Prior to covid the cruises were getting better and better about featuring regional dishes. Our last cruise in 2019 on the Danube and Rhine had a least one local favorite featured and described for dinner. Sometimes at lunch too. Most nights they offered 3 main dish choices -meat, fish and vegetarian. Also basics every night like steak, salmon, chicken.
This year they are having some staffing issues so you may see a little less of this. I fully expect Tauck/Scylla to resolve this soon.
See the menus below in Alan's post - they are from our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise in 2019. It shows the regional items, the specials for that day and the standard mains that were available.
Claudia Sails
8:25AM
Alan, how'd you do that? I tried rotating before posting and it still came out that way. I'm going to delete mine.
I think the key is to rotate it (even it looks tilted the opposite way) and save it with another name before uploading. (I like to keep the original, because some viewing software automatically rotates it to the correct orientation.
The long version: I copied your photo (right clicked) and saved it to my PC. Then I edited it- I rotated it 90° CW and then saved it under a different name (I usually just add an "R" e.g. img-1234 is saved as img-1234R). Then I uploaded the new version to my post.
It is easier to do than describe. I occasionally need to do that before uploading photos taken with my camera rotated sideways. What do you expect from someone with slight OCD
What did you use to take the photos? I use a canon DSLR. (During the trip I download to my iPad but keep the originals on my SD card. When I get home, I download from the SD card to my Win10 PC).
If you look at the photos I posted in the Ceremony of the Keys thread- the Yoeman Warder, harp player, beefeater- all three appeared rotated horizontally in the Windows Explorer small icon view because of display space(?) and/or because they were taken with the camera rotated. But, when selected, each one individually, appears upright on my computer and when I posted them to the thread???? It has something to do with the meta data, and display mode. I may have rotated them years ago and saved over the original. I need to experiment too. In any case this is slightly different than your issue, which I believe is related to whether you saved the image after rotating it.
Also, after you deleted the photo code for the rotated photos then insert the new photos, don't forget to do a 're-load' or 'refresh' otherwise you may be looking at the original page.
All my pictures are with my phone. For the menus it would have been held vertically which is also the way it appears in my file copy (portrait). To me it seems the forum rotates everything to be landscape or horizontal.
You can always start a new post to figure out how to rotate your photos- just use preview and keep experimenting until you find out what works. When you are done you can cancel the post and delete the draft.
Just returned from the London, Paris, Seine Riverboat Cruise. Our 8th trip with Tauck and maybe the last. This is our first post-Covid journey with Tauck. The three directors on our ship were unlike any in the past. Not at all engaged, charming, helpful. The itinerary was perfect as always but the lack of interest from the directors really made a negative difference.
Approximately 60 percent of the guests on our ship got Covid. AON, the travelers’ insurance, has horrible reviews online and they will not provide me with claim forms. I initially tried to fill them out online but AON didn’t “recognize” my Tauck reservation number. I’ve called five times and now I’m seeking help from Tauck.
I would normally be telling people to take this journey for all the wonderful sights and experiences but, sadly, the directors were a disappointment and working with AON is a nightmare. Hopefully, our experience is one-off and others are enjoying Tauck’s usual quality service.
E Sundstrom, Your comments are a reminder that travel is a roulette wheel of hits and misses right now. We leave today to start our Douro/Madrid/Lisbon trip, and I hope we luck out with a hit. Those of you who travelled recently should start a thread in the General section called Hits and Misses to share what makes or breaks a trip.
Golly, that is super discouraging! So I assume all had vaccinations, but even then one can get Covid-19. Were those people isolated in cabin? How was it dealt with by directors? Is AON the insurance we bought with the trip? So you are trying to access the insurance because the trip was cut short, you were confined to cabin, trip not as promised? Pretty upsetting to have directors who aren’t engaged. Were you one who caught COVID-19 and if so, were you able to get home eventually. How was that? Only, I’m due to start a cruise next week, and I assume a lot of others have upcoming cruises so your answers will be of great interest Yes, I agree with gadfly there should be a thread started about poor service on tours. Thanks much.
You have to read through the entire insurance page on the Tauck webpage to realize it is AON.
We decided to try to claim a legitimate but small insurance claim with the Tauck insurance a few years to see how it worked and it was seamless.
We had a large insurance claim with another tour operator during the start of the Pandemic when our three week tour was cut short after five days. The tour operator said the insurance would refund the money and how much we should claim. The insurance company, Tripmate, which does not have a good reputation, turned us down with no explanation after I recall five months, it was thousands of dollars. We contacted the tour company who were able to contact the insurance and get our refund. We contacted all the other people in our tour group who had also been denied and they all got their money back too. Otherwise they had just accepted the denial so were very grateful. The tour company no longer uses Tripmate. I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to travel insurance promises, maybe we should be preparing to write off any money we pay for a trip.
