Evening attire
My husband and I are traveling northbound with departure on July 4, 2015 out of Basel. What is the recommended dress for evenings on the boat, as well as, for the special dinner at Reichenstein Castle?
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I do not know what the dress is for the Reichenstein Castle. There was nothing in the Before You Go section. I checked that because I am doing the Danube riverboat and it mentioned that one must dress for our evening at a palace in Vienna. Hopefully someone might have the answer for you or you could call Tauck directly and they will gladly tell you the answer.
Dinner at Reichenstein Castle is quite a different affair to the Palace dinner in Vienna. Dinner at the Palace is guided by the nature of the protocol established by the Palace. The Castle dinner is much more of a fun excursion. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest your day wear of hiking boots and walking polls is appropriate, however. I'd err more on the side of smart casual, as is the normally advised style for regular dinners on Tauck riverboats. You might want to add a wrap or jacket (purely as a layer of clothing) since the evening, particularly on the return journey, might get a tad chilly.
Cheers,
Jan
I will traveling on the northbound Rhine and Moselle cruise in late October/early November (celebrating my birthday). My first cruise EVER, and I will be traveling alone.
I am so happy to have found the Tauck forums as I have learned so much from that shared by others - proper attire (which was a big concern of mine), their experiences both on board and on land, etc - so much information.
Thanks for sharing!
You've chosen a great trip for your first river cruise. There are some really interesting stops on this itinerary and just wait till you turn left onto the Mosel! Just gorgeous. If you stick around here long enough, you might learn more than you ever wanted to know!
And a happy Scorpio birthday to you! But only when we get there!
Cheers,
Jan
I came here to say exactly what Jan did about clothing and packing. And here, if you like, is the current clothing recommendations for this itinerary:
And Crissey, if you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to answer them!
-Tim
Mike and Lisa
Yada, yada. It's their money. It's their holiday. Well, perhaps a safari or camping holiday would be a better choice. For me, too, where I can be clean and neat and fresh as a daisy in an appropriate environment.
Evening clothes? As per the definition of same ... not required.
(Okay, I am exaggerating, but not about the safari shorts and hiking boots. Or the other stuff. That was my river cruise experience last August. And it was only the one couple ... but they sure stood out! For the record, I'm using satire as a tool to illustrate the "what-not-to-wear" concept.)
Cheers,
Jan
Tauck's packing guidance for cruises is:
"Your journey is designed with leisure in mind. Dress for comfort and convenience with a wardrobe that is flexible and allows for layering. Casual, cotton clothing is recommended. A light jacket or sweater for the sun deck is also recommended. Pack comfortable yet sturdy walking shoes that have already been broken-in, as many of the sites visited were built centuries ago and have uneven surfaces, some steep inclines and many steps. For the welcome and farewell receptions, casual resort wear is appropriate; formal wear is never required for dining with your fellow guests at a Tauck provided dinner. When traveling abroad, you may have the opportunity to dine at an upscale restaurant on your own, which may require men to dress in coat and tie, and women in more elegant eveningwear (not required)."
Having said all that, if you'll enjoy your dinner more by dressing up, go for it. If your enjoyment of your dinner depends on someone else dressing up then you're asking too much. I'm not wasting my precious packing space on clothes to please someone else.
This is the most common thread on this forum asked over and over again. Most of the confusion caused by passengers replacing their expectations for Tauck's.
I am so confused, I have never been on an ocean cruise, but remember one of my colleagues going on one from England many years ago, she actually rented numerous glamorous evening dresses for the trip. Then cruises became so so cheap that those who generally spent all their time in Spain getting drunk at all hours started to do the cruises in stead. I guess that is when the dress code went less formal. Either way, it is not my idea of a vacation being on a ship with 3000 others. River cruises are certainly a lot more appealing and certainly a Tauck one, all that nonsense that Viking have about get two for one if you pay up front years ahead of time, surely you are just paying for all those commercials. But I am still avoiding the convenience of River cruises while I have the energy to do the other Tauck tours that do involve the packing and unpacking while moving from hotel to hotel on a land based tour.
It is not uncommon for the land based tours to have occasions where there is almost zero time to change for dinner when you return from a day's site seeing. What with this and the added concern of not wanting to disregard the Tauck baggage restrictions, the 'clothing' situation is probably the headache that everyone has the most. Maybe there is a little room for a couple of more elegant pieces of evening clothing on a River cruise that will not look a crumpled mess because of packing and unpacking.
Tauck does not help one bit by having the same terrible generic list of clothing to take for just about any tour they have.
Resort attire? I always think of the hotels in the Caribbean that I have been to when I think resort attire, but then one Christmas vacation we were at a Caribbean resort and were the only couple staying there for a few of the nights, so ate with the owner, yes very nice, I felt very important.
Day to day clothing on a Tauck tour? On a European itinerary it is easy to compromise and wear clothing for the day that can easily pass for Resort casual if necessary in the evening. Not everyone wears shorts and t shirts and baseball caps, sneakers and fanny packs for their site seeing, well I don't. Mr. B wears a baseball cap, he just has to, he is so fair, just can't get him to pack his nice supposedly crush proof straw hat.
It would be great if someone on this forum could take some photos of lots of people during the evening on the tours and post them here, so we can see for ourselves what people really are wearing. A few have done this in the past. And Tauck certainly needs to make more individual packing lists for each tour. Then maybe more people will get their packing correct and those anxious men worrying about jacket and tie or women like me who don't want to pack a glittery evening dress and then find it was not necessary, will be a thing of the past and the forum will collapse!
River cruising is very different than the big ocean liners in several ways. Dining-wise there is only 2 dining rooms on the Tauck ships - the bistro at the back and the main compass rose dining room. Most people eat most meals in the main dining room. It's bigger and has more food choices. It's a very nice venue with white table clothes, well presented food, and excellent service. When you are eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the same place for a week or more, it somehow just becomes home. The big cruise ships (as I've read) have many dining rooms and some are limited to only certain passengers with strict dress codes. Google "cruise snobs" and you'll be appalled at some of the stories people tell. No way am I ever going on a big cruise ship for lots of reasons.
I do think Tauck could clarify dress a bit more and photos would certainly help. In fact, I think they confuse the issue a bit with some of their videos/photos which only seem to show passengers dining at the special occasion meals.
As to level of activity, you might be surprised at how busy you are on a river cruise. Depending on the itinerary, you're kept pretty busy with planned tours, activities and time on your own. I especially enjoyed the stops like Arles and Avignon where the ship is docked right next to the town and you had plenty of time to walk and explore on your own, take out a bike, etc. Just like you said about the land tours, sometimes you get back to the ship, it's happy hour and you wanna go enjoy the view and your companions, then dinner starts, and somehow you never make it back to your cabin before bed time.
I have to admit (mentioning Jan's experience) that dirty/dusty clothes and some guys hairy legs doesn't float my boat either but I wouldn't let it ruin my dinner. Just have another glass of wine.
I have the opposite problem to your's. Can't seem to get my husband interested in a Tauck land tour - at least not until we run out of rivers to cruise.
My Birthday was during this trip when I did it several years ago. They made me a special cake for desert (I am lactose intolerant and can do milk). It was the best chocolate cake. For lunch I was hanging out in town with one of the men traveling alone and he bought me lunch. It was the best birthday ever.