Grand Circle - What Do You Think???

DH and I are considering a river cruise on Grand Circle, and would be interested in hearing from those of you who have cruised with them. Have you had good experiences?

DH and I are considering a river cruise on Grand Circle, and would be interested in hearing from those of you who have cruised with them. Have you had good experiences?

We leave next week for our 4th Grand Circle trip and will be doing the 5th in August when we go to Russia. If you have any specific questions please ask. If you do decide to take a trip with GC and mention my name and number you and I both get a $100 credit.

Sharon

h2otstr@aol.com

H2Otstr - thank you for your response. Did you schedule your flights through GC and if so, did they go well? Was your experience working with GC directly a good one? This would be our first river cruise -- have been on only ocean cruises and have always booked through a TA. Will email you for your number if/when we make a decision to go with GC. Thanks.

Donna

H2Otstr - thank you for your response. Did you schedule your flights through GC and if so, did they go well? Was your experience working with GC directly a good one? This would be our first river cruise -- have been on only ocean cruises and have always booked through a TA. Will email you for your number if/when we make a decision to go with GC. Thanks.

Donna

We did our flights thru GC and they are fine. We are on Delta.

It has always been a pleasure to deal with the staff at Grand Circle. They are very pleasant and helpful if there are any questions or concerns that need to be answered. We just received an email from our Program Director this morning introducing himself and providing telephone numbers to his direct line if we need to get in touch with him for any reason.

H2Otstr - your information has been very helpful and much appreciated. It is good to know that they would use Delta as that airline is the one we would prefer. Have a safe and wonderful cruise. D.

H2Otstr - your information has been very helpful and much appreciated. It is good to know that they would use Delta as that airline is the one we would prefer. Have a safe and wonderful cruise. D.

Thanks !!!

We have done 6 river cruises with Grand Circle and 7 other trips with them and their sister company Overseas Adventure Travel and have been very happy with all of them. Their program directors/trip leaders are outstanding, The most recent was this spring on the MS Bizet on the The Seine: Paris to Normandy cruise. I have written a blog on it. To see the blog go to http://www.jackthetravelingman-seine.blogspot.com. I am also writing a very belated blog on their China and the Yangtze, which we took in 2007. This is almost completed and can be seen at http://www.jackthetravelingman-china.blogspot.com.

We have done a river cruise with GC as well as land tours. IMO they are a very good company.

~Doris~

DH and I are considering a river cruise on Grand Circle, and would be interested in hearing from those of you who have cruised with them. Have you had good experiences?

I took the GCT river cruise on the Soane and Rhone last November, 2012 and enjoyed it very much. even though there was so much rain that the boat couldn't leave for 3 days, GCT staff made sure we got to all the sites on our itinerary by bus and it all went very well. in spite of the rain, the towns we visited were very charming and atmospheric and photos turned out well. here's a 3 minute slide show of the trip:

Hi,

You can see from my sig that I am used to an altogether different style of cruising.

My Uncle Norbert, after whom I am named, has booked me to go with him and his DW on the Chardonnay, Nice to Paris.

What is the age demographic on this type of voyage? Dress code? Anything that you can think of would be useful..... am a total novice at river cruising....

I did a 27 day river cruise with the company and found it quite nice. All ages on this but according to time of the year more seniors than others. Not too formal but people did wear decent clothes in dining room at night. No shorts etc. Breakfast and lunch were buffets. Dinner was sit down. Wine was complementary. According to how filled the ship is you will be divided into groups of about 30-40 and have a tour guide who will walk with you on your trips or be on your bus. Usually every night the ship was at a dock so you could go out and walk around or get a drink locally.

There were always a few optional excursions you could take. All in all I really like the cruise. the staff was very accomodating. There were lectures and experts brought on board according to the local. At night sometimes there was entertainment. Since ours was long they showed a couple of movies in the evening. I think you would enjoy it.

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to reply and your input.

Having looked at the cost of this lovely vacation we are discussing whether to go ahead..... they have to fly in from the San Francisco area so that needs to be factored in..... what's nice is the company have given them 2 weeks to consider their options with a totally refundable deposit.

Sometimes you can get some terrific prices on last minute cruises with them. I know some people waited to the last minute and sailed with us and bragged about paying half the cost. I would have your friends look into the website and check last minute deals.

We're booked :D

I need to find a countdown clock.....