Tauck, Avalon, & Viking River Cruises | COMPARISON

Tauck, Avalon, & Viking River Cruises | COMPARISON

Are you looking for a river cruise and would like to make it all-inclusive today we’re looking at three popular River Cruise Lines all-inclusive almost all-inclusive and all a cart stay [Applause] Tuned my special guest today is Beth schulberg owner operator of cruise and travel Specialists located in Portland Oregon Beth and her team of expert travel advisers have been meeting the needs of their clients in and around Portland and Across the Nation since 2002 together with her husband Pete they

Are Avid World Travelers and as their tagline States we know because we go Beth has a wealth of cruise and River Cruise knowledge to share hi Beth welcome back to RTE travel talk happy to be here it’s great to have you back with it so Beth we get a lot of comments from

Viewers and listeners who are trying to decide which river cruise line is actually best for them so thought today that maybe perhaps you and I could take a look at three of the popular lines with a view towards inclusiv for example some of a line that’s all truly allinclusive an almost

Allinclusive line and perhaps an allart and of course I’m talking about t Avalon waterways and Viking River Cruises so why don’t we take a little bit and break down some of the differences and the benefits for each for each one I’m ready for you all right sounds good why don’t

You give us a quick 30,000 foot overview of the three lines Beth okay um I’m going to start with T because it is truly the most all-inclusive not only is it the most all-inclusive River Cruise they even give you money cash when you are going outside the ship

To have lunch or dinner so you cannot pay for anything and you know digging deep into the history of it author tal when he first started this business he his first thing was he said okay I do not want any people that are high maintenance that cause me problems and

That was that was and and as a person that escort group groups I know what he was I know what he’s talking about and so he also thought you know if this is what I think he thought if I can make this so all inclusive that there are no

Bad surprises then I’m going to give them some good surprises along the way but I’m not going to tell you what the good surprises are or they wouldn’t be a surprise fantastic fantastic so tal is in your view is the most all-inclusive of all the river cruise lines it it it

Is not even in my opinion it just is you can not pay for anything once you are with talc really wow yes wow and would they be classed as as a luxury Clues Cruise Line Beth luxury Cruise Line yes and you know we’ll go through it but

They have like a cruise director and three tour guide so whenever you go out you have someone there if your battery dies on your you know box that you listen to for the tours or if you even need money for the restroom cuz sometimes you have to pay to go to the

Restroom there is always someone there to make sure that you don’t have any surprises okay sounds good sounds good so what about Avalon waterways you know Avalon is a wonderful not quite allinclusive River Cruise it’s owned by a the company Globus and they’ve been around for years and so they are a very

Good tour company and they know how to do tours and how to do river cruises and so so we will get deeper into how they differ but they have a fabulous product and they really have some great cruises that are geared toward very active people okay okay so then of course we’ve

Got the the the big the big dog on the street which is Viking River Cruises probably been around the longest well I don’t know about t but they’ve been around a very long time in the river cruise business well Viking did put cruises on the map and when again you

Know they have oh gosh over 80 ships they really know how to do river cruises but what they don’t want is they don’t want to make it all-inclusive and of course if they wanted to they could so it’s more of an allart you’re going to get your drinks at lunch and dinner

You’re going to get one short Excursion that they will offer a day but the other shore excursions you will pay for and everything else that you want to do that isn’t just regularly included with some of the cruise lines you will have to pay for right so with Viking it’s more of a

Pick and choose you pick and choose exactly what you want and you can customiz you can customize the river Cru that you want if you’re an independent traveler and you don’t even care about going on short excursions at all then by all means you can get off Do Your Own

Thing arrange your own tours it’s a great way to go um for a lower price so now I understand most of the ships when it comes to the ships that are along the rivers especially in Europe it’s basically one size they’re about 38 ft wide by 443 correct so what’s the

Difference between these three Cruise Lines when it comes to that well what the difference is is how many people they put on board the ship so so yes the river Cruis is have more space if they have less people to do things so right P has 130 on their cruises passengers

Avalon has 164 and Viking has 190 and so what you will get on the other cruises that Viking doesn’t have is an exercise room a hair salon places to put bicycles a swimming pool you’re you’re going to get other again it’s an allaha car if you want to do that stuff then probably