On a trip earlier this year (not Tauck) we were required to have COVID-specific medical insurance. After reading about quarantine and COVID coverages, I purchased additional, strictly medical and trip-delay (quarantine) insurance through Trawick for our Douro trip as well even though I purchased the trip insurance offered by Tauck. The cost of those two policies (Tauck and Trawick) are still less than I spent on other CFAR trip insurance policies. The peace of mind is priceless.
ESundstrom, I’m wondering if you put the wrong Tauck number in your paperwork. Tauck makes it confusing because they show two numbers, one is the reservation number and the other, I forget what it is called, but hey show two and we have been confused about that in the past. Does anyone remember the numbers I am referring to?
Sealord, most people reading the forum don’t even post anything. There is nothing unusual about only posting a few times.
Just returned from the London, Paris, Seine Riverboat Cruise. Our 8th trip with Tauck and maybe the last. This is our first post-Covid journey with Tauck. The three directors on our ship were unlike any in the past. Not at all engaged, charming, helpful. The itinerary was perfect as always but the lack of interest from the directors really made a negative difference.
Approximately 60 percent of the guests on our ship got Covid. AON, the travelers’ insurance, has horrible reviews online and they will not provide me with claim forms. I initially tried to fill them out online but AON didn’t “recognize” my Tauck reservation number. I’ve called five times and now I’m seeking help from Tauck.
I would normally be telling people to take this journey for all the wonderful sights and experiences but, sadly, the directors were a disappointment and working with AON is a nightmare. Hopefully, our experience is one-off and others are enjoying Tauck’s usual quality service.
I dealt w/Aon for air reimbursement a few years ago when I had to cancel a Tauck tour for family medical reasons and they were fine.
I then dealt w/a division of Aon when I wanted to add extra insurance to my Switzerland trip last year to get more coverage just in case anyone tested positive for Covid and they didn't recognize my Tauck numbers so I needed Tauck to provide it to me. It was a bit back and forth, but eventually they found my reservation and I added onto the already purchased Tauck protection plan.
British - My past documents show the Tauck number and Reservation number if that is what you are talking about.
I don't think a post is spam just because a person does not post daily. Also, people post in the incorrect thread, it happens, again, doesn't mean it's spam.
Not everyone has a positive experience w/Tauck on every tour and they have a right to post that experience on these threads. Same w/the insurance company who I'm sure is dealing w/a high amount of claims due to Covid. Plus, w/Covid, many travelers want to know peoples experience if they test positive while on tour. There was another post about this subject, but there's been no recent activity so it's moved off of page 1 of the forum.
E Sundstrom - hopefully you can get that number for Aon so you can begin the claim process and it goes more smoothly for you.
Updating my post for those of you who had questions.
Approximately 40 of 67 guests on our ship caught Covid. Once we tested positive, our care was turned over to the ship's director, Axelle. She was excellent and organized all of the hotel reservations and transportation for everyone. She also personally accompanied me (prior to testing positive) to the pharmacy to act as interpreter with the pharmacist for my husband, who had tested positive and had a severe sore throat. Everyone onboard was boosted but several people caught "colds" early on and it turned out they were positive. We believe that so many of us got ill because we were repeatedly exposed to people who didn't realize they were infecting others.
We spent five days isolating in the hotel and Tauck changed our flights twice with no issues. Yes, we made it home after testing negative. My complaint with AON is being resolved through Tauck guest services. Without Cathy's intervention over the course of two days, we still would not have the claim request.
As I said, my husband and I have taken 8 trips with Tauck. Seven have been superb; this one was not. Posting twice was an error on my part, not an attempt to spam. Kathy0529 is correct; I do not make daily visits to the forum and I do appreciate those who have offered advice. For those taking upcoming trips with Tauck, I would just caution that Covid symptoms seem to manifest the same as cold symptoms. If you feel anything or someone around you is coughing a lot, get tested immediately.
Thanks. everyone. Apologies to those who were upset by my post for whatever reason.
Sealord -- A friend who travels as a single and has taken 26 trips with Tauck just went through a total nightmare trying to get reimbursement from AON. Perhaps it is different now than it used to be. My husband and I had to cancel Spain and Portugal for medical reasons years ago and getting reimbursed at that time was hassle free. (I was shocked that even our airfare that we booked on our own was refunded because it was a medical issue.) My friend obviously enjoys traveling with Tauck and will be going on her 27th tour at the end of this month. In the end -- her experience with AON has not soured her on Tauck -- but she wasn't sure several months ago when all of this happened if that would be the case.
