On my recent Rhône cruise the buffet was self-serve with only some foods protected by a sneeze guard. The layout of the restaurant on that ship (Emerald) really didn’t allow for staff to serve in the buffet line. It was one of our biggest complaints because many guests forgot to wear their masks in line and no one was enforcing mask-wearing. I think some countries do not even require masking indoors anymore and Tauck seems to follow the various countries’ protocols so everyone needs to proceed with caution and protect themselves if Tauck is not doing so.
BTW, I lost weight on that cruise. That’s never happened before!
Also, Tauck was aware that we were extremely unhappy with the staffing shortage, food service, lax mask enforcement and Covid protocols. After my TA contacted Tauck to reiterate our concerns we received a phone call from a rep who seemed to be just going through the motions and inquired how my Covid positive husband was feeling but offered no apology or voucher.
Regarding the post by CVC: I would prefer no room service on my upcoming Douro cruise. A location to pick up fresh towels will be sufficient. I will be disappointed if Arthurs is closed but hope that if weather permits we may occasionally take our plates from the Compass Rose up to the sun deck and return our plates so as to not create more work for the staff. I also hope we have opportunities for excursions, even if they are different than those listed in 2019 when we made our initial deposits. My Treasures of Spain & Portugal small ship cruise in August 2021 was a success since we were excited to finally travel and all guests stayed healthy. At the time Portugal and Spain were among the most vaccinated with the fewest Covid cases. Much of the original itinerary was changed due to Covid restrictions… no time away from our daily assigned bubbles of 10 or 11 guests. No free time to explore on our own. But we enjoyed each port and every excursion. The local guides were fantastic. What I most want now is reassurance that Tauck will assist any guests in need due to illness. On my Savoring France cruise (pre-Covid) a guest fell the first night at Fouquet’s welcome reception/dinner. Days later, aboard the ship, he needed medical assistance as his injury was more severe than originally thought. The TD went with him to a doctor that she had arranged for an appointment. They caught up with the ship later that evening as we had sailed on by then to a new port!
Sorry, I’m not paying to pick up towels or bus my own table and with Covid lurking I’ll take the room service…it will help reduce the crowd in the MDR for everyone else. Surely Tauck will do better than this. If everyone sets such a low bar, that’s what they’ll get. Remember we are paying premium prices for the Tauck experience and of course there will be hiccups. My expectation is that Tauck will provide an outstanding cruise with minimal difference from pre-pandemic.
My next (sixth) Tauck river cruise is not until October, so I'm crossing my fingers that some of these issues will have been resolved by then. However, given that even restaurants at home are still short-staffed, I am trying to lower my expectations so that if it's better, I will be pleasantly surprised.
I did eight land tours before starting on the river cruises, and as a single traveler who can no longer afford the land tour single supplements, I am lucky that I have loved the river cruises so much. At least I can still afford them if I book a lower deck cabin with no supplement. Since everything else is basically the same (they don't treat you as second-class citizens), I'm grateful I can still travel with Tauck (although it would be nice if the prices had been adjusted given the lack of some services),
My husband and I encountered problems on Savor. However, travelers who went from Brussels to Amsterdam had a better experience. I believe it may have to do with the free gift to time hotel selection and one's cruise director. Amsterdam began with a poor choice of a hotel and a poor choice of a cruise director. He was marginal and not one to press the flesh. The ship crew was great but very short staffed. You could see it in how hard they had to hustle to keep up. We tipped some of them well because you could see the stress on their faces. On our last night on the boat, we never got dinner because the service was so slow. Most diners were finishing up dessert, and we had not yet been served. At the price you pay for Tauck, you should, at least, get a meal. Despite the disappointments in comparison to other trips, we did meet some incredible fellow travelers who made the trip memorable.
a bit OT I know...here's some insight into Floriade's broader context. Who knew you pronounce that final E; in my head I always default to French. https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/553/
British here are my personal priorities for travel right now.
