Anyone been on both ABD and Tauck European River cruises?

[ngl]

We are considering a European River cruise for 2024. Our kids will be 15 and 13. We just did Europe for the first time with them last summer (Paris & London). Doing ABD Italy this summer and did Tauck Bridges Alaska previously. Really love both tour co and know pros and cons to each. Was wondering for their river cruise ships, what is the comparison? Not sure if anyone has tried both but if so, would love the feedback! Tauck is less money, as it typically is, but most activities look the same (same route, of course) but would love to have a comparison between the two ship lines they use for these tours. Thanks in advance!

 

[laceltris3]

We are considering a European River cruise for 2024. Our kids will be 15 and 13. We just did Europe for the first time with them last summer (Paris & London). Doing ABD Italy this summer and did Tauck Bridges Alaska previously. Really love both tour co and know pros and cons to each. Was wondering for their river cruise ships, what is the comparison? Not sure if anyone has tried both but if so, would love the feedback! Tauck is less money, as it typically is, but most activities look the same (same route, of course) but would love to have a comparison between the two ship lines they use for these tours. Thanks in advance!

We did the Danube on ABD in 2019 and it was... fine, I guess. Accommodations were great and the ship was beautiful and as a family of 5 the connecting 3 person/two person rooms were the big draw, but it was just ok, overall. In 2020 we were supposed to do the Siene on Tauck. Obviously canceled, but they handled it amazingly, and offered a full refund immediately or $500 per person incentive to keep the money there for a future trip (for PIF, incentive was $250 for not PIF). I have to do June because of my work, so 2021 Siene didn't have any suites left (we needed a suite to sleep 3+) and 2022 I did a land trip instead and ended up doing Yellowstone and Alaska in 2021/2 because I was unwilling to do Europe with a testing requirement to come home. I will say that Alaska was our least favorite of the 5 Tauck trips we have done, and was probably on par with our ABD experience. The other TB trips far exceeded expectations.

We are doing the Siene this June and I am so excited, and my daughter picked Tauck Rhine for 2024 for her high school graduation. (Kids are currently 16, 13, and 11). The only reason I am a little careful with Tauck is that land trip deposits are freely movable to another trip at any time. No limit I am aware of on numbers on transfers. I booked Alpine Adventure twice before doing the two US trips because of Covid, and Tauck's policies have universally been more customer-friendly than ABD. The river cruise deposits are non-refundable or transferable, IIRC. One big plus for Tauck is that I put down a deposit for 2024 last November and had my pick of the rooms. The trip hadn't priced yet, but I could do it at my leisure and have two weeks to change my mind once it does price in February-ish.

So I have not done the trip yet, but I have read many reviews about the ships and the service and am happy to share my experiences once we do go. On Tauck, we also booked the rooms with me and all 3 kids in the suite, and my husband in the lowest category with no single supplement. It was cheaper this way because the +4 was cheaper than the +2 in the lower category room. And the suite comes with some additional benefits, and Tauck does include more alcohol with meals, etc., if that's a consideration for you.

 

[ngl]

Thanks so much for this great feedback! Totally agree re Tauck being more customer friendly with their policies. We had Tauck Italy booked for 2020 and very easy to get the money back. Decided on ABD Italy & Amalfi because dates worked a bit better for this summer. Will see what we think! We really liked Tauck Alaska when we did it years ago and since you said you liked others better I guess we should look into others too!

Out of curiosity, did you not like the ABD river cruise or just the Danube itinerary in general? Or ABD? Really appreciate the information!

 

[laceltris3]

The trip wasn't at all bad, and the itinerary and ship were fine.

I guess for me, I had higher expectations from ABD, and to me it seemed the same quality as Tauck, but 15-20% more expensive. We are pretty low maintenance people, so fewer guides on Tauck doesn't impact our enjoyment level. My youngest was 8 on that trip, so having the connecting rooms was great, and on most river cruises we have some issues with needing a room that sleeps 3, so I thought the experience was just not worth the ABD markup. I was just very thankful that trip was pre-Covid. Seeing how the two companies handled things was night and day, and we were on the very first Yellowstone trip after Tauck resumed operations and it was an amazing trip. One of our favorite ever, even with having to get take out at the fancy restaurant because dine in was closed for staffing shortages and other issues.

