4774Papa Posted May 10, 2016 #476 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Better prices than you find on Ocean cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPT Trips Posted May 10, 2016 #477 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Better prices than you find on Ocean cruises. And, byob is an option. :) No naughty room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayandjean Posted May 10, 2016 #478 Share Posted May 10, 2016 It has been a while since we were on a river cruise with Vantage. I know we get free wine with dinner. What do after dinner drinks cost? We are on Douro River cruise. We did the Douro cruise in October of 2013 and the wine seemed to flow all day, every day. I would re-name it "Wine Cruise on the Douro". Portugal was so enjoyable and we had a great time traveling with Vantage friends. Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4774Papa Posted May 11, 2016 #479 Share Posted May 11, 2016 We did the Douro cruise in October of 2013 and the wine seemed to flow all day, every day. I would re-name it "Wine Cruise on the Douro". Portugal was so enjoyable and we had a great time traveling with Vantage friends. Valerie Valerie, Thanks, that is good news, since wine is our drink of choice. We leave day after tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4774Papa Posted May 11, 2016 #480 Share Posted May 11, 2016 TravelerThom, There is a thread on the river cruise section stating that the Uniworld cruise of the Douro did not cruise. It was set for mid to late April. When was your cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuelScience Posted May 11, 2016 Author #481 Share Posted May 11, 2016 We did the Douro cruise in October of 2013 and the wine seemed to flow all day, every day. I would re-name it "Wine Cruise on the Douro". Portugal was so enjoyable and we had a great time traveling with Vantage friends. Valerie Valerie, did you get to sample a lot of port? FuelScience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4774Papa Posted May 11, 2016 #482 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I emailed our Cruise Manager in Portugal about cancelled cruises last month on the Douro. This was her response: Mr. George, early in April there were problems with high waters on the Douro river but since May all ships habe been absolutly okey. Regards. Manuela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelerThom Posted May 11, 2016 #483 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Our Vantage Douro cruise of 5-13 April 2016 went on schedule. The water was flowing somewhat on the high side, but we had no problems. In 12+ river cruises I have had only one (1) day of disrupted sailing, and that was April 2015 on the Rhone when the water flow restricted Cruise boats from sailing (commercial freight barges were still running). I could say that I choose my sailings with skill, but we all know that I'm just lucky:p To confirm, the Vantage French trips (both Seine and Rhone) used CD, Concierge and local guides in 2015; CD, Concierge and boat crew in France could be tipped in cash or by credit card. Valerie, did you get to sample a lot of port?On our Vantage Douro trip we had a choice of red or white port with every cocktail party (3?) and at the conclusion of every dinner (in addition to the wine with dinner). And of course at the two port lodges that were included tours. Thom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnjrockette Posted May 11, 2016 #484 Share Posted May 11, 2016 (edited) Thom, Have you written a review of your Vantage Duoro cruise? We are looking forward to our cruise in October and would love to hear the details! Did you do the pre-trip to Madeira? Pat White port? I've enjoyed many reds... will be interested in the whites!! Edited May 11, 2016 by pbnjrockette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelerThom Posted May 11, 2016 #485 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Thom,Have you written a review of your Vantage Duoro cruise? We are looking forward to our cruise in October and would love to hear the details! Did you do the pre-trip to Madeira? Pat White port? I've enjoyed many reds... will be interested in the whites!! An informal review at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2345539 . I specifically wrote this for 4774Papa who is traveling this week I think. It sounds like the tip situation may be changing; I assume that 4774Papa will report on the May 2016 tip status. We have stopped in Madeira on TransAtlantic cruises, so did NOT do the Vantage pre-trip. Those on our main trip who took it seemed well pleased with the Madeira portion. If you do Advanced Search on the River Cruising board, and enter user name "TravelerThom" and key word "Douro" that should pop all my comments. If you have further questions, I'll be glad to answer as best I can. White port comes in a variety of shades, depending on the casks it is aged in, and is most commonly an apéritif. Almost all the port served after dinner was red. I often have port as a digestif, so I certainly enjoyed it on the boat:). Thom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven1113 Posted May 18, 2016 #486 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Have been reading my cruise documents and Vantage says NO JEANS at night in the dining room. Do they follow this rule strictly? Just curious. Cannot wait to go!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven1113 Posted May 18, 2016 #487 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Is anyone on the June 12th trip on the Splendor? Bonn to Bucharest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorygirl4528 Posted May 18, 2016 #488 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Yes that's right. No blue jeans. We were on the amsterdam/tulip cruise last year. Some poor guys luggage was lost and he showed up the first night in jeans. They weren't going to let him in until they understood the problem. Turned out he had to wear them practically the whole trip....his luggage finally got there the last day. I wore jeans ( tan and a black pair just not blue) and nothing was said. You can wear them for other meals. If you are going with husband have him leave the sport jacket at hone. They recommend it for the captains dinner but at least 75% of the men had on a nice shirt and dockers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seven1113 Posted May 19, 2016 #489 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Yes that's right. No blue jeans. We were on the amsterdam/tulip cruise last year. Some poor guys luggage was lost and he showed up the first night in jeans. They weren't going to let him in until they understood the problem. Turned out he had to wear them practically the whole trip....his luggage finally got there the last day.I wore jeans ( tan and a black pair just not blue) and nothing was said. You can wear them for other meals. If you are going with husband have him leave the sport jacket at hone. They recommend it for the captains dinner but at least 75% of the men had on a nice shirt and dockers. Very glad you responded. Thank you for all the info. Carolyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimosa09 Posted May 19, 2016 #490 Share Posted May 19, 2016 that's too bad..one