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Pre trip information
We are doing the May 19th Budapest to Amsterdam and all we have received in the way of information is a tiny little booklet with very general information; no specific information as to arrival and departure times in each port, where we will be docked in each port, and maps or other interesting information about each port, etc. We have done numerous other cruises and have received a significant amout of literature well before our trip to help us make the most of our time in each port. This is our first cruise with Tauck so we didn't know what to expect but we are wondering if we have not been sent this information in error or if the little bit we received is all we are going to receive.
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Terri
Ah, you've hit on the very reason you are doing a Tauck river cruise. Some companies will leave you on your own in each port to fend for yourselves. You can purchase a side trip or you can wander around on your own ... armed with the reams of paper they sent before departure and that you've had to carry to your destination. Tauck, however, take care of you from morn till night. Every evening you will get a small booklet, prepared just hours before, with the most up to date information on the next day's activities. The Cruise Director has been hard at work all day managing ahead and then preparing & producing the current booklet. Everything you will ever need to know ... well, almost everything! ... will be included :- meal times, docking times, weather forecasts, notes on the day's activities ... all sorts of useful & practical information. The actual docking details, day to day, probably won't be there because they can change, depending on the movements of other river traffic. Of course, all the details for arriving and departing, and transfers to and from the boat will be in your tour wallet that has already been sent to you at home.
I don't know about you, but I was very grateful I didn't have to carry a pile of information, compiled some time prior to departure for my trip, therefore rendering it inaccurate at the very least and irrelevant and heavy at worst. You already know the daily itinerary ... it's in the brochure, here on your trip's web page and you are also sent more detailed information in you tour wallet. Trust me, Tauck don't leave anything to chance, nor do they leave their travellers to fend for themselves. They do all the heavy lifting for you. They really are just thinking of your comfort.
Of course, if you are like me, you'll want to know everything about your forthcoming trip ... which is why I do lots of research about destinations, social history, food, climate.... I can't help myself! I'm a travel research junkie. But I leave the travel practicalities to Tauck. That's what they're good at and that's what I pay them for!
You are in for a wonderful travel experience. Have fun!
Cheers,
Jan
always do immense amounts of research before we travel but how are we supposed to plan any of our free time when we don't know: a) exactly how much free time we will have ie 1hour or 4 hours, b) where exactly the ships are going to be docked in each port, and c) where exactly the shuttles will be dropping us off when relevant? This is extremely frustrating and a bit disappointing from Tauck if I'm totally honest. Some people do like to have all of their ducks in a row before they go on vacation.
Terri
I've been loath to enter into this conversation because although we we did this trip in 2011 we did it from the other direction so I'm not sue that the times will be the same. I'll give you the abbreviated version of our day and night in Vienna as supplied in our daily programme.
7.30am-9.00am Breakfast in the dining room. You had a choice of the following;
Schonbrunn Palace
9.00 Board our coaches and depart for Schonbrunn Palace
Note no back packs or large handbags are allowed in the Palace but can be left on the coach. Photographs are not allowed inside the Palace but carry your camera with you as there will be plenty of opportunities for exterior and garden photos.
12.00pm Depart Schonbrunn Palace for Albertina. You can depart the coach here to enjoy free time in the city or remain on the coach and return to the ship for lunch.
Hofburg Complex
9.15am Board our coach and local guide for our drive to the city centre. We will enter the Hofburg complex and visit the silver chamber. After the tour you may continue to explore the city on your own or return to the ship, by coach, for lunch.
Please Note the last shuttle from the city to the ship departs at 4.00pm so your time in the city is limited.
We chose the Schonbrunn Palace tour ( I loved it) and then had lunch and a walk around the city returning on the last shuttle at 4.00pm. When we got back to the ship we had plenty of time to shower and dress for our concert at the Palais Pallavicini.
I hope this is of some use Terri and as you can see it was a full day and night in Vienna. You could choose in your time there to anything other than the above and you would not be clashing with any Tauck visit. If I ever get back to Vienna I would make sure I got to see the Lipizanner Horse rehearsal.
Rod
If you have a specific question, relevant to you and your trip alone, a personal rather than general one, you will need to ask Tauck directly. If your travel agent can't answer you, you need to go to Tauck. Directly.
This is a public internet forum. People post replies to questions on a casual basis. Hopefully most people who post do so for altruistic reasons. Hopefully people post out of a general love of travel and a specific regard for Tauck as a travel provider. Any answers posted here are very much the luck of the draw as to whether you like the replies, they are useful to you personally or indeed anyone posts at all. No one is compelled to provide a reply. The forum is very much a generalised resource, but it's a resource that a number of us try to make a positive and useful one, very much in the spirit of community. Hopefully, after your Tauck trip you will be moved by the same spirit of community to share your experiences with others.
Cheers,
Jan
So the way I see it, Tauck does not provide any type of tour of the city but only gives you a choice of either the Schonbrunn or Hofburg. You are then on your own to explore what you will in Vienna. I was under the impression that some sort of city tour was also included. I guess I was mistaken.
Thanks for your help.
