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cat 7 and cat 1 vs. 2 cat 3 cabins?
Hi,
We are considering booking our first trip with Tauck, and our first river cruise. We are looking at the family Blue Danube trip for next year -- which seems great-- and we are trying to figure out cabins (this would be Inspiration class, most likely MS Joy).
If there are four of us (1 grandparent, 2 parents, 1 child) it looks as though it is about $500 more to get 2 category 3 cabins rather than one category 7 cabin and one category 1 (which certainly isn't nothing but isn't a tremendous amount spread across the cost of a cruise for 3 or 4 people either).
Leaving aside the pros/cons of whether the child shares a room with a grandparent or parents, does anyone have any advice as to which combination makes more sense. On an ocean cruise the difference in room size (and amenities) can be substantial, but I am not sure the same is true on a river cruise. Does it just come down to whether we'd rather have one smallish room and one largish room or 2 medium rooms?
From poking around it seems like the cat 3 loft rooms are a nice sweet spot-- does that seem right?
Also, I think one advantage of the cat 1/cat 7 combination is that if another family member decides in a few months that they want to join us, they could purchase a second berth in the cat 1 room. Is there any reason Tauck wouldn't allow that? Would the price for the berth go up as time to departure goes down (do they usually?), or would they honor today's price since I don't think they can sell the berth to anyone else? (Is that an ok question to ask on the forum? I'm not questioning the policy-- whatever it is--just curious what it is.)
Last, I know there is a forum specific for that cruise, but any feedback on the family blue Danube (with a 14 y.o.) would be appreciated.
thanks!
We are considering booking our first trip with Tauck, and our first river cruise. We are looking at the family Blue Danube trip for next year -- which seems great-- and we are trying to figure out cabins (this would be Inspiration class, most likely MS Joy).
If there are four of us (1 grandparent, 2 parents, 1 child) it looks as though it is about $500 more to get 2 category 3 cabins rather than one category 7 cabin and one category 1 (which certainly isn't nothing but isn't a tremendous amount spread across the cost of a cruise for 3 or 4 people either).
Leaving aside the pros/cons of whether the child shares a room with a grandparent or parents, does anyone have any advice as to which combination makes more sense. On an ocean cruise the difference in room size (and amenities) can be substantial, but I am not sure the same is true on a river cruise. Does it just come down to whether we'd rather have one smallish room and one largish room or 2 medium rooms?
From poking around it seems like the cat 3 loft rooms are a nice sweet spot-- does that seem right?
Also, I think one advantage of the cat 1/cat 7 combination is that if another family member decides in a few months that they want to join us, they could purchase a second berth in the cat 1 room. Is there any reason Tauck wouldn't allow that? Would the price for the berth go up as time to departure goes down (do they usually?), or would they honor today's price since I don't think they can sell the berth to anyone else? (Is that an ok question to ask on the forum? I'm not questioning the policy-- whatever it is--just curious what it is.)
Last, I know there is a forum specific for that cruise, but any feedback on the family blue Danube (with a 14 y.o.) would be appreciated.
thanks!
0
Comments
The advantage of the 1/7 combination (aside from the better price) is that you would have the extra living space in the suite when the family wants to get together there. Definitely more room for people to more around in. The suite also has a a few amenities others don't have - breakfast room service, walk in closet, its own ironing board. The drawback to the the 1/7 combo is you are 2 deck levels apart. If you chose this, try and pick a suite nearer the front of the ship. Less walking time to the other room and to almost everything else on the ship - lobby, lounge, main restaurant, etc.
Two Cat 3s would work well. Both have the extra seating areas, nice sized bathrooms, and their own coffee makers. Also you'd be on the same deck level. The only drawback would be the seating area has stairs to climb and the only way to watch TV is laying on the bed.
I don't think Tauck would have any problem if you booked the Cat 1 as a single then closer to the trip added a 5th person to your group. Their prices are pretty much fixed once Tauck sets them for a cruise. Since the Cat 1s are the only staterooms that don't have a single supplement cost, whatever the rate for the Cat 1 was when you booked, the second person would have the same rate and the 1st would not get a savings. Call Tauck and ask specifically about this.
