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Post by baymaxfan on Jun 25, 2024 16:05:25 GMT -5
We've done a good bit of research and looked very much at Tauck, Viking, Avalon, AMA and ABD. Tauck is higher end than we want. And both AMA and ABD (run by AMA in the cases we saw) had features we were not interested in. It is down to Viking and Avalon.
For starters, we are looking at Danube, and they all do them. Avalon seemed a bit better based on what we like to do. Your point about overall price is in line with what we found. Tauck was on the higher end, but they offer more than we would want, even factoring in what we'd pay for on other cruises. But not by much. The excursion offerings and on-board experience looked b better for Avalon (more choices) than Viking by a bit, as well as the room selection and options. ABD had very view adult-only offerings and, while Avalon does allow kids over 8, seems that that is very uncommon. A number of the AMA cruises had pools and what was described as a "party atmosphere" as well as things line dance floors in some cases. Not for us. But there are options for different tastes.
One Viking advantage is that they have a shitload of ships and cruise offerings.
We have found an agent that we will be working with who does a lot of these and can also help with details and deals.
Cheers.
You are certainly on the right path, which comes as no surprise.
Good to find a TA and has extensive experience with river cruises. Robin does not book a lot of river cruises and when she does, they are usually either Disney (ABD) or Viking. I don't pimp her for those cruises because she tries to only likes to book travel to places that she has experienced or are past guests who know what they want and trust Robin to manage their trip.
For a river cruise, having a pool has never been a consideration. Its not the same type of cruising like a Caribbean Cruise.....those are more about leisure and not culture.
When we ever get around to doing a River Cruise, I want to cruise Eastern Europe with stops like Vienna and Budapest (for me), but it also has to have an excursion to Salzburg (for Robin).
If you are set on Eastern Europe, do that. However, if there is some doubt, my Rhine river cruise was much better than my Danube river cruise (both on AMA with ABD). The cities along the Rhine have so much more variety. Plus, along the Rhine, you get the scenic area with all the castles and it goes right through the Alsace-Lorraine wine country with the best white wines I've ever had. |
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Post by brp on Jun 25, 2024 16:15:19 GMT -5
You are certainly on the right path, which comes as no surprise.
Good to find a TA and has extensive experience with river cruises. Robin does not book a lot of river cruises and when she does, they are usually either Disney (ABD) or Viking. I don't pimp her for those cruises because she tries to only likes to book travel to places that she has experienced or are past guests who know what they want and trust Robin to manage their trip.
For a river cruise, having a pool has never been a consideration. Its not the same type of cruising like a Caribbean Cruise.....those are more about leisure and not culture.
When we ever get around to doing a River Cruise, I want to cruise Eastern Europe with stops like Vienna and Budapest (for me), but it also has to have an excursion to Salzburg (for Robin).
If you are set on Eastern Europe, do that. However, if there is some doubt, my Rhine river cruise was much better than my Danube river cruise (both on AMA with ABD). The cities along the Rhine have so much more variety. Plus, along the Rhine, you get the scenic area with all the castles and it goes right through the Alsace-Lorraine wine country with the best white wines I've ever had. This will not be the last one. The Rhine is definitely in the future if we like this, and I'm sure we will. Likely it's the next one. As for wine, mrs. brp does not drink in we live in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I've compared this to French wines and, while I'm sure to enjoy what they have, I have a feeling it will be on a par with what we have here. Still the views will be spectacular.
We will be in Strasbourg in November which, I believe is within the greater Alsace-Lorraine so will get to sample there 
Cheers.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Jun 26, 2024 5:02:52 GMT -5
We did a Tauck river cruise in June on the Rhone, it was actually a redo of a cruise we had done in 2021 when the world was just opening back up after COVID. This was our 5th river cruise and our 6th (probably Tauck) will be in June of next year and be linked with a Crystal Ocean cruise from Lisbon to Portsmouth. The Rhone was very busy with several river boats tied up at every stop which was interesting because the tour started in Paris which was pretty much empty. We expected Paris to be crowded as people try to travel before the Olympics but that just wasn't happening.