I know the thread is Riverboat Menu but I’d like to follow up on insurance-related comments. Will the Tauck Cruise Protection (AON) cover for any of the hotel cost if I need to quarantine after the tour’s end date due to a positive test and quarantine requirement? I read through the details and did not find any such coverage so I had purchased separate insurance through a different company ranked highly by Forbes and underwritten by a highly ranked company. Maybe a duplicate/waste of my money.
E Sunstrom I wasn't annoyed and hope once you've been through the claim process you share some lessons learned so others can benefit if God forbid they have to make a claim.
I am concerned about the comments re the TDs. In general we've had good TDs but some better than others, at least one I wouldn't want to rely on in a crisis like this, and a team on one cruise that never quite gelled as a team. Good staffing is clearly an issue this year that hopefully gets resolved as the summer moves on.
I was on the same Riverboat tour London, Paris, and the Seine in May where over half the guests got Covid. It was horrible. The UK does not require any testing to come into the country and Tauck never tested guests arriving in London or embarking on the Riverboat. Three people were positive the first day on the riverboat after feeling sick and voluntarily getting tested. Tauck never screened the remaining passengers for Covid. People were visibly sick and they continued the tour. The morning of the final day consisted of the only Covid testing required which was necessary to return to the US. Many were positive and had to quarantine. The final tour day had a handful of us on a bus....the trip started with 2 buses. The tour directors weren't the most congenial probably because they knew many guests were positive and moving about. Axelle was very supportive and helpful getting people hotels in Paris. I felt Tauck should have screened for Covid right after 3 positives early in the trip and isolated the positive cases. Ignoring the possibility there could be more cases and letting everyone just continue on was irresponsible in my opinion. I have travelled with Tauck on the Duoro River tour which was fabulous. This was stressful and disappointing.
Comments
Prior to covid the cruises were getting better and better about featuring regional dishes. Our last cruise in 2019 on the Danube and Rhine had a least one local favorite featured and described for dinner. Sometimes at lunch too. Most nights they offered 3 main dish choices -meat, fish and vegetarian. Also basics every night like steak, salmon, chicken.
This year they are having some staffing issues so you may see a little less of this. I fully expect Tauck/Scylla to resolve this soon.
See the menus below in Alan's post - they are from our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise in 2019. It shows the regional items, the specials for that day and the standard mains that were available.
Alan, how'd you do that? I tried rotating before posting and it still came out that way. I'm going to delete mine.
Awww, now I'm drooling!! Thanks for sharing these. Really looking forward to the ms Emerald in September.
I think the key is to rotate it (even it looks tilted the opposite way) and save it with another name before uploading. (I like to keep the original, because some viewing software automatically rotates it to the correct orientation.
The long version: I copied your photo (right clicked) and saved it to my PC. Then I edited it- I rotated it 90° CW and then saved it under a different name (I usually just add an "R" e.g. img-1234 is saved as img-1234R). Then I uploaded the new version to my post.
It is easier to do than describe. I occasionally need to do that before uploading photos taken with my camera rotated sideways. What do you expect from someone with slight OCD
'slight', ya right!
Alan, I tried rotating the image and saved it. But when attached it was still sideways.
Are you using an Apple device?
No. No a PC. I think I didn't save it with a completely new name. Will try some experimenting later.
What did you use to take the photos? I use a canon DSLR. (During the trip I download to my iPad but keep the originals on my SD card. When I get home, I download from the SD card to my Win10 PC).
If you look at the photos I posted in the Ceremony of the Keys thread- the Yoeman Warder, harp player, beefeater- all three appeared rotated horizontally in the Windows Explorer small icon view because of display space(?) and/or because they were taken with the camera rotated. But, when selected, each one individually, appears upright on my computer and when I posted them to the thread???? It has something to do with the meta data, and display mode. I may have rotated them years ago and saved over the original. I need to experiment too. In any case this is slightly different than your issue, which I believe is related to whether you saved the image after rotating it.
Also, after you deleted the photo code for the rotated photos then insert the new photos, don't forget to do a 're-load' or 'refresh' otherwise you may be looking at the original page.
All my pictures are with my phone. For the menus it would have been held vertically which is also the way it appears in my file copy (portrait). To me it seems the forum rotates everything to be landscape or horizontal.
You can always start a new post to figure out how to rotate your photos- just use preview and keep experimenting until you find out what works. When you are done you can cancel the post and delete the draft.