Tauck doesn't discount unfilled capacity closer to the trip date like Viking does. Somewhere I've read (sorry can't find it now) that if the tour costs them significantly less after you've booked you may get a discount but once locked in with your deposit you won't pay more even if their costs go up.
The trips are filling fast for next year. You don't want to wait too long to decide. The lofts tend to be very popular and there are a limited number of Cat 1s and 3 available.
Sorry, can't help with the feedback on the itinerary. Be sure to read the forum threads for this tour and the Before You Go section on the page for the tour that lists prices, itinerary, accommodations, etc.
As Claudia says, look at every part of the website page of your tour, especially the Before You Go section and pull down each tab. You will find a wealth of information from weather, clothing and so on.
My best tip, try to arrive two days early if you can afford the time and money, it will help you get over jet lag a little more and the possibility of flight delays/and late luggage arrival. Have a great time.
Would love to hear from cruisers who have taken a Bridges cruise - especially if they have also done a regular Tauck cruise - for their experiences. You don't hear alot from them on the forum after a cruise (except the infamous pinkshoes debacle) - just the precruise posts about how many kids are on the trip.
I agree with British about adding extra days at the beginning if you can. You'll enjoy your cruise more if you aren't in a jetlag fog. However, you need to get your numbers firmed up as the the lodging options and costs for the extra at the Tauck hotel will be different than on the ship. We almost didn't get extra at the end of our last cruise because they weren't sure the hotel had rooms available. Took a week but we ultimately got them. The hotels don't tend to have the option to split the bed into twins like the ship does.
From my experience I would say that booking either directly through Tauck or with a travel agent should be fine. I have done both. Interestingly -- the only booking problems I have personally heard about have been with people who booked directly with Tauck. On one of our trips they neglected to add the insurance -- which we always take when booking. Friends had an issue with their flight -- discovering that Tauck had booked them on a flight that would have arrived the day after the tour started. And on our last trip -- we booked with a travel agent and one of our traveling companions -- on her 20th Tauck tour -- booked directly with Tauck. Tauck sent out an email about an itinerary change that was forwarded to me by our travel agent the day it was sent. My friend received the same email from Tauck two weeks later. I'm sure that there have been plenty of mistakes by travel agents as well. I am just saying that nobody is infallible and if you have an agent you are happy with i would not hesitate to use them.
Getting back to the taking teenagers on the River Cruises, that is imteresting. There have only been a few teenagers on all our tours, but they have been fine.
I guess I never thought about American teenager food choices. My kids were teenagers when we moved to the US. We never gave our children special kid friendly food at meal times, such as burgers and nuggets, it really is not healthy. We all ate the same food every time, and we all ate dinner every night together. My children would Eat snails and mussels in France at five and seven years of age and they loved it, my son asked for as he called it, moules mag a de air. Meaning Moules Marinere! They also learned to drink a small amount of wine with food and enjoy alcohol that way, as you know, that is perfectly acceptable in Europe. Have no clue whether they stuck to those rules at college here, or rather, I don't want to know! They also ate sushi In Japan at a very young age, so I guess I forget that most kids are picky. I would personally and I mean me, if I had my children of at least 14 on a regular river cruise, they would have been fine and they were good with adult company.
Even aside from that, I still would opt for a Bridges version for most kids under about 16-18. Just reading thru the itineraries you'll see differences - more activities to burn off all that young energy. Things like a medieval knights tournament, games, fencing, a visit to an amusement park, etc that would not be on the adult version.
Homer, I hope all this has been helpful.
Our child is pretty flexible, both in eating and being in adult company, and in fact one question we had was whether the program might be too "young" or force too much togetherness of the kids (we've never used "kids clubs" on vacations partly because we like to spend our vacation time together), but from what I've been able to gather it sounds as though neither should be a problem, and overall I think our child would probably prefer not being the only young person on the boat.
I appreciate the advice and I think if we are going to do a river cruise this would be the right one, although I admit it's a little hard to commit to next summer's vacation before we've taken this summer's.
We did not want to go in the summer, but you have to if you are going on Bridges. For what it is worth, i think Bridges is the way to go for a 14 year old boy. Somehow I don't think he would find three fancy dinners in palaces to his liking. At least my 13 and 15 year old grandboys wouldn't.
Whatever you do, have fun!
Nancy
ETA: Never mind, found it!