Can anyone compare Tauck with Crystal?

[Coral]

Went on Crystal River cruise last fall and loved everything about it. I am looking at a Tauck cruise and was wondering if anyone has "real world" comparisons.

[tfred]

following this.  We sailed Crystal River last summer - BSL-AMS and loved it.  Have not sailed the others but I think that Crystal would be hard to beat.

 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, tfred said:

following this.  We sailed Crystal River last summer - BSL-AMS and loved it.  Have not sailed the others but I think that Crystal would be hard to beat.

 

I know! On the Danube - Crystal's shore excursions (free) were much better than the other lines shore excursions in addition to everything else.

 

I am interested in a longer cruise and Crystal doesn't have it. I have read one scathing review of Tauck which sort of scares me. The other reviews are pretty good but the one review is from a frequent poster on this board.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Coral

[tfred]

we are doing the Xmas market cruise on Crystal Ravel in November as enjoyed the Debussy last july

[Coral]

On 3/28/2019 at 12:22 PM, tfred said:

we are doing the Xmas market cruise on Crystal Ravel in November as enjoyed the Debussy last july

I did the Christmas Markets last year and loved it! I am thinking of a "fall trip" but am keeping my options open.

 

Still hoping someone can compare the two lines. I found that Crystal had better excursions on my Danube cruise compared to other lines. 

[Cary Cruiser]

On 3/28/2019 at 1:12 PM, Coral said:

I know! On the Danube - Crystal's shore excursions (free) were much better than the other lines shore excursions in addition to everything else.

 

I am interested in a longer cruise and Crystal doesn't have it. I have read one scathing review of Tauck which sort of scares me. The other reviews are pretty good but the one review is from a frequent poster on this board.

I have never taken a tour/cruise with Tauck, and probably never will due to the high cost, but one thing I do know is that everything I ever read about their trips and cruises are that they are absolutely top shelf. Can things go sideways sometimes, even on a Tauck trip - probably, but I can't imagine them not making every effort to make things right for one of their guests.

 

One thing I have learned over the years, is that there are some people who seem to be in a perennially unhappy state, and you are better off ignoring their complaints.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Cary Cruiser

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Cary Cruiser said:

I have never taken a tour/cruise with Tauck, and probably never will due to the high cost, but one thing I do know is that everything I ever read about their trips and cruises are that they are absolutely top shelf. Can things go sideways sometimes, even on a Tauck trip - probably, but I can't imagine them not making every effort to make things right for one of their guests.

 

One thing I have over the years, is that there are some people who seem to be in a perennially unhappy state, and you are better off ignoring their complaints.

Thanks! I have heard all great things about their land tours. I really hadn't followed them via river cruise until recently.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Coral

[need2travel1]

I'm sorry I can't really help w/ your question comparing Tauck to Crystal river cruising but I will say we have done 9 land tours w/ Tauck & every one was awesome!  I'd say 1 was 8/10, 2 were 9/10 & the rest were 10/10.  I can't imagine that their river cruises would be that much different in terms of quality.  We've done 3 river cruises (just booked #4) w/ Uniworld & the only reason they weren't w/ Tauck was because Tauck is just over our vacation budget.  Good luck w/ your travel plans!

[boblerm]

Sorry that I cannot make the comparison as I have not done Crystal river cruise (although I am a big fan of their ocean cruises), but I have done 2 Tauck river cruises (Danube and Rhine-Moselle), and I cannot say enough about how great the experiences have been.  Everything was as close to perfection as I can imagine.  My gut feeling is that you are unlikely to be disappointed in either!

Bob

[ride4806]

While we have not cruised with Tauck we have take land tours with Tauck and just recently signed up to take a cruise with them to the Galapagos.  The land tours were FABULOUS, you could not ask for anything more, we have cruised with Seabourn which is also wonderful but I do have to say I think the quality we found on the land tours we have done with Tauck may have surpassed Seabourn. I do not think you could go wrong booking with them!

