weather to see the tulips!

I think that you have a reasonable point. My experience is that all cabins on most river cruises get the same level of service (Scenic may be an exception), so I don't see how the extra € 3 per day is justified.

I think we can drop the topic ;) But have you considered the fact that if you order a steak or lobster in a restaurant and your your dinner partner orders chicken (at half the menu price) and the waitperson brings both, the gratuity for the steak - which traveled same distance) will be twice that of the chicken? :) You know going into a cruise what the PRICE will be and you accept it or not. IMHO. And, having seen the wages that cabin crew get paid. and the life they live (and always smiling), I often tip extra.

No, 14 nights. So the charge was correct.

My gratuities on X in a suite are paid for, so I don't know what they charge, but we have a butler who, if u want, will pack unpack ( I don't want them to do that) bring uS a hot breakfast, give u afternoon snacks and cappuccino, and anything more u may want. So I gues they must get double, as my room steward cleaned, put a fresh bottle of water in our room when needed, and an occasional bottle of wine. So I gues he deserves the extra 3euros. NOT

In 2016 X raised suites to $17.

Hi Steve,

Just got off the phone with Vantage.. the gratuities for the Suite are 20 euros a day.. so yes my 628.55 is correct..

 

So it was a 13 day cruise? 40 E for night per suite x 1.17 = $47 US. $628 / $47 = 13. Right?

Not true. Many river ships have real balconies for those who want them.

 

 

 

Celebrity eliminated formal nights in 2015.

ThanksJazzbeau. I can only say thatr on our Holland cruise we were docked next to Gate1 ships, Viking ships and Avalon and none had full balconies. Hence my comment.

And thanks for comment on formal nights on X. Our last cruise with them was before 2015. RCI still has them.

Hi Steve,

I'm going to call Vantage tomorrow morning to find out why I was charged so much for gratuities. It was to be 17 euros pp per day, 14 nights. I'll let u know what happens. I was charged 628. US dollars. Yes, overall our tours were very good. When we are on an Ocean Cruise, I usually organize a private tour or go with others who have also planned tours.

Let us know how you made out. PLEASE

And, I too do not use ship's excursions on Ocean cruises .I create my own of 6-8 people and find others on CC Roll Call to jopin us. What I liked with Vantage was the quality of the local guides and group limited to 25 and with headphones so I could wander off to look at something.

Hi Steve,

I think I have given my opinion of Vantage. We were on the Splendor in May, Budapest to Amsterdam. Had a very nice time, but really our expectations were too high. Food was just OK..lots of pork..staff was good, but to be honest, being in a suite, didn't see much better cabin service than anyone else. The 628.00 in gratuities were much too high.. some of the staff was so new, that the service was not up to our standards. Example, When one person at the table would ask for additional coffee or wine, he would just fill that persons glass and leave. My husband had to speak to hm so he knew that he ask everyone at the table. Yes, river cruising is very relaxed, casual dress and did have very good tours but we will not be on Vantage again, have booked Viking Ocean Cruises, which have gotten high marks, and back to our favorite cruise line Celebrity. There ar no more formal nights on these cruise lines, and to be honest we did wear the same clothes in the evening that I do on Celebrity. Some people pretty much wore the type of clothes they did during the day, but we don't.

Well some folks LOVE Carnival (not me) and some love Royal and Celebrity (me) so it's a matter of opinuion. Just to res[pond to your comments above. How long was your cruise? If the gratuity added was $17/day/night/pp, then how did you get $628? 18 1/2 days. Our gratuities were $306 per cabin for 9 nights. Do they charge THAT much more for a suite? (maybe so). We did not have a suite. We chose the category C whjich was in mid level in the rear. We were actually next to the steps to the rear dining room - very convenient. We were happy with cabin but didn't spend much time there. Always busy. We did visit a fellow passenger on our cruise's Suite . They were upgraded at no extra charghe and said they would not have paid the going rate for the cruise. They agreed that they werren't therethat often. Of course NO River cruise has a "balcony" to sit on. Some folks are surprised. As I said earlier, we may go back with Vantage because we liked the fellow passengers and virtually everything was included. We were in same ports as Viking and Gate One. What we didn't care for the non-local and "fresh" food.

