Tauck...why is there no

[ddschur]

significant amount of discussion in this forum or the luxury cruising form regarding Tauck River Cruises?

 

I am a bit perplexed.

 

Is it that most members do not go on Tauck River Cruises or am I just looking in the wrong place?

 

Thanx for any enlightenment you can provide.

[Benita]

Tauck has their own message board on their website - perhaps people are posting there. Also, their clientele is often extremely geriatric, so maybe they are not too computer savvy (although computers seem to be catching on everywhere-in the senior communities around S. FLorida, where I live, they seem to have lots of courses on computer use).

[orchestrapal]

I believe the reason is not the"geriatric clientele" but rather the price of their tours. You don't get much discussion on this board about any of the

up-scale lines such as Dielmann and now Scenic. This board is mainly about the very mainstream lines.

[azcruiser64]

Try doing a search here on Tauck. I see quite a few threads, maybe some contain something your looking for.

[nyfeds]

We've taken land tours with Tauck and didn't find most people to be elderly. It was a very good mixture of all ages; although, no children, teens or 20 somethings.

 

Tauck has predominently been a land touring company. I think they have somewhat recently ventured into the river cruise market. This may be one of the factors in fewer posts pertaining to Tauck river cruises. Tauck is a first-rate touring company. I have no doubt that their river cruise quality would be comparabile to their land touring quality.

[letsgo39]

I believe the reason is not the"geriatric clientele" but rather the price of their tours. You don't get much discussion on this board about any of the

up-scale lines such as Dielmann and now Scenic. This board is mainly about the very mainstream lines.

 

 

How can Scenic be called "up scale" when there have been no reviews as yet. If your going by their fancy brochures of course they are going to call their own company up scale. I would like to see what the reviews will actually say! They only things I have read so far are definitely negative things.Time will tell.

[skandls]

You are looking at a subset of a subset of a subset. Cruises, River cruises, Tauck river cruises. There are not a lot of people who have done a Tauck river cruise.

 

So take into account the number of people who are interested, get on the internet and know about Cruise Critic.

[Chesie]

Tauck has their own message board on their website - perhaps people are posting there. Also, their clientele is often extremely geriatric, so maybe they are not too computer savvy (although computers seem to be catching on everywhere-in the senior communities around S. FLorida, where I live, they seem to have lots of courses on computer use).

 

Geriatric? YIKES! I'm 50 and been on 3 Tauck Tours:eek: Fabulous time I might add

[Benita]

Actually, I am 49 and have been on 10 Tauck trips (although never a river cruise) and I have yet to meet anybody who was too young to be my parent (except for the tour director). I guess as I get older, this will be less true.

[paradise0513]

I have been traveling with Tauck for years. I have now been on 6 tours. For the most part the people who have been on the tours have been 50's and above, but I have been on tours that there have been several younger people. My lastest was a bridges tour geared towards family's and the adults where in their 40 for the most part. I am planning a river cruise for my next tour. I find traveling with Tauck to be the best whay to travel. They have picked out the best things to do in the area and have it timed so you get some time to relax, but see the most that you can see in the alotted time of the trip. You will not be sorry to be traveling with Tauck.

[PK227]

We're taking a Tauck riverboat cruise on the Rhine next month. Will be happy to give a report when we return. I have also been frustrated by not being able to find many reviews of their riverboat trips. We have taken one Tauck land trip and it was flawless. Hoping for the same experience.

[Going Coastal]

Thanks in advance for offering to report on your trip. We are trying to decide between Tauck and Viking and would really appreciate your input.

[MSEm]

You will find slightly fewer guest on Tauck. Their River Vessels have fewer cabins. Also most of the tips on included in the Fare with Tauck. On Viking you will be expected to tip tour escort and guides.

If you are looking at China, I would go with Viking. Viking has their on River Vessel built specifically for Viking. Their guides are very fluent in English. Viking realized they are marketing to a English speaking group and try to mix up the dinner entrees. In China Tauck will have x number of cabins on a river vessel operated ususally by Victoria China Cruises.

In Russia Viking has refurbished the "Surkov" for larger cabins with hotel style bedding. The second Russian River Vessel will be refurbished in Winter 08-09.

 

In Europe you would need to look at the cabin layouts and pictures of the Viking River Vessels. Viking has not refurbished all of the European River Vessel but plan to refurbish or replace all of the older vessels.

 

Tauck's vessel are new builds.

 

Emily

[ddschur]

PK227...

 

I would very much appreciate your providing a report!!

 

If you like, feel free to send it to me at: ddschur@yahoo.com

 

Again, thank you and all the best!

 

p.s same with us re: Tauck! We have been on Tauck land Tour (Nice/Paris) and had an outstanding time...I have NO IDEA where the person who posted the "extremely geriatric" comment comes from????? She, obviously, has no idea as to what she's talking about!

[Benita]

The person who posted it is me, Benita from South Florida - geriatric capital of the US. I guess your experience on your one Tauck tour trumps the demographics on my ten.

[shoshona2]

Hi ddschur and Benita,

 

We have been on almost 12 Tauck tours and took our 17 year old granddaughter on the Nice-Paris tour. There were four 17 year olds on the tour. Wonderful tour. Our friends took Tauck's river cruise in May (Amsterdam to Budapest) and loved it. We have taken two cruises with Tauck on their small ships -- Le Levant (Venice to Venice) and Le Ponant

(Mediterranean) and loved our experience with Tauck. We are now booked for October 2009 to take their cruise down the Nile on their Eygpt/Jordan Tour. Tauck is a wonderful operation and we have had people in their 40s aboard our cruises.

