LIVE Tauck: Amsterdam to Budapest 6/29/19-7/15/19

[HBCcruiser]

Took the Tauck tour to the Ruks Museum. Then had lunch onboard one of the canal tour boat. Nice! Internet is really slow I’ll try to post more pics when I can.

[OnTheJourney]

7 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

Believe me I am very appreciative of the fact that I have a great job that allows me to take these trips with my mother. I work to live and to be able to make memories with those that I love.  Thankfully, Tauck offers GREAT deals when you book air travel through them. We are flying business class at an extremely reasonable rate. I rank/rate food so others may make their future food selections accordingly. It’s all in fun. Cheers!🥂

 

Truly didn't mean any offense. Interesting about Tauck offering good airline deals. I'm always hesitant to book any flights through a travel / cruise company since it always seems it's harder to be able to choose specific seats. Of course, if first class, I don't really care where I am in the cabin! Have to keep that in mind. The 'average' price for first class always, to me anyway, is just a bit crazy. Only ever did it once - with Argentine airlines on the way to Buenos Aires. It truly was amazingly cheap comparatively-speaking anyway.

 

The Amstel looks great. I know that after our AMS-BUD with Tauck we stayed at the Boscolo (now renamed) in Budapest - that place was amazing. Breakfast buffet was out of this world. Did not do a pre-cruise hotel in Amsterdam since we had been there on a previous trip. I sure hope you have better visibility sailing into Budapest than we did on the Treasures. All foggy. Absolutely could not see a thing until we were docked. Most disappointing. If we go again I'd love to do the Bend. 

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Took the Tauck tour to the Ruks Museum. Then had lunch onboard one of the canal tour boat. Nice! Internet is really slow I’ll try to post more pics when I can.

 

You mean Rijks......

[Got2Cruise]

9 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

Believe me I am very appreciative of the fact that I have a great job that allows me to take these trips with my mother. I work to live and to be able to make memories with those that I love.  Thankfully, Tauck offers GREAT deals when you book air travel through them. We are flying business class at an extremely reasonable rate. I rank/rate food so others may make their future food selections accordingly. It’s all in fun. Cheers!🥂

Enjoy every second! 

[jagoffee]

13 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

 

We booked for 11:15-11:30. It worked out perfectly. We had to be at the hotel ready to depart at 3. Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you.  I will try for around the same time.  

Were you required to check out of the hotel before you departure.  Where did you store your valuables?

If you get an opportunity, please send a picture of the laundry list.  Do you normally do on board laundry and is it reasonable priced?

Really  enjoying your updates.  

 

Thanks, again.

[HBCcruiser]

6 hours ago, gretschwhtfalcon said:

 

You mean Rijks......

 

Yup! Been a lot of upload issues..

[Daisi]

May I ask what they mean when they say your device(s) have to be scanned for the front desk to get them connected to internet?  

 

Loving your pics, the hotel & your room look really good (and so does the food....).   I love living through others cruises....:)

 

[HBCcruiser]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Thank you.  I will try for around the same time.  

Were you required to check out of the hotel before you departure.  Where did you store your valuables?

If you get an opportunity, please send a picture of the laundry list.  Do you normally do on board laundry and is it reasonable priced?

Really  enjoying your updates.  

 

Thanks, again.

MIll have to ask cause there is no laundry info in the room. Just looked.😳

[HBCcruiser]

After the Rijks Museum we went on a canal lunch cruise and walked around for a bit. Beautiful weather! 

[HBCcruiser]

Sinking houses. They call them Dancing Houses. 🤣

 

[HBCcruiser]

Random shots of Amsterdam 

[HBCcruiser]

Dinner back on board.

Saw wild horses at dinner!

[cruzrbachoua]

Loving your posts!  I personally love your fork ratings on the food and since I can not afford to cruise but once a year and closer to home at the moment  I love living through you and am glad you worked hard in life and are able to afford these luxuries for you and your mom. Just enjoy as I am enjoying living through your eyes and creating my wish list! 

