Amsterdam to budapest

Mae

Good morning, literally we are in the planning stages for our first river cruise and I wondering how you know which ships go where. I really like the description of the inspiration ships but it sounds like the jewel ships are older and not updated yet. Any thoughts?

Mae

Kathy18

Mae,

If you go to the cruise you are interested in and click on accommodations, it will tell you the ships being used. I have sailed on the Swiss Jewel in 2013 and it was nice. I am going to be on an Inspiration class this year so then I would be able to compare the two. I know that both classes are doing the tour that I will be on. We picked the Inspiration class only because of the date. We would not have had a problem returning to a Jewel class.

Claudia Sails

You can also look under the "Ships" tab on the River Cruises page and it gives you the entire list of ships along with write ups that say when they were built/refurbished, deck plans, photos etc. A hint to it being older - the room decor has lots of baroque red.

We were on the Swiss Emerald last summer and it had been refurbished in 2013. It was lovely. Clean and well maintained. I was kind of glad the red was gone. A bit much for me in a small space. The Espirit is the newest Jewel class and the pictures look the same as the Emerald.

The Tauck moderator might have more information on whether any of the other Jewel class ships are due to be refurbished for the 2015/2016 seasons.

The newest class of ships - the Inspiration - are mainly different in the ship's layout - especially the number of large staterooms. We are booked on the Inspire later this year.

Having said all that, I wouldn't pick a cruise primarily based on the ship. Looking at the itinerary do the daily tours sound interesting? Do you prefer summer weather and crowds or are happy to travel off season. Can you afford a longer cruise and/or add some days at the beginning or end of your cruise? Airfare to Europe pretty much costs the same whether you are staying 1 week or 2. Jet lag takes a couple of days to shake off so a day or 2 extra at your embarkation city really makes a difference to enjoying your cruise. Our first cruise was French Waterways which is a week long with 2 days in Paris. Our next is the 13 day Rhine/Moselle with extra days at both ends. We're also going in the fall. Cooler but less crowded. Live and learn.

Have fun.

Claudia Sails

Oops, also once you are on a specific ship write up, you can find out exactly where it goes by clicking on the "Itineraries" tab.