new River Boat??
does anyone know if there is self serve laundry on the new River Boat. We leave 5/22 from Paris to Monaco? Boardfing the boat in Lyon a few days later....Also, what is the voltage for flat irons and hair dryers in France and on the boat? Thank You
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Don’t think there is self serve laundry. Neither irons or flat irons are encouraged.
No Tauck river cruise ships in the past had self service laundry and I doubt the new ships will either. The will have laundry services at a fairly steep price. The showers usually have pullout hanging lines for sink laundry. And as answered in your other post, don't bring any heated appliances that aren't dual voltage. Its a safety issue.
Tauck boats all have paid laundry service, but no self-serve. The MS Lumière laundry was very fast: returned clothes the same day, twice.
If staying in the 300 sq. ft. cabin, they will debit your laundry fee from the €100 credit you will receive. I have only used the service once for a single item and found it to be fast and efficient. They even confirmed the item was laundered in cold water as I had requested.
These larger rooms also have an iron and ironing board in the walk-in closet.
Mikes can you give a review on the Lumiere? You must have been on one of the first journeys on this new ship.
https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruise/tauck/ms-lumiere?suppressTabs=1&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22770222941&gbraid=0AAAAADlvVIaPyRI_jZimnVE9o6qSG6JSo
Alina - I have time for just a quick review so this will focus on differences between Lumière and other Scylla-built river boats used by Tauck. Please look elsewhere for full reviews of this tour and Tauck river cruising in general.
Lumière is another of the 135 meter-long river boats that Tauck uses on most of their European river cruises (exception would be the shorter Andorinha on the Douro river in Portugal). Lumière holds 130 passengers max. Our cruise had 106 passengers in late March-early April and was the first for this ship, right after its christening ceremony.
Most of the deck plan details will be familiar to experienced Tauck cruisers. Notable differences are: (1) Arthur's is now located just forward of, and on the same level as, the Panorama Lounge. Arthur's serves a fixed menu for lunch and dinner, casual service, no reservations needed. (2) Space at the rear is now "The Retreat" which includes a workout room (2 treadmills, exer-cycle, rowing, bench with free weights), spa/massage room and a refreshment station with a 24/7 hot drink blender (coffee, espresso, latte, hot chocolate, etc.) and cookies; also light breakfast available at limited hours. (3) Floor plans eliminate the corner triangular rooms found at the end of corridors on other boats. (4) Room sizes seem to be the same as older boats. We had a Category 5 cabin (300 sf) and layout was mostly the same. There are a few tweaks to storage space that make the closet space much more useful, some minor changes in lighting so you can turn on a subdued light without bothering a sleeping partner (well, maybe). Gooseneck bedside reading lamps are the only real focused lighting options available: all other lights cover much more area. (5) Almost forgot to add that Compass Rose dining room seating has a few minor changes to seating choices but the basic layout is the same as others.
Speaking of boat size, just wanted to note that the "Longboat" designation by a certain well-known competitor is just markleting. Pictures below show the required size/passenger loading for Lumière and one of their boats docked next to us. Same length and breadth - only difference is higher max number of passengers on the "Longboat." Note that Tauck shows max of 130 passengers; not sure why the boat shows 146.
The ms Lumière
and a Longship. Not any longer or wider than Scylla boats
Thanx mikes. We'll be on the new Serene later this year so I've been very curious of the changes. Glad coffee and early breakfast are at the Retreat (former Arthur's location). I often take advantage of that when my spouse sleeps in. What were the Compass Rose changes? I know many people have wanted the option of 2 person tables though we've never cared.
Thank you MikeS. We have been on MS Grace in a category 7 cabin before. I was looking for a first hand opinion of the changes in the new ship. We are booked to sail on the Lumiere later this year, in a category 5 cabin. Your insight has been very helpful. Thanks again.
DW and I recall that Compass Rose seating now emphasizes larger groups, say 4-6-8 people. There are a couple 2-person tables that got pushed together with adjacent 4-tops. Didn't count seats, but we wondered how many of a full load of 130 could be accommodated at once in either the dining room or the lounge.
Can you eat late or is dinner at 6:30 for everyone? Any pictures of the menu or higher priced wines?
Dinner service starts at 630. With the exception of one or two special nights you can eat anytime after that. Reservation for table of 6 or more. You can always opt to eat at Arthur’s
Thank you, mikes, for your description of this new ship.
We like to dine early—as soon as the room opens—and have never had a problem securing our favorite table for two.
I am on the Lumiere now. Level 1 (where I am solo) has the smallest cabinets, and no single supplement. One of the TDs told me that is where they usually stay unless there are unsold higher cabins. There are also couples on this floor. So 4 cabins will always be single occupancy for those who are calculating maximum capacity. This is my first river cruise so I can't compare to older ships.
The ship is beautiful. There is one U.S. type outlet in each room, in the desk area. The clock radio has a USB -A port on the back. Otherwise, you need adapters. I could go into more room detail, but most people will be in the larger rooms. As it has been mostly 90 degrees, I am happy to report that the AC, which you control in your room, works great. Very nice water pressure in the showers, and they are easy to figure out how to use. There is a rain shower or handheld. The hot water heater malfunctioned on the first morning, but other than that, no problems. There are water refill stations that dispense cold still or sparkling water.
The stairs are an issue. When you walk onto the ship, it is like a split level house. You go up steps to level 2 and 3 rooms and down steps to level 1 rooms. To get to the Compass Rose from level 1, I go up 2 flights of stairs and then down one flight to the restaurant. From Level 2, it would be down a half a flight, then a few steps away, go down a different flight of stairs to the dining room. To go to the restroom from the dining room, you go up a flight of stairs and then down a half a flight. The stairs are wide enough but not deep. I have seen men kind of duck-footing it down.
That’s a nice addition having dispensers with sparkling water. Thanks for sharing that. I hope you will post more of your experiences after your trip. Enjoy!
TravelingTracey - Thank you for the comments, I'll be on this ship next April, have you been to Artur's?
Gladys, yes. It is kind of just an extension of the lounge. They have onion soup, beef tenderloin, burgers, snails. Snails are nit in shells. You can also exit to outside from there and there are a few small tables and chairs in the bow of the ship. They had a little special cocktail hour with traditional snails in shells and frog legs. There were snail forks but no shell holders.
Slightly off subject but I’‘m interested to know…..we have only taken one river cruise with Tauck because we prefer the land tours. When we went to try Arthur’s, the door to the little deck outside lead to the smoking area for the ship and as the door was open, the smoke was wafting into the restaurant. Closing the door did not make a difference. We never went back to try again. My question is, does Tauck still allow smoking on board, and where is that?
There is a small crew only area on deck just above Arthurs. Not sure if the crew is allowed to smoke there. But I have never seen anyone on board smoking. The newer ships have Arthurs in the front.
Yes, supposedly there is a designated area on the upper deck but I have never seen anyone smoking on the five (5) river cruises taken. I have seen crew members standing on the shoreline and away from the ship but I never smelled the smoke.
British, sadly I think your experience was a one off. I've very sensitive to tobacco smoke and have never had an issue anywhere on the ships.
We had a similar experience at Arthurs on MS Joy in 2018 during Blue Danube. Maybe there were enough complaints that they modified smoking regs since then.
I go to Arthur's for breakfast and lunch and never had a problem with smoke and like Claudia I'm very sensitive to it.
I was on the new MS Serene a few weeks ago, a bunch of tables on the top deck near the pool had ashtrays, but I never saw anyone smoking.
In much of Europe, outdoor cafe culture still very much includes ashtrays on the tables