of the best meals we had in France was in Lyon. Oh and BTW, it's a good thing you didn't book Great Lakes....like I did. :mad: Well..... to Hydrokitty and pbnjrockette - we finally got the call re: our booking on the MS St. Laurent for the Great Lakes cruise. It seems they have finally settled with Haimark and are going to start cruising on the Great Lakes in August. We had booked the July 26 sailing which they cancelled. So they offered us a space on one of the August sailings. Unfortunately, we have too much going on with family events in August so we opted to go next July. :( -Rose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnjrockette Posted May 19, 2016 #491 Share Posted May 19, 2016 (edited) Rose, sorry your cruise is cancelled. Glad to hear that the St. Laurent is sailing again and that the Haimark bankruptcy is settled! If Vantage puts their Cuba cruise back together perhaps we'll go with them next year. But I'll wait to see if Haimark really gets it's act together!! Pat Edited May 19, 2016 by pbnjrockette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimosa09 Posted May 19, 2016 #492 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Rose, sorry your cruise is cancelled. Glad to hear that the St. Laurent is sailing again and that the Haimark bankruptcy is settled! If Vantage puts their Cuba cruise back together perhaps we'll go with them next year. But I'll wait to see if Haimark really gets it's act together!! Pat I don't blame you for waiting to see if it really happens. We are going to keep watch on a website to see if the MS St. Laurent makes it up to the Great Lakes in August. It's still docked in Florida :rolleyes: But looking at the Vantage website, they seem to have a lot of "sold out" on the Cuba circumnavigation for next year. I hope it works out for you. From what they told me at Vantage, someone else owns the ship now and the name is going to be changed to Victory. That name change isn't reflected on the Vantage website yet. -Rose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayandjean Posted May 20, 2016 #493 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Valerie, did you get to sample a lot of port? FuelScience Yes, we sampled great port! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayandjean Posted May 20, 2016 #494 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Thom, Have you written a review of your Vantage Duoro cruise? We are looking forward to our cruise in October and would love to hear the details! Did you do the pre-trip to Madeira? Pat White port? I've enjoyed many reds... will be interested in the whites!! We did the Madeira pre-cruise with Vantage and Manuela in 2013. It was a superb extension and she was a gracious and memorable program manager. Europeans frequently vacation on the island of Madeira and to enjoy its beauty was definitely a highlight of our trip. Since Vantage has revamped how they utilize program managers, I'm not sure if it stacks up the same but it was definitely one of our favorite cruises. Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrokitty Posted May 21, 2016 #495 Share Posted May 21, 2016 I don't blame you for waiting to see if it really happens. We are going to keep watch on a website to see if the MS St. Laurent makes it up to the Great Lakes in August. It's still docked in Florida :rolleyes: But looking at the Vantage website, they seem to have a lot of "sold out" on the Cuba circumnavigation for next year. I hope it works out for you. From what they told me at Vantage, someone else owns the ship now and the name is going to be changed to Victory. That name change isn't reflected on the Vantage website yet. -Rose Hi rose, I've been "off the grid" for past week..."sold out" for all datesand l levels was what made me suspicious and sent me into research mode. IMHO "sold out" is euphemism for "we can't book this trip" . I'm glad it worked out but Great Lakes cruise is just ridiculously expensive....$14,000 for 2 people for 14 days at the lowest cabin level is outrageous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRJarr Posted May 22, 2016 #496 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Booked on June 22 Vantage. My first river cruise, husbands second. Looking forward to a great trip. Thanks for all the great info on the Vantage trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveinCharlotte Posted May 22, 2016 #497 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Well..... to Hydrokitty and pbnjrockette - we finally got the call re: our booking on the MS St. Laurent for the Great Lakes cruise. It seems they have finally settled with Haimark and are going to start cruising on the Great Lakes in August... -Rose I've been tracking the St. Laurent saga for the past eight months. The Road Scholar and Vantage web sites always seem to show that although their near-term cruises have been cancelled, not to worry, the cruises a little farther out will be just fine! As the months go by, the story keeps shifting. Road Scholar is currently still selling July cruises on the ship, but I expect they will pull the plug on those soon. The bottom line: Until just one scheduled cruise actually happens, I am taking news of a Haimark settlement with a grain of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrokitty Posted May 22, 2016 #498 Share Posted May 22, 2016 I've been tracking the St. Laurent saga for the past eight months. The Road Scholar and Vantage web sites always seem to show that although their near-term cruises have been cancelled, not to worry, the cruises a little farther out will be just fine! As the months go by, the story keeps shifting. Road Scholar is currently still selling July cruises on the ship, but I expect they will pull the plug on those soon. The bottom line: Until just one scheduled cruise actually happens, I am taking news of a Haimark settlement with a grain of salt. Hi DaveinCharlotte (I flew out of Charlotte yesterday!) I agree with you 100%....having tried to book the Great Lakes trip for past 2 years...I will believe it when I see the ship listed as being in Montreal or Chicago and not in Jacksonville, FL!! In the meantime, I'm waiting for someone else to do this trip for less money, it just doesn't seem to be worth what St. Laurent or Pearl Mist are charging for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamscckmc Posted May 22, 2016 #499 Share Posted May 22, 2016 JRJarr, are you on the French Waterways cruise? There's lots of info on what men should wear but what do most women wear? Are capris and a blouse OK for the regular dinners? Dresses for captain's dinner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelerThom Posted May 22, 2016 #500 Share Posted May 22, 2016 ...There's lots of info on what men should wear but what do most women wear? Are capris and a blouse OK for the regular dinners? Dresses for captain's dinner?Lyn & I have done Vantage Seine Mar 2015, Rhone Apr 2015 and Douro Apr 2016. I confirmed with her that capris (or slacks) and blouse are the most worn female attire at regular dinners. She wore slacks and a nice blouse to our Captain's dinners, but we were in cooler weather; that or a dress would be fine. Thom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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