Best Of
Re: itinerary Sheets Essence of Japan March 2024
They don't allow swimsuits in the Onsens at Hakone or Gero - separate men's and women's areas. It was nice, you should go. I never changed dollars to yen, I took too many yen. I don't know of anyone who booked an excursion in Kyoto but the last day there was time in the afternoon. The Sumo demo was at the welcome dinner - it was great!
I posted the itinerary sheets because that is always what I wish others would do - its so helpful for planning.
Also, we flew into and out of Tokyo, taking the Shinkansen back from Kyoto before our flight. It worked great - the Japanese train system is very efficient!
Mini-Review Northbound-MS grace-4/17-4/25/24
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their previous posts as they are always helpful in our planning.
We flew Delta RT MCO-JFK-BRU, AMS-JFK-MCO. We used AMEX for our tickets as they had the best price
at the time compared to Tauck pricing. We found their business class to be good, not outstanding. Our flight home
was delayed by 1.5 hours which caused us to miss our JFK connection and they also lost a bag which we recovered yesterday.
Tauck transfers were excellent on both sides. We did not stay an extra night before the tour start like we usually do and that
was a mistake.
The MS Grace was in very good condition. We stayed in a Category 3 "loft" cabin and it was enough room for us and the
windows in the loft area were awesome. We looked at the smaller cabins and that would not have worked for us, and we looked
at the largest cabins and they were nice with a walk-in closet. Our friends on the top deck in the large cabin heard noise from
the deck at night due to the weather (see next paragraph). The service was excellent, the food good to very good. Our only disappointment
is how close the tables were in Compass Rose, it was very noisy in many of the tables. Arthur's was open and we went there several times.
IMHO, one of the best things about cruising is not having to pack/unpack everyday! There was a cruise director and three tour directors. The tour directors were all excellent and helpful.
The weather was DREADFUL!!!! As a point of reference we live in southwest Florida, it was 35-45F almost everyday, weather rapidly changed from rain, sleet, tiny bit of sun, very high winds. I did not expect needing a winter hat for a couple of days. The wind blew deck furniture around causing the noise I mentioned above. They said they couldn't tie it down enough in that level of wind. I wouldn't change when we went just sharing how crummy the weather was.......
Everyday we received a Daily Program sheet in our cabin mailbox the previous night. The first evening they also gave us a sheet with the excursion choices with more detail than we had when we signed up. Allowing us to make changes if we wanted to. When we were trying to arrange a private tour before we left, I called Tauck reservations and they had more detailed excursion information so I could plan around that.
I would suggest they provide that for when you are planning from home.
Excursion highlight-Keukenhof. Seven million tulips and other plantings. I was skeptical about spending five hours looking at flowers (my wife wasn't). It was awesome, however the place was packed with thousands of people. In our opinion the Northbound was the best direction as we ended the tour with Keukenhof and then Amsterdam. If you want to see the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh museum make sure you purchase the tickets in advance. They sell out very quickly. These were the highlights for us. Our local guides were generally very good. The brief tour of the Mauritshuis museum and dinner at Hague was very well done and we really enjoyed it. There had been questions in previous posts about the dress for the special events. I would guess two-thirds of the men had jackets, one-quarter had ties. The rest wore long sleeve shirts and slacks with a sweater. Men were also requested to wear a jacket for the ship farewell dinner. The suggested dress for the ladies previously posted was just right.
I don't have the skills that many of you have to do detailed reviews with pictures, etc. but I am happy to answer any questions. We haven't decided whether we want to go on another river cruise. I don't think Tauck could have done a better job overall, it's whether this is a "product" that we enjoy as much as ocean cruising and land tours......
Re: First time going on a safari!
To start, this comment it's not directed to anyone, but a general observation for different posts I have read all over the forum.
For some people, I'm one of those... taking pictures it's part of the joy on these trips or any, it's the photographic memory of what they saw, and what makes them/me enjoy the moment again... I do take them, a lot of them, but I haven't stopped or interfered with the Tour flow, in this case Tauck! since I don't go with any other tour companies...