As for "dress" and casualness, I haven't been on Celebrity for 2 years (going in January) but, to my knowledge they still have formal nights. Or am I wrong. I don't bring a tux but I do wear a dark suit. To me this is part of "ocean cruising".

To my knowledge you can request that the gratuity be lessend on Vantage but, I have to ask if you discussed the service issues with the Congiere and Cruise Director and if they tried to handle it? I happen to be the type of traveler that tries to get service problem resolved on the ship, not afterwards. If that doesn't happen because of on ship management, I document it. I have done that on RCI and had them give me HUGE OBC for next cruise. But I like to give the cruise linbe the benefit of the doubt.

I'm unsure from your comment if you reached out to Vantage to let them know what went wrong so they could respond. I have the email for the senior manager at Vantage, who gave it to me when I had a long wait for a response from their Customer Service. Since then I have ALWAYS received a courteous reply anything 24 hours.

We figure than when you compare a Vantage river cruise (or any reviewer cruise) with an Ocean one on RCI, HAL, X or Princess, you are paying about 50% more when you include all the excursions. But the ship has at least 95% less passengers, a 1-to-2 crew to passenger ratio and the line is not supported by gambling (the biggest $ maker for cruise lines) and liquor sales.

I know you won't be going back on Vantage so you probably won't stay subscribed to this Thread, but - though - we did have some issues with the food - and we don't see any cruise itineraries that grab us now - I'm sure that the next river cruise we take will be on Vantage. They had the best value when it came to a standard cabin. And I'm just presenting my experience (as you did yours) for others who might read this thread. Some like vanilla (I find it bland), some like chocolate (the darker the better for me), and there are many cruise options out there. We just differ on what we expect.

Peace.

Our one Vantage cruise was on the Saone and Rhone. Every night at dinner we had a selection of local cheeses to choose from. The chef presented information at the port talk and the "omelet/pasta guy" explained again when you requested some after dinner. Just remember to not allow the waitstaff too run off with the bread and rolls.

We had cheeses every night (it was the cheese plate and the omlette/pasta guy (our guy was from Kotor!) explained each one. But they were the same cheeses every night - usually 5 and they were not "local" in Belgium or Holland. There was a Greek one, an Italian one and (of course) brie. The chef - in his - gallery tour explained that the company (Vantage) will not let him pick up local foods (including meat, fish and cheese- all meats and fish are frozen and slow defrosted). It frustrates him. Now someone posted about 12 or so posts back that were on a cruise that Vantage ran usibnging another company (Douro)' ship and staff and THEY had l;ocal produce etc.

Well I guess That's one way to look at it. Thanks. My husband hates surprises, esp. when it costs money. We're on the 16 (14) day cruise which adds $550. This is our first River Cruise, so trying to learn what I can. This thread has helped a lot. I haven't read all 800 posts though.

 

 

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Travellady. Is this your first cruise on any ship? All cruise lines add a gratuity - split among the crew - and most ocean ones are about $13/day. So Vantage's $17 is not much higher. This includes your Cruise Director who often adds to the enjoyment of the cruise. And unlike major cruise lines, small river boats don't have as many layers of staff in the dining room. There is one Dining room manager, then waitstaff and then cooks.

We had our FIRST River Cruise in April/May (Tulips) and loved-the casualness. no need to pack suit or dress clothes - and the attentiveness of our Cruise Director (Erna). And - at least with Vantage - and our itinerary - there were no major OPTIONAL excusions so we really didn't spend much extra after the final payment and the gratuities.

The ONLY part of the cruise that we found lacking was the dining room food. It wasn't poor, per se, and was beautifully plated. But Vantage requires its chefs to use all frozen food brought on board at beginning and no local fresh regional produce is brought on board. We were in Holland and no dutch meals were served. (not even Gouda or Edam Cheese was served- we had to get in ports and bring on board. Other than that we were very happy campers!

Hi Steve,

We are beginning our river cruise in Amsterdam on July 11. How does one know what would be a good time to reserve tickets at the museums ahead of time? I cannot get Vantage to provide me with approximately sail-away times. Also, we arrive on 7/11 and head to directly to the ship from the airport, but I do not know if Vantage has anything planned for us that first day, nor when the walking tour would take place. I assume it may be the morning of the 12th, but again, I do not know what time we depart Amsterdam on July 12th to sail to the next port. Any ideas? What other sites were included on the ship's Amsterdam tour?

