In city dining opportunities

brogie62

We will be taking the northbound cruise in December 2017. I was wondering how dinner and departure timing worked as we move from port to port. Will there be time to have dinner at a restaurant in a port city if we choose, forgoing the on-board dinner?

Claudia Sails

I haven't been on this cruise so can't speak to it's exact itinerary but have done Rhine/Moselle, and Rhone cruises with Tauck. In general, the ship moves from port to port in the evening after everyone is on board from the day's touring. In addition, few of the stops we made on the Rhine were close enough to places you could walk to for dinner - taxi maybe.

Reading the itinerary it looks like you might be able to in Rudesheim/Day 8.

I'd also say that dinners on board are outstanding. If I was going to pass up a meal on a Tauck ship, it would be breakfast or lunch, never dinner.

Travelcrazy

I did this Cruise in December 2015 and have also done two Rhone cruises. As far as I can remember, a lot of times the boat is sailing during the dinner time, so I wouldn't count on being able to eat off the ship. If the itinerary is the same, there weren't many places close to a city on this trip. But we did have the option to spend all day in Strasbourg or take a shuttle bus back and forth to the boat. It's because the lights at night are not to be missed (even a street lit by Baccarat chandeliers!) but some people didn't want to stay in the city for eight hours. You might be able to have an early dinner there.

On the Christmas Markets cruise, there is a lot of local food you can try at the markets. I wasn't aware of that, so was usually too full to try it. I did buy the gluwein at each market so I could save the cups/mugs as souvenirs, but I honestly liked the mulled wine in the ship's bistro better. I ended up tossing a lot of the wine I bought onshore and had a mug of wine on the ship when I got back. It wasn't until the end of the trip that I found a market stall with amaretto and hot chocolate.

I loved this cruise. I've been on 11 Tauck tours and it was one of my favorites. In 2018 I'm doing the Christmas Markets on the Danube. I can't wait.