I would like to ask for everyone in my group Sept. 10th - Botswana, Zambia & Cape town .. to be friendly , be patient and drama free.I hear complains & drama all day long at work, I want a Happy Vac. )))
Indeed. I understand that some think travel during the pandemic is going to be as it was. Well, it isn’t. I think I posted accurate descriptions of our three trips explaining that there are personnel shortages, and all venues are not open. Those should be your expectations. The ‘mask’ people continue to be upset. Masks are not required except when required by local authorities. If that is upsetting, then wear two masks … one for you, and one for them. This thread has fulfilled my expectations for being a ‘Yelp’ thread. If this stuff pleases you, keep posting. If not, post somewhere else and this thread will go away.
Ladybombay I like it! and your smile in the picture confirms it.
we want , Positive ,fun people with good Vibe! .
Hey, I forgot to tell you...I'm doing the micro flight before the elephants @8:00am.
Thetriguy HI!
You're welcome welcome welcome!!!!!!!!! I do believe the majority of our fellow travelers in the forum are Drama free, but unfortunately the forum has been taken hostage .... Let's hope things calm down and we return to being an informative forum.
Gourmet Gal hello
By the complains, drama, negativity etc... I know not everyone has great experiences and sometimes things don't work 100% the way we like, but together with the negative observations is also nice to hear the positive, what was great about the place visited, what was learn from the culture and the history of each place and if they would recommend the trip. Not the horrible things... according to the client's point of view.
My thinking.
Thanks for explaining that comment. I thought this was a forum where all points of views and observations can be shared. The title of this thread is “Savor was a Bust”. I would expect the OP’s comments would be negative. I found them to be as instructive as the positive comments that followed.
Someone just posted a positive review from the Rhine/Moselle cruise. Assuming Scylla can resolve the staffing issues I think we'll see more and more positive comments. I have faith in them and Tauck. Can't do much about the risks of testing positive and being delayed returning home. Just get the insurance in place, take care to avoid infection, have a plan for what to do and hope for the best.
I can not comment on this particular Tauck tour as the last of my 42 tours with Tauck was their "Christmas Markets on the Rhine" riverboat cruise at the end of 2018 (I had to forego several offshore stops toward the end due to my bad knees but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour otherwise); I had been on Tauck's same Christmas Markets on the Danube riverboat cruise the year before in 2017 and really enjoyed that one even more. Since I had to have total knee replacements (2019/2020) and then the pandemic hit, I have not traveled since then. I feel blessed for traveling with Tauck as because of Tauck I have seen/been to everywhere here in the U.S., Canada, and Europe over the past decade; more travel than I had ever planned to do before I retired. My Tauck tours even included several "Tauck Events" (e.g. Chicago, Yosemite, Kentucky Derby, New York City (I met and briefly spoke with Arthur Tauck, Jr., at that event; a very interesting guy), Washington DC). So I sincerely hope that Tauck and Scylla can bring things back up to what they were eventually post-pandemic. Truly a great company. :-)
After reading Patrice above's comments re Tauck's TD providing medical assistance to one of the passengers on her trip, it reminded me of the first trip I had with Tauck in Western Canada. On my trip there was an older gentleman carrying an oxygen device along with his female companion. The gentleman always wanted to visit Butchart Gardens on that tour and I was seated next to him and his companion for dinner that night. The next day our group visited the Gardens, but the following morning our Tauck TD announced to our group that the gentleman had died over night and would not be joining us for the rest of the trip. The TD indicated that he had seen the Gardens earlier and was very happy to have done so. The TD had also helped make arrangements for the gentleman and his companion over night and our tour went on as scheduled. Truly a perfect example of something that Tauck and its TDs have done above and beyond when situations such as this arise, be it domestic or overseas. :-)
Am currently on the Grace from Amsterdam to Basel and this trip is excellent! A few things aren’t quite Tauck but it’s a great example of a Tauck riverboat trip. I could only think that the people complaining about their riverboat trips just love to complain - that is what they like to do. There are 2 ladies on this trip that seem to complain about everything and they are quite annoying! Everyone else is having a great time!
Well, unfortunately the glass isn’t always half-full. I appreciate everyone’s observations negative and positive because it helps me to make informed decisions for future travel.
