Vantage Travel: Majestic Rivers of Europe July 7, 2013

[mginfl]

Today I discovered that the ship that is supposedly doing this trip starting on July 7 is scheduled to do The Romance of the Blue Danube starting from Budapest on July 12. Since our tour on July 7 doesn't show up in the catalog, do you think Vantage has put us on this totally different tour without even asking? It is an 11 day tour, instead of our 15 day tour.

[mginfl]

Raising a stink here and on Facebook got results. Scott from Vantage called me today to explain what is happening. The July 7 trip has been eliminated. Vantage wants to put everyone on the June 28 trip instead.

Call Scott at 1-866-786-2006 ex 7099.

[mcconh]

Raising a stink here and on Facebook got results. Scott from Vantage called me today to explain what is happening. The July 7 trip has been eliminated. Vantage wants to put everyone on the June 28 trip instead.

Call Scott at 1-866-786-2006 ex 7099.

 

What pathetic customer service from Vantage when you have to find out on Cruise Critic that your cruise has been cancelled! How long have they known that and not told us?

[Two from Virginia]

Raising a stink here and on Facebook got results. Scott from Vantage called me today to explain what is happening. The July 7 trip has been eliminated. Vantage wants to put everyone on the June 28 trip instead.

Call Scott at 1-866-786-2006 ex 7099.

 

I, too, received a call from Scott on Friday. He said there are other options besides the June 28th trip; some in later July and October I believe. He assured me everything would be the same - as far as cabin, excursions, etc.

[Hydrokitty]

I, too, received a call from Scott on Friday. He said there are other options besides the June 28th trip; some in later July and October I believe. He assured me everything would be the same - as far as cabin, excursions, etc.

 

I believe you contacted me directly about this problem and the changes to your itinerary. I will be very honest with you, I have taken 5 trips with Vantage and have 2 more booked, I have NEVER experienced what you are going through and do not blame you for being really upset and angry. If this had happened to me on my first trip with them, I would never have booked another! I surely hope this is not a sign of things to come. All I can say is that once you have finalized everything and actually departed on your trip, you will be very pleased with the accommodations, service and treatment you receive. It sounds like Vantage is having some serious main office problems. What a shame! :(

[mginfl]

I just tried to log in to My Account on the Vantage website. My computer told me that the organization has lost its security system and that I should not go there. Now what is going on?:mad:

[tiegs]

I just signed on to the Vantage web site without a problem or warning. I would suggest checking your computer or wait to see if anyone else has had the same problem.

[6rugrats]

I believe you contacted me directly about this problem and the changes to your itinerary. I will be very honest with you, I have taken 5 trips with Vantage and have 2 more booked, I have NEVER experienced what you are going through and do not blame you for being really upset and angry. If this had happened to me on my first trip with them, I would never have booked another! I surely hope this is not a sign of things to come. It sounds like Vantage is having some serious main office problems. What a shame! :(

I don't know why this cruise was changed, but this happens with every line. I have had the same problem with Windstar. Booked a cruise and then a few months before the cruise, got a call that the ship had been chartered. Chose another cruise and then, a few months later, got another call that the cruise was cancelled because the ship was going to be refurbished. Finally choose another cruise for next year. I emailed the cruise line last week to check up on our reservation and got a call back this week. Our reservation was cancelled (with no notification to me) because this cruise was also changed; tranferred to a different ship and the dates changed!

 

So, this stuff happens, but after three times, I am a bit leary about rebooking. Good luck to those on this cruise, hope it works out.

 

To the poster with the security problems logging into Vantage; I also had no such problem. Are you going to the webpage through a saved link? Try typing it into your browser directly and see if that works.

[mginfl]

I retried logging in at Vantage and this time it allowed me to proceed.

[mginfl]

I told Vantage on Monday that it was ok to move me to the June 28 sailing. On Saturday the change showed up on My Account. But there is no cabin assignment. I wonder if they are overbooked and can't assign cabins.