I was just looking at the options for 2025 and since we will be on a tight time schedule to meet our Crystal cruise there were limited options so I more or less focused on Tauck and AMA since we have been on both and would do either again. I was also looking at Avalon but not in depth. My parameters were first a compatible date and a location that we wanted (Rhine and Moselle for the most part) I also looked at price using a cost per day since they all seem to vary in trip length. A few comments on recent thread discussion based on my recent tip and this new research:
Tauck (also a company that leases other boats but it seems to be a long term lease) was slightly more expensive but when we consider that Tauck price includes all tips and a night stay before or after the trip the price is pretty close and Tauck may have been a bit cheaper. Without considering tips or included hotel stay Coast per day on the Tauck trip (15 day trip) was $633 and the cost of a much shorter Rhine trip on AMA was $606. The difference actual favors Tauck if you are looking at upper deck bigger rooms (not the biggest room) with Tauck at $896 and AMA at $977.
I do believe that Tauck has slid slightly after the COVID blip, I still feel the excursions and extra touches are still slightly better with Tauck and the boat life on board including food was ever so slightly better with AMA.
T&R made the comment that Viking has a "shitload" of boats and even AMA has a few boats in the Rhine region. One place this really comes into play is when the river is at extreme levels (both high or low) and the boats can't navigate an area. If the company has several boats in the area they are more likely to transfer you to another boat and continue the cruise vs being static and using buses to get you to your next outing. That being said with the historic flooding on the Rhine and Danube this year several boats were stuck and guest used buses to get to extension locations.
When river cruising we have always selected a room on the top level mainly to slightly improve the view, but I must say we have been tempted to select the same size room on the middle floor to save some money. Especially in the spring when you expect the weather to be nice you can and probably will use the top floor sun lounge when just relaxing during a cruise. We end up spending very little time in our room anyway.
I have to agree with baymaxfan I would choose the Rhine over the Danube for the Amsterdam to either Basil or Vienna trip. My comparison is from December Christmas market cruises but I found that the Rhine is a much more interesting cruise. The topography, views, history and people seem to vary more on the Rhine. Of course the big difference is if you are heading into Eastern Europe where the Rhine doesn't go. I doubt that Mrs brp will be disappointed with Salzburg but Vienna is also wonderful. On our last Christmas market trip we jumped a commuter flight from Basil to spend a couple of days in Vienna, if you have never been I would highly recommend it. I like to say that I hate big cities but both Paris and Vienna have change my mind because those are two of my favorite places I have ever visited.
The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA vs Alsace-Lorraine, over all I would take the SCM AVA (especially for the Pinot Noir) but a good aged Riesling or Gewürztraminer from Alsace or Germany is hard to beat. Of course on the boat unless you are buying upgraded wine you won't get a good age Riesling. Over all I enjoy new world wines better than old world wines (except for Napa cabs ) but I will say I have enjoyed several $15 dollar table reds in Paris and I have a hard time finding a $15 California wine that I would cook with.
In the end I think most of the differences between cruise lines including price really get lost in the noise especially when you figure in the current cost of airfare. So as T&R eluded to, pick the trip that best suits your desires and I'm sure you have a great trip no matter who you cruise with.