We took the Savor Brussels/Amsterdam in mid-April. It had been booked and cancelled the two previous years. On Thursday before a Monday flight we we told that the trip had again been scrubbed due to "boat problems". A Tauck rep was assigned to us and worked it out so that we were able to start the trip a day earlier with the same itinerary. Yes the tour was below Tauck standards due to staff shortages, Covid testing and options for those testing positive really need work. And I really hated that the cafe wasn't serving food but we did use it for board games. It was the first sailing of the Savor since the start of the pandemic and I would compare it to the "soft opening" of a restaurant. All in all Tauck made a good effort and we had a wonderful trip. Tauck sent us an unrequested compensation as they recognized the trips shortcomings. We look forward to "Christmas on the Rhine" in Dec. (our 6th Tauck venture) and "Best of the Rockies" next June. Hope the Covid re-entry has been revised by the US by then.
As somebody has pointed out, we realized yesterday that the shortage of boat crew was probably down to the large number of them coming from Indonesia. Our one river cruise, Arthur’s was mainly deserted because of the smoky atmosphere caused by the smokers on the boat, the smoking area was just outside on the deck and the door to Arthur’s was often open, so we gave it a wide berth. A shame but not being used to it, we didn’t miss it.
British
9:06AM
As somebody has pointed out, we realized yesterday that the shortage of boat crew was probably down to the large number of them coming from Indonesia.
Wind Star crew as well, but it seemed to be fully manned, if not fully trained.
I'm sorry to hear your trip on the Ms Savor wasn't all you wanted it to be. It does sound like it was a frustrating time. Thanks for posting - we will be on the Ms Savor later this month doing a Bridges Blue Danube tour. Your post is helping to temper my expectations and not be surprised.
I have a question: Do the Ms Savor staterooms have a small refrigerator in them? I have medication I need to keep refrigerated and am hoping there is a fridge in my room. We are a category 7 room since we are traveling with our son.
Comments
On my recent Rhône cruise the buffet was self-serve with only some foods protected by a sneeze guard. The layout of the restaurant on that ship (Emerald) really didn’t allow for staff to serve in the buffet line. It was one of our biggest complaints because many guests forgot to wear their masks in line and no one was enforcing mask-wearing. I think some countries do not even require masking indoors anymore and Tauck seems to follow the various countries’ protocols so everyone needs to proceed with caution and protect themselves if Tauck is not doing so.
BTW, I lost weight on that cruise. That’s never happened before!
Also, Tauck was aware that we were extremely unhappy with the staffing shortage, food service, lax mask enforcement and Covid protocols. After my TA contacted Tauck to reiterate our concerns we received a phone call from a rep who seemed to be just going through the motions and inquired how my Covid positive husband was feeling but offered no apology or voucher.
Yikes, I forgot the good Tour director! Only had one poor TD in all our tours
Regarding the post by CVC: I would prefer no room service on my upcoming Douro cruise. A location to pick up fresh towels will be sufficient. I will be disappointed if Arthurs is closed but hope that if weather permits we may occasionally take our plates from the Compass Rose up to the sun deck and return our plates so as to not create more work for the staff. I also hope we have opportunities for excursions, even if they are different than those listed in 2019 when we made our initial deposits. My Treasures of Spain & Portugal small ship cruise in August 2021 was a success since we were excited to finally travel and all guests stayed healthy. At the time Portugal and Spain were among the most vaccinated with the fewest Covid cases. Much of the original itinerary was changed due to Covid restrictions… no time away from our daily assigned bubbles of 10 or 11 guests. No free time to explore on our own. But we enjoyed each port and every excursion. The local guides were fantastic. What I most want now is reassurance that Tauck will assist any guests in need due to illness. On my Savoring France cruise (pre-Covid) a guest fell the first night at Fouquet’s welcome reception/dinner. Days later, aboard the ship, he needed medical assistance as his injury was more severe than originally thought. The TD went with him to a doctor that she had arranged for an appointment. They caught up with the ship later that evening as we had sailed on by then to a new port!
Sorry, I’m not paying to pick up towels or bus my own table and with Covid lurking I’ll take the room service…it will help reduce the crowd in the MDR for everyone else. Surely Tauck will do better than this. If everyone sets such a low bar, that’s what they’ll get. Remember we are paying premium prices for the Tauck experience and of course there will be hiccups. My expectation is that Tauck will provide an outstanding cruise with minimal difference from pre-pandemic.