I think and this is my personal opinion..., when a person signs up to go on a group tour, MOST! realize there will be situations where some compromise will have to happen! and there will be those people with no consideration for others on the group. (ex. Bali monkey- lady- her words... let's go! if you see a monkey, you have seen them all) Uff!
So, make sure you are okay with being part of the first type of persons, because again it's everyone's vac. everyone has their own expectations, dreams and situations.
For everyone... every trip it's special and for some the only or the last one.
BE KIND TO EACH OTHER! - KIDNESS doesn't cost anything.
We are living in an angry world; we are attacked by others every day... lets change this destructive pattern.
Kindness Matters!
Re: Lion Sands vs. Sabi Sabi
We just returned and can't say enough about the entire experience, will try to attach a YouTube video of some of my photos https://youtu.be/pDlBahhtgfY enjoy.
Re: Broken Foot
The more positive you are; the faster you’ll heal. Go on your trip. It beats moping at home. I don’t think you’ll regret it and definitely rest when you can. Who know what could happen next year. Enjoy every day.
Re: Non Disclosure of total costs- AWFUL!
Some possible explanation, but not an excuse. Chuck has only visited the forums twice and posted once since he joined in 2019. Any forum regular knows about tipping. I don't believe the tipping info can be found anywhere on the website with the exception of waterborne tours where under "Tauck value" it says: "All gratuities to Tauck Director, ship staff and local guides" but even then no specifics are given. It is not included in the Financial Summary, so if you are uninformed and don't read your final documents carefully, it can be a bit of a surprise, especially if you've only taken one or more Tauck river cruises previously.
Re: Vaccinations
Who needs the CDC when you can just ask some random, anonymous people on an internet forum?
Re: Broken Foot
Thank you all for the great feedback and positive wishes. It has been incredibly helpful.
Taking the advice of British, I called Tauck again and spoke with a rep who is very familiar with this tour. She spend over 50-minutes on the phone with me, going over each day! Wonderful customer service.
Coincidentally, she is also familiar with using a walking boot. She was optimistic that I could do the trip, noting that I can request a stepping stool to get in and out of the safari vehicle. Additionally, she put in a request at Lion Sands for a room that minimizes walking.
We are now planning on going, though I can reschedule/cancel up until 24-hrs before departure.
Thanks again!
“Impressions From The Seine” Trip Review April 8 – 17, 2024 (Part 2)
April 10 Arrival on The Sapphire Day 1 of Cruise
We arrived at The Sapphire at 3:30pm and waited in the Panorama Lounge until are names were called and we were escorted to our Cabin 311. Something new that we encountered is that Tauck no longer provides Daily Program Sheets, in order to reduce paper. When you enter your Cabin, there is a mini electronic device that contains a QR Code. You take a picture of the QR Code with your smart phone camera and it automatically downloads your Daily Itinerary and the next day. The only thing I don’t like about this is that there is no way to save or print the itinerary if you want to keep a copy for future reference or scrap booking. I brought this to the attention of Axelle, the Cruise Director and she said she had received several comments about that and Tauck may re-instate the Daily Program bulletins in 2025. In the meantime, she gave me a copy of her document, which I am extremely grateful, otherwise I would have no way to recall many of the details of the trip.
We met with the Dietary Maître d’ at 4:45pm to discuss food allergies. At 5:45 we had a Safety Briefing, Welcome and Orientation meeting. Dinner was in the Compass Rose at 6:30 and lasted about 2 hours. There was piano music in the Lounge afterwards. Fortified with a delicious meal, excellent wine, great service and two very nice dinner companions and great conversation, we retreated to our Cabin with a more hopeful outlook. The wine helped!
Axelle Lion (France) Cruise Director
Barbara Sembinelli (France) Tauck Director
Jeff Scott (USA) Tauck Director
Karmen Liovic (Croatia) Tauck Director
April 11 The Sapphire Day 2 of Cruise - Tour of Paris and Pantheon
My husband and I had signed up for the Paris Orientation Tour followed by a Tour of the Opera Garnier. The other option was a walking tour of the Latin Quarter.
