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River Boat Cruising

tomh

Although not on the Danube, my recent "Rhine & Moselle" riverboat cruise (11-23 Oct 2018) on the Rhine ended 3 days early due to the low water levels on the Rhine. That said we did manage to squeak out 9 of the 12 days before the trip ended early. We were able to see most of the items on the itinerary of the tour with a fantastic cruise and tour directors working under trying circumstances. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Germany gets some rain soon. Mother Nature rules! :-)

Comments

Ken from Vegas

Sorry to hear about your shortened trip. So how did it end? I can't believe that the just left you on your own three days early. Did they book you a hotel? Did they continue with the tour by land? I assume you'll be getting a partial refund. Curious how Tauck handled this.

tomh

Tauck was great. No, they did not leave us hanging. We were on two different boats (MS Inspire for the first 4 days, then switched to the MS Grace for the second 4 days before the boat could travel no longer on the water, and then only 1 day on the bus to our final destination of Basel (which included a stop along the way to visit Heidelberg). The Tauck folks (CD and TDs) worked their butts off under difficult circumstances to do their best at seeing that we were able to see and do as much as we could do on the tour; the crews on both of the boats were great, too. Remember that there were 100 of us on that tour. New airline reservations had to be made, for those staying longer in Basel (I did not) new hotel reservations were needed (it was difficult since Basel was crowded with events going on there then), etc., etc., etc. This was my 39th Tauck tour (the 4th river boat cruise with them) and just spreaking for me, I was satisfied with the tour (given the low level water problems on the Rhine) and the response of the Tauck (and boat crews) folks involved. We should be getting a partial refund for those missed 3 days later. BTW, I am scheduled to go on Tauck's "Rhine Riverboat Christmas Markets" cruise from Basel to Cologne in December (2018) and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Germany will finally get some rain in the meantime so that the tour will go forward. Hope Lives Eternal! :-)

CatLover8

tomh wrote:

Tauck was great. No, they did not leave us hanging. We were on two different boats (MS Inspire for the first 4 days, then switched to the MS Grace for the second 4 days before the boat could travel no longer on the water, and then only 1 day on the bus to our final destination of Basel (which included a stop along the way to visit Heidelberg). The Tauck folks (CD and TDs) worked their butts off under difficult circumstances to do their best at seeing that we were able to see and do as much as we could do on the tour; the crews on both of the boats were great, too. Remember that there were 100 of us on that tour. New airline reservations had to be made, for those staying longer in Basel (I did not) new hotel reservations were needed (it was difficult since Basel was crowded with events going on there then), etc., etc., etc. This was my 39th Tauck tour (the 4th river boat cruise with them) and just spreaking for me, I was satisfied with the tour (given the low level water problems on the Rhine) and the response of the Tauck (and boat crews) folks involved. We should be getting a partial refund for those missed 3 days later. BTW, I am scheduled to go on Tauck's "Rhine Riverboat Christmas Markets" cruise from Basel to Cologne in December (2018) and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Germany will finally get some rain in the meantime so that the tour will go forward. Hope Lives Eternal! :-)

39 Tauck tours!! Wow, you must do several a year. And you must have great perspective on several of the tours. Would you mind letting me know if you have done any of the following and which ones you liked best (and why) - Botswana, Ultimate Alps, Patagonia, Iceland, Antarctica.

tomh

I have just stayed with North America (U.S., Canada) and Europe. The only one that you mention which I did some years ago was the "Ultimate Alps & Dolomites, (UAD)" which I loved. I also did Tauck's other Switzerland tour. Both of them were great, but I give the edge to UAD for the fantastic roads we were on then; one could almost reach out and touch the Alps we were that close at times. :-).

leo89898

Hello everyone,
I was on the same trip Rhine and Moselle Southbound trip as Tom and I would wholeheartedly agree that the Tauck Cruise / Tour Directors and crew did their best to recover from what as a flawed business decision to begin with to go ahead with the cruise. I felt that there was a lack of transparency from Tauck with regard to historically low water levels on the Rhine and the potential for disruption to the cruise,regretfully, both before and during the cruise. Tauck was not able to deliver on the experience that was contracted for and expected. We are looking forward hearing from them soon.

I will be posting more on this later.

British

Rob2 wrote:

Hello everyone,
I was on the same trip Rhine and Moselle Southbound trip as Tom and I would wholeheartedly agree that the Tauck Cruise / Tour Directors and crew did their best to recover from what as a flawed business decision to begin with to go ahead with the cruise. I felt that there was a lack of transparency from Tauck with regard to historically low water levels on the Rhine and the potential for disruption to the cruise,regretfully, both before and during the cruise. Tauck was not able to deliver on the experience that was contracted for and expected. We are looking forward hearing from them soon.

I will be posting more on this later.