My next (sixth) Tauck river cruise is not until October, so I'm crossing my fingers that some of these issues will have been resolved by then. However, given that even restaurants at home are still short-staffed, I am trying to lower my expectations so that if it's better, I will be pleasantly surprised.
I did eight land tours before starting on the river cruises, and as a single traveler who can no longer afford the land tour single supplements, I am lucky that I have loved the river cruises so much. At least I can still afford them if I book a lower deck cabin with no supplement. Since everything else is basically the same (they don't treat you as second-class citizens), I'm grateful I can still travel with Tauck (although it would be nice if the prices had been adjusted given the lack of some services),
My husband and I encountered problems on Savor. However, travelers who went from Brussels to Amsterdam had a better experience. I believe it may have to do with the free gift to time hotel selection and one's cruise director. Amsterdam began with a poor choice of a hotel and a poor choice of a cruise director. He was marginal and not one to press the flesh. The ship crew was great but very short staffed. You could see it in how hard they had to hustle to keep up. We tipped some of them well because you could see the stress on their faces. On our last night on the boat, we never got dinner because the service was so slow. Most diners were finishing up dessert, and we had not yet been served. At the price you pay for Tauck, you should, at least, get a meal. Despite the disappointments in comparison to other trips, we did meet some incredible fellow travelers who made the trip memorable.
I am curious what hotel was used by Tauck in Amsterdam as we have a trip coming up ?
a bit OT I know...here's some insight into Floriade's broader context. Who knew you pronounce that final E; in my head I always default to French.
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/553/
British
here are my personal priorities for travel right now.
)))
I would like to ask for everyone in my group Sept. 10th - Botswana, Zambia & Cape town .. to be friendly , be patient and drama free.I hear complains & drama all day long at work, I want a Happy Vac.
mil, you got it! I will be so happy and grateful to be traveling again in September. I think I am a friendly, patient and drama free person. 🥳
Indeed. I understand that some think travel during the pandemic is going to be as it was. Well, it isn’t. I think I posted accurate descriptions of our three trips explaining that there are personnel shortages, and all venues are not open. Those should be your expectations. The ‘mask’ people continue to be upset. Masks are not required except when required by local authorities. If that is upsetting, then wear two masks … one for you, and one for them. This thread has fulfilled my expectations for being a ‘Yelp’ thread. If this stuff pleases you, keep posting. If not, post somewhere else and this thread will go away.
Ladybombay I like it! and your smile in the picture confirms it.
we want , Positive ,fun people with good Vibe! .
Hey, I forgot to tell you...I'm doing the micro flight before the elephants @8:00am.
Mil, Ladybombay and Sealord...Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now, on with the rest of our lives.
mil, you are a braver woman than I so it will be fun to hear about your flight over lunch at the Elephant Cafe🐘
Thetriguy HI!
You're welcome welcome welcome!!!!!!!!! I do believe the majority of our fellow travelers in the forum are Drama free, but unfortunately the forum has been taken hostage .... Let's hope things calm down and we return to being an informative forum.
Taken hostage by whom?
Gourmet Gal hello
By the complains, drama, negativity etc... I know not everyone has great experiences and sometimes things don't work 100% the way we like, but together with the negative observations is also nice to hear the positive, what was great about the place visited, what was learn from the culture and the history of each place and if they would recommend the trip. Not the horrible things... according to the client's point of view.
My thinking.
Thanks for explaining that comment. I thought this was a forum where all points of views and observations can be shared. The title of this thread is “Savor was a Bust”. I would expect the OP’s comments would be negative. I found them to be as instructive as the positive comments that followed.
Someone just posted a positive review from the Rhine/Moselle cruise. Assuming Scylla can resolve the staffing issues I think we'll see more and more positive comments. I have faith in them and Tauck. Can't do much about the risks of testing positive and being delayed returning home. Just get the insurance in place, take care to avoid infection, have a plan for what to do and hope for the best.
