Vantage River Cruises

[lhall85917]

We are interested in a waterways of Holland and Belgium tour with Vantage in 2013. This would be our first river cruise and from what I can see, many of these sell out well in advance. I called Vantage to find out when the 2013 itineraries would be released. Their agent told me that they don't come out until August or September but they will take a $500/pp deposit and put you on a waiting list for that cruise, call before release and allow you to choose a date and book at that time.

This sounds a little strange to me that these wouldn't be released until next fall, my expectation is that they would come out any time or certainly by early spring of this year. Does anyone have experience with Vantage and have any insight? Our TA isn't familiar with them and they don't appear to be travel agent friendly. I have read wonderful reviews and this is our first choice, I'm really just trying to find out more info on 2013 dates.

[pbnjrockette]

We have traveled with Vantage numerous times and really enjoyed all of our trips with them.

 

We have not done the Holland/Belgium tulip tour yet but it is on our wish list. We recently received a new tour book for that tour for 2012 and many of the dates were sold out so perhaps prebooking is not a bad idea as those cruises are very popular.

[Talisker92]

We have traveled a number of times with Vantage and are very happy with them. We are booked on a June 2012 cruise through Burgundy. We put a deposit down last year because there are only 4 cabins on the ship that are suites.

Their air department is very helpful, and arranged for us to go to Zurich instead of Nice a week earlier. They also have an upgrade to Business Class, and we opted for that on British Airways. FWIW, the Business Class seats on Air France slope and you slide down while trying to sleep!

[GiannaD]

We are interested in a waterways of Holland and Belgium tour with Vantage in 2013. This would be our first river cruise and from what I can see, many of these sell out well in advance. I called Vantage to find out when the 2013 itineraries would be released. Their agent told me that they don't come out until August or September but they will take a $500/pp deposit and put you on a waiting list for that cruise, call before release and allow you to choose a date and book at that time.

This sounds a little strange to me that these wouldn't be released until next fall, my expectation is that they would come out any time or certainly by early spring of this year. Does anyone have experience with Vantage and have any insight? Our TA isn't familiar with them and they don't appear to be travel agent friendly. I have read wonderful reviews and this is our first choice, I'm really just trying to find out more info on 2013 dates.

 

 

We have been on three Vantage River Cruises including the Holland and Belgium Tulip cruise and I would recommend Vantage. They are a direct marketing company and therefore do not use travel agents. You probably do not need to put down a deposit until the 2013 listings come out. The date you go is important because the exact time of the peak bloom varies from year to year. The early dates are likely to be too early and the last dates may be too late. Subscribe to their email notices and your in box will be full.

Vantage may seem high priced but they include much more than the other lines so you have to look closely and what each lines includes.

 

You can check this forum for comments on the "Tulip" cruises.

[Roadlamp]

To pbnjrockkett

 

We are going on a Holland and Belgium tour with Vantage in late April, 2012. This is the first time we are traveling with them. We are having a bit of difficulty with the flight department and need a response. Any tips on how to get through to them?

 

Thanks.

[gramspal]

We are interested in a waterways of Holland and Belgium tour with Vantage in 2013. This would be our first river cruise and from what I can see, many of these sell out well in advance. I called Vantage to find out when the 2013 itineraries would be released. Their agent told me that they don't come out until August or September but they will take a $500/pp deposit and put you on a waiting list for that cruise, call before release and allow you to choose a date and book at that time.

This sounds a little strange to me that these wouldn't be released until next fall, my expectation is that they would come out any time or certainly by early spring of this year. Does anyone have experience with Vantage and have any insight? Our TA isn't familiar with them and they don't appear to be travel agent friendly. I have read wonderful reviews and this is our first choice, I'm really just trying to find out more info on 2013 dates.

 

We have done 4 trips with Vantage, though not the one you specify. We've scheduled a 5th trip. We found that most things are included rather than 'extra' and the tour managers are well trained and effective.

 

If you choose to go, e-mail me at gramspal@yahoo.com and we can both