 

Sheila

[shoshona2]

Hi again,

 

Tauck does have their own boards. I post on there as well as CC. Just go to their website http://www.tauck.com and check out the posts on River Cruises.

 

Sheila

(70 year old computer savvy person)

[tak2]

My TA does not sell Tauck. Don't know where to get good prices from a reputable agency. Any suggestions? I realize names of agencies cannot be posted, please e-mail me : cal7112@yahoo.ca.

Thanks.

 

Tak

[ddschur]

No Benita...it looks like the overwhelming response on this thread trumps your assertion...but, then again, who's counting...LOL!

[Benita]

But your original question was why so few Tauck members are posting on the river cruise board. The younger ones (yes Sheila, even though at 70 you could be my parent- 70 is still young in my book) are answering, but still nothing from the other thousands who travel with Tauck and the few hundred who have travelled with me on my trips with Tauck. Any explanation? There are some postings on the Ask and Share on the Tauck board, but very sporatic with nowhere near the response that cruise critic gets.

[shoshona2]

Hi Benita,

 

Thanks. I do feel young until I look in the mirror. There were so many more people posting on Tauck before they changed the layout of the Ask and Share Board. Still, I feel that only about 10% of those on a Tauck tour and the upscale cruise lines on this wonderful Cruise Critic board are posting. We were on the Crystal Serenity last October and we had about ten people posting. When I traveled with RCI or Celebrity, we had about fifty on each cruise who posted. We've met so many nice people on this board and love the info we get on each port and what to avoid on a cruise to make it more enjoyable.

 

Sheila

[Benita]

Hi Sheila, I agree with you -cruise critic is great. I have found hotels and excursions, met nice people and learned of great cruises and cruise deals thanks to cruise critic. When we planned a Crystal Cruise, I frequented that board and found out about the "sponsorship" for new passengers on that line. We met a couple who "sponsored us",so we each got shipboard credits and discounts and were seated at the same table during the cruise.

On the Oceania Board, I found tour guides in many ports and even booked one with another couple we met on the board.I also found a new travel agent who specialized in the line.

When we wanted a Russia River cruise, I went on this site and found which ship suited us and even an online travel agent who got us a great price.

I agree with you that Royal Caribbean and Princess sites are a lot more active. I abandoned the Tauck site a couple of years ago due to lack of participation. For land trips, I look at Fodors.com and tripadvisor, but have not been too impressed.

Actually, your name is so familiar - I think we corresponded on either the Crystal Board or the Oceania one. I love Oceania - Crystal was a little too stodgy for me, but we will probably try it again - although there is only so much Cole Porter I can listen to. You can't beat the Diamond benefits on Royal Caribbean, so we tend to go with them often - also helps to live 20 minutes from the Ft. Lauderdale pier.

We are trying Holland America for the first time this Thanksgiving - they had great deals on the Eurodam, their new ship.

The next river cruise for us will be the Nile next May. I'll have to do a posting about the ship and see if anybody has been on it.

Happy to hear from somebody who likes cruise critic as much as I do.

[shoshona2]

Hi again Benita,

 

We indeed did post on the same board -- I believe it was Oceania. We did three cruises with them and are trying Azamara next June. I was thrilled with the Itinerary -- Copenhagen to Copenhagen with stops in Norway, Scotland and Iceland. We've wanted to do Iceland on a repositioning for the past five years, but it never worked out. My friends just took the Azamara Journey and loved it. They are joining us on this cruise.

 

Our kids live in Ft. Lauderdale and we hope to take a cruise from there someday. We just took our 16 year old granddaughter on the RCI's Serenade to Alaska. What a beautiful ship and a wonderful size. Let me know what you think of HAL. The new ship should be beautiful. Tell me about the smoking aboard the ship when you return. I know a lot of people on Celebrity and RCI were unhappy with the new smoking rules and said they were going to try HAL. I am a non smoker and just love Oceania and know I will love Azamara. My cousins love HAL. We loved the Crystal Serenity because of Nobu's sushi bar -- we only went because they had a 45% off deal.

 

Sheila

[Benita]

Sheila - Quite a coincidence - we were thinking about the same cruise, but decided to go to Egypt in May instead. We were in Copenhagen when we cruised the Baltics with the Renaissance, the precurser to Oceania. It is a lovely city. We were in Norway with Tauck and loved the fjords and the coastal towns. We're looking at a Lindblad cruise which goes to Iceland and Greenland.

RCL's Serenade is a lovely ship. We were on the sister ships, Jewel and Radiance a couple of times each and will go on the new Independence in February. There are several pages of posters on Cruise Critic for our Independence departure, so it should be a lively bunch.

I love the nonsmoking policy on Oceania. What I would really like to see is no smoking allowed on the balconies on other lines. I guess I can still dream.

[shoshona2]

Hi Benita,

 

I'm also on Lindblad's list. My husband and his brother want to go to the Antartic with them. Soooooooooooooo, I get brochures almost every day. They have a great reputation. That would have been funny if you were on our Azamara cruise.

 

Which tour group are you using for Egypt?

 

I'm awaiting Oceania's new build for 2010 -- want to see if they have any new places and a GOOD deal.

 

Sheila