Tauck River Cruising

Basel

Amsterdam

Europe - All

Europe - River Cruise

Europe River

Excellent

Terrible

Very Good

ms Savor

ms Treasures

ms Inspire

ms Emerald

ms Sapphire

ms Esprit

ms Grace

ms Joy

Jewel

Tauck is the way to travel!

Jost Van Dyke

I was on the December 20, 2022 Yuletide Spirit sailing on the ms Grace from Amsterdam to Brussels.  It was an outstanding cruise featuring Winterfest in The Netherlands and Belgium.  It wasn’t marketed as a Christmas market cruise, so the focus was a bit different although we did have the opportunity to visit a couple of winter festivals in The Netherlands and a few Christmas festivals and markets in Belgium.   

Pre-Cruise 

I spent 3 days pre-cruise in Amsterdam at the Doubletree Centraal Station. Great hotel in a good location for cruisers and for getting around the city.  I’m a Hilton Honors member and checked it out on my first visit to Amsterdam.  Wonderful service that reminded me of the way things used to be pre-Covid.    

I booked my flights through Tauck.  Even though I came in 3 days early and wasn’t staying at Tauck’s hotel, they still sent a driver to meet me at Schipol Airport.  That was a nice touch.  I booked 2 activities online for my time in Amsterdam.  On Sunday I took a morning tour of the Rijksmuseum and on Monday I did an Amsterdam food tour.  Enjoyed both immensely.   

Passengers 

There was a nice mix of passengers.  Several families, about 12-15 solos like myself, and the rest were couples.  All were Americans to the best of my knowledge, with the exception of 2 British ladies.   

The Cruise 

This was my first Tauck cruise.  Prior to this I took 3 river cruises with Uniworld.  I found the 2 lines to be more alike than different.  I like Tauck's lowest category cabins (no single supplement for solos) better than Uniworld's, but I think Uniworld's food is better overall and there's more variety.  Tauck's "aquarium" class cabins have larger windows and are above the water line.  I will say Tauck's soups are outstanding and unique - cream of chestnut soup and mustard soup, for example.  

The 4 cruise directors were all helpful and informative and went above and beyond to make passengers feel welcome and comfortable.  There were Christmas activities onboard such as a Secret Santa gift exchange, cookie decorating, Christmas carol karaoke, etc.  And the ship was beautifully decorated for the holidays.  

All the excursions I participated in were outstanding, and each city we visited was unique and offered something different.  It would be hard to  name a favorite.  All were well done.  

The dining room service was sometimes a bit off at dinner.  For instance, if the hostess seated me at a table where people were already seated, she wouldn’t give me a menu or let the waiter know she had seated someone else.  One night our table wasn’t offered rolls, and we had to flag down a waiter for wine.  Two of the ladies already had wine.  The waiter poured wine for the third lady but didn’t offer me any even though it was clear both wine glasses were empty.  It could take a while to get tea or coffee with dessert if it arrived at all.  Not sure if the dining room service issues were due to staffing shortages or inexperienced employees.  I will say the waiters were good about asking if we wanted something off the menu for breakfast instead of the buffet or in addition to it.   

Itinerary 

Our itinerary included Amsterdam, Gouda (pronounced How - da), Rotterdam or Delft, The Hague, Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels.  There was only one change to the itinerary due to wind and water levels that involved spending 2 overnights in Antwerp instead of one, and then being bused to Bruges and Ghent.  I only visited Bruges as it was going to be too long of a day to do both.  Be prepared to do a lot of walking and I can’t stress enough about wearing comfortable walking shoes. For example, in Bruges the buses aren’t allowed in the city center so we had to walk a mile in and a mile out, in addition to hours of walking around Bruges, most of it on cobblestones.  My hips and knees were screaming at me that night, and I had to take an Aleve and drink a martini in order to be in shape for the next day’s activities.   

Throughout the cruise and excursions we were awash in cheese, chocolate, sausages, stroopwafels, and fish.  The hot waffle I had from a vendor stand in Bruges and the oliebollen (literal translation - oil balls) in Gouda stand out in my mind.  Not to mention the puffy little Dutch pancakes (poffertjes) with butter and powdered sugar  I had the opportunity to eat twice. 

Weather 

The weather was pretty much what I expected - cold, wet, windy, and dark.  Did I mention wet?  The most useful items I packed were a compact umbrella, lots of socks, gloves, and athletic shoes with thick soles for staying out of the water.  Some people were prepared and others weren’t.  The worst weather we encountered was the evening we were in The Hague.  It was rush hour and dark and raining, making it almost impossible to see the bike lanes and puddles.  I spent all my time at the Mauritshuis Museum as I needed an indoor activity.   

