I have been on both Tauck and ABD trips and they are very similar in the "extras" they offer except no picture CD. Tauck stays in top notch hotels and offers those VIP entrances with local guides are brought in to enhance the Tauck guides assigned with your group. One thing that Tauck does offer a lot is a free pre-night stay in the hotel that your tour will be starting the tour. We will be doing Tauck Italy trip next year and since we had already traveled we will be staying in the Rome hotel pre night free. Tauck is a great alternative to ABD and usually is less expensive. We enjoy both for what they offer.
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sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
I just need to ask. Is this "regular" Tauck, or Tauck Bridges? I've heard the 2 are quite different, and I haven't seen anything that says Tauck Bridges is welcoming to single travelers. Have I missed that?I have been on both Tauck and ABD trips and they are very similar in the "extras" they offer except no picture CD. Tauck stays in top notch hotels and offers those VIP entrances with local guides are brought in to enhance the Tauck guides assigned with your group. One thing that Tauck does offer a lot is a free pre-night stay in the hotel that your tour will be starting the tour. We will be doing Tauck Italy trip next year and since we had already traveled we will be staying in the Rome hotel pre night free. Tauck is a great alternative to ABD and usually is less expensive. We enjoy both for what they offer.
Sayhello
From my experience with Tauck:
VIP experience - Yes
Water magically appearing - Yes
Photo CD -depends. On our first TB trip our tour director took photos during the tour and burned CDs for each family that she passed out at the farewell dinner. On our second tour our tour directors made a slideshow (much like the one ABD does) and showed it at the farewell dinner. But I think it's at the tour directors discretion. I hope they receive a lot of positive feedback and make this a standard part of the package.
We got 2 free hotel nights as return Tauck guests last year, but they lowered it to 1 free night this year, which is still a nice perk. For the Bridges trips the tour directors gratuity is also included in the cost of the tour. For the non-Bridges Tauck trips, the gratuity is not included.
I think Tauck is very welcoming to solo travelers, but probably more so on the World Discovery or Culturious trips. Since there are many more destinations and departures for the regular trips, they don't really have a reason to encourage solo travelers on the Bridges trips. But I often see offers where they drop the single supplement on the regular trips. I think there is more VIP treatment on the non-TB trips than the TB tours. The regular trips, with similar itineraries, are often a day to two longer and visit more locations. Sometimes they use the same hotels, but if there is any difference, the regular trips usually have even better accommodations. For instance, on our TB trip to Northern CA, we stayed at the Tenaya Lodge, which was very nice, but was outside of Yosemite. The Tauck World Discovery trip that visits Yosemite stays at The Ahwahnee. Tauck has a page on their website with information on solo travel and they also have a Solo Travel Forum on their discussion board.
sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
Thanks for the info, Bobo912. I'm definitely going to look into them. I guess I sort of assumed the Bridges tours were more VIP (more like ABD) but it seems I was wrong!
Sayhello
Well, thank you everyone for your input re: differences in Tauck vs ABD. I have decided to go with Tauck bridges this year. I really love ABD as I have been on 4 of their adventures. The prices for ABD just keep getting higher and higher for basically the same tour as ABD (London and Paris) I save $3000 for 2 adults by booking with Tauck.Tauck Bridges tours are booking up very quickly! All hotels are 5 star and activities similar to ABD.
Congratulations! Hope you have a wonderful trip! We have really enjoyed our TB trips. We're doing another ABD this summer, but I doubt that I will even consider ABD for 2015 or beyond.
Tauck Bridges trips are almost exclusively families with kids. Tauck has other tours (World Discovery, Culturious) that are more geared toward adults, although you can bring kids on the World Discovery tours (don't know about Culturious), but I don't think many people do. We had one couple on our first TB trip who couldn't get the date they needed on the similar World Discovery trip. Our second TB trip was a river cruise. There was one older lady with her two middle aged daughters, but other than that I think all the rest were families with kids - several of them multigenerational.