You shouldn’t be on a Viking Cruise but if you are the allaart person that wants a great price on a cruise then Viking would be a good option for you I would kind of tend to think with the difference in the number of passengers as well Beth uh it would probably affect

The stateroom size somewhat too would it not you know of course it does for instance Viking has French balcony rooms that start at 135 and then they have a beautiful balcony room at 205 205 is the size of Avalon’s panoramic Suites that they’re very proud of because the beds

Face the window and they have a sliding glass door that’s 11t wide and it opens to 7 feet and then you have talc and and their rooms are 200 and well there the rooms with the French balcony are 250 square feet and you can go up to the

Another category that’s 300 and on that category it’s the largest category on the tal ship they have a walk-in closet so and the price for to diff the difference in prices between the categories on talc is $500 a person so it’s really not that much more in that

Regard it really does make a difference which Cruise Line you choose you know there’s so much more than goes into just the hardware on these cruises it it’s it’s whatever you get when you’re on there and again we’re going to go over all of that and you know talk about it

Sure okay let’s take a few for example what well you you mentioned earlier lunch and dinner is that the same across all three lines or what’s the difference first off all three lines have different dining venues up until dinner time so you know there’s a couple of couple

Places on each I won’t get into all the details but you can go to different places talc has room service and Avalon has room service it’s not it’s an allaart you’re going to get like you would order breakfast on a large cruise you’ll click off what you want and then

They’ll bring you your dinner if you’re too tired to go to dinner that night and then U Viking does not have room service that’s a big difference yeah and you mentioned alternate dining venues does do they all have alternate venues yes they all have um different places to go

For lunch and then tal has several different places they have a a grill up on top of the where the swimming pool is so you could eat there then they have another location and then they have the main dining room and with t you don’t

Have to go in at the same time it’s not like um they have a happy hour or a a cruise director talk and then everybody goes in at the same time you can dime whenever you want between a certain time period oh really because it’s all cart D

They they want you to have your D your food fresh and hot and they can’t serve as 130 people at one time so they really want you to come in at different times and then Avalon and Viking do have the Set dining time right so then everybody

Goes to dinner at the same basically at the same time yes whereas T you can just within a certain period on board the ship from I don’t know we’ll say from 400 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. you can go D and and you know we we should talk about

Cuisine also Avalon has really done a great job in getting these two brothers who own a vegetarian restaurant in Vienna to be their executive chefs okay and so for anyone who is a foodie and has allergies it you are counseled on what you can eat and what you can’t eat

And they’ve really gone above and beyond on the cuisine on their ships and and tal of course being luxury you would expect that so I don’t really need to talk about that and Vikings food is also very good for a foodie then that that kind of makes that can probably make a

Difference which line you’d probably choose I think so yes again um it’s it’s based on price point also exactly no exactly exactly we talked a little bit about the state rooms and you mentioned specifically French balconies do they all have French balconies and for the benefit of of the folks that don’t know

What a French balcony is why don’t you tell us a little bit about that well a French balcony is like having a sliding glass door that opens you know and that’s your French balcony it’s got sofas or chairs in of the French balcony so you can sit and watch the river go by

Uh Viking does have stepout balconies so they do offer that where talc and Avalon do not okay so you have the option on certain Viking ships to have a step out balcony can’t imagine it’s fairly of any great size you know it’s not of great size and when they first started River

Cruising they didn’t even think about putting that anybody would want to step out and sit on their B on their balcony but everyone wants to see the world go by as you’re sailing you know you it would would be nice to be in your room if you want some privacy to see the

World go by I think that either are just great yes I’m sure so your advice on on a balcony room is a French balcony and it can be either both Viking tal Avalon waterways are going to do a fantastic job I I think the way to break this down

Is if you want a luxury experience and you don’t pay for anything go on tal but if you want an experience that you don’t pay as much then aval would be your what you would go to and Viking if you have a set budget and you

Want to just pick and choose what you want and spend as much money as you want and know what you’re spending while you’re there then biking is a good fit so Beth you mentioned sha excursions how do tal and Avalon and Viking line up when it comes to sha excursions well