 

On another topic, did many of the men don a sport coat for the first and last nights of the cruise, or for any others?

 

Thank you!

 

~~~~

 

 

I think I can answer this. The first "day"/night" is arrival day. We flew in the same day for ours - which started in Brussels. Because of plane delay we didn't get to ship till 6:45 and missed the orientation lecture (there were 5 arriving on same shuttle from airport with us). So, The important thing on Day one is : when do you arrive in Amsterdam? Assuming it is is in early afteroon, you weill be taken to ship to settle in (and getrid of jet lag) and meet for orientation at about 5pm. The cruise starts the next morning with your included walking tour at 8:30 AM. (be prepared to walk a lot on Vantage Tours - but that's thewayto see thiongs!. I don't know your itinerary but GUESSING that you have two nights in Amsterdam (right?). If that'sthe case, your walking tour will end at theRijksmuseum at around noon. And you should have ":afternoon free, dinner on boat and sailaway either at dinnertime orthe next morning. It is on your itinerary. In that case, I'd recommend staying a little longer in Rijksmuseum grabbing lunch somewhereand going to the Van Gogh Museum at 2pm with prebookedtickets. Get the audio guide. Then wander around Dam Square and back to ship for dinner. IYou'll get a "taste" for Amsterdam but would be better if you extended trip on own (not their extension. We cut cost by 2/3 by booking a great hotel on own).

As for sport jacket - leave at home. For dining room men will just need clean long pants and a shirt. Nothing fancier than that. I can't help with ports outside of Holland

Hi Sue and Steve (great nanme for your hubby!) :cool: I wasSURE I replied yesterday but I don't see it. So will repost.

We were on our first Vantage - and first RIVER - cruise last month on Brussels to Amsterdam. Loved it. We have done msany Larger ships before (Yje Anthem at 4,000 passengers, will be our biggest in September). No jackets needed. Probably no jeans, but it'll be too warm for jeans. You should have easy packing. Steve should pack a light sweater or Anorak in case dining room cold. Other difference between DiningRoom for Dinner and Captains Club isthat they have a GRILLED meat every night in CC. And you will have a better outside view. We went one night when the Dining Room menu had no entree we wanted,. It was NEVER full or half full. You get same wines there. (Note that Vantage wine is free at dinner but not really great wine. (You can bring or winer - or beer - to have in your cabin. Great way to have local product.

As for excursions. There were only 3 OPTIONAL ones and none were exciting or great value. (A $60 culinary walking tour in Bruges - in our case). I walked on my own and had same food for under $10.) . BTW, bikes can be "boorowed" for FREE (for single days) no no need to buy the week-long rental.

Post any other questionsand you'll get replies. We will look for SPECIALS for River cruises for next summer. The bonuses change.

Are you staying in Amsterdam on your own? For Amsterdam - your included tour will end at the Rijsmuseum. with an included 1 hour tour. You do not have to leave and can stay on your own. Neither the Van Gogh Museum (we went!) and Anne Frank House (we didn't) are not included in cruise and you MOST DEFINITELY need tyo buy tix on line in advance or expect to wait an hour or more in line. I'd recommend the Van Gogh if you have time.

(sorry for the grouped words. My keyboard isacting up. :(

No Steve,

Bogie was our CD. was very good, but needed a bit more charisma.

Scenery was fantastic enjoyed our cruise, just expected it to be more special. We sail Celebrity Aqua class, and we are treated very special in Blu restaurant.

Elaine

Thanks Elaine. We learned that an Ocean Cruise is not a river cruise. River cruises have no kids, mostly over 50er and healthy as there is a lot of walking (we had a blind guy with us and he kept up with us!) Also, no fancy entertain,ent and no casino. Most folks are in bed by 10pm as you need to be up in the morning. No at sea days either and - of course no pool. But you learn a lot - all tours are a max of 25 people.

We have an RCI to Canada in Sept and will hit Diamond after that.

I have a Celebrity to Caribbean in Jan with a friend and got an upscale balcony, free drinks and gratuities. But it's not a river cruise.

Erna is from Netherlands but she went on to Budapest after our cruise.

Steve

Hi Steve,

We are on the Splendor in Amsterdam, depart to USA tomorrow. We found the food to be JUST OK..lots of pork..tours were wonderful other than Cologne. Should have had a guided tour of the church instead of an hour walk around town. Some of the staff seemed new to cruising but tried. Don't think we will be doing a river cruise in the near future. Do have a Viking Ocean booked for next year, wanted to try a new company.