I can not comment on this particular Tauck tour as the last of my 42 tours with Tauck was their "Christmas Markets on the Rhine" riverboat cruise at the end of 2018 (I had to forego several offshore stops toward the end due to my bad knees but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour otherwise); I had been on Tauck's same Christmas Markets on the Danube riverboat cruise the year before in 2017 and really enjoyed that one even more. Since I had to have total knee replacements (2019/2020) and then the pandemic hit, I have not traveled since then. I feel blessed for traveling with Tauck as because of Tauck I have seen/been to everywhere here in the U.S., Canada, and Europe over the past decade; more travel than I had ever planned to do before I retired. My Tauck tours even included several "Tauck Events" (e.g. Chicago, Yosemite, Kentucky Derby, New York City (I met and briefly spoke with Arthur Tauck, Jr., at that event; a very interesting guy), Washington DC). So I sincerely hope that Tauck and Scylla can bring things back up to what they were eventually post-pandemic. Truly a great company. :-)
After reading Patrice above's comments re Tauck's TD providing medical assistance to one of the passengers on her trip, it reminded me of the first trip I had with Tauck in Western Canada. On my trip there was an older gentleman carrying an oxygen device along with his female companion. The gentleman always wanted to visit Butchart Gardens on that tour and I was seated next to him and his companion for dinner that night. The next day our group visited the Gardens, but the following morning our Tauck TD announced to our group that the gentleman had died over night and would not be joining us for the rest of the trip. The TD indicated that he had seen the Gardens earlier and was very happy to have done so. The TD had also helped make arrangements for the gentleman and his companion over night and our tour went on as scheduled. Truly a perfect example of something that Tauck and its TDs have done above and beyond when situations such as this arise, be it domestic or overseas. :-)
I was far from impressed with the 4-25-22 Savor sailing from Brussels to Amsterdam. In full agreement with bbdpeg.
Am currently on the Grace from Amsterdam to Basel and this trip is excellent! A few things aren’t quite Tauck but it’s a great example of a Tauck riverboat trip. I could only think that the people complaining about their riverboat trips just love to complain - that is what they like to do. There are 2 ladies on this trip that seem to complain about everything and they are quite annoying! Everyone else is having a great time!
Well, unfortunately the glass isn’t always half-full. I appreciate everyone’s observations negative and positive because it helps me to make informed decisions for future travel.
We took the Savor Brussels/Amsterdam in mid-April. It had been booked and cancelled the two previous years. On Thursday before a Monday flight we we told that the trip had again been scrubbed due to "boat problems". A Tauck rep was assigned to us and worked it out so that we were able to start the trip a day earlier with the same itinerary. Yes the tour was below Tauck standards due to staff shortages, Covid testing and options for those testing positive really need work. And I really hated that the cafe wasn't serving food but we did use it for board games. It was the first sailing of the Savor since the start of the pandemic and I would compare it to the "soft opening" of a restaurant. All in all Tauck made a good effort and we had a wonderful trip. Tauck sent us an unrequested compensation as they recognized the trips shortcomings. We look forward to "Christmas on the Rhine" in Dec. (our 6th Tauck venture) and "Best of the Rockies" next June. Hope the Covid re-entry has been revised by the US by then.
As somebody has pointed out, we realized yesterday that the shortage of boat crew was probably down to the large number of them coming from Indonesia. Our one river cruise, Arthur’s was mainly deserted because of the smoky atmosphere caused by the smokers on the boat, the smoking area was just outside on the deck and the door to Arthur’s was often open, so we gave it a wide berth. A shame but not being used to it, we didn’t miss it.
Wind Star crew as well, but it seemed to be fully manned, if not fully trained.
I'm sorry to hear your trip on the Ms Savor wasn't all you wanted it to be. It does sound like it was a frustrating time. Thanks for posting - we will be on the Ms Savor later this month doing a Bridges Blue Danube tour. Your post is helping to temper my expectations and not be surprised.
I have a question: Do the Ms Savor staterooms have a small refrigerator in them? I have medication I need to keep refrigerated and am hoping there is a fridge in my room. We are a category 7 room since we are traveling with our son.
Yes Jenny, all the cabins on Tauck river cruise ships have minibars. On past tours they had soft drinks and water at no charge.
You can tell them what drinks you like and they will keep it stocked with those brands..