Vantage World Travel River Cruises?

[dongordon]

Has anyone had any experience with the Vantage World Travel River Cruises (Pros and Cons)?

Mostly interesesasted in their French River Cruise.

 

Thanks.

Don

[pilgrimduke]

We took one Vantage cruise, but it wasn't in France, so I can't help with that.

 

I know experiences vary, but I found the company easy to deal with by phone. I never was able to get an email response when I tried to communicate that way.

 

We opted to have them arrange flights and that worked out fine, with them booking us on the only non-stop available from our local airport.

[pbnjrockette]

We have traveled with Vantage 10 times (land tours, river and ocean cruises) so are pretty familiar with the company. Just returned from Peru/Ecuador/Galapagos with them. We have booked a French River cruise for 2014 (absolutely loved our Rhine river cruise).

 

Would be glad to answer any specific questions you may have!

[npphotog]

We have been on 5 river cruises with Vantage - Number 6 will be Best of Africa leaving this coming September 23rd. Have been VERY pleased with Vantage. As to emailing them I call them and have been well taken care of (sometimes on hold for a while but still get info that I need). No complaints. Willard

[Talisker92]

We have been on 3 river cruises with Vantage, plus a Tahiti cruise and a land trip of South America. We are booked on a Russian River cruise in a few months.

We have been very happy with them, as far as accommodations, food, and the tours.

That being said, there are always some cruisers with unrealistic expectations of a river cruise.

There is only one place to dine, and the cabins are smaller, and there is no showroom.

On the other hand, there are no chair hogs, no naughty room, and you get to meet almost everyone on the cruise.

The stories and pictures of our trips are on our website. We respond to all e-mail questions.

[mginfl]

I haven't been on the trip yet, but so for Vantage has changed the date I booked, the ship I am on, the cabin I was assigned, the towns we are visiting, the included tours and the optional tours. They are driving me crazy.

 

Now with the flooding in Europe, they seem to be the only company that has not announced their plans concerning cancellations.

[tidwood]

npphotog, we are about 1 keystroke from booking Vantage's 2013 Christmas River Cruise and just wanted to find out if you enjoyed it.

[Hydrokitty]

Like Willard, we've done 5 trips with Vantage and the only other companies I'll travel with are Trafalgar for land only tours and Celebrity for non-river cruises. I've never had a bad experience with Vantage, they make my flight arrangements and when I request Lufthansa, always get them (it helps that I live near NYC) the hotels and guides are top of the line and all trips have been unforgettable. We started with Castles on the Rhine (Budapest to Amsterdam) and proceeded to Egypt and Jordan, Costa Rica by sailing ship, Tulips and Windmills, and just finished Ukraine and Russia. Just beginning to plan my next one and trying to decide Switzerland or Budapest to Black Sea (winning).:)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We have don one and it was great , We have 2 more booked with them

[npphotog]

Hello Tidwood - We did a Christmas Market river tour with Vantage in 2011 and loved it. Have never been disappointed with Vantage. We started in Amsterdam and ended up in Basel. We have friends who own a small winery and B&B in Rudesheim and had the opportunity to visit with them. Made that trip special. Weather was somewhat cold (since we live in Florida now) but took extra sweaters. Some snow in the Black Forest. Food was excellent as usual on the ship. Leaving Sept 23 with Vantage for their Best of Africa trip.

Willard

[tidwood]

Thank you all for the great information. We have just a couple of questions left. We saw the price of the Vantage trip insurance and were a bit shocked at $549 each.(we've only cruised on Princess and other ocean cruise lines) Since my wife has just been given the ok to travel by her surgeon, the insurance will be a must for us. Did any of you use your own travel agent? and did anyone get their own travel insurance? Thanks again for all the helpful information and great reviews.

[Host Jazzbeau]

One thing that the current flooding throughout Europe has made clear is that it's worth paying the even higher price for "cancel for any reason" coverage.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thank you all for the great information. We have just a couple of questions left. We saw the price of the Vantage trip insurance and were a bit shocked at $549 each.(we've only cruised on Princess and other ocean cruise lines) Since my wife has just been given the ok to travel by her surgeon, the insurance will be a must for us. Did any of you use your own travel agent? and did anyone get their own travel insurance? Thanks again for all the helpful information and great reviews.

We book insurance on our own ,cheaper and better .. We pay 6.5% { it goes by age we are 60 } so times the $$ of your trip by 6.5%

Edited June 7, 2013 by we're sailing away....

[cindiedee]

Just want to pop in for a minute and say we have also done Vantage River Cruises (and also Grand Circle RIver Cruises and land tours) and have literally no complaints. We did the Christmas/New Years (I can't seem to find that particular one online anymore so I don't think they have it any more) and it was by far, one of the most magical trips we have ever done. Granted, we live in south Florida so going to Germany, Holland, Switzerland, etc gave us a "true" Christmas feeling with snow etc - and there was no political correctness stuff at all - over there is is CHRISTMAS and not "the holidays". We also did the Christmas Markets tour from Basel to Amsterdam and again, just magical. There were very few optional tours - just about everything was included. On the insurance - their costs are outrageous, I think, so we just go to Insure My Trip and choose whatever makes sense for us for that particular trip and the cost is much much less. Hope this helps - I didn't mean to butt in but when you are thinking of a different cruise experience, I think it helps to hear from more than one person who can answer the questions you ask as we all may have a somewhat different perspective. Now, we are contemplating yet another Christmas cruise for this year - either Vantage or Grand Circle....just need to choose and then we have another trip to look forward too! ;)

[pbnjrockette]

We book insurance on our own ' date='cheaper and better .. We pay 6.5% { it goes by age we are 60 } so times the $$ of your trip by 6.5%[/quote']

 

When you say "better" ---what do you mean? More coverage for the $$? What company do you use?