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Post by tomandrobin on Jun 26, 2024 8:06:57 GMT -5
If you are set on Eastern Europe, do that. However, if there is some doubt, my Rhine river cruise was much better than my Danube river cruise (both on AMA with ABD). The cities along the Rhine have so much more variety. Plus, along the Rhine, you get the scenic area with all the castles and it goes right through the Alsace-Lorraine wine country with the best white wines I've ever had. That is definitely a river cruise itinerary we want to take too. |
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Post by brp on Jun 26, 2024 8:32:37 GMT -5
I have to agree with baymaxfan I would choose the Rhine over the Danube for the Amsterdam to either Basil or Vienna trip. My comparison is from December Christmas market cruises but I found that the Rhine is a much more interesting cruise. The topography, views, history and people seem to vary more on the Rhine. Of course the big difference is if you are heading into Eastern Europe where the Rhine doesn't go. I doubt that Mrs brp will be disappointed with Salzburg but Vienna is also wonderful. On our last Christmas market trip we jumped a commuter flight from Basil to spend a couple of days in Vienna, if you have never been I would highly recommend it. I like to say that I hate big cities but both Paris and Vienna have change my mind because those are two of my favorite places I have ever visited. The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA vs Alsace-Lorraine, over all I would take the SCM AVA (especially for the Pinot Noir) but a good aged Riesling or Gewürztraminer from Alsace or Germany is hard to beat. Of course on the boat unless you are buying upgraded wine you won't get a good age Riesling. Over all I enjoy new world wines better than old world wines (except for Napa cabs ) but I will say I have enjoyed several $15 dollar table reds in Paris and I have a hard time finding a $15 California wine that I would cook with. In the end I think most of the differences between cruise lines including price really get lost in the noise especially when you figure in the current cost of airfare. So as T&R eluded to, pick the trip that best suits your desires and I'm sure you have a great trip no matter who you cruise with.
We have been to Vienna and loved it. Even saw a musical in German simply because it was written by Jim Steinman and Roman Polanasky...and it was about vampires. Definitely loved it there. I'm sure we will like Salzburg.
As for the Rhine wines, I'm not much a fan of whites - the occasional Chardonnay. Riesling and Gewürztraminer are very low on my list, although I have had the occasional dry Riesling. As for the excellent and affordable California wines, very many exist, but easier to find here. I suggest checking out de Négoce or Cameron Hughes for killer deals on excellent wines (California and beyond) at fabulous prices. For Cabs, the reputed best in the word (from the Tasting of 2006) comes from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Yeah, it is good. In the end, yes, the tour line that best matches what one wants is the one to pick, especially with our airfare looking to run about $8K or so. Tauck offers more than we want (or want to pay for). Viking was a bit lacking in excursions and the room options are not as good as Avalon. AMA and, by extension, ABD knocked themselves out of the running early based on the unwanted amenities they offer.
Viking still seems interesting for the future where Avalon may not go due to my aforementioned craft shitload. So we could end up with them in the future. I could see doing one of these annually for several years.
Cheers.
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Post by Brian5581 on Jun 27, 2024 20:29:34 GMT -5
Just following up now that we’ve completed our first river cruise with Viking. Similar to Kerri Jo, this was our first Viking river cruise, and we did not know firsthand what to expect. We took the Chateaux, Rivers and Wine cruise that goes from Bordeaux City and back to Bordeaux City with stops in Libourne, Saint Emilion, Bourg, Blaye, Medoc, Margaux, and Cadillac. This was part of our 45th wedding anniversary trip with the cruise sandwiched between our other European travels (again, similar to Kerri Jo). The other trips included 2 nights at a destination, then moving by train, bus, or plane to the next destination. I have to say it was nice to have our “hotel” travel with us this week. Since we always travel carry on only, it was a great opportunity to get some laundry done. We had some friends tell us to be prepared to be the youngest on the boat (we both just turned 65, so that was surprising). Once on the boat we found that not to be true, for our cruise at least. There were a handful of folks who seemed older and a handful of 20 somethings. The rest of us were in our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. We like history so we mostly signed up for the excursions that were town tours. All of our excursions except one involved stepping off the boat and meeting the local guide. Only one involved a bus ride, and that was through wine country to see the various chateaus, with a stop in the evening for dinner and wine at a chateau. These were all easy to medium level tours, with the medium requiring some