Let’s start with tal they have exceptional shore excursions and they even will have during your time a chance to have dinner in a palace with music or maybe private hours after hours at a museum so they really have that wow factor okay with their shore excursions

And you again you don’t pay for anything so with Avalon they have come up with a great idea for shore excursions they have three different types of shore excursions active Discovery and classic your classic or what you would normally take on a river cruise the discovery one

Is where you would go and maybe have you would go and paint someplace in at a museum you would go to a cooking school they really have you discovering things that interest you and they also have active so canoeing bike riding and something else that Avalon has done is

They have even made a several of their sailings active in Discovery only and so what that means is they’re not going to stop in as many ports but they’re going to be very active in the ports that they are in and and so of course those those

Will bring in a younger crowd those people that want to do all the active and Discovery so that was a I thought that’s a great idea that they have on that and then Viking just gives you the one choice per po no no choice you get

One short Excursion and you know lots of times it’s a city tour a walking tour and any other short Excursion that you want you do have to pay for and I do have a list of what the short excursions cost and they’re anywhere from $79 to $9

An Excursion per person okay so if I if I understand you correctly t on any given day in any given Port has a number of shore excursions to partake in and they’re all included all complimentary all complimentary all everything’s included the extra guides and really and

They really do a great job yes Avalon does a fantastic job as well they give you multiple options for excursions classic active or discovery type excursions in each Port yeah but you will have to pay for some of those excursions right yeah four or five on a

C a seven night cruise right so with Avalon there there is some excursions included but there there could be some optional ones that you want might want to partake of as well correct yes and then then with Viking you have one included sh Excursion which is normally

A tour and you do have the options in some of the ports for it additional Shore Excursion if you want yes they always have okay so I’m really I’m I’m really starting to see allinclusive almost all inclusive van all a cart yeah and you know when Mak a lot of sense

When I break it down and give you the prices of what things cost you’ll really get a better idea of what you know it doesn’t cost that more to go first class you know you’re going to pay a little bit more but you’re going to get the service and and everything what about

The beverage packages um well of course tal is included ivalon doesn’t have a beverage package you get beer and wine and soda at lunch and dinner and then you have to pay for anything after that and Viking their drink package um you get beer and wine at lunch and dinner um

And then if you want the drink package it’s $175 per person for a seven night cruise so one of the things I’ve noticed on some of the other River Cruise Lines Beth is at a certain time of day they have what’s known as a happy hour and

It’s normally before you either go into dinner or perhaps just after you’ve you’ve done a a bit of a a talk with the the cruise director that they have a happy hour we can actually get a complimentary drink yes drink does does Avalon and Viking has something like

That Avalon does do the one-h hour cocktail party before dinner Viking does not and tal has a tea at 400 p.m. so they are serving like a formal tea and you know something else I wanted to say about t because this is important for people is you will be going to events

That will require a jacket and a you know nicer dress so okay if you’re someone that doesn’t want to bring a jacket tal is not for you okay yeah no that’s that that’s an important difference it is U if you like to dress up great but if you want casual then

You’re probably better off with with Viking yes interesting and that’s because you’re going to castles with B you know with the with the orchestra and dancers and they just expect a higher level of dress on those right on right on and that’s why they give you the

Walking closet that’s why they give you the walk-in closet so Beth if I was looking at trying to decide between these three popular cruise lines and I wanted to do a bit of a comparison can can you put together a bit of a comparison say for

Example on the danu course of course of course I can Canen so um let me just start with this I’m gonna start with the price point and it’s almost like a real estate appraiser I’m going to put things in and take things out to get down to a

A a rate that that you’re going to pay when you get off the ship so when you get on when you get on tal with their all-inclusive product and they give you money to go to lunch and dinner they pay all your tips for your gratuities your

Gratuities on board and the tips that the guides would normally get the all-inclusive price for per person for a cat six which means you’re getting like a 250q foot room with a French balcony is priced in June 202 4 at $754 per person I took away $500 from

That price to give it a $7,400 because of the money that they are going to be paying on your behalf so now we’re looking at a base rate all-inclusive rate at $740 with Avalon their lead in for the balcony Stater Room 205 Square ft is $5,988 tipping the guides I added $400

