Anyone heading north beginning 30 April?

CoronadoBruin

My third Tauck trip and my wife's fourth. I'm coming over a week early to drive around Belgium and visit the Trappist monasteries, or should I say, sampling the Trappist ales, and the lambic from Cantillon. Visiting all six Trappist breweries, and Bruges for a couple of days, and then off on the Tauck trip.

Anyone else?

Belgium: World's Best Beer. Period.

TauckTim

Hi CoronadoBruin,

I'm glad to hear you're so excited for your trip; I hope you have a wonderful time!

-Tim

askreeger

Hi CoronadoBruin,

My wife and I and another friend will be onb the trip with you. We're going to London for a week visiting relatives and will arrive in Brussels on the 29th, then we're taking a day trip to Bruges. See you on board.

Go Bruins

dkcase

We are also booked on this cruise in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. We are arriving in Brussles a couple of days early and have a day trip planned to Bruges & Ghent on the 29th. We'll look forward to meeting you soon.

Steve P

We are also booked on this cruise and looking forward to meeting everyone. We are also going in a day early and have booked a private guide through www.toursbylocals.com to go to Bruges and Ghent on 4/30.

This is our 6th Tauck trip and 2nd riverboat.

Jane & Steve from NJ

J of Grey Cottage

Two more taking the April 30 tour/cruise are my sister and I . Having taken a cruise on the Sapphire in April of this year, we are confident in the high quality of accommodations on the Jewel line. However, we are hoping for a better onboard chef this time. Although breakfasts and dinners were good enough, for some reason lunches were always dreadful. And this tour relies heavily on meals on the riverboat.

Like some of you, we plan to arrive in Brussels early and stay a few extra days in Amsterdam at tour's end. Although my sister has seen much of this territory years ago, it is all new to me. I'm looking forward to new sights!

J and L of Portland, OR

jdurkin

J of Grey Cottage wrote:

Although breakfasts and dinners were good enough, for some reason lunches were always dreadful.

"Good enough". Goodness me, you are certainly damning with faint praise. Would you care to be specific? Was the cuisine not to your liking or did it fall below the normal standard for haute cuisine on Tauck riverboats? I presume you made your opinion known at the time of consumption?

asellus

I'm also going to book trip in Bruxeles but I think Amsterdam or London will be more interesting. Though I never was in Belgium before. Is it worth to visit it?

J of Grey Cottage

To jdurkin --
I'm sorry I haven't been online for such a long time and didn't see your questions directed to me.

Samples of lunch dishes include a "chicken dijon sandwich" which was actually a mustard sandwich with barely any detectable chicken and cold fried catfish. On the other hand, the chef could create the most delicious soups from the most unlikely ingredients. When I saw "mustard soup" on the menu, I certainly did not expect what was served, which I enjoyed very much. Likewise, the parsnip soup was excellent, even though I am not fond of parsnips.

Keep in mind, too, that this was the tour on which about 80% of the passengers caught a gastrointestinal virus that was sweeping France at the time. The crew was surely affected as well, and there may have been problems staffing the kitchen. And, yes, all of us gave low ratings to this cruise for more reasons than the food and the illness, which was beyond Tauck's control. Tauck issued a $500 refund to each of us, proving to me that the company takes very seriously its reputation and the delivery of quality tours.

Very briefly, I think we passengers were expecting food of the quality of good French restaurants, and the chef just did not meet that standard. I have no idea what to expect on the Belgium/Holland cruise, but I am going with my eyes open and will not complain!

J