Elaine

Hi El;aine. Was Erna the CD and Maya the Concierge? Both were great. Yes, the food variety (and none that wasn

't frozen" was my drawbaxck. ALL our excursions (on the Tulip cruise) there were only 3 "optional" one and not of much interest. were great except one tour guide who went on longer than she should - and Erna said they won't be using her. The VALUE with Vantage was what convinced us to try a RIVER cruise. I'm afraid Viking and the others were too pricey. We were happy with this one and will look into one for next year I think (Danube or Rhine).

Steve

I am not sure what ship you were on, but we did Vantage Douro in May 2016 and loved the cruise.

We were on the Douro Spirit.

Here is my review for the dining:

 

For the next week, we enjoyed the excellent food and service on the Spirit. Good Portuguese wine, red, white table wine and port were served before, during and after dinner (in the dining room) as much as we could consume. We ate a lot of fish, since the fish in Portugal was excellent. One night we had a great leg of lamb and another a Portuguese steak. Breakfast was accommodating to the American travelers, with eggs cooked to order or omelets, crispy bacon, plenty or fruit, muesli, bread, croissants and more. For lunch, we had a choice of dining in the dining room with a sit down meal, as with dinner or a lighter fare in the bar/lounge area. After one lunch downstairs we opted to eat lighter in the lounge. When dining on a tour, like to Salamanca, Sintra or Nazare, we had complementary wine with our lunch. Our waiter was Antonio and he was great. We got to know him during the cruise and he made our dining a pleasure.

We discussed the dining with many of our fellow cruisers and they all spoke highly of the food and service.

What ship were you on?

I found that interesting. We were on the Splendor in Belgium/Holland and NONE of the food was local. All meats and fish were frozen (and defrosted). It was okay but we missed local food. The Chef on the Splendor explained that Vantage policy wasthat they ALWAYS served the same menus. He could only change the sauces. It was - honestly - the only negative I found on our first Vantage cruise. If I wanted local food, I had to eat off the boat.

ebtrip, please let us know about the Splendor and how your trip went. Have a great time.

 

SteveinPhilly, we have been to Amsterdam previously so will not extend there; however, our friends will extend there and we will pass your comments on to them. Where did you stay there? Thanks for your advice.

BTW, we were on the Splendor. Loved it and the Cruise Director, Elna, is amazing!

In Amsterdam we booked 2 nightsat the Swisshotel on Dam Square for about $200 E per night. WE got best price (5% off the website rate) by emailing the hotel direct. Since Vantage wanted $599 PER PERSON for the 2 nights plus transfer (and, yes, breakfast) we saved about $400 per couple. for the two nights. :)

Are there travelers going on the "Grand European Tour" on Sept 5, 2017 from Amsterdam to Budapest? There are 4 of us traveling together. This will be our first river cruise with Vantage. Looking for tips on tours at the various stops along the way. I have read some of the previous posts about visiting Rothenburg as an optional tour. Any opportunities to visit the camps at Nuremberg? We will do the post-cruise extension to Bratislava and Prague. Looking forward to seeing and enjoying this part of Europe. We have done the a GCT river cruise from Paris to Nice several years ago. Thanks for any advice and info.

I can't help you with the rest of your tour but I can with Amsterdam. Are you extending your stay there? (We did and loved it but - as with many others - booked our own hotel for 1/3 the price per person that Vantage offered and even better location.

We were on the April Tulip tour (HIGHLY recommend it) and you should know that Vantage will probably offer a quick guided tour in the New Rijksmuseum, but you can stay on after the group leaves. Also we loved the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, (Not included with Vantage) but you should buy tix online in advance a few days before leaving home - or expect a 45 minute-plus line.

This was our first Vantage. It won't be our last.

I came across this post when I searched about the topic, maybe someone could answer Steve's question about audio guide first or tower first, or if audio guide can be picked up after tower tour. Also whether the entrance to La Sagrada is on Marina, which of the 2 towers to pick (is Passion tower taller with better view? Nativity tower built by Gaudi?).