AddictedtoTravel
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2010
I know that ABD does not do river cruises but I am having trouble finding real feedback. I am looking to take my parents and my 14 year old daughter on a river cruise to eastern Europe. It looks like Uniworld, Tauck and Viking all cruise there. Anyone have an idea where I can find reviews, information regarding the ships and the included tours. How do the manage the daily tours, what size groups ... Thank you!
I have been on the Tauck Bridges Danube River Cruise and it was fantastic. You can probably find some reviews on the Tauck website or Cruise Critic. Uniworld also has a few family cruises, which I'm considering for the future, but I haven't found any feeback on those yet. Viking allows children over 12, but they specifically say on their website that they don't maintain facilities or services for children and they reserve the right to limit the number of guests under 18. So they don't sound very family friendly. TB has activites onboard and off specifically for the kids. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer, if I can. I may have posted some post-trip comments on this forum, but not a review, since it wasn't ABD and ABD has no comparable trips.
familygoboston
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
I wish ABD would have some river cruises! I haven't taken one yet, but, if allowed here, I will share what I have learned while planning our upcoming Sept river cruise on the Danube, from Budapest, through Central and Eastern Europe to Bucharest and ending in Istanbul, Turkey.
I started by going to Cruise Critic, there is a forum board there called "river cruising"; I started by reading as many "which line should I take" type threads. This helped me winnow a cruise that work for our travel party (just me and my DH, youngish, very active 50s with no kids traveling) Based on that I chose AMA, as their average age skews 50 ish and they offer many more "active" amenities that appealed to us. If you are traveling with a teen and grandparents, you might want to look at a line like AMA or Tauck that specializes in a mix of active and "gentle walker" excursions. Their aren't a lot in the way of "kids" activities on the standard lines, but if you choose an itinerary that has ports every day with little day time cruising, you can select excursions that will appeal to your family group and to your 14 yo.
After getting an idea of the best line for your family, move on to ABD trip reports, Trip Advisor and the Cruise Critic River Cruising port boards to search the cities and towns on the itinerary of your chosen line. These will help you discover what to do in each port. The ABD reports with "pre nights" reviewed will help you find guides and sample itineraries for the major Central tend Eastern European capitals. These sites are especially useful in getting good advice and reviews for private guides in the cities. This will likely be cheaper for 5 of you than taking ships excursions and you can tailor your touring to the mixed interests of your group.
I also invested in Rick Steeves books for the specific cities in my itinerary; Budapest, Istanbul. These were highly recommended to my by people who have been and my TA, for that part of the world. I also got the DK guide books for those cities. We love DK for its photos and trip useable " attraction" maps, especially in countries were the language is so different, and the guide books or maps at the attraction may not be in well translated English. Also, when traveling with a group, DK, is a great "flip through" book, where family members can look through quickly, and if a photo of an attraction or activity appeals, stick a little post it on it, and then you can sketch a rough tour itinerary from that. The multitude of pictures make sit it easier to show your group what's there vs everyone reading a 300 page book!
I made a spreadsheet with the approx prices and amenities offered by each line, but in the end, we chose based on what seemed like the right match, and that required a lot of reading reviews both by travelers and by editors of travel websites!
On last thing- Wendy Perrin of Conde Naste Traveler did a very nice review of several lines...
http://www.cntraveler.com/cruises/2012/08/cruise-special/european-river-cruise-revolution
Now, my own opinion, is that she was very biased towards, going inexpensively and touring on her own, so she didn't take into account the same concerns you might have traveling with 3 generations and wanting some more options than she needed. She also obviously didn't get to preview every line and was mostly on a given lines "newest ships" (since that's what's being "promoted" by the lines) , but it's a great starting point to get a "feel" for the various lines.
Best of luck! If you are planning for further out than Oct 2014 ( and I hope so, cabins on river cruises fill fast, and less than 6 months might be tough to find 2-3 cabins on the itinerary and dates you want) I will be doing a full review under this same screen name late next fall. It won't be on the ABD Boards, but you can find it by googling!