[NJCruiserBoy]

I've cruised Crystal River cruises twice, booked to take my parents on my third (their first) this Summer.  We've done Tauck land tours, but never a Tauck river cruise.  From everything we've researched Crystal is a better cruise with more shore excursion options.  Tauck boats aren't owned or operated by Tauck whereas Crystal boats are owned and operated by Crystal with Crystal crew, some of whom come from their ocean liners.  Our travel agent recently told us you can get the same Tauck boats through a company called Viva Cruises for a third of the price, haven't checked to see if that's true but have no interest because the cruise portion of the trip is really important to us.  

[notamermaid]

52 minutes ago, NJCruiserBoy said:

Our travel agent recently told us you can get the same Tauck boats through a company called Viva Cruises for a third of the price,

 

With all due respect to the travel agent, I think this is a slightly misleading statement. One could say that one can get the Tauck ships but you will not get the same cruise - which the statement implies. It makes it sound as if the ships are nowhere near as good as Crystal ships, in fact a little on the cheap side. It is correct that Viva Cruises which is based in Germany uses three ships that Tauck also charters. They are the Inspire, Treasures and Esprit. The ships are owned by Scylla in Switzerland. The Viva Cruises product is a different one from the Tauck product in that crew and possibly caterer, but definitely cruise director and land program will differ significantly. The ships are of a great standard, but granted, Crystal has gone a little further as regards luxury - and let people pay a significant extra amount for it.

 

From what past cruisers have reported Crystal food is of the highest standard and obviously you are very happy with them as well. Great! Have a lovely time with your parents on the river. Which one is it?

 

notamermaid

 

[NJCruiserBoy]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

With all due respect to the travel agent, I think this is a slightly misleading statement. One could say that one can get the Tauck ships but you will not get the same cruise - which the statement implies. It makes it sound as if the ships are nowhere near as good as Crystal ships, in fact a little on the cheap side. It is correct that Viva Cruises which is based in Germany uses three ships that Tauck also charters. They are the Inspire, Treasures and Esprit. The ships are owned by Scylla in Switzerland. The Viva Cruises product is a different one from the Tauck product in that crew and possibly caterer, but definitely cruise director and land program will differ significantly. The ships are of a great standard, but granted, Crystal has gone a little further as regards luxury - and let people pay a significant extra amount for it.

 

From what past cruisers have reported Crystal food is of the highest standard and obviously you are very happy with them as well. Great! Have a lovely time with your parents on the river. Which one is it?

 

notamermaid

 

Well Viva Cruises is apparently the US marketing name for Scylla, and they claim to offer the same Tauck ship product.  I could imagine the Tauck people are none too pleased about them selling here in the US now.  But yes I could well imagine the Tauck shore excursions are better, our family has always enjoyed their motor coach tours.  I don't think you've ever compared Crystal's pricing to Tauck, but Crystal is less.

[boblerm]

4 hours ago, NJCruiserBoy said:

Tauck boats aren't owned or operated by Tauck whereas Crystal boats are owned and operated by Crystal with Crystal crew, some of whom come from their ocean liners.  

True, but irrelevant. The Scylla crew delivers top notch service on par with any ocean cruise line that I have experienced, including Crystal. The coordination between the on board experience provided by Scylla and the touring experience provided by Tauck is seamless, one would never know that they were being provided by different companies of one was not informed of it.

 

4 hours ago, NJCruiserBoy said:

Our travel agent recently told us you can get the same Tauck boats through a company called Viva Cruises for a third of the price,

I'm not sure if I am understanding this correctly, does this mean that a cruise can be booked on a Scylla owned ship that does not have Tauck tours included on the cruise? If that is the case, it is meaningless if you not receiving the Tauck experience.

[Coral]

I am the one who started this thread. I ended up not doing another river cruise. I have learned a lot from this thread - thanks for all of your input as I want to do another river cruise in the future.