Small ship cruises
If anyone has taken the Tauck small ship cruises, I would be interested in knowing your experience. I would like to do a Mediterranean cruise. We have always cruised on the larger ships and enjoy the entertainment etc.
British... You seem to have done a lot of traveling. I have been to most most of the European countries, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, Columbia, Costa Rica etc. What are suggestions for our next trip? I am in th US.
British... You seem to have done a lot of traveling. I have been to most most of the European countries, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, Columbia, Costa Rica etc. What are suggestions for our next trip? I am in th US.
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We are in our early sixties. Decided while we are fit and can still afford it, we prefer to go to the more exotic Tauck locations. My husband is not retired, so our travel is not as much as we would like. While we would like to spend more time in a country, Tauck does it very comprehensively and we would hope to revisit our favorite places in the future independently. Having said that, we have additionally taken several of the Tauck US vacations and Europe ones. We have never taken a large ship cruise, it really does not appeal at all. We would like to take one of the river cruises, but not while we have the energy to do the land cruises that require a little more stamina in terms of packing your bag every couple of days and getting up pretty early most mornings. There is also nothing like mingling with the locals in the safer locations at night when you are staying on land, when the day tourists have gone home, for example, the strolling throng of people on the streets of LECCE in PUGLIA last year, that we would not have been able or be a part of of we were on a boat.
The only thing close to a small ship criuse we have taken with Tauck is the Galapagos, but this is an expedition boat and basic, only twenty bedrooms, but a wonderful crew. This tour is so good, we are repeating it next year. Not knowing anything about you, how about India? We have taken the Spotlight on India tour. Japan is one of my favorite countries, I have been there twice, but not on a Tauck tour. I'd like to go again. If you want a winter vacation for good weather and relaxation, but not using Tauck, you can't beat the British Virgin Islands. I love it there. Unfortunately although I adore Richard Branson, he has not invited me to his island yet, I've sailed by it a few times, gotten out the binoculars to see if I can spy him, but not quite managed it. Happy travels! Want more?
I have done two small ships (Baltic and St. Petersburg and Iceland) with Tauck. I have enjoyed them because one spent the day touring in the location where the ship was docked and sailed primarily at night. The entertainment is limited. There were some singers and dancers who did a show some evenings. The ship only holds around 200 with half being the Tauck passengers.
I have also done Tauck riverboat cruises (3). Contrary to what some people might think, they are not always leisurely, particular if you want to experience everything. Yes, one can stay on the boat, using the massage, sauna and fitness services and not partake in shore excursions, however there are walking tours in every port and time to interact with the locals.
When I answered a question earlier this week about evening entertainment I didn't say (but thought) I never cared much about having it since after a busy day touring, happy hour and a great, long dinner I was generally ready for bed so I could rest up for another busy day. Kept meaning to use the gym but never seem to have time.
The small ship tours look interesting but I'm not sure how I'd fare with seasickness.
My husband and I recently took the Small Ship Cruise, Rome, Amalfi and Sicily. The ship is a sixty passenger schooner. It's small but functional. Not a lot of entertainment but as Claudia mentions, you are usually tired at the end of the day. I thought the crew was amazing.
We've also taken a Tauck River Cruise and enjoyed that as well. I also agree with Kathy and Claudia that they are not as low key and relaxing as you would think. We took the Blue Danube and I recall many days of excessive walking. They even provide bikes if you'd like to ride while on land.
As far as other places to visit, we did the Essence of South America with Tauck in Sept. 2014. It was spectacular. The only trip, so far, that I wouldn't mind repeating.
Hope this helps. Have a great day.
I will give a little postscript about small ship cruising...We have done two large ship cruises. One to the Caribbean when we were much younger (it was a getaway week when we had very small children) and an Alaskan cruise out of San Francisco in 2002, post 9/11 (no flying). While we enjoyed both experiences, we have concluded we are not patient cruisers and big ship cruising is not for us. We would rather be on shore exploring different cultures and places rather than sailing along learning how to line dance. Although, with that said, we would LOVE to learn how to line dance, just not at the expense of getting lost (our usual trick) in some foreign city! Like British, our traveling has been on the more exotic trips, figuring we would do these while we were still very mobile.
We took the Treasures of the Aegean tour because we wanted to see Greece and Turkey. While there is (was...so sad) a good portion of land time on that tour, there was also time on the small ship, the Windspirit. We loved it!! The Tauck tour was about 40 guests out of 125 on the ship. We had our own Tour Director and our own tours. We left the ship as a group (always first to depart, with the Captain seeing us off) and our local guides and transportation were waiting for us. We were able to mingle on the ship with those not on the Tauck tour, expanding the number of people we met, and they were envious of our tours as well as our fabulous Tour Director.
We chose The Black Sea to Prague (now two separate tours, I think)for our first riverboat adventure as we were interested in Eastern Europe locations. The experience was not a good one for us. The trip was cancelled right before the more beautiful (in our mind) part of the trip due to flooding on the Danube. The trip was not a loss as it extended our time in Prague and gave us the opportunity to thoroughly explore it. However, what we did learn from that trip was that there were a number of people on the riverboat who were not interested in immersing themselves in an area. They seemed to be satisfied in viewing an area from the window of a bus and then hurrying back to the riverboat in time for lunch. I certainly do not want to lump all riverboat travelers into this category as I know there are those who love to explore and experience and many tours now provide the opportunity to do so. Also, that tour was odd as about 110 started out from Bukarest, and when we got to Budapest, 60+ got off, 40+ stayed on and 60+ got on, so it was hard to bond with the newcomers as we only were together for a few days. It just left us with the feeling that riverboating was not in our immediate future.
With that said, our next trip is the Japan small ship cruising trip (263 passengers with maybe 2 (?) Tauck groups). Our India TD does this trip and pointed out that this trip goes to a number of places the land tour does not visit. This intrigued us, so we signed up. We understand it is very much like the Windspirit experience where the Tauck groups have their own tour directors and excursions. We are really hoping that we will love it just as much as we loved the Windspirit experience.
Oh, and I totally agree with Claudia that entertainment after dinner is a waste as most of us are exhausted! I recall a time on the Isabela when they tried to show a National Geographic Galapagos film after dinner. Fortunately, I had seen it as it was hard to hear with the sounds of snoring in the group! So, most of the entertainment (usually folk dancers or local entertainment or lecturers) is done prior to dinner, for good reason!!