In per person you’re going to be adding in alcoholic beverages they don’t have a package but I just gave it 175 a person right the nonincluded short excursions I put down as $400 a person laundry is not covered on Avalon that’s $60 a person and transfers if you don’t go with their

Brochure is how they describe it is 110 per person so when you get off the Avalon ship you’re going to be paying 6243 6,243 so it is about $800 less than what you’re going to be paying for to now when you’re on Viking Vikings balcony room B category 200 square F feet is

$37.99 that is what you pay Right add in the gratuities at 400 the alcoholic beverages at 175 I generously put or not generously put um 1,000 for non-included short excursions you know there’s so much to do in these places that you may be higher again you can be lower but I’m

Saying if we’re going to compare it to talc or Avalon I put $1,000 in your laundry $60 they will take your laundry out they don’t have where you do your own laundry on these ships and the transfers if you don’t go with biking are 180 round trip so with biking you’re looking at

$5,610 they have 190 people they can spread out the cost a little bit easier than the other two so you can see that it is a great comparison it just depends on what level of service you want Oh exactly exactly so let’s look at a couple of the other things what about

The onboard entertainment Beth would it be you know I would say it’s going to be comparable on all of them they’re gonna when when you’re in these places they get local entertainment it’s nothing unless you go off the ship that’s going to blow you away on any of them it’s

Just nice entertainment they bring in some opera singers you know I mean some of the entertainment is great but I would say that’s two nights out of seven nights that you’re gonna be wow sorry you missed that one that was really good yeah so where you’re going to get wow

Then is with for example with talc and they take you to take you to one of these fantastic castles with that sort of a an evening dinner dinner and an evening yeah yes so when I’m thinking about a river cruise Beth what about deposits like when when number one how

Far in advance should I book a river cruise and how much money am I going to need to take out of my pocket to get it booked for okay well we’ll start with talc they only have nine ships give or take who knows when you know they’re

Putting them in or taking them out so with tal you need to book it as far in advance as when they come out with their itineraries because they do have a huge following with Avalon is a 250 per person non-refundable deposit and 90 days before departure you pay in in full

Going back to talc four months before departure you pay in full and with Viking your deposits vary um sometimes it can be $25 sometimes they’ll be $250 your final payment is going to be at least 10 months or longer before you travel it is not set in stone it’s

Whatever their promotions are at the time that it is booked yeah and that and I’ve seen and I’ve seen that with with Viking they’ve got some great you know you can just put down $25 but you could be reaching into your pocket in 30 days for the full amount

Depending on depending on whatever type of promotion they have on the goal right it it is but I want to explain that that doesn’t mean that the penalties change so if you want to cancel within um let’s say you want to cancel 121 days out and

They’ve got your money a year in advance you will get that money back based on what the penalties are on your contract so it doesn’t mean that they’re keeping your money if you need to cancel um and again we always recommend travel insurance but if you have to C cancel

For a non-covered reason then just know that they are not holding your money when you pay a year out if you have to cancel and you have to look at the you have to look at the contract and see what their contract says right right so

Beth one of the things that we see in this day and age is a lot of folks that are actually traveling single and I know it’s kind of an issue with the actually the size of the river Cru ships on single supplement and what’s available

So how does how does t and Avalon and Viking measure up in that regard well looking at it from the cruise Line’s business point of view there’s really no reason for them to offer a low single supplement because they’re probably going to sell it to two people and they

Don’t have to take the hit exactly so what T has done is the hardest rooms on these ships to sell are the lower level water line rooms and they’ve said we’re always going to have those rooms available for singles at no no single supplement no single supplement and on

Select sailings we will offer a discount on a few rooms and I think they give you $1,000 off what you would pay if two people went right Avalon has they’ve said well we’re going to have around four rooms that are Solo rooms that you do have to pay a single supplement the

Price varies and the the ship that you’re on and itinerary varies they’re going to be scarce right they’re going to be well they’re going to be scarce because all the solo people are going to be grabbing them as fast as they can and then with Viking they although they