Our excursion left at 8:00am after breakfast to take a 2-hour bus tour around Paris. Of course, we had to get back to Paris to begin our tour which took 1 additional hour and traffic was brutal. The tour of the Opera House was great and we have a wonderful local guide.
Tauck then gave each person $30 Euros or $60 Euros per couple to have lunch at a restaurant of our choice in the St. Germain market area with some suggestions by the TDs. We were still very jet lagged and didn’t want to wander that far, so we had lunch near the meeting point at the Brasserie Balzar. It was a local café filled with customers speaking French and a few people from our tour. The food was ok and cost $45 euros for 2 entrees and water.
After lunch, from 2-4, we walked over to The Pantheon for a tour which was very good. We had a great guide who had many interesting stories about the building and the people buried here, including Josephine Baker. The other option was a tour of the Louvre Museum which I felt would be too crowded at 2:00 and didn’t get back to the ship until around 6:00pm. It actually took us 90 minutes to get back to the ship. Traffic was atrocious and we had walked over 3 miles according to my tracker and climbed many stairs. We were both feeling a bit disappointed as this tour was just not up to par with our previous tour down the Rhine River 6 years prior.
We went to dinner at 6:30 and when we returned to our cabin, there was an Anniversary Cake and Card plus a couple of presents (luggage tags). Nice touch. Entertainment for the night was a Jazz singer by the name of Cynthia Queenton, she was an amazing entertainer and sang some lovely French songs. The day ended up on a positive note.
April 12 The Sapphire Day 3 of Cruise - Chateau de Versailles
The ship had cruised down the river overnight to Poissy, which meant we would only have about a half hour bus ride to Versailles. Our local guide was Phillip and he did an excellent job and the tour was very interesting. The Guide also did an overview of the Gardens. We did have a little bit of time if we wanted to walk around the gardens for another half hour or so, but we didn’t feel it was worth it to have to rush. There was also an option to do a bike ride around the gardens. We had left the boat at 8:15 and entered the Chateau around 9:00. It was already super crowded at 9:00am but nothing compared to when we left when the crowds were 5 times larger than in the morning. We returned to the ship for lunch in the Compass Rose. The ship departed Poissy at 2:00pm and there was an Art Workshop at 2:15 in the Panorama Lounge. This was actually quite a bit of fun. We had an artist, Mark Alsterlind, who shared insights, tips and techniques about the impressionist painters. The workshop was limited to 40 people, I think we had at least 30. We were given a canvas, an apron, and a pallet of acrylic paints and 3 sizes of brushes. We had a copy of a finished Impressionist Painting and then a blank canvas with an outline of the major areas, sort of like a paint the numbers canvas. We were then free to use our creativity to either copy the painting or use our imagination to interpret our own impression. Since we were seated in the bar area, creativity soared with increased amounts of wine and other libations. Fun afternoon. I took a video.
There were additional activities and presentations to while away the hours. Dinner at 6:30 and a D-Day film in the Panorama Lounge plus our resident Musician, Arsenio, at the piano.
April 13 The Sapphire Day 4 of Cruise – Rouen
No bus ride today. Hooray! We docked in Rouen and had a walking tour of the city and visit to the Gothic Cathedral Notre-Dame. We also visited the Place due Vieux Marche, site of Joan of Arc’s untimely death when she was burnt at the stake. There was a market going on in the center of town so you could spend as much time as you wish, so long as you were back on the ship by 3:30. Our local guide did a great job. The town was super crowded, so we headed back to the ship once the tour was over and had lunch in the Compass Rose.
I participated in the Onboard Trivia Activity. I didn’t win anything, but it was a lot of fun. The questions were quite difficult.
Our ship arrived in the town of Duclair where we attended our special event at the Chateau du Taillis. These events can sometimes be hit or miss. We really enjoyed the outing. Everyone dressed up. The reception was held in a lovely garden where we had champagne and hors d’oeuvres and listened to some lovely cello and violin music. We met the owner of the Chateau who was young, handsome, and very charming. The dinner was absolutely exceptional.