[OnTheJourney]

This all brings back so many memories of the same trip in October '17. First time we did a canal boat cruise was in '12 as part of a Floriade trip. Will never forget that one - a bunch of young people smoking weed plowed right into our tourboat with their (much smaller boat) as were about to go under one of the bridges. Weird part was that they gave US the finger...bad manners (and likely too much THC already in the bloodstream).  During the Tauck trip (I think...unless it was the 2012), I recall our one tour director inviting anyone that wanted to join her to explore the red light district in the evening. Didn't go...probably should have just for the experience. We were told they will confiscate your cameras if they see you trying to get photos of the 'merchandise'. 

 

Yes...your weather looks perfect!!  

Edited July 2, 2019 by gretschwhtfalcon

[OnTheJourney]

5 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Sinking houses. They call them Dancing Houses. 🤣

 

What amazes me even more than the tilting (the entire city was built on piles) is how the gables on many of the houses resemble ship prows with their fancy ornamentation, and also the cantilevered hooks to hoist heavy objects. Some of those skinny houses on Beacon Street in Boston could benefit from such an apparatus!! 

[OnTheJourney]

5 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Dinner back on board.

Saw wild horses at dinner!

 

What you may have went by (assuming you're already sailing) is an area known as Oostvaardersplassen - huge wildlife reserve. Those horses (pretty sure they are "Konik"), look to be in pretty nice shape, but I recall a story about how thousands of them were starving and then slaughtered on this reserve. It caused quite an uproar at the time. 

Edited July 2, 2019 by gretschwhtfalcon

[HBCcruiser]

Thanks for all your great comments and info. Yes, I think we were sailing through the wildlife reserve. Sailing this morning then will visit Köln. 

[HBCcruiser]

Daily happenings:

 

[HBCcruiser]

Breakfast -French Toast.  10 out of 10 forks and very filling! The breakfast menu remains the same all week but there are plenty of buffet options. 

 

[HBCcruiser]

Laundry Prices:

 

[OnTheJourney]

Cathedral there is fantastic!!!!  Pretty sure we did that one in the rain though. Actually we had a good amount of rain on the trip. Had to keep thinking of it as "liquid sunshine" as they refer to it down in the islands...otherwise could have started to get a bit depressing. Those "voxes" are a great idea and work well (especially for people like me who prefer to hang back and let the group move on a bit so I can get my pictures and video without 25 other people in the background) but are also just a bit of a hassle. 

Edited July 2, 2019 by gretschwhtfalcon

[jagoffee]

7 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

Laundry Prices:

 

Thank you for the list. Some of the prices are higher than the cost of the items.

 

keep enjoying your cruise.

[OnTheJourney]

On 6/23/2019 at 12:45 PM, HBCcruiser said:

Less than a week to go before my mom and I embark on our second Tauck River Cruise - Amsterdam to Budapest. This time we are on the ship for 14 days! We LOVED the Versailles, Paris, Seine and  London one we did last year on Tauck, but preferred the ship food and staff over the land amenities. I have been SO busy at work that I really haven’t had time to pack or prep for this cruise. Doing that today.

 

We are doing a pre-stay night in Amsterdam, which is a perk given free to past Tauck travelers. NICE! I was able to score tickets to the Anne Frank House, so we will be seeing that and doing the hop-on hop-off canal tour the day before the cruise starts. I can’t wait for that awesome Tauck pampering! 🤗🤗

 

I will I’ll be posting here LIVE daily. Feel free to ask questions as we go. Mom flies in Thursday and we fly out Friday morning at 10:30 LA time. We booked our flights through Tauck because they were MUCH cheaper! We have a layover in San Fran then non-stop to Amsterdam. Not bad. I try to sleep on the long leg out so I’m not exhausted when I get there. Worked well last year so.. crossing fingers! 

 

Time me to Pack! Hope you enjoy following along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you staying on in Budapest?  We did Tauck's extension and were so glad afterwards. Budapest has a great deal to offer. Could have even spent more days there. (But perhaps you've been already on a previous journey....)  

[HBCcruiser]

7 hours ago, gretschwhtfalcon said:

 

Are you staying on in Budapest?  We did Tauck's extension and were so glad afterwards. Budapest has a great deal to offer. Could have even spent more days there. (But perhaps you've been already on a previous journey....)  

No unfortunately I have to get back to work.

 

[HBCcruiser]

Great day in Cologne yesterday. The Church is huge! Really pretty.