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May 9 Westbound
My wife and I are scheduled for the westbound tour on May 9. (We've had three postponements - so here's hoping the fourth time's the charm!)
We both did our undergraduate education in New England. Are there others with a similar background on this cruise?
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Not from New England (Texas) but we and another couple will be on same boat after also postponing. Here's to a great trip and hope we get to meet. Cheers!
What attire is expected for the first night's dinner at the Budapest Akademia Club?
Not formal but my husband will wear a sport coat and I in a dress.
Thanks - looks like "quasi formal" will work. See everyone shortly!
Wow, that’s the most jackets I’ve ever seen on a Tauck tour!
Blue Danube (eastbound) 2018. Dinner at the Palais Palavicini in Vienna and Farewell Dinner at the Academy Club in Budapest. (the attire, venue and entertainment were similar to the Welcome Dinner at Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle)
Thanks very much. We're excited that this adventure is just around the corner.
Does Tauck allow two suitcases for riverboat cruises?
Tauck has always said one suitcase for all their trips, a few people don’t adhere to that. I always keep to the rule and never found it a problem, just learned to pack wisely. Consider all the extra time it takes for someone to lug extra suitcases on your behalf when a few people decide they need two cases when they are only expecting one per person, it can mean asking for guests to leave hotel rooms earlier before you get on the bus and a longer time to get your suitcases to your room when time is short before dinner. Obviously this only happens at the beginnings and end of a river cruise, Just my humble opinion.
We have done several riverboat cruises and have always had 1 suitcase and one roll aboard for each of us. It is not a problem and all 4 pieces store easily under the bed.
Yes, one suitcase per person not exceeding fifty (50) pounds and dimensions not exceeding sixty-two (62) inches (length+width+height).
We take one roller suitcase each as our ONE suitcase -- and I take a tote (with my purse inside) and my husband takes a duffle - these are our 'personal' item bags for the plane and we keep them with us and carry them onto the boat ourselves.
I do have the Rick Steves HideAway Tote, empty and folded up inside my larger tote - I use that as my day bag for purchases and I carry gifts home in it - it folds up into itself, has a zipper, and weighs nothing.
grnmry, I'm not sure what you mean by 2 suitcases. If you mean 2 full sized airline checked bags (Tauck's dimensions match most every airline for max checked bag size) then NO it isn't at all common for a passenger to have 2. I've never seen it in 4 river cruises. Most do however have 1 checked bag and at least 1 carryon.
If your river cruise has a pre-cruise hotel stay then the tour directors will give extra baggage tags. That is because they assume the day you start the cruise you'll be spending time away from the hotel sightseeing. You check out, go sightseeing, then return about 3-4pm to take a bus with the group to the ship. While you're out, the hotel porters gather up anything in your room with a tag and load it up to go to the ship where that crew then puts it in the right cabin. Most people don't want to carry everything that took carryon onto the plane while sightseeing even if it's just one backpack or totebag.
If there's no hotel stay, then the baggage handling is much less. But even then I wouldn't recommend 2 bags. Unless it's just you or you have a suite with the walk in closet, the extra bag is going to take up a lot of space in your cabin. Three of our river cruises were 13, 14, and 15 days long with a few extra days at the start or end. I've never taken more than my checked bag and a small underseat roller bag. If you need 2 full bags and a carryon, you're probably packing too much. River cruises now are fairly casual and nobody cares if you wear something more than once (especially dressy clothes).