Thanks in advance!

Chuck

I'll do the best I can.

Pick an entrance time (morning is best) and then a tower time for about 45 minutes later. This will give you time to walk around before taking the Elevator up. You get your audio guide OUTSIDE the Church and return it there. So you take it with you to the tower. I thought the Nativity Tower was the best views. Happy to send my video. And when you are up top you are caged in so heights (which I don't do) are not an issue. And the walk down is cool because trhere are window.

Most important is to BUT tickets on line inadvance at the OFFICIAL website. Google "Sagrada Familia" and "Official"

Hope that helps. It's amazing. BTW another great view (and it's FREE) is the top floor cafeteria of El Cortez Ingles Dept store.

Phil, this is also my first Vantage cruise, and keep receiving mailers and brochures from them. The latest was this past week, for my sailing in May, pricing was higher, no free air. I feel I still am ahead in pricing, especially now that I paid a minimal price to upgrade to a suite, which was thousands more to start.

eb: I posted my last question to see if any of the veteran Vantage Cruisers had seen a rollback on their cruise. Yep, sounds like you got a good deal. I just know that they were pushing for upgrades to fill unsold cabins. Our cruise Tulips only has 3 optional tours (none of interest to us) and I even got two snail mail letters encouraging us to sign up "early" ;)

(35 days to go)

Steve

Okay, You folks are verterans with Vantage and this will be our first cruise with them. We arec used to the larger cruise ship lines where prices change every few days - up and down - and there are always "sales" on OBCs (especially around the holidays. I get brochures and emails from Vantage offering "deals" like "free air" or BOGO cruise and each has a special code. So obviously they drop the rates as they get closer and a ship is not near full. (I've seen postings here where they actually cancel the cruise just before final payment. (And if you bought your own air and no insurance you are stuck.

So has anyone ever experienced Vantage ever rolling back a price to less than you paid? just curious

I forgot about that. I have one too but it's not a free card as you need to pay $60 member fee. There are at least 2 FREE cards - that give 2% cash back on EVERYTHING. Just clarifying .

For what it's worth, the $100 savings on a $4000 cruise is 2%. If you ignored the $100 for now and used a FREE 2% cash back credit card, you save the same amount. Sounds like they aren't offering anything really special. Just my opinion.

Thank you, Thom.

 

Now, another question, the future cruise credits - does that have to be used as a deposit? Or can we book the future cruise onboard (hopefully with some sort of discount) and then apply the cruise credit we get from the current cruise later as a payment?

Shmoo - things may have changed so maybe it ewould be best for you to call Vantage (Customer Service: (888) 982-6824) and ask. Also, you should clarify if the $100 is per person or per cabin. And be aware that Vantage deposits are NON-refundable and that in order to cover prior existing conditions, you would need to buy insurance within 14 days of deposit. (And IMHO I'd shop for other insurance before buying Vantage's). And know that you only have to buy enough insurance to cover the deposit until final payment due. UNLESS you buy Vantage's in which case you need to buy (and pay for) coverage on the total trip, Hope this helps.

IMO you might get some replies if you gave more detail. Is you question about Rotterdam or Kuekendorf or both?

 

 

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Actually it was more about VANTAGE's Cruise. Our stop in Rotterdam is to see Kukendorf Gardens and we depart the ship at 9:30 for the hour-long drive there. We return to the ship at about 4:30. Dinner is 7pm. The itinerary say you will have :"time on your own to explore Rotterdam". I don't see there being a lot of time to do that, though, if we can walk right off ship into town, we might have an hour or two. Shops will be closed in the morning. Also, I have a friend who lives 40 minutes from Rotterdam and would drive in to meet me for coffee or drink if we are right there so I could walk off and meet her.

I guess my question is - If you are on a River Cruise and Rotterdam is the Keukenhof stop, did you have much time to see Rotterdam and what did you see and do?

That's the |"more detailed" question :cool:

Any coffee shops at the flower show?

Justthe coffee sold at the food stands