amount of climbing. We added a couple of our own small group bicycle excursions with local vendors, not through Viking, They were really fun! It was easy to coordinate the non-Viking excursions into our itinerary. We too chose a cabin on the 3rd level of the boat, but chose the French balcony version as some friends had advised we probably wouldn’t use the balcony much. The couple of times we did sit outside we went up to the top level sun deck when the boat was on the move. As Kerri Jo mentioned, the food was excellent. There were always many options and I was able to stay within my kidney diet without asking for anything special. We did throw them for a loop the first night when we each chose an appetizer salad and asked to split the main entree. It was like no one had ever asked that before. We found it was much simpler if we wanted to share an entree for one of us to order it then asked for an extra plate when the meal arrived. The service everywhere on the boat was exceptional, and everyone seemed to actually enjoy what they were doing. This made the trip even more pleasant. Overall we very much enjoyed the cruise. The weather the beginning of June was perfect in Bordeaux, no rain and temps in the low to mid 80’s. There were really not any demanding excursions on this cruise, but the nature of this itinerary was about Bordeaux and wine. They did offer some e-bike excursions but they were sold out before we got the notice to book our excursions. This wasn’t really an issue because we scheduled our own bike tours. Regarding alcohol, mimosa’s and champagne were offered at breakfast, and multiple wines were offered for each lunch and dinner (all included). Viking also allows you to bring your own wine on board and drink it at meals with no corkage fees. We did this twice with no issues. There are multiple captain’s events where they offer complementary alcoholic beverages and appetizer’s in the lounge prior to dinner. The lounge also offered cocktails and wines for purchase every afternoon/evening or if you paid for the beverage package these drinks are unlimited, We didn’t think it was worth the money as we don’t drink enough to make it worthwhile. Viking made everything so easy, if the itinerary is right we might do one again. It was a very nice trip! Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed. |
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Post by Brian5581 on Jun 27, 2024 20:39:32 GMT -5
We did a Tauck river cruise in June on the Rhone, it was actually a redo of a cruise we had done in 2021 when the world was just opening back up after COVID. This was our 5th river cruise and our 6th (probably Tauck) will be in June of next year and be linked with a Crystal Ocean cruise from Lisbon to Portsmouth. The Rhone was very busy with several river boats tied up at every stop which was interesting because the tour started in Paris which was pretty much empty. We expected Paris to be crowded as people try to travel before the Olympics but that just wasn't happening. I was just looking at the options for 2025 and since we will be on a tight time schedule to meet our Crystal cruise there were limited options so I more or less focused on Tauck and AMA since we have been on both and would do either again. I was also looking at Avalon but not in depth. My parameters were first a compatible date and a location that we wanted (Rhine and Moselle for the most part) I also looked at price using a cost per day since they all seem to vary in trip length. A few comments on recent thread discussion based on my recent tip and this new research: Tauck (also a company that leases other boats but it seems to be a long term lease) was slightly more expensive but when we consider that Tauck price includes all tips and a night stay before or after the trip the price is pretty close and Tauck may have been a bit cheaper. Without considering tips or included hotel stay Coast per day on the Tauck trip (15 day trip) was $633 and the cost of a much shorter Rhine trip on AMA was $606. The difference actual favors Tauck if you are looking at upper deck bigger rooms (not the biggest room) with Tauck at $896 and AMA at $977. I do believe that Tauck has slid slightly after the COVID blip, I still feel the excursions and extra touches are still slightly better with Tauck and the boat life on board including food was ever so slightly better with AMA. T&R made the comment that Viking has a "shitload" of boats and even AMA has a few boats in the Rhine region. One place this really comes into play is when the river is at extreme levels (both high or low) and the boats can't navigate an area. If the company has several boats in the area they are more likely to transfer you to another boat and continue the cruise vs being static and using buses to get you to your next outing. That being said with the historic flooding on the Rhine and Danube this year several boats were stuck and guest used buses to get to extension locations. When river cruising we have always selected a room on the top level mainly to slightly improve the view, but I must say we have been tempted to select the same size room on the middle floor to save some money. Especially in the spring when you expect the weather to be nice you can and probably will use the top floor sun lounge when just relaxing during a