ddschur

The sooner the better...Absolutely.

We have been on MANY Tauck Tours...both river cruises and Land tours and, all I can say, is that they were all OUTSTANDING!

Tauck does a wonderful job in all respects in providing their customers with truly exceptional experiences that will, typically, exceed even the highest of expectations!

Just so you know, I am not employed by Tauck or any other travel company...I just LOVE to travel and travel well and Tauck does fit the bill.

Believe me, you will NOT regret choosing Tauck!!!

:)

Great news!

Thank you for your response...Walt

I really can't believe that people who are willing to pay as much as they do to take a nice vacation are so petty to worry about how much these underpaid staff are getting! Utterly amazing!!!

Quick question: are there any issues or concerns re: Danube Water Levels?

We will soon be embarking from Vienna and were wondering???

We will be leaving a cruise at the Montreal Port and would like to consider arranging for a private car from the dock to Pierre Trudeau Int'l (YUL).

Can anyone make a recommendation as to a private transportation option to consider setting up travel?

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds!

Walt

The plot thickens...as I was looking for excursions on the Crystal River Cruise this December, one of the choices was a full day in Regensburg with a visit to one of the world's most beautiful Christmas Market in Regensburg...only problem is that the excursion is scheduled for 12/27 and the Christmas Markets close on 12/23!!! Very sloppy management by Crystal!!!

Yes

Thank you for the clarification because, yes, it was when I logged in to select the excursions available on our tour.

However, it still doesn't explain the offering of the cancellation of the Michelin Star restaurant experiences.

Take care,

Walt

I just went online to book some excursions for the holiday cruise on Mozart and noticed that a LARGE NUMBER of excursions initially shown are no longer offered!

Also, they continue to advertise the Michelin restaurant amenity as part of their online information re: the upcoming tour!!!

Is this simply sloppy web management or more?

I certainly expect more from Crystal and definitely feel they are declining in the service I have experienced in the past and are diminishing the product they have offered in the past!

This is all fine and good, however, it is my impression that Crystal is creating a major problem in setting expectations that are not being met!

I am scheduled for a river cruise later this year and some of the original offerings have been withdrawn from the cruise (Michelin dining options).

This behavior of setting expectations which aren't being met is NOT the way to do business and satisfying customers!!!

It was late September to mid-Octoberof 2009.

What stuck out for me is that several cruise operators actually cancelled their trips mid-way and left their passengers to their own devices! Others made the tour become a bus trip and not a leisurely river cruise.

Tauck, however, transferred us (while we were out doing a day trip) to their identical ship just beyond the area where the boats could not get through and we went on as if nothing happened! They notified us and told us what they were gonna do and apologetically asked us to repack our luggage and they, then, transported our luggage to the new ship which was identical in layout to the one we were leaving so that the only inconvenience was that we did have to pack and then unpack at the new ship. Because of the inconvenience they did not charge us for alcoholic drinks during happy hour for the rest of the trip!

Tauck...without a doubt! We sailed on Tauck several times and loved them all. What is, for me, most important is how you are treated when things are not going well (low water levels, etc.). We experienced this issue on Budapest to Amsterdam trip and Tauck handling was superb! They made the necessary adjustments and we had the trip we expected to have...not a bus trip as some others.

Tauck is a DEFINITE consideration...they are sometimes overlooked on this board because they are not strictly a river cruise line, they do all kinds of wonderful travel experiences. We have done many Tauck trips (land and river) and have NEVER been disappointed.

We have never cruised with Oceania before and we are looking at a cruise in the med next summer.

We have chosen a concierge level stateroom( not yet booked).From what I can see they are all on deck 9.please could you advise me on what stateroom to book or not book ?

We chose this grade for the use of the spa facilities mainly,hoping to sit outside in a quiet area.

Thank you for your help.

Jane.

9022 is a good one.

Did you see how many miles were required to get the tix?

I have considered many of the cards and have narrowed the best one for travel and airlines to the BA Visa card which, I believe, has a very aggressive program to seed many miles to new accounts.

The reason for the BA Visa above the others is the ease to get overseas travel with BA.

The Capital One card says you can go on any airline at any time...sounds good until you realize that in order to get the free tix, you have to have in excess of hundred's of thousands of miles to qualify. You have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get the points for business class travel using that card!!!

The BA Visa card provides miles AND a FREE COMPANION TIX if you spend $30,000 in one calendar year. You can use the FREE COMPANION TIX in conjunction with award travel points...thus, for two business class tickets you will typically use 125,000 points and get the FREE COMPANION along with it (and to be fair, typically there are redemption fee's ~$2,000USD for the 2 tix...still a good deal when traveling business).

I think you might want to look into it and do the "what if's" for travel comparing it to the other airlines.

The other card to consider along with it is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card...again, a current promotion to seed many points AND the accumulated miles can be transferred to BA as well.