Flights 

As I previously mentioned, I had my TA book my flights through Tauck.  Going over I was on American Airlines, Nashville to Philadelphia and then Philadelphia to Amsterdam.  I had a 4 hour layover in Philadelphia that turned into 2 hours due to delays in Nashville.  It took me about 40 minutes to get from the gate where we landed to the international terminal.   

I returned home from Brussels on December 27 on British Airways.  Despite dire warnings, I made it back on schedule.  The saving grace was I flew direct from Heathrow to Nashville, bypassing the East Coast weather mess and of course I wasn't on Southwest.  I got up at 2:15 am so I could make the flight from Brussels to London, then had a 6.5 hour layover at Heathrow.  It was a L-O-N-G day.   

Miscellaneous 

The last time I visited Europe was in 2018.   A big change I noticed on this trip was the number of businesses, including small mom and pop shops, that only take credit and debit cards.  I was told this came about as a result of the requirement to have contactless payment during the peak of the Covid epidemic.  It was also easier to use my AMEX card.  I carry 2 cards with me, one AMEX and one Visa.  The only place I couldn’t use my AMEX was for a canal boat ride in Bruges.  I brought some leftover euros with me to get me started, but didn’t have a need to get any additional from an ATM. 

I ended up with a zero balance on my onboard account.  All food, drinks, excursions, tips, and transfers were included.  

Conclusion 

Tauck is a class act, and I will definitely consider them for future river cruises.  This was definitely an itinerary I would consider doing again, and I heard other passengers echo the same sentiment.

Cheese and Chocolate - Yuletide River Cruise Through The Netherlands & Belgium

This was our first Tauck tour cruise highly recommended but many to us

Having traveled extensively and been on many cruises,  this was by far the worst experience 

The communication from the start was poor as Tauck sent an Email the day before stating they were changing the itinerary 

They knew many weeks before that the Rhine may not have been sailable

Asking the day before a trip if want to cancel a vacation is not fair and not what we paid for 

So we depart for Milan as first leg of trip for 3 days

Arrive to a mediocre arrival dinner in Italy with steak as if at convention 

Would have thought big Italian dinner and feast to start us off

Then never told us that the “ EXCLUSIVE TAUCK PRIVATE TOUR EXPERIENCE” of visit to fresco of last supper had been canceled 

Blamed travel agent for an email never received.

2 nights on our own in Milan

One full day traveled to lake Como with little time spent in beautiful town of Bellagio but wasted 2 hours plus at a horrible fish lunch under a tent with row long tables 

Next  day 5 hours to basel to stay in hotel with another convention like buffet dinner

Took us to a canned winery for tasting in Alsace that was not very good

Next day another 5 hours to evenetully meet the river boat on the Moselle river in a container and trash yard !!!

Departed up the Moselle river for some nice ports but far from destinations (went to Heidelberg, 5 hours in a bus)

Food on the ship was fair to average nothing extraordinary 

Cabin was clean and spacious 

Entertainment at night was one piano player who did his best except one night where local entertainment brought on board and was excellent.  Could have done this in each town with local flavor of areas visited 

Last day in Amsterdam, tour of canal cut show abruptly as eating lunch which also was not appetizing!! 

Tauck fell short from all aspects and especially  from customer service !

For the money spent , it did not even come close to meeting expectations and experiences 

I would not recommend as have traveled with other high end companies like silver Seas and celebrity with services not even close to comparing 

I hope tauck revisits their cruise model ans delivery of services especially when faced with at times extraordinary circumstances 

These are the time to step up, deliver and communicate

Sorry but vacation this year ruined and not memorable in good way

Enchantment for the Rhine switched to Moselle

We did a fabulous Rhine river cruise with Tauck.  We left from Basal Switzerland to Amsterdam.   We felt Tauck provided fabulous service, a wonderful river boat and good excursions.  Really 5 star.

Joyce Taucks cruise director was fantastic.  Dusaw Bajac the Maitre de on the ship saw that I got the perfect Strawberry drink after a previous one was not very good.   He even sent a waiter to track me down as I was watching the castles on the river to offer me the drink.  The food was excellent, better than I remembered on our previous Tauck Blue Danube cruise.  

Tauck provided a wonderful schedule each day of activities.  Arthurs was open and we enjoyed eating lunch and snacks there.  Entertainment on the ship was great.

We kept being thanked by all involved for cruising during this period of time.  All Tauck staff and ship staff wore masks even though on some of passengers did. .  We were not aware of covid being present on this cruise.

We just had a river cruise with the Tauck on Ms Grace - Christmas Markets from Amsterdam to Brussels on December 6th 2021.

And we had the best experience ever!

It was not our first river cruise, we had done one before with Adventures by Disney. And I find these two companies comparable both by price and by the level of experience offered. We chose Tauck for the itinerary, as no one other company offered this itinerary.