 

We've had to cancel and reschedule 2 trips with Vantage (TripMate insurance) with no problem (had to lose the cost of the trip insurance one of the times) and had to use the insurance again when my husband got sick in Africa (insurance paid for 3 days of "lost" trip and reimbursed us for cost of hotel room for 3 days)

[S&B]

Tidwood, which Vantage Christmas market cruise are you looking at? We are on the December 7 going from Nuremburg to Cologne. We decided at the last minute to take the extension in Munich for three days so we will leave Dec. 3..

 

We are from Florida and I am concerned about finding enough warm clothes and especially warm shoes to take along. I have already started planning!

[tidwood]

We just booked the December 11th Christmas cruise. It's listed as beginning on the 13th in the Vantage book, but we wanted the extra time in both Budapest and Amsterdam, so bought the pre and post cruise extensions. We finalized the cruise last evening and of course are now going through buyers remorse regarding the airfare and trip insurance. I know that I can get the airfare ,using Kayak, for 1064 versus the 1299 we have with Vantage. As for transfers to the Budapest hotel and from the Amsterdam hotel, I haven't really worked on that yet, but the $300 cost qoute from Vantage for those transfers if you do your own air seems way out of wack, but then we've never done europe or a river cruise.

I have looked at several trip insurance quotes( http://travel-insurance-review.toptenreviews.com), ranging from 722 (I'm 68 and my wife will be 65 before the trip) all the way up to $1260. All speak to cancel trip insurance, but the "cancel anytime for any reason" , I only noticed on 1 site so far and may have missed it on others. So need to do more research on transfers, trip insurance and air fare. (Hmm, makes you appreciate a travel agent! hah-hah) Thanks for all the suggestions and supportive experiences! More when I have it, but now off to replace a garbage disposal and get dog to groomers. (Hmm, had more free time before I retired! heh-heh)

[tidwood]

cindiedee, sorry for not posting the "cruise" name as Vantage listed it, but here it is: A Christmas Celebration from Budapest to Cologne. It shows departing Budapest on the 13th of December.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

When you say "better" ---what do you mean? More coverage for the $$? What company do you use?

 

We've had to cancel and reschedule 2 trips with Vantage (TripMate insurance) with no problem (had to lose the cost of the trip insurance one of the times) and had to use the insurance again when my husband got sick in Africa (insurance paid for 3 days of "lost" trip and reimbursed us for cost of hotel room for 3 days)

Hi again pbnjrockette , We use Allianz ,The the coverage is better for less dollars.

Edited June 10, 2013 by we're sailing away....

[4774Papa]

We found the Vantage insurance expensive, but still went with it. Our trips were to Russia and China. We felt that if something went wrong that Vantage would take care of us better if we had the insurance with them.

[pbnjrockette]

Hi again pbnjrockette ' date=' We use Allianz ,The the coverage is better for less dollars.[/quote']

 

We are checking into Allianz for our French River cruise next year since the Vantage quoted price is over $800 per person! The only advantage I can see is that it does include "for any reason" which would be helpful if there was heavy flooding or an intense heat wave in Europe at that time...

[tidwood]

Ok, the trip insurance search update. After checking with several online and brick and mortar trip insurance firms and really reading the information on the Vantage/TripMate insurance : 1. I've found that in our case the trip insurance from Vantage would be $938 (one 64 and the other 68 and total trip cost under $8000) and cover 100% of everything and does include Cancel For Any Reason and the medical part will act as "Primary" medical insurance.(Good for those on medicare and with a medicare supplement insurance carrier that will not or does not pay first) [ one thing to know that any part of the refund from Vantage that is considered a "penalty" for cancelling, will be in a travel certificate and not money) 2. Next best in coverage and price was the TravelSafe Classic (http://www.travelsafe.com), but it only covers 75% of the Cancel For Any Reason cost of the trip and the Cancel For Any Reason additional cost is $268 added to the $606 for the regular policy.

I'm still not convinced that the $239 per person cost of the Vantage airfare is worth it, but if you buy the crusie and air and are over 59, the insurance looks like a good deal. Too bad "old" age as made us timid! hah-ha 20 years ago we'd have just booked the trip and gone, playing anything else by ear.Worked well for six weeks driving around the U.K. and Irish Republic, but time seems to generate this need for security from the unknown, not the hoping for the unknown.

[cruisemom123]

we have cruise with Vantage twice once tulips and windmills and the othe rbudapest to amsterdam

 

both time very pleased with the escorts they an make or brak a cruise we found out during our china cruise NOt vantage

the prices were a bit more but read all the side trips sometime once yu add them that are not included you are spending more we wil do vantage again soon tim and linda

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

trip insurance with Allianz both 60 years old 8000$ X 6.5 % = 520$ and no hold backs .. Am I wrong ???

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We are checking into Allianz for our French River cruise next year since the Vantage quoted price is over $800 per person! The only advantage I can see is that it does include "for any reason" which would be helpful if there was heavy flooding or an intense heat wave in Europe at that time...

That is a good thing , IF is it true ..?????