I'm hoping what I've shared is helpful and not so off the topic that I've offended the mods here
Maybe one day soon, there will be an ABD river cruise to review!We did the Tauck Bridges Danube sailing last year and it was really first class. The ship is beautiful and the crew could not do enough for you. The crew went out of their way to spoil the kids on board. The passengers were a lot of multi generational families and kids from 7 yrs. through late teens. The kids got along quite well and Tauck did have special events for the kids. Tauck ships only hold 108 passengers which is smaller than others but only the ship itself is not smaller than the others. All the excursions are included in their price as tips and transportation to and from the ship too. It is an all inclusive experience as opposed to others. They do break the groups up in different times for some excursions but others all go to Vienna for the concert in a castle on busses. On the bike riding event we were to sign up the day before and a bike company met us at the dock and had the bikes and helmets waiting for us as we toured along the Danube into a small town for ice cream. Everyone LOVED that excursion believe me. We never felt crowded nor herded in any tour. We are returning to Italy this year with Tauck on another Bridges tour as well as next year on a river tour. Tauck is a first rate guided tour company which as stated before ABD seemed to imitate in their business model. If you have specific questions I too would be happy to answer as best I can.
We did the Tauck Bridges Danube sailing last year and it was really first class. The ship is beautiful and the crew could not do enough for you. The crew went out of their way to spoil the kids on board. The passengers were a lot of multi generational families and kids from 7 yrs. through late teens. The kids got along quite well and Tauck did have special events for the kids. Tauck ships only hold 108 passengers which is smaller than others but only the ship itself is not smaller than the others. All the excursions are included in their price as tips and transportation to and from the ship too. It is an all inclusive experience as opposed to others. They do break the groups up in different times for some excursions but others all go to Vienna for the concert in a castle on busses. On the bike riding event we were to sign up the day before and a bike company met us at the dock and had the bikes and helmets waiting for us as we toured along the Danube into a small town for ice cream. Everyone LOVED that excursion believe me. We never felt crowded nor herded in any tour. We are returning to Italy this year with Tauck on another Bridges tour as well as next year on a river tour. Tauck is a first rate guided tour company which as stated before ABD seemed to imitate in their business model. If you have specific questions I too would be happy to answer as best I can.
carpenta, which river cruise are you doing next year? I've got an ever-growing list of possibilities that includes the TB France river cruise and the new Rhine cruise that they've added for 2015, as well as a few other Tauck trips and some of the other river cruise companies. No ABDs unless they make some changes. I'm going to let DS review the list and see which one he is most interested in. He will probably tell me to pick, and it is so hard!
We are looking at the Netherlands-Belgium southbound river cruise next year. We are trying to get our schedule set now.....wish me luck!
Tauck has launched (or pretty close) a new ship that sounds as great or greater than the ships they have now.We are looking at the Netherlands-Belgium southbound river cruise next year. We are trying to get our schedule set now.....wish me luck!
Good Luck!
It's interesting how they've designed some of the lower level cabins on the new ships to be split level and have bigger windows. And the bathroom is bigger. That's definitely an improvement!
AddictedtoTravel
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2010
Thank you for all of your input. My folks really want to see Eastern Europe (Budapest to the Black Sea) so Tauck Bridges isn't an option but Tauck is. In addition AMA and Viking also have similar itineraries. Based on your input and what I've been able to read online I am leaning toward Tauck. I like the idea of a smaller ship and the activities sound great. I look forward to your trip report familygoboston. We will be go next summer or the following, depending on what life hands us along the way
familygoboston
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
Thank you for all of your input. My folks really want to see Eastern Europe (Budapest to the Black Sea) so Tauck Bridges isn't an option but Tauck is. In addition AMA and Viking also have similar itineraries. Based on your input and what I've been able to read online I am leaning toward Tauck. I like the idea of a smaller ship and the activities sound great. I look forward to your trip report familygoboston. We will be go next summer or the following, depending on what life hands us along the way
Good! that will motivate me to do a review afterwards!
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