Good to know about the Viking Air Plus! Thanks!
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We did a Lower Danube (Budapest-Bucharest) cruise a few years ago. It was late summer, so the Danube had water level problems, and we had to leave the ship a day early. Instead of a 2-hour bus ride to Bucharest, it was 9 hours! Not their fault of course. On our trip there was a severe staff shortageâthe cruise director had virtually no help and had to handle all the arrangements, shore excursions, etc. on her own. When a violent hailstorm broke out during a shore excursion, there was no Avalon person with the buses to make decisions on returning to the boat. I would not recommend Avalon unless they have beefed up their staffing.
For our next river cruises we tried Tauck, which was pricier but worth it. We did the standard Rhine Basel-Amsterdam cruise but took the âBridges Familyâ version. There were three youth counselors who planned many activities on board to engage children and teens. They made jewellery, puppets, etc., had a talent show, played foosball, etc. The shore excursions were tailored to kidsâ interests as wellâthe Mt. Pilatus cog railway, the Speyer technical museum (with a go-kart course in the parking lot). Fewer than 100 passengers on our tripâthe adults were all parents or grandparents.
I also took Tauckâs âmusicalâ version of their upper Danube cruise (Budapest-Vilshofen). Definitely an older crowd, all people with some musical background who wanted to go to concerts on board and off, tour opera houses and composersâ homes, sing in the guest chorus, listen to lectures on Mozart, Schubert, etc. A very special cruise for people who love classical music.
Tauck also offers standard Rhine and Danube cruises, but we havenât tried any of those.
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Good to know that Tauck offers cruises for families. DH and I had a Tauck tour when we were in our early 50s and we were the youngest ones in the group with the average age about 2 decades older. We never did another Tauck tour again.
Is Tauck worth the cost?
A common phrase to newbies who have ocean cruise experience but new to river cruises is on Cruise Critic âthe only thing river cruises and ocean cruises is that they involve floating on waterâ.
They could not be more different in terms of dining, entertainment, excursions, etc.
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I have never taken a Tauck trip, but my father and other family members have taken Tauck river cruises and land tours. They were always pleased and were return customers for years. Safe to say that Tauck is high end travel for those who can afford it, and skews older.
I did consider Tauck bridges family river cruise for our Danube trip. Their itinerary and price is very similar to the ABD cruise that we took. In the end we went with ABD since they had a little more variety and options per day for excursions. ABD also felt less formal and more family friendly to me.
For us it was worth the cost. Last summer there were sever low water problems in Europe and many companies were skipping ports, doing ship swaps, or even cancelling cruises altogether. The Scylla ships that Tauck uses have shallower drafts than the standard Viking, etc., ships, and Tauck takes fewer passengers than the mainstream lines, so we got through the Rhine and Danube with no problems. The captain did have to go extra slowly through the Rhine Gorge (past the Lorelei rock), but that was hardly an inconvenience. Our only complaint was that the spa and hair/nails people were AWOLâthey never showed up.
Kids loved the Bridges Family cruise and want to go on another one.
All Tauck land tours and cruises offer first class service, food and drinks. If you like a slower pace of touring, rich food and unlimited alcoholic drinks then you may be a good fit.
Is summer typically the only time of year for water level concerns? How about spring and fall?
We did the Viking Grand European in late September. The water levels were fine on all 3 rivers. I selflessly prayed for rain for Europe all summer. We had no problems.
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Sometimes Spring floods can have the water levels too high. I remember a few years back that all river traffic was stopped because the boats couldnât get under the bridges. That was unusual though!
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In the spring the issue can be high waterâthere are many low bridges that getting under can be a problem if the water is too high. Viking lets your tour the wheelhouse, which is on hydraulics and can be lowered into the top deck if necessary.
We sailed in October, and the low summer water levels were not a problem. Be aware though, each year is different.
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