Disappointing change of ships
After having my 2020 Alaskan cruise canceled due to obvious reasons, I have been anxiously awaiting the resumption of this tour. I was so disappointed to learn that Tauck will be using a company called Silversea Cruises, not Ponant. My disappointment is the size of the ship and the number of passengers; 388 now versus 184 before. I am not a big ship person and even had trepidations about 184 passengers. Subsequently, I did not book the tour. I opted instead for the small ship (Ponant) tour of the Great Lakes. Oh, well. I can always add some post tour days in Manhattan!
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I have a friend who is on an Alaskan cruise right now. Waiting to hear how it went. Obviously not with Tauck
We tried to book a tour with Tauck for 2020 in 2018. They were very late in announcing dates. When we called Tauck at the time, the agent said at that point she did not know if Tauck had managed to secure any sailings, so we gave up and booked our Scandinavia tour for the same time, which of course was canceled last year.
We have been putting off Alaska for years, thinking we could do it anytime…..how wrong we were….and we have an aversion to going on a big ship with non- Tauck guests.
I kept hearing about non Tauck guess pretending they were with Tauck to get free drinks
I have a friend who went on an Alaskan cruise, she was finding herself standing next to Tauck guests all the time, she realized Tauck people were getting a better experience.
You may have missed the boat. Silverseas is better than Ponant. You don’t have to worry about people pretending to be Tauck to get free drinks, cuz all the drinks are included for everyone. Every room has butler service and they are anxious for you to put them to work. When we boarded our butler asked what we liked to drink, and we said Dewers, so he brought us a liter bottle. He shined my shoes, made dinner reservations, and a many other tasks. The food is excellent.
Was it a spit "shine?"
I wonder if Tauck will add Scylla's new small expedition ship, MS “Seaventure” (the former Hapag-Lloyd MS “Bremen") to their mix? It just started being operated by Viva Cruises in the Baltic and North Sea. You can read about it here: https://polarjournal.ch/en/2020/10/23/swiss-expedition-ship-on-route-from-2021/ and here: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/21958-scylla-to-expand-into-expedition-market-with-viva-cruises.html
Sorry Alan. I did not watch. I was busy drinking their Champaign. You put the shoes outside the door and they would reappear nicely shined. Upon request, they would also unpack and repack your luggage. Of course then you would have figure out where to find your stuff. We did not use that service.
What are the extra perks that Tauck guests are entitled to onboard these small ship cruises to Alaska and how does the ship know who the Tauck guests are?
Hello again, KatrinaCo1.
I had just commented on your Danube post and saw this one. Probably the best individual to answer your questions is a gentleman whose forum name is Sealord. Hopefully he will respond once he sees your post.
These small ships are pretty much all-inclusive, but the Tauck guests do not have to pay for shore excursions.
I believe it has been mentioned here that Tauck guests get a wristband for identification for free alcoholic drinks etc. also, I heard they were first off the boat on excursions.
Please post a report on your return. This was a tour we would have been on by now if the Pandemic had not changed plans.
Both Ponant and Silversea have an ‘open bar’ policy. No charge for drinks except ‘super premium’. We have done three Ponant trips, one Silversea trip, and one Tauck riverboat … free drinks. We never had wrist bands except for entry to certain venues. They gave us magnetic Tauck pins to wear if y0u wished, but they simply helped you identify other Tauck guests. Most of ours went to the laundry sooner or later.
I’ve never had a wrist band and on our Antarctca ship, the landings were in groups and the order was rotated. rotated…easy to recognize TAUCK guests…we were with a French group and a Chinese group! Only mixed tour we’ve been on that wasn’t all TAUCK guests.
I think it may have been a thread a long time ago that nvdb wrote about when drinks were not included for the non Tauck passengers on a Ponant ship he was on. Tauck people were given a wrist band to identifying to the bar staff that Tauck people could get free drinks but other guests tagged alongside and got their drinks free. If Ponant now include fee alcohol for everyone, then it is not an issue. My two Tauck Ponant tours have had all Tauck people.
If he sees this, he’s sure to chip in.