Another "Help Me" Question

[tnr]

We are new to river cruising, and are considering a Rhine River cruise with AMA or Tauck. I am totally confused as to what is included with each. I believe Tauck is all-inclusive except for air and possibly alcoholic drinks. What extras would we need to pay for on an AMA cruise--besides air. It looks like they may be closer in what they offer than the price difference suggests. Help.

[caviargal]

We are new to river cruising, and are considering a Rhine River cruise with AMA or Tauck. I am totally confused as to what is included with each. I believe Tauck is all-inclusive except for air and possibly alcoholic drinks. What extras would we need to pay for on an AMA cruise--besides air. It looks like they may be closer in what they offer than the price difference suggests. Help.

 

Some tours will be offered at additional cost. Wine is included with dinner but any cocktails or wine at other times of the day is at a cost. AMA has free bicycles, a nice touch IMO.

 

If you book your own air, you would pay for transfers from AMA, not sure about Tauck.

[tnr]

What are normal tipping costs on AMA? Anything other things I am not thinking of?

[caviargal]

I believe the suggested amount is 12E per person per day plus 3 E pp pd for the cruise director. We also tip the tour guides.

[newlondon]

Having done a Tauck cruise in 2009 let me assure you everything is included plus more. The so called Tauck surprises such as wine tastings, concerts in a Viennese palace etc. are part of your tour. Happy hour was free plus all wine or beer at dinner; beer and soft drinks were complimentary at lunch. No tips are necessary but we felt the service was so good we contributed to the crew fund and individually tipped the CD and one of her assistants. If I was asked did we get good value despite the slight premium v other boats i have always said yes it was a no brainer. Service, food and accomodations are winners in all categories. The Uniworld Beatrice suites are slightly better but even more of a premium.

[onespots]

We are new to river cruising, and are considering a Rhine River cruise with AMA or Tauck. I am totally confused as to what is included with each. I believe Tauck is all-inclusive except for air and possibly alcoholic drinks. What extras would we need to pay for on an AMA cruise--besides air. It looks like they may be closer in what they offer than the price difference suggests. Help.

 

My wife and I took this trip on AMA Amandante on early Oct 2008. We have no experience with Tauck. ( we are in our late 50's and in good shape for long walks )

AMA boat was wonderful only 4 months old. The sevice, crew, and food was exceptional and abundant. Complimentary red or white wine served with dinner and as much as you wanted. The rooms were excellent, but you really only use them to sleep and shower. Lots of activities on board as well as frequent stops on the rivers. Most days 2 stops and sometimes a 3rd stop. ( bulk of travel at night to awake at your next desination )

Although it was cool and overcast a lot of the days, it only rained once. The castles along the Rhine were beautiful and wine country extremely colourful with all the fall folage. I spent a lot time on the sun deck taking pictures and enjoying the many locks you travel through on this trip.

 

All of the spots on your trip are excellent, and if you tire of the group or want tour on your own it is easy. The location of the boat is given to you with a departure time. Give yourself 20 minutes of leeway and you will not miss your departure. There are optional tour available not included in your package, we took several.

Truely we enjoyed our fellow passengers and small groups in town. Each stop had local guides, who are knowledgable and speak excellent English.

Either choice would be good as they are all English speaking boats. AMA caters to the American, Austrailian, and Canadian groups. All announcements are in English only and just once. You will have a great trip and come home with a wealth of knowledge and sore feet.

Best Wishes, onespots

[Talisker92]

I notice very few people talk about Vantage cruises, possibly because they book direct instead of through a Travel Agent.

We have been on a number of river cruises and are very happy with them. The real trick is to compare apples to apples.

Viking's "2 for 1" fares are misleading, plus air and transfers are extra. For the trip we took this year, "Castles along the Rhine and Danube" will be about $5100 each in A1 category, which is just below the suites. It has a queen bed and a French Balcony.

Air fare is included from New York, as are transfers and shore excursions.

I would suggest going to their website and see what they have to offer

http://www.vantagetravel.com

We just got back from that cruise and our story is on our website

http://home.mindspring.com/~highlandpark/

[thunderbird56]

I notice very few people talk about Vantage cruises, possibly because they book direct instead of through a Travel Agent.

We have been on a number of river cruises and are very happy with them. The real trick is to compare apples to apples.

Viking's "2 for 1" fares are misleading, plus air and transfers are extra. For the trip we took this year, "Castles along the Rhine and Danube" will be about $5100 each in A1 category, which is just below the suites. It has a queen bed and a French Balcony.

Air fare is included from New York, as are transfers and shore excursions.

I would suggest going to their website and see what they have to offer

/

 

We just returned from the same trip and it was wonderful. We paid just under $5000 each in category A1 which included air and transfers from Phoenix, which is even better. (I'm getting the 2011 brochures now and it looks like the rates are up a bit and there is some add-on for west coast airfares, but still worth a look). About the only thing they don't cover is wine with meals; however, there were several special dinners during the trip where they did provide wine and/or beer and there were two nights where they had a full open bar for an hour before dinner. We also were provided several lunches during tours and they also included wine and/or beer.

 

SJGOCH: Which shjp were you on? We were on the River Explorer and our Program Manager was Maya. She was absolutely outstanding. We did hit the heat wave but we had no rain and there were no bridge problems so we were fortunate all around.

[Talisker92]

We were on the River Odyssey, I think we were 2 days ahead of you We got to Budapest on 15 June

[thunderbird56]

We were on the River Odyssey, I think we were 2 days ahead of you We got to Budapest on 15 June

 

You were actually a month ahead. We got to Budapest on July 16. Started in Amsterdam on July 1.