Many years ago, we chatted with a fellow American patron in a Paris café who was whiling away some free time from a tour she was on. As we said our adieus, she told us to look up her tour operator, and then said emphatically, “You would like it”.
It took us several more years to actually look into it – the idea of a group tour wasn’t immediately a draw for us. But then in 2018 we finally took the traveler’s advice and signed up for a Tauck river cruise of the Danube. We had a fabulous time and returned home determined to sign up for another. But something always got in the way – life, mostly, and then COVID – so it took us until now to follow through with a follow up cruise, this time on the Rhine.
There are many tour operators that offer these cruises. Our uninformed opinion is that Tauck is the best of them because we can’t imagine a better experience than what we’ve had. They are a family owned and led company since 1925 and everything about them – the boats, the itineraries, the staff and the experience – is simply stellar.
And that is what brought us again to Amsterdam, as the starting point of this tour of 11-days, with 7 nights on the boat.
We arrived Amsterdam a few days early to acclimate to the gnarly nine-hour time difference, but even with our early arrival, Tauck sent a representative to meet us at Schiphol airport and ferry us to the hotel chosen for the tour, the Sofitel Grand Legend.
It is not the hotel we would choose on our own, but there is always the option to lodge separately and just arrive at the boat for boarding as the tour begins. Still, it was fun to stay with the fellow cruisers and start getting to know them as we gathered in the hotel lobby to be taken to the ship.
Even though we’d been on one Tauck cruise, I still got a thrill as we boarded the MS Grace.
Our first evening began with a cocktail reception, dinner and, of course, a dessert buffet. You will never, ever go hungry on a Tauck river cruise!
On Day Two, still in Amsterdam we had a guided tour of the canals.
That evening, we set sail from Amsterdam on a canal leading to the Rhine. There is something so deliciously pleasurable about gliding through the water on a riverboat!
We cruised through the night and every time I woke, the gentle rocking of the boat put me back to sleep. It’s a lovely way to travel. We awoke that morning on the Rhine River at Krefeld, about 130 miles south of Amsterdam. How fun to open the curtains in our cabin and see this lovely pastoral view.
We were just a few miles from our first stop on the Rhine…next post: our day in Düsseldorf.
Polloplayer 
I found your blog when you did the Danube cruise. We were getting ready to do the same one and found the information your provided very helpful. Thanks again. After our cruise we agreed with your assessment of the quality if Tauck cruises.
We booked another river cruise and two small ship cruise with Tauck, none of which happened because of Covid and a mechanical failure. We’re now booked on a Tauck small ship cruise around Iceland this summer.
We’ve thought about another river cruise, so look forward to your comments on this one.
I would love to see your review of your Iceland tour! We can’t do small ship or ocean cruises because my husband has mal de barque ent syndrome but the river cruises work for us. So glad you found me – and Tauck!
It was a thrill to step back on that Tauck ship and know that we were set for more than a week; no moving our stuff, looking for hotels, etc. And yet the towns and scenery just glided by us as we looked out the window from our cabin, or from one of the common areas. The food was as good as we remembered and the people we met were friendly and as determined as we were to enjoy themselves. The Rhine was shaping up as a worthy equal to our previous Danube cruise.