cruise. We end up spending very little time in our room anyway. I have to agree with baymaxfan I would choose the Rhine over the Danube for the Amsterdam to either Basil or Vienna trip. My comparison is from December Christmas market cruises but I found that the Rhine is a much more interesting cruise. The topography, views, history and people seem to vary more on the Rhine. Of course the big difference is if you are heading into Eastern Europe where the Rhine doesn't go. I doubt that Mrs brp will be disappointed with Salzburg but Vienna is also wonderful. On our last Christmas market trip we jumped a commuter flight from Basil to spend a couple of days in Vienna, if you have never been I would highly recommend it. I like to say that I hate big cities but both Paris and Vienna have change my mind because those are two of my favorite places I have ever visited. The Santa Cruz Mountains AVA vs Alsace-Lorraine, over all I would take the SCM AVA (especially for the Pinot Noir) but a good aged Riesling or Gewürztraminer from Alsace or Germany is hard to beat. Of course on the boat unless you are buying upgraded wine you won't get a good age Riesling. Over all I enjoy new world wines better than old world wines (except for Napa cabs ) but I will say I have enjoyed several $15 dollar table reds in Paris and I have a hard time finding a $15 California wine that I would cook with. In the end I think most of the differences between cruise lines including price really get lost in the noise especially when you figure in the current cost of airfare. So as T&R eluded to, pick the trip that best suits your desires and I'm sure you have a great trip no matter who you cruise with. Definitely some key points to consider. Glad you enjoyed your June excursion! |
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billo
One Bedroom
Posts: 205
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Post by billo on Jun 28, 2024 8:39:58 GMT -5
Great information in this thread, thanks all for sharing. Didn't know flights were that expensive, yikes.
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Post by brp on Jun 28, 2024 8:40:59 GMT -5
Great information in this thread, thanks all for sharing. Didn't know flights were that expensive, yikes. The ones I mentioned above are Business Class. Coach can be had for quite a bit less, typically.
Cheers.
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Post by Eli's Nana on Jun 28, 2024 10:15:35 GMT -5
We were really fortunate. I had been saving my United miles and was able to get RT tickets for us both from DEN to LHR in business class. We wanted to stop and see some friends in London so it worked out great. We only had to purchase the flights within Europe for our adventures. We ended up on the Dreamliner both ways and it was very nice. Spoiled now forever I think.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Jun 28, 2024 10:20:19 GMT -5
Once you’ve flown business it is hard to go back to coach, especially on those long flights.
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Post by brp on Jun 28, 2024 12:06:13 GMT -5
Once you’ve flown business it is hard to go back to coach, especially on those long flights. Word. We won't do coach on even transcon flights in the US. Europe? Fuhgeddaboutit.
Cheers.
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Post by tomandrobin on Jun 28, 2024 14:55:32 GMT -5
Once you’ve flown business it is hard to go back to coach, especially on those long flights. #Truth
And those international business/first class seats are way better than domestic flights.
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Post by captjacksfamily on Jun 29, 2024 3:34:02 GMT -5
Once you’ve flown business it is hard to go back to coach, especially on those long flights. #Truth
And those international business/first class seats are way better than domestic flights.
For me it is a yes and a no (domestic v. international not biz v coach). Some of the "pod" seats, at least on United, can get a little claustrophobic. Even after more than 40 years of marriage I still enjoy being able to have a conversation with my wife on flights so I don't mind the larger side by side seats. I am also not much of a sleeper on flights so the lay flat option isn't that big of deal either. |
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Post by brp on Jun 29, 2024 8:50:31 GMT -5
#Truth
And those international business/first class seats are way better than domestic flights.
For me it is a yes and a no (domestic v. international not biz v coach). Some of the "pod" seats, at least on United, can get a little claustrophobic. Even after more than 40 years of marriage I still enjoy being able to have a conversation with my wife on flights so I don't mind the larger side by side seats. I am also not much of a sleeper on flights so the lay flat option isn't that big of deal either. If one is going from California to Europe, the lie flat seats are nice. Also, both AA and BA have seats close enough to talk before we recline for the night. But I'd really not be able to function after being up all day and then not sleeping on a 10 hour flight.
For transcon, it's not typically lie flat (although SFO-JFK is ), but just a nicer 2-seat (rather than 3-seat) configuration.
Cheers.
Cheers.
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