Anyone going on the May 13th Cruising the Siene plus Paris and London
Taking this tour next spring with added pre-tour days. As such, I shall look forward to your review! Have a great trip!
Thank you, I also have 2 pre tour days to visit Bath and Stonehenge
Just returned from the London, Paris, Seine Riverboat Cruise. Our 8th trip with Tauck and maybe the last. This is our first post-Covid journey with Tauck. The three directors on our ship were unlike any in the past. Not at all engaged, charming, helpful. The itinerary was perfect as always but the lack of interest from the directors really made a negative difference.
Approximately 60 percent of the guests on our ship got Covid. AON, the travelers’ insurance, has horrible reviews online and they will not provide me with claim forms. I initially tried to fill them out online but AON didn’t “recognize” my Tauck reservation number. I’ve called five times and now I’m seeking help from Tauck.
I would normally be telling people to take this journey for all the wonderful sights and experiences but, sadly, the directors were a disappointment and working with AON is a nightmare. Hopefully, our experience is one-off and others are enjoying Tauck’s usual quality service.
E Sundstrom, Your comments are a reminder that travel is a roulette wheel of hits and misses right now. We leave today to start our Douro/Madrid/Lisbon trip, and I hope we luck out with a hit. Those of you who travelled recently should start a thread in the General section called Hits and Misses to share what makes or breaks a trip.
Golly, that is super discouraging! So I assume all had vaccinations, but even then one can get Covid-19. Were those people isolated in cabin? How was it dealt with by directors? Is AON the insurance we bought with the trip? So you are trying to access the insurance because the trip was cut short, you were confined to cabin, trip not as promised? Pretty upsetting to have directors who aren’t engaged. Were you one who caught COVID-19 and if so, were you able to get home eventually. How was that? Only, I’m due to start a cruise next week, and I assume a lot of others have upcoming cruises so your answers will be of great interest Yes, I agree with gadfly there should be a thread started about poor service on tours. Thanks much.
We also have a riverboat cruise in a few weeks. Please let us know if Tauck is able to help you resolve the insurance issues. Thanks.
You have to read through the entire insurance page on the Tauck webpage to realize it is AON.
We decided to try to claim a legitimate but small insurance claim with the Tauck insurance a few years to see how it worked and it was seamless.
We had a large insurance claim with another tour operator during the start of the Pandemic when our three week tour was cut short after five days. The tour operator said the insurance would refund the money and how much we should claim. The insurance company, Tripmate, which does not have a good reputation, turned us down with no explanation after I recall five months, it was thousands of dollars. We contacted the tour company who were able to contact the insurance and get our refund. We contacted all the other people in our tour group who had also been denied and they all got their money back too. Otherwise they had just accepted the denial so were very grateful. The tour company no longer uses Tripmate. I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to travel insurance promises, maybe we should be preparing to write off any money we pay for a trip.
On a trip earlier this year (not Tauck) we were required to have COVID-specific medical insurance. After reading about quarantine and COVID coverages, I purchased additional, strictly medical and trip-delay (quarantine) insurance through Trawick for our Douro trip as well even though I purchased the trip insurance offered by Tauck. The cost of those two policies (Tauck and Trawick) are still less than I spent on other CFAR trip insurance policies. The peace of mind is priceless.
ESundstrom, I’m wondering if you put the wrong Tauck number in your paperwork. Tauck makes it confusing because they show two numbers, one is the reservation number and the other, I forget what it is called, but hey show two and we have been confused about that in the past. Does anyone remember the numbers I am referring to?
Sealord, most people reading the forum don’t even post anything. There is nothing unusual about only posting a few times.
Just returned from the London, Paris, Seine Riverboat Cruise. Our 8th trip with Tauck and maybe the last. This is our first post-Covid journey with Tauck. The three directors on our ship were unlike any in the past. Not at all engaged, charming, helpful. The itinerary was perfect as always but the lack of interest from the directors really made a negative difference.
Approximately 60 percent of the guests on our ship got Covid. AON, the travelers’ insurance, has horrible reviews online and they will not provide me with claim forms. I initially tried to fill them out online but AON didn’t “recognize” my Tauck reservation number. I’ve called five times and now I’m seeking help from Tauck.
I would normally be telling people to take this journey for all the wonderful sights and experiences but, sadly, the directors were a disappointment and working with AON is a nightmare. Hopefully, our experience is one-off and others are enjoying Tauck’s usual quality service.
I dealt w/Aon for air reimbursement a few years ago when I had to cancel a Tauck tour for family medical reasons and they were fine.