I’m not sure what you mean about lack of transparency, it’s been known for months about the low water levels and Tauck has had the warning on their website for months. If you had the insurance you could have easily cancelled. I suspect most people would chance going rather than have no vacation. It’s very annoying I agree, but I have heard that Tauck does a much better job of handling this problem than its rival companies. It’s not exactly unusual for the water levels to be low, but these river cruises get more and more popular.
Please let the forum know how things go with Tauck, but their tours do say subject to change, and it is not exactly in their control about the weather. I trust Tom as a frequent customer with Tauck that he would say if things are not sorted as he would expect.

tomh

Thank you, British. I agree with you totally. This was my 39th Tauck tour and my 4th riverboat cruise with this company. Considering the difficulties involved, they were exemplary in IMHO. I have bad knees and a bad back now, but as I told my travel agent who has booked all 39 Tauck tours for me to date, I would rather go on a tour with them if even I was able to see and do only a number of off boat excursions than take no trip at all. My personal opinion. I am now booked to do Tauck's "Christmas Markets on the Rhine - Northbound" riverboat cruise (Basel to Aachen/Cologne) (2-10 December 2018), which I am keeping my fingers crossed will go as expected (hopefully, Germany will receive some more rain by then). Whatever the case may be, Tauck remains number one in my opinion for doing the best that they can do for their clients. :-)

Claudia Sails

Just to add my 2 cents, actually the Rhine/Moselle doesn't have near the problems with low water affecting a river cruise that the Danube does. While the water can get very low on those rivers (Moselle especially) the river boats only need a few feet. We took this in cruise in Oct a few years ago and the water was low but no impact on the cruise. Also, since you have to be bused to most of the sights on this cruise, I would expect a little less impact (short of actually having to switch ships or the tour days cut short) than on other cruises where you'd normally be docked right in the area to be toured.

All the river cruise companies are affected by low/high water issues - it's not like they can control it. What differs is how they handle it. Over and over, reading here and on other forums, Tauck does the best job dealing with unexpected problems. Not perfect, but better than most.

Travelcrazy

tomh wrote:

I am now booked to do Tauck's "Christmas Markets on the Rhine - Northbound" riverboat cruise (Basel to Aachen/Cologne) (2-10 December 2018), which I am keeping my fingers crossed will go as expected (hopefully, Germany will receive some more rain by then). Whatever the case may be, Tauck remains number one in my opinion for doing the best that they can do for their clients. :-)

I did the Christmas Markets on the Rhine in 2015 and even three years ago, there was concern that the river might be too low because of the drought. We lucked out, but I am now booked for the Danube Christmas Markets cruise starting Dec. 16 this year and I, too, am crossing my fingers that Europe in general gets some rain.

Of course I live in San Francisco and it was 81 degrees here November 1, so there's no way to tell what the heck the weather is going to do anywhere now.

My trip this December is only my 12th Tauck tour, but the Rhine Christmas Markets was one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it.

tomh

Travelcrazy, you will enjoy the Christmas Markets cruise on the Danube (Nuremberg to Vienna), if the water/weather presents no problem. I did it with Tauck last December 2017 early in the month with no problem then. This is why I wanted to do it this year (December 2018) on the Rhine, especially for the stops we will make in Strasbourg, Riqwihr, etc., in the French Alsace region (I know from other sources how beautiful it is there during the Christmas season.) :-). This will be my 40th Tauck tour (5th riverboat cruise with them). I live in Las Vegas and I can not think when it was not hot and no rain here. With the crazy weather/climate change worldwide, anything is possible these days unfortunately. I am keeping my fingers crossed for both of our sakes that these Christmas Market cruises later in November/early in December 2018 can go forth without any problems. I am sure that is Tauck's wish also! LOL. :-)

wal

I was also on the Rhine and Moselle cruise that ended early,(Oct 11 to 23). Wonder if anyone has heard from Tauck regarding compensation yet?

tomh

Folks, I just received an email from Tauck. Those of us on that cruse will receive a travel voucher for future Tauck tours as well as payment for the missed days canceled due to the low water levels on the Rhine. BTW, I already have two more Tauck tours scheduled for 2019. :-).

wal

I just got the same email.

desizgned

I was on the same cruise that ended early. This was my 3 tauck trip and when they go well they are amazing. Having been on the Danube the previous year and Peru in 2015 I feel for the people who this was their first trip and cruise with Tauck. I think the Tour Directors did an amazing job under the circumstances but there definitely was room for improvement from corporate. For first timers like one set of friends we invited along they may never give Tauck another chance. He wondered why when we got to Basel they couldn't give the city tour at least for the many who were still there after they ended the tour. It was difficult for many to go home immediately due to lack of plane seat availability or upgrades that people had used. The cruise is normally so relaxing and filled with unusual things that Tauck does. It started that way but very briefly. Once we moved boats which meant we did not finish the Moselle (which the water level was perfectly fine on) but did the trips from Rudeshiem ( a wonderful small town which was a treat) much further away the bus trips got very long so only a few went to Luxembourg. Customer service does not respond like they should upon returning home but I have the Indochina trip scheduled in 2019 so am hoping for the best. If anyone else has the wrong amount on their check they are entered manually so we are told sending the rest to me next week and hopefully they will remember to send me the email with the voucher offer, three trips and they seemed to have forgotten us.