Savoring France: luggage on the TGV?
Having led small groups in Europe travelling on the TGV, I found that it was a challenge to herd the group (fit military officers, at that) onto the train and getting large bags (we were on a 2-week trip) on-board and stowed. The luggage storage areas at the end of the cars were overwhelmed and it then required bench-pressing the bags onto the over-seat storage racks. I can't imagine how this will work for the Paris to Lyon TGV trip for a group of 70 or so, many of whom (myself, now) aren't as fit. I'm hoping that Tauck transfers the bags from the hotel in Paris to the ship in Lyon???
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It will work easily. They will pick up the bags at the hotel and take them to the ship by truck. Will be laying on the bed in your cabin when you arrive ready to unpack. Our TDs have always given us extra baggage tags for any bags we didn't want to hand carry on the train.
Claudis: thanks very much for confirming this. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that they'd have o do something like this or it would be pure chaos. Now we can relax and enjoy the country-side at ~185 MPH!
We were on the Savoring France cruise last May. No problem with the larger luggage. I recall they did not transfer by truck, but had people assist to get the larger items on board. ( my memory is not clear, so they may have taken by truck) In either case, you will not have to lift anything. The journey is lovely….remember to get some lunch or snacks for the trip on the TGV. Even wine!!
The only challenge is if you are taking the TGV post cruise. We went back to Paris on our own afterwards, and decided to fly because we did not want to muscle the bags ourselves back on the train.
I did this trip last Oct. our bags were picked up from the hotel. They were in our room when we arrived. I believe they went by truck because my I tag was moving south most of the morning. I flew back to Paris also. However, there was an article about France limiting short haul flights to cut the heavy emissions during landing and takeoff. Maybe some one else can comment on the article. You can buy snacks and wine on the train or in the terminal before departure. I loved this trip. Enjoy!
Ah, bags on the train (not to be confused with snakes on a plane
) reminds me of the train trip we took from Dusseldorf to Hamburg after an XMAS Markets cruise last year. Even though I thought I had it figured out, we boarded at the wrong end and had to roll our bags through 10 or so cars (wagons) to a rack near our seats. Lucky, I replaced the wheels the previous year, so they rolled well. I'm sure other folks on the train were wonder what these two old (Americans) folks were doing! 
Portolan,
There is also some room above your seat on the train for storing small, carry-on items. You will be whisked along in first class accommodations. I vaguely remember snacks being handed out but that could have been courtesy of the tour directors. This is a fabulous tour with food and wine flowing freely. Have a marvelous time!
When we did this in 2019 the luggage pull from the hotel room was at 10ish, checkout 11ish and the bus to the train station around 1PM. We left our small day packs with the bellman and went for an early lunch prior to leaving the hotel for the train. We had our cooking class with Tauck first thing in the morning which is a little different than your upcoming trip. It held what ever we wanted for the train ride. You will be responsible for what ever you are carrying with you. The walk from the bus to the train was fairly short with smooth surfaces.. In Lyon the walk from the train to the bus was slightly longer but did require some maneuvering through traffic and crossing one or two intersection with the typical uneven surfaces.
We did this tour last September with Choc. While our checked baggage was whisked to the ship via truck, we still had to schlep our carry-ons and TWO big boxes of our newly made macarons from Le Cordon Bleu. The wait in the terminal seemed very long, and hardly any place to sit. It wasn't ideal, but doable.
We gave most of our chocolate macaroons to the hotel staff prior to leaving for the ship….we saved a few for ourselves.
One of the tour directors wrote our names on the macaron boxes and stored them for us so we didn't have to hold them on the train. That entire day was so enjoyable.
Marla526, we went straight from the cooking class to the train, so couldn't do that.
Brenda…wow! Our class was the day before we left for Lyon. Sounds like they made a few adjustments. We loved that trip! Our first with Tauck, but definitely not our last.
Marla526 - our itinerary got re-arranged at the very last minute due to the "car-free day" in downtown Paris. The bus couldn't get anywhere close to the Intercontinental, so we had to switch Days 1 and 2 around. It was OK, but it would have been nice to be able to stash the mararons somewhere.
Like Brenda, we went directly from Cordon Bleu class to the train. Our luggage had been picked up before leaving the hotel earlier that morning to be transported by vans.