Don’t offer a single supplement they do have some itineraries probably the ones that they’re having a little bit more trouble selling um that they will open up and allow you to have a lower price on a solo room still the same siiz room not not a it’s not a solo room it’s

Still the same siiz room but single supplement will not be as high right yeah so exactly none of the none of the ships that we know of are set up that it’s just a single room none of the ships we’re talking about today some ships do have that well Beth this is

Really super information what would you advise people that are looking to book a river cruise for 2024 or 2025 in the travel world we have a season called The Wave season January February and March is when the cruise lines drop their best promotions and so if you are thinking of

Traveling call me in January or February or March and let’s get you booked those are those are the best promotions you’re going to find all year okay well that’s good good advice good advice well Beth this has been wonderful but just before we get out of here I have to know

Because I know you’re always on the go traveling as part of part of what you do where are you and Pete off to Next in June we are going on a Seaborn cruise to the Arctic I am escorting a group out of Norway not the Antarctic the Arctic so I

Am really looking for forward to that wow wow that sounds fantastic yes we’ll have to have you back to regalis with your adventures in the Arctic how’s that absolutely so with that Beth I’m just going to wish you and Pete safe and happy travels and Adventures on all your

F future cruises and destinations May the wind always be at your back and I hope to see the two of you on the Leo deck sometime soon you will thank you take care bye-bye and that about wraps it up for today folks a very special thanks to my guest Beth schulberg of

Cruise and travel specialist if you’d like to hear more from Beth you can click the link above for Beth’s playlist of all the interviews she’s done with real Travel Experts I will leave her contact information in in the description if you’d like to reach out

To Beth if you’d like to reach us you can simply send a question to questions realt TR experts.com visit our website real Trel experts.com or simply leave a comment we always respond and as always folks if you enjoyed this content a like subscribe and a ring of the Bell is

Certainly appreciated it and helps us to spread the word so until next time happy Travels

Tauck, Avalon, & Viking River Cruises comparison. Luxury All Inclusive ,almost all inclusive and Ala carte. Real Travel expert Beth Schulberg, owner of Cruise & Travel Specialists of Lake Oswego Oregon, joins Ken to compare three of her go to river cruise lines: Tauck, Avalon Waterways and Viking River Cruises, with a view to the inclusivity and options available on each river cruise line. Beth and Ken discuss what sets each river cruise line apart from each other and some of their history plus what you need to know when choosing a river cruise line. Such as which river cruise line is classed as luxury which is the most all inclusive and which can be the most economical based on an ala carte menu of options. Find out why despite the fact that the ships are the same size the amount of passengers they carry varies from 130 to 190, an what the river cruise lines do with the extra space. Beth provides valuable river cruise tips on such thing as deposits and the best time of year to consider booking your river cruise. Beth ties everything together with an example price comparison between the three lines when everything is added up post river cruise. The results may surprise potential river cruisers looking for that next vacation.

Contact Real Travel Experts: questions@realtravelexperts.com
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Contact Cruise & Travel Specialists: info@cruzholidays.com
Cruise & Travel Specialist website:​ https://cruztrav.com/

Image & Video Credits:
Avalon Waterways Clips and Images: Courtesy of Avalon Waterways
Tauck Clips and Images: Courtesy of Tauck Tours & Cruises
Viking River Cruises Clips and Images: Courtesy of Viking
River Cruise Rafting Image: Courtesy Stefan B from Bratislava, Slovakia, via Wikimedia Commons

RTE Travel Talk does not endorse any of their guests’ products or services. The opinions of the guests may or may not reflect those of the host and RTE Travel Talk.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Introduction
00:18 Special Guest, Beth Schulberg
01:18 Overview of Tauck Inclusions
03:04 Overview of Avalon Waterways Inclusions
03:37 Overview of Viking and Inclusions
04:48 Ship & stateroom size differences
06:51 Dining Differences
09:16 French Balconies
10:47 Shore Excursion Differences
13:54 Beverage packages
14:53 Formal vs Casual Dress
15:46 Price Comparison
18:47 Entertainment Compared
19:29 Deposits & Booking Differences
21:23 Solo Travelers
23:09 Advice for Booking
23:46 Beth’s Future Travels