[Richard Yano]

Hopefully by now we have all been brought up to date concerning the changes in our scheduled July 8....er..I mean June 28 cruise from Buda sorry Cologne, Germany to Budapest. Has everyone been called. I called Scott three weeks ago and at that time he hadn't got to us yet. He was still dealing with changes in early June. I am actually still waiting for his call. My wife and I were lucky enough to have scheduled our own flights with a week or two to spare on either end of our cruise so we were able to keep our flights. We did,though,have to cancel a couple of hotels that I had booked earlier and also find our way from Italy to Cologne. We were planning to visit Croatia from Italy and make it to Budapest for our cruise. We are now visiting Croatia after our cruise but still have to make our way to Paris to fly back to British Columbia, Canada. A few small problems but so far, nothing we haven't been able to handle. I hope all of you who had planned this trip,probably,months ago, will still be able to go without too much hardship or extra expense.Looking forward to meeting you all in six months in Cologne, Germany. Happy New Years Richard and Rhonda Yano

[nana541]

Wow you guys have just help me "nix" Vantage from my list of future cruises ! Between this and the older thread talking about them NEVER returning calls or e-mails....

Think I'll look elsewhere for future itineraries! Since we tend to book our own air we would have been really "financially" hurt, wonder how insurance would have dealt with this mess??

[mginfl]

My itinerary on the Vantage website now shows that I am on the June 28 sailing. But my flight from home still shows that I am leaving on July 7. And some of the optional tours that are listed in the new booklet I received recently are no longer available. Customer Service is supposedly looking into this for me, but I haven't heard from them yet.

 

I received $100 refund for the change. People I am traveling with received $250. I called, and Vantage said "Oh, yeah. You should have received $250." I did then receive the other $150. Watch your account for the refund and make sure it is correct.

[Two from Virginia]

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. Looking forward to this river cruise, aren't you?

[mginfl]

I have been moved to the June 28 sailing. Which date did you move to?

[Two from Virginia]

I have been moved to the June 28 sailing. Which date did you move to?

 

We are on the June 28th sailing too It was the date that worked for us. Have you river cruised before? This is our first.

[Two from Virginia]

Has anyone gotten updated airline reservations due to the change in date? We have not as of yesterday.

[mginfl]

I just saw my new flight schedule on My Account today. I get into Frankfurt around 6 in the morning. I should have most of the day free. Know anything good to do on our own in Cologne?

 

I took a Viking river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2008. The 2 cities were wonderful, but the river cruise is pretty boring. There just isn't much there.

[Two from Virginia]

I just saw my new flight schedule on My Account today. I get into Frankfurt around 6 in the morning. I should have most of the day free. Know anything good to do on our own in Cologne?

 

I took a Viking river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2008. The 2 cities were wonderful, but the river cruise is pretty boring. There just isn't much there.

We arrive at 8:05 Am in Frankfurt. How do we get to Cologne and what time do we arrive there?

[mginfl]

We arrive at 5:45. Vantage will meet us there and take us to Cologne. I bet we wait around until they have a full bus. We could sit at the airport for hours.

[Two from Virginia]

We arrive at 5:45. Vantage will meet us there and take us to Cologne. I bet we wait around until they have a full bus. We could sit at the airport for hours.

 

I hope we don't have to wait around for a full bus. Waste of time in my opinion.

[WhansaMi]

I hope we don't have to wait around for a full bus. Waste of time in my opinion.

 

While I didn't enjoy our Vantage cruise, I will say they were pretty good about the first transfer. We only had to wait a short while, and the bus was far from full.

 

Good luck.

[mginfl]

While I didn't enjoy our Vantage cruise, I will say they were pretty good about the first transfer. We only had to wait a short while, and the bus was far from full.

 

Good luck.

 

You can't stop there. Why didn't you enjoy the cruise?

[WhansaMi]

You can't stop there. Why didn't you enjoy the cruise?

 

I think it was a confluence of things...

 

(1) I think when I heard "smaller ship", I imagined smaller groups on the tours than on ocean liners. We generally don't do ship's tours on ocean liners, because I dislike the feeling of being "herded", choosing instead to do it on our own, or booking private or semi-private tours. But, the groups were about 35 people. When you have this many people, it takes a lot of extra time to move from place to place, and I don't feel as engaged.

 

(2) On this cruise, at least, I had a hard time pinning down the itinerary, so it was very difficult to actually plan anything on our own. For instance, upon first arriving in Budapest, a few days early, the activities were listed as "an overview of Budapest". I wanted to try not to overlap things on our own time, so I asked what the plans were, but was only given the activities the next day, not subsequent days.