ETA the one day I was really unhappy on ABD was due to a significant delay going through the locks which was entirely not their fault. But the delay was hours long, and then they said if you wanted to go to the salt mine, you had to also go to Salzburg and get back super late. It was also in a heat wave and like 100 degrees and many people (certainly a full bus load) wanted to go to the mine which was cool and underground and not do Salzburg. What they told us kept changing and then ultimately they made us go to Salzburg for literally 45 minutes of free time after a rushed in the heat high speed walking tour in the hottest part of the day. Most people spent the free time buying water and paying to use the bathroom at Starbucks It was a pretty miserable afternoon. I was not super impressed with how they handled that.

 

[ngl]

Thanks again for the feedback! We were really pleased with Tauck but wanted to try ABD with our upcoming trip as the dates and itinerary worked a bit better for us. Will see what we think after but agree, we had no issue with less guides etc on Tauck. Overall, they seem more flexible with most things. Will let you know what our summer experience is like and please let me know how your Seine trip goes. Really appreciate the insight!

 

[Eastridge]

There are some trip reports on the ABD Danube river cruise in the "Links to ABD Trip Reports" section of this board, so you can read other perspectives.

I went on an ABD Rhine RIver cruise and enjoyed that, but I haven't been on the Danube or on a Tauck cruise.

 

[ngl]

Bumping this back up and would love to know your experience this summer with Tauck river cruise @laceltris3 ! (I think you were doing Seine in June) We are considering Rhine 2024. I know with ABD you get your choice of activities per day on the cruise. Tauck itinerary does not spell out the options. Did you get daily options to choose from? Do they provide those in advance? Would love to do an apples to apples comparison.

 

[Donalyn]

I'd also like to hear about the Tauck cruises. I generally find their descriptions of their itineraries less helpful than the ABD one. (I loved our ABD Rhine cruise and think that the ABD Danube itinerary sounds great, but I do like to explore options.)

 

[laceltris3]

Bumping this back up and would love to know your experience this summer with Tauck river cruise @laceltris3 ! (I think you were doing Seine in June) We are considering Rhine 2024. I know with ABD you get your choice of activities per day on the cruise. Tauck itinerary does not spell out the options. Did you get daily options to choose from? Do they provide those in advance? Would love to do an apples to apples comparison.

We got back from the Siene on the 4th of July. It was the week of the really bad riots, but we never noticed anything at all during our trip. We loved it. The ship was smaller than we had been on for ABD Danube and there were only approximately 80 guests, and for most excursions we were broken up into 4 groups. The activities on board were fun. One night there was a mentalist. A few days there was team trivia for prizes. The kids few kites up on deck while we were sailing(scheduled a second time because it was so popular the first time). Two nights there was a separate kids dinner and there was an area in the lounge dedicated to games and crafts. One night there was karaoke. We had 3 Tauck guides plus a tour director, which seemed like a pretty good ratio for the group. The itinerary was exactly as described on the site. This was our fifth trip with Tauck and our first river cruise with them and we are booked for the Rhine next year and my middle child already wants to do the Siene again for his graduation trip in a few years. For the Siene we only had two days with excursion choices. The first day in Paris there was a walking tour of the city or bike riding along the river to the Eiffel Tower. We split up and did both and the bike ride was one of my son's favorite things. The other was a palace tour at Versailles or a bike ride of the gardens, but I don't think anyone selected the ride. There were definitely fewer choices than on the Danube, but I don't feel like it was a negative to the trip, because everything was really well done.

 

[ngl]

We got back from the Siene on the 4th of July. It was the week of the really bad riots, but we never noticed anything at all during our trip. We loved it. The ship was smaller than we had been on for ABD Danube and there were only approximately 80 guests, and for most excursions we were broken up into 4 groups. The activities on board were fun. One night there was a mentalist. A few days there was team trivia for prizes. The kids few kites up on deck while we were sailing(scheduled a second time because it was so popular the first time). Two nights there was a separate kids dinner and there was an area in the lounge dedicated to games and crafts. One night there was karaoke. We had 3 Tauck guides plus a tour director, which seemed like a pretty good ratio for the group. The itinerary was exactly as described on the site. This was our fifth trip with Tauck and our first river cruise with them and we are booked for the Rhine next year and my middle child already wants to do the Siene again for his graduation trip in a few years. For the Siene we only had two days with excursion choices. The first day in Paris there was a walking tour of the city or bike riding along the river to the Eiffel Tower. We split up and did both and the bike ride was one of my son's favorite things. The other was a palace tour at Versailles or a bike ride of the gardens, but I don't think anyone selected the ride. There were definitely fewer choices than on the Danube, but I don't feel like it was a negative to the trip, because everything was really well done.

Thank you so much for your review! So hard to decide btwn ABD and Tauck. We have done both and liked each of our land trips. ABD dates may work better but need to look a little more. Really appreciate it!!