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Someone told me most on this tour would be speaking French and that it would be very rainy in June.
I'm a single senior who will be traveling with 2 other single seniors. One of us was told most of the folks on this trip speak French, not English, and that it would be very rainy in June, which is when we want to go. Also, she said getting on and off the ship at the different ports meant having to be ferried over in a smaller vessel. Is any of this true? I sure didn't get that from the website.
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Call Tauck to find out if they have chartered the whole ship. I have taken two Ponant small ship tours with Tauck but they were all Tauck people. The French staff were actually from all over the world. I much prefer the land tours, we are taking an equivalent land tour withTauck next year. I want to be there, not on a ship which i find so frustrating.
I took this tour in late June, early July of 2018. The weather was perfect. If you are traveling in early June I'd suggest you refer to the annual rainfall charts. Regardless, weather can go against the averages. All you can do is go with the historical averages and hope for the best.
With respect to the populace of the boat there were Tauck and non-Tauck people on the boat during our tour. The Tauck people have their own agendas and itineraries. The staff on the boat may be bi-lingual. I never encountered any staff member that only spoke French. As far as the ports and having to ferry in a smaller vessel the only port where that was the case was Dubrovnik. The ferry system in Dubrovnik worked well. We never had any issue. In all other ports the Ponant boat docked right in the city, while other larger cruise ships sometimes had to ferry their passengers to and from shore.
Hope this helps.
For good average weather info based on 20+ years of data and presented in an easy-to-interpret graphical format, go to WeatherSpark. You enter a city, airport, etc. in the area you are interested then select a day or month from a calendar. It will give you temp, precip,, wind, etc., etc., etc. data for your criteria. (data for Dubrovnik)
British proves once again that there is something for everyone. We are boat people, and we plan our trips to avoid buses as much as possible. We might do one of the ‘train’ trips sometime.
Just a clarification of what others have said: Ponant is a French cruise line that Tauck uses for most of it's small ship cruises. However, the Tauck tour directors and Tauck activities are only for the Tauck travellers. People who book with Tauck get shore excursions and perhaps some shipboard activities that are distinct and separate from the people who book with Ponant. So it is unlikely that there will be French people on the "Tour" (i.e. the Tauck portion). However, half or more of the people on the ship may be French. You will see them at meals and in the lounge, but they tend to keep separate from the Tauck guests.