I then dealt w/a division of Aon when I wanted to add extra insurance to my Switzerland trip last year to get more coverage just in case anyone tested positive for Covid and they didn't recognize my Tauck numbers so I needed Tauck to provide it to me. It was a bit back and forth, but eventually they found my reservation and I added onto the already purchased Tauck protection plan.
British - My past documents show the Tauck number and Reservation number if that is what you are talking about.
I don't think a post is spam just because a person does not post daily. Also, people post in the incorrect thread, it happens, again, doesn't mean it's spam.
Not everyone has a positive experience w/Tauck on every tour and they have a right to post that experience on these threads. Same w/the insurance company who I'm sure is dealing w/a high amount of claims due to Covid. Plus, w/Covid, many travelers want to know peoples experience if they test positive while on tour. There was another post about this subject, but there's been no recent activity so it's moved off of page 1 of the forum.
E Sundstrom - hopefully you can get that number for Aon so you can begin the claim process and it goes more smoothly for you.
Updating my post for those of you who had questions.
Approximately 40 of 67 guests on our ship caught Covid. Once we tested positive, our care was turned over to the ship's director, Axelle. She was excellent and organized all of the hotel reservations and transportation for everyone. She also personally accompanied me (prior to testing positive) to the pharmacy to act as interpreter with the pharmacist for my husband, who had tested positive and had a severe sore throat. Everyone onboard was boosted but several people caught "colds" early on and it turned out they were positive. We believe that so many of us got ill because we were repeatedly exposed to people who didn't realize they were infecting others.
We spent five days isolating in the hotel and Tauck changed our flights twice with no issues. Yes, we made it home after testing negative. My complaint with AON is being resolved through Tauck guest services. Without Cathy's intervention over the course of two days, we still would not have the claim request.
As I said, my husband and I have taken 8 trips with Tauck. Seven have been superb; this one was not. Posting twice was an error on my part, not an attempt to spam. Kathy0529 is correct; I do not make daily visits to the forum and I do appreciate those who have offered advice. For those taking upcoming trips with Tauck, I would just caution that Covid symptoms seem to manifest the same as cold symptoms. If you feel anything or someone around you is coughing a lot, get tested immediately.
Thanks. everyone. Apologies to those who were upset by my post for whatever reason.
Sealord -- A friend who travels as a single and has taken 26 trips with Tauck just went through a total nightmare trying to get reimbursement from AON. Perhaps it is different now than it used to be. My husband and I had to cancel Spain and Portugal for medical reasons years ago and getting reimbursed at that time was hassle free. (I was shocked that even our airfare that we booked on our own was refunded because it was a medical issue.) My friend obviously enjoys traveling with Tauck and will be going on her 27th tour at the end of this month. In the end -- her experience with AON has not soured her on Tauck -- but she wasn't sure several months ago when all of this happened if that would be the case.
I know the thread is Riverboat Menu but I’d like to follow up on insurance-related comments. Will the Tauck Cruise Protection (AON) cover for any of the hotel cost if I need to quarantine after the tour’s end date due to a positive test and quarantine requirement? I read through the details and did not find any such coverage so I had purchased separate insurance through a different company ranked highly by Forbes and underwritten by a highly ranked company. Maybe a duplicate/waste of my money.
E Sunstrom I wasn't annoyed and hope once you've been through the claim process you share some lessons learned so others can benefit if God forbid they have to make a claim.
I am concerned about the comments re the TDs. In general we've had good TDs but some better than others, at least one I wouldn't want to rely on in a crisis like this, and a team on one cruise that never quite gelled as a team. Good staffing is clearly an issue this year that hopefully gets resolved as the summer moves on.
I hope you don't give up on Tauck.
I was on the same Riverboat tour London, Paris, and the Seine in May where over half the guests got Covid. It was horrible. The UK does not require any testing to come into the country and Tauck never tested guests arriving in London or embarking on the Riverboat. Three people were positive the first day on the riverboat after feeling sick and voluntarily getting tested. Tauck never screened the remaining passengers for Covid. People were visibly sick and they continued the tour. The morning of the final day consisted of the only Covid testing required which was necessary to return to the US. Many were positive and had to quarantine. The final tour day had a handful of us on a bus....the trip started with 2 buses. The tour directors weren't the most congenial probably because they knew many guests were positive and moving about. Axelle was very supportive and helpful getting people hotels in Paris. I felt Tauck should have screened for Covid right after 3 positives early in the trip and isolated the positive cases. Ignoring the possibility there could be more cases and letting everyone just continue on was irresponsible in my opinion. I have travelled with Tauck on the Duoro River tour which was fabulous. This was stressful and disappointing.