 

Also, the ship sometimes moved without us! On two occasions, we returned to the ship, only to find it not there! Once it needed a repair, and another it was doing a turn-around. Another time, it was a scheduled thing, where it left us off one place, and picked everyone up another, but even that made it difficult to arrange to do anything privately. For most people, since they were on the tours, it wasn't an issue, but it becomes an issue if you want to go off on your own.

 

(3) My favorite ship is the Prinsendam. I love small ships, and I am very self-sufficient. I love to read. So, I didn't anticipate the feelings I had during the trip of being closed in. The restaurant is only open for meals, so really the only public areas are the lounge and the top (which was closed, on our trip, for a lot of the time). If you didn't like the entertainment, there was literally no where for you to go in the evening.

 

(4) I know food is a subjective thing. To me, dinners were very mediocre, lunch was okay, and breakfast was very good. But, more troubling for me is that there is absolutely no opportunity for anything to eat between meals (save the Pepperidge Farm cookies put out at 3:30) or after dinner. I misunderstood the "open seating" of dinner -- you sit where you want, but dinner is served at one time each day, for about 1.5 hours, and that is it. Seating started, depending on the port, between 5pm and 6:30 pm. That is a little early for us. I really think they should have some hors d'oeuvre in the evening, or even a soup and crackers placed in the lounge for people who would like to snack.

 

(5) I found that I didn't fit in with many of the other passengers. I knew I would be amongst the younger of the passengers (I'm 52), and that was okay. I've been on HAL, and, as I said, my favorite cruise was on the Prinsendam. But, I found this trip challenging. All of the entertainment was either classical (which I like), big band, or, literally, accordion music. The problem wasn't so much that I didn't like the entertainment, but, going back to number three, because there is so little public space, if you didn't like the entertainment, there was literally nothing to do, and nowhere to go, except your cabin.

 

Also, and more importantly, probably because of the upcoming US election, politics was the number one topic of conversation. There were almost all Americans on the ship (I think there were four non-USians). Now, I don't mind a political discussion, but the problem was that there was an assumption that you agreed with the majority opinion from the very start, and there were many disparaging remarks made. There was no "testing out the waters", to see where people stood. Anyone who was on the cruise *must* agree with you. I just found that rude.

 

Fortunately, I did find a group of about 10 other people who, even though we might not agree politically, were respectful of one another, and we spent time together, but it was quite disconcerting to be with most of the passengers.

 

(6) I found some of the literature about the tours to be misleading. For instance, at one port, we were supposed to tour a castle, and then go to a small town for a "cultural connection" of a "community hosted meal". Well, what we went to was this covered slab that was clearly a tourist trap, where we were served strudel by women in garb. Apparently, being served by the local people is a "community hosted meal" (how is it different than any other restaurant?) :-(

 

At another place, the literature refers to meeting "Anita von Hohenberg, a descendant of the Habsburg monarchy, at a cocktail reception". This turned out to be that, upon entering the house (which is called a castle, but.... ), you are with your group, and you wait for the group ahead of you to leave the next room. Anita is standing in that room, you are handed a plastic cup of champagne, and she goes through her lineage. Then she has about 2 minutes to answer questions (which she kept saying she was sorry for, and that "these cruise lines keep us on a tight schedule"), and them you leave to go to the next room. Not exactly a "reception".

 

Finally, it seems like we went to second tier tours in most places. For instance, in Budapest, we spent a couple of hours touring the Opera House, and hearing the most dry information about it (all about the architects, nothing about Cissy), but didn't go to the cathedral, the synagogue, or the palace, which, I believe, most people would consider to be more of the top-tier attractions.

 

 

All in all, this trip soured me on river cruises in general, and Vantage, specifically. In continuing to read this board, I see that, perhaps, I might, one day, be willing to try it again with another line, but.... for right now, I think I think we will stick with ocean liners.

[mginfl]

Thank you, WhansaMi, for the detailed response. I have been on a river cruise before and am willing to put up with most of the inconveniences in exchange for the cities visited. But I am concerned about the lack of detail about the tours. I too would like to schedule private tours, especially in Vienna and Budapest. I would like to see the buildings lighted at night.

 

In Vienna, the tours do not mention anything around the cathedral. Where does the shuttle drop you and for how long?

 

And in Budapest, the tour doesn't mention anything in Pest. Can I walk over the Chain Bridge and to the cathedral?

 

Thank you for all the information.