Southbound - Aug 11, 2021

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AshleyE
AshleyE
in The Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam - Southbound

Is anyone else registered for a Rhine trip in mid-late summer? How is everyone feeling about the likelihood of these trips happening by then?

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  • Lsmiller
    Lsmiller
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    We are also on this river cruise. I have my fingers crossed. We have a tour to Scotland in June which I am far less optimistic.

  • AshleyE
    AshleyE
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    Scotland is on our bucket list as well. We were scheduled for a trip there in 2018 where our flights got cancelled and we couldn't get it rescheduled in time. Still something to look forward to someday. Fingers crossed that your trip to Scotland goes off without a hitch. :)

  • AlanS
    AlanS
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    AshleyE
    11:53AM in The Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam - Southbound
    Is anyone else registered for a Rhine trip in mid-late summer? How is everyone feeling about the likelihood of these trips happening by then?

    I see you are scheduled for the MS Grace and all north and southbound Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam cruises are showing sold out .

    You might want to check with Tauck because in these times sold out can mean two entirely different things- one, is that the departures are truly sold out, possible, but not too likely (some people are not ready to resume international travel), or two, they have all been cancelled or soon will be. Our 2021 XMAS Mkts cruise on the Rhine on MS Inspire was cancelled last month for a variety reasons. One major reason, I learned, was because MS Inspire and a few other (Rhine and Danube) boats in Tauck livery were contracted back to Scylla (the owner) for use by their subsidiary, Viva Cruises. They were even repainted in Viva Blue!

    Even though you are scheduled for the MS Grace, it shares duty with MS Inspire for this cruise, so you might want to read this thread and give Tauck a call.

    https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/14639/tauck-scylla-river-boats/p1

  • AshleyE
    AshleyE
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    Thank you, Alan. I read the other thread and will look into it. At this point, my fingers are crossed that we'll still be able to take this trip. There are several wild cards with COVID and everything else that could throw it askew, so time will tell...

  • BarbTRose
    BarbTRose
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    Hi, we were scheduled for May 2020 and moved to August 11th 2021 the Amsterdam to Bern on the Grace. When I checked last week it was scheduled but there really wasn't anything to say they were running yet. So I'm getting prepared as though it is on. I wish I knew for sure.

  • kfnknfzk
    kfnknfzk
    edited June 2021
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    BarbTRose,

    If you go to Tauck's home page, you will see the list of tours that are open. You can find the list under the "Travel Updates" section. Your cruise date does not show as of the 06 Jun update. Tauck updates their list very frequently, so I suggest you check on a daily basis. I hope you can take this tour even if you have to reschedule for a later date.

    This was our first Tauck river cruise that we took in 2017 and we enjoyed it very much. Please feel free to reach out to me should you have any specific questions. Good luck!

  • Claudia Sails
    Claudia Sails
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    The problem is that most/all the countries on the route have not announced specific opening criteria. The EU put the U.S. on the safe list and have in theory said they support opening to vaccinated travelers but leave it to individual countries to set dates, requirements, etc. You might want to watch the video by Jennifer Tombaugh - subject of a different thread. She states that they don't know about Rhine and Danube cruises for this reason. The French and Portugal cruises are going ahead because those countries have opened.

  • AlanS
    AlanS
    edited June 2021
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    No Rhine (nor Danube) cruises currently listed. Here is the link: https://www.tauck.com/guest-travel/tours-running-in-2021

    In the video at this link Tauck Pres., Jennifer Tombaugh, mentioned she is hoping they will be able to restart Rhine and Danube cruises in Sept. Things could change so keep checking back.

  • gladysorlando984
    gladysorlando984
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    BarbTRose if your tour was going I believe you would have paid for it this month. I'm on a Mississippi river cruise in August and they already required payment in full.

  • Claudia Sails
    Claudia Sails
    edited June 2021
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    Gladys, they have been moving the balance due dates to closer to the tours starts on select tours if they think there is a good chance they'll go. I have one tour starting 29 Aug and another 11 Sep. Right now the 11 Sep tour (France) is due mid July and the 29 Aug (Switzerland) is due at the end of July. Just waiting for the swiss to vote and announcement when/if they'll open - expected 23 Jun.

  • British
    British
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    Claudia, I think I just read on the Points guy that Switzerland is opening!

  • Claudia Sails
    Claudia Sails
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    That is the expectation. From what I've read elsewhere, the Federal Council votes/officially announces on the 23rd with implementation date 28 Jun. They've also been easing masking requirements outdoors, capacity limits, etc. though it still likely to have some impact on the tour. Assuming it goes well, I expect to get word from Tauck by the end of the week one way or another. Did some checking on my reserved flights to see if they were still a go. Looks like transiting Schiphol should be easy (no neg PCR test required) so that's one less worry.

  • AlanS
    AlanS
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    Even though all of my upcoming trips are a ways off (2022) to avoid as much of the hassle, I'm looking to book and willing to pay slightly more for flights that avoid a layover in Europe (LHR, CDG, AMS, FRA, etc.) e.g. J&E: ORD-IST-AMM/CAI-IST-JFK and treasures of the Aegean: JFK-ATH-JFK. I'm using creative booking and miles to get to JFK and ORD. I haven't started looking at XMAS Mkts flights yet.

  • AshleyE
    AshleyE
    edited June 2021
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    We just got a call from our travel agent. She says this particular cruise has now been cancelled for 2021. Disappointed, but I guess not surprised. The Netherlands is still having COVID problems, so access to that country for non-citizens seems to be the problem. This is the 3rd time our particular cruise has been canceled. I think we may be done here. Time to walk away.

  • Lsmiller
    Lsmiller
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    We are so disappointed ( though not surprised) that our river cruise was cancelled for the second time. We have 3 other Tauck tours scheduled…Michigan’s Lakes in October, Nova Scotia and PEI in July, 2022 and great Seine River Cruise in August, 2022. I still want to cruise the Rhine but will have to reschedule for 2023.

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