We read reviews, so we knew the experience would be good. But we still were pretty impressed. In our uncertain time, with Covid and decline in service in travel industry and everywhere else - it's so refreshing to get such a great experience as we had with Tauck.

The ship was great. The cabin review is in the specific cabin review section. We had a loft cabin type on the Emerald deck. 

The Tauck personal on the cruise was phenomenal. The ship seemed to be managed by other company - Scylla. Though the ship does have permanent Tauck signage on it. But the point I am trying to make here that I want to review right now - not the ship crew, but particularly Tauck people who were managing all the touring. They all were somewhat locals to Europe, and it was a big added plus as they always were able to provide an insider perspective on the things in Europe. But they were overall amazing - in organization, knowledge, efficiency and were just great people! All different, and all just great!

We were also very grateful that even with all the difficulties in travel industry right now and all the Covid restrictions, our experience was almost not impacted at all - due to a great organization of the tours! Highly appreciated really!

The crew on the ship was also great! The ship was extremely clean and overall beautiful. The food and drinks were top notch.

We were VERY positively impressed by Tauck, and definitely will give them a priority over the other companies when we would be choosing our next river cruise experience! Thank you!

 Great river cruise experience!

My best friend and I decided to do this Xmas Market cruise shortly after her husband died. We were fortunate to be able to book a lovely suite, 308, just several months before the cruise. Someone must have cancelled - lucky us! This was my fourth trip with Tauck and my friend's first.  I expected it to be special and for all to go well and was not disappointed. She was amazed by the ship, the service, the tour directors, the lovely meals and our suite.  It was so well designed, clearly a lot of thought given from everything to bedside tables with charging outlets to the beautiful and spacious bathroom to the roomy walk-in closet with plenty of shelves and hangers. The public areas on the ship were decorated beautifully for the holiday season and the Dutch chef and her team had even made stunning displays from gingerbread (see photos). Early in the cruise, we were each given 10 Euros to buy an ornament at the Xmas Market in Achen.  These were added to the tree in the lobby and then we took them home at the end of the cruise. As others have noted, the smaller number of guests that Tauck accommodates on the ship means there is a roomy feel in every space and especially in the dining room and the Panorama Lounge. There was never a time when every table was used. The food throughout our cruise was Michelin quality, beautifully presented and served professionally. The breakfast buffet and omelette station provided an excellent start to the day's activities. The service overall on the ship was exceptional - friendly, efficient, helpful at all times. Our tour directors were knowledgeable and even though we had local guides in each town, we had a very thorough overview from the tour directors before we arrived in each location. They were there to be sure everyone enjoyed themselves and we did!

Xmas Markets, Beautiful Cities and Towns, and a Gorgeous Ship!

We wanted a “get away from it all” break so chose a quiet river cruise. The ship cabin and staff were all excellent. The organisation by Tauck is first rate. Yes it is expensive but you are taken care of from the moment you land to the moment you depart. 

We chose the ship because it had a second dining venue. That’s available all the time except the one really formal evening. Basic choices but nice to have a choice of venue. 

The alcohol is all in. So if you want to drink champagne for the whole week you can. The beer liquor and wine choices were all good but not exceptional. Glenlivet 12 yo was the best scotch. 

The clientele was 99% older well travelled Americans. 

We did some of the daily tours but some days just did our own thing. The tours were all well organised. 

I would highly recommend but just warn that if you are under 50 and not American you will stand out.

Pricey but Good 

We had such a good time on this cruise from Basel to Amsterdam. "Castles on the Rhine" by Tauck Bridges - our group had lots of grandparents, parents (like us), teens and even a few intrepid younger kids. It was so carefree. 

Tauck truly takes care of everything. That leads to a somewhat planned experience which individuals may or may not like. On this trip I surrendered to it, and it was wonderful.

The cruise directors Michael, Anke, Felix and Teresa were delightful. Absolute professionals, they really went out of their way to ensure that everyone felt taken care of. They were also great with the kids' activities both on-board and off (soccer games in port, science museum, parties & games on board.) They also encouraged the kids to make friends.

My favorite excursions were the bicycle ride in Koblenz and the dinner at Burg Satzvey Castle. My favorite city on the cruise was Basel, the embarkation point - so many lovely museums, easy walking, trams if your feet got tired. Even though it rained on our day in Lucerne & Mt Pilatus, we had a lot of fun there. Strasbourg was absolutely gorgeous.

The food was great! High quality and many choices for all, including kids. Wine choices and bar service were also excellent.

The only (minor) disappointment: a couple of the local tour guides were not outstanding - I liked the ones in Strasbourg and the bike guides in Koblenz, but the walking guides in Cologne and Amsterdam were just "eh." I ended up turning off my earpiece vox and just enjoying the sights and the Van Gogh museum. But this is a minor quibble. Tauck did an outstanding job. I would absolutely recommend this cruise.

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