Finally, I have had AMEX Platinum since 1980 and am giving it up this year. It is TOO expensive (~$650 USD for myself and my wife) AND I see no real benefit in it.

As someone else mentioned, AMEX is being honored in fewer and fewer establishments...sorry to say.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

My wife and I are planning our next river cruise and had a question for the board.

 

We are dyed in the wool Uniworld fans and have been thinking about splurging on a Tauck cruise. Before we do, I wanted to get a feeling from people who have sailed both if the premium to paid is worth it.

 

For those who have done both please tell me if you feel the premium is worth it and why or why not. It could be for whatever reasons you chose and I am interested in hearing as much as possible.

 

Thank you in advance.

We have cruised with Tauck several times and have loved it.

In fairness, we have NOT cruised any other river cruise lines so I can't render an opinion or provide a comparison vs. other cruise lines.

My response would be that the entire Tauck experience is outstanding...from the cruise ship, cruise personnel, food and shore experiences.

However, having said all of that, for me the deciding factor is not how good things are when all is going well but, rather, how adversity is handled!

With a river cruise there is always the issue of river water levels being too high or too low.

On one of our cruises we experienced a very anxious time due to low water levels which threatened the completion of the cruise.

Some cruise lines stopped their cruises mid-cruise and deposited their passengers to fend for themselves.

During that time Tauck did an outstanding job in being able to deal with the problem (I don't want to go into details to make this any longer than it needs be) and we didn't miss a beat. Completed the cruise with minimal disruption!!! Oh, and it was NOT by converting the river cruise to a bus trip...it was as a river cruise.

Again, for me, that is the reason we spend a little more to go with top rated ocean and river cruise lines so that we can feel that the operator will always try to do their best to accommodate their customers/guests.

Thanx

When we picked up our river cruise in Basel we had a bit of spare time so we went to the Zoo!

It was very nice.

My wife and our traveling companions love Zoo's and we decided to do something a bit different and we're glad we did! :D

......Tauck........all inclusive and top notch service.........enough said.........:)

I have recently returned from my first Tauck cruise ,from Bucharest to Amsterdam, and was very impressed with how Tauck, and Scylla, dealt with the high water levels in the Danube which necessitated juggling with ports of call but still managing to provide all the excursions that were in the itinerary.

As mentioned, everyone has their opinion but I totally agree re: Tauck.

All inclusive, great boat, great customer service, in particular, when things are difficult such as river levels, etc.

When you do your spreadsheet and start adding up what the other lines charge for additional items you find that Tauck is not that much more expensive.

The Tauck experience is one to be remembered fondly!

Most of the lines do a good job of taking care of their passengers when things are going well, the difference is when things are not so good!

I can tell you that when we took a cruise from BUD to AMS a couple of years ago there were low water level issues.

I saw on these boards where some river cruise lines cancelled the trips mid-way and, according to posts by some passengers on some of the well known lines, they were left without any effort to help them get to the destinations, etc. They were left to scramble using their own devices!

Some of the cruise lines did finish the cruises but were relegated to them turning in to "bus trips"

We were on the Tauck cruise during the very same time and, without going into all of the details, the cruise was completed as a river cruise and we were very, very happy with how they handled the "crisis". The pax on board were very pleased as well.

In my opinion, that is why one would choose to go with a company that makes a commitment to superior customer service...and fulfills that commitment to the best of their ability!

We had the same dilemma and decided upon the Marriot and don't regret it!

It was in a nice neighborhood and much of what we wanted to see (museums (Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh), symphony concert, canal ride, etc.) was within very easy walking distance.

The rooms were typical Marriott rooms but certainly more than adequate.

The concierge was very helpful (we had a bit of a medical emergency and he helped tremendously).

It was very close to little minibus (free) pickup points to take us to the Anne Frank Huiz and when we required cab's they were both available and reasonably priced for where we wanted to go.

Anyway, my vote is for the Marriott!

Thank you TLCOhio...great advice!

We will be in Stockholm in latter part of August.

We will be staying at the Grand Hotel and were wondering what would be two perfect days in Stockholm?

I have done research and am refining our self-made itinerary, however, specfic input would be invaluable!

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds...

DateDaySights/Activity

8/12/2010

Thursday

The Ice HotelNeed to make reservation

Gamla Stan

Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace)

8/13/2010

Friday

Mathias Dahlgren Restaurant @ 7:30PM

VasaMuseet @ 11:30AM for English Tour

8/14/2010

SaturdayDrottingham Palace

Above is a planned itinerary for our upcoming trip to Stockholm...is this enough time or not enough.

Would like to consider archipelago cruise, Milesgarden, Skansen or Rosendal...to much???

Don't know the time we should allocate per sight so anything you can recommend would be greatly appreciated!