Terri
If I violated some forum rule, I'm unaware of it and I will limit myself to more general questions and discussions in the future. Sorry for upsetting the apple cart.
Terri
I think we took the same travel preparedness course! I too like to research every part of my vacation to ensure we have the best experience possible while making these brief stops on our tours. I was reading travel books this week and making notes for our 2014 Ams to Bud cruise so I was rather interested in seeing the posts to your query. Yes, we know Tauck is going to take care of us and that it will be a magnificent trip but I too search for any and all clues that will tell me exactly what sites will be included in the land tours and approximately how much free time there will be to experience the cities on our own. Travelling can be such a "fluid" experience. Weather, break-downs, water levels, strikes, etc. can all affect even the best planned travel itinerary. I would guess Tauck doesn't provide such specificities in their itinerary until you actually arrive to give them the opportunity to take all the unknowns into account. We all know those "not-so-nice" travellers! Can you imagine the ruckus it could cause if a more specific itinerary changed - even slightly - and those folks had made certain plans or reservations?
I hope this isn't too much information, but I'm trying to take a different approach to answer your query. This is how I am filling in the empty spaces in the cruise itinerary. From reading various blogs, you can determine at which ports a shuttle will/may take you from the ship into town and which ports are close enough to walk into town. Sometimes I just Google "where is the river cruise port in XX" or "how far is the river cruise port from XXX" to see what pops up! In Vienna for example, Rod's itinerary as well as some other posts have suggested that Tauck may shuttle guests from the ship to Albertina, which is a museum located in the city center. Although this could certainly change, I'll be using this as a possible starting point to create my free-time walking tours.
Next, I assume a general statement such as "get an overview of Vienna with a morning sightseeing tour" is not going to include specific stops at major sites so I make my list of "must see" sites/restaurants/shops for each city and then mark those spots on a great walking map. (I personally use the Streetwise or MapEasy maps) When the TDs "cut us loose", I whip out my walking map and off we go! Depending on a variety of circumstances, Tauck may need to change a "drop off" point or alter how much free time is available to explore which can certainly be frustrating for those of us who are super-planners. However, I watch plenty of travel videos, read enough travel books, blogs and forums, that it's not difficult to take the daily itinerary that Tauck provides and alter my walking tours in minimal time.
Terri - I truly feel your pain and I don't think your question was inappropriate at all! I'm glad you posted it and thank Rod for providing at least an idea of what his Tauck daily itinerary in Vienna entailed. Once I considered all the problems a more detailed itinerary could cause, I accepted the challenge to ramp up my planning techniques to accommodate the information that "was" provided.
Would love for you to post your post cruise experiences and recommendations!
Wish you safe travels!
Beth
Please let me know how I can help you. I will be more than happy to help.
Thanks,
Emily
In the description of the day in Vienna, it indicates that the morning consists of an overview of the city and the afternoon allows us to choose either the Schonbrunn or the Hofburg. My question for those who may have done this trip is whether there were any stops in the morning tour and what they were. I ask because we are spending three days prior to the cruise in Vienna and do not want to duplicate what Tauck will provide. I realize that nothing is written in stone and everything is subject to change depending on a variety of circumstances such as weather, river levels and what have you, but a general idea of what is covered would be nice so that we could plan our pre-cruise days in Vienna with that knowledge. Thank you for your offer to help.
TerriB
I thank you for your reply. My husband and I are usually independent travelers so this is new to us. We have taken only one bus tour before. On the ocean cruises that we've been on, we never do organized ship tours, but go off on our own. So you can understand that we are trying to make the most of our time.
I appreciate your response. We are well aware that circumstances often dictate a change in plans and we have been disappointed a few times when itineraries have changed for reasons beyond our control, and we just go with the flow. This is our first tour where everything is handled for us and we are a bit behind the eight ball in trying to figure out how much spare time we will have in ports and what we will be able to do with it. We are trying not to carry many books with us and prepare ahead of time, but without some prior knowledge that is difficult.
Anyway, we will go with the flow and I will not make waves--no pun intented!
I am sure we will have a great time and we will enjoy every minute of the trip. We are really looking forward to this trip.
Terri
Hi TerriB,
We will spend Day 4 of the tour in Vienna.
On this day, you will start the day with a local guide city sightseeing tour of Wien including Ring Blvd, Opera and Parliament house. After the tour with the local guide you will have the option of going to either Schönbrunn Palace or Hofburg Palace. After the palace visits, you are free to see Vienna on your own or return to for the boat for lunch.
If you choose to spend the afternoon in Vienna, the coach will drop you off at Albertina Museum at the Innere Stadt of Vienna. We will be providing shuttles to and from Albertina throughout the afternoon.
Later on in the evening will be our dinner at Palais Pallavicini.
Hope this helps. Please do not hesitate asking any questions on the forums, there is a great community of people here always willing to help and provide insight. There is always someone monitoring the forums as well, we try our best to get to every question.
-Emily
I really appreciate the time you took to find this out for me. It helps a great deal in planning the pre-cruise days we are planning on spending in Vienna. Thanks so much for getting the answers to my questions.
Terri