As we noted in a previous article about Tauck River Cruises, Tauck is a company that not only operates river cruises, but also an assortment of other adventure vacations, not all of which involve bodies of water, such as safaris. (Less importantly, Tauck is very often spelled “Tack” – this is noteworthy only because this spelling error appears to be more problematic with Tauck than with other cruise companies, perhaps because “tack” is an actual word. “Tack cruises” and “tack river cruises” could trick a search engine into thinking you are in fact searching for a nonexistent tack cruise. A similar problem would not occur with a misspelling like “Carnivel cruise” or “Carribean cruise,” for instance.) In this article, as in the last, we are only concerned with Tauck river cruises. However, rather than focus on them in general, as we did previously, we wanted to focus on a few specific cruises – a representative sample, if you will – to give you a better sense of what a Tauck river cruise is all about.
We will begin with European river cruises, which are overwhelmingly the most common type of river cruise vacations offered by Tauck. Tauck offers around thirty distinct river cruises, and over 80 percent are in Europe. Given that there are so many different types of European river cruises, it is not surprising that they vary in significant ways. The longest offered is the “Grand European Cruise,” which lasts for 24 days. This cruise takes you through nine countries – the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania – as well as the North Sea and the Black Sea and the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers. The cruise stops in a number of important European cities (Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, etc.) and visits several notable sites, including a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The shorter European river cruises, which last between eight and ten days, tend to be far more focused. For instance, there is a cruise called “A Taste of France,” which is basically a 10-day celebration of French cuisine, and there are a few different cruises that focus almost entirely on the various Christmas Markets in Europe, particularly in Germany and Austria, where they originated.
Besides the European river cruises, there are two other types of river cruises offered by Tauck: Nile River cruises and Yangtze River cruises. The former are 13-day affairs that take a traveler through Egypt and Jordan. The focus of the journeys, as you might expect, is on the ancient history of this region of the world, filled as it is with various temples and monuments that are thousands of years old. Yangtze River cruises, which you can take both eastbound (16 days) and westbound (17 days), basically provide vacationers with an overview of China. The river cruises afford one an opportunity to see many of China’s most famous sites – like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall – and you’ll also get to enjoy a leisurely trip through much of China’s peaceful countryside.
As we conclude, we should note that no matter which Tauck river cruise you select, it will bear a certain resemblance to other Tauck river cruises. Most notably, all Tauck river cruises are all-inclusive, and in a fairly robust sense – all meals are covered (this even includes meals that are had ashore), and private excursions are also included in the price you pay for the cruise, to name a couple of examples. Also, the logistical demands of your vacation with Tauck will be largely handled by the company, so tasks like finding accommodation for a night on shore (which come up in some Tauck river cruises) are handled by the company. So, although there are many river cruises to choose from, you can expect a certain level of service with any vacation you select.