River Odyssey, Navigator, etc with Vantage World Travel

[alcorjd]

Advice please! We've cruised but not on a river cruise. Has anyone traveled on the River Navigator, Explorer, Odyssey or Discovery with Vantage World Travel? If not this line, any other suggestions? I know River Cloud is topnotch (a given since it is part of the Sea Cloud group), but most of their trips seem to be chartered by specific groups...

 

Thanks!

 

Joan

[npphotog]

Hi Joan - My wife and I were on the River Odyssey back in August 2005. We started in Amsterdam and ended up in Budapest with Vantage Travel. It was a great trip, super tour directors, fantastic food and wonderful sights. We were so impressed with Vantage that we are going (in 65 days) to China with Vantage. When looking at various tour companys be sure to compare exactly what each company is including. Some price theirs lower but offer optional tours that others include in their price. We checked Viking, Uniworld, Grand Circle and found that Vantage suited us best. You will have a great time, your eyes will be tired every night after seeing so many sights. Willard

[alcorjd]

Willard, thanks for your informative answer! We are completely new to river cruising and don't want to make a costly mistake. It sounds as if we can't lose with Vantage! Have a great time in China...:)

 

Joan

[Namby]

Hi Joan, I was very pleased to hear Willards good thoughts on the Odyssey as we are booked on it for the Oct 10 cruise. I too was a little leery. My friends have all gone on the Grand Circle cruises and have nothing but good things to say. It is a little cheaper than Vantage...but Vantage includes all excursions. We really wanted to go earlier than Oct (I don't want it to be cold!) but they were so booked the 10th was all we could get for what we wanted.

[morrfran]

Glad to hear some first-hand experience with Vantage and the Odyssey. Am booked on the August 17 Danube Odyssey trip. My only other river cruise experience was on Peter Deilmann--that was great. The itinerary for the 8/17 trip, and the inclusion of excursions were key decision makers for us.

[Old Salty Dog]

I think you'll love the Vantage river cruise. We were on th Explorer from Budapest to Amsterdam a few years ago and it was great. All shore trips were included, the food and people were excellent. We are booked on the Navigator for September 17 from Switzerland to the Mosel and Amsterdam. Compared to a similar Grand Circle cruise (with whom we have traveled about 6 times) the Vantage trip includes more, with no extra optional tours. We got the last available cabin when we booked last Nov., and would have gone with Grand Circle if Vantage was sold out.

 

We have also done 3 ocean cruises with Vantage and were pleased with them. They don't add much on the ship but have hotel stays before and after with all the air, transfers, etc in their package.

[kptbylorraine]

We are looking at the Vantage President's cruise in June on the Navigator. We would love to know how you enjoy your trip. Please write a review when you return. Have a great trip!

[mlj555]

I would love to do a river cruise next year and I like the sound of Vantage. Which cabin level did you have? Is the water lapping at the lowest (cheapest) cabin windows? Looking forward to seeing more reviews. Thanks.

[trufflelady]

We are going on Vantage this December. I am anxious to see the reply to your water lapping question, since we are on the lowest level. Our thoughts are we will only be in the room to sleep, and if the water is close by our window, it should put us to sleep. Looking forward to this cruise and have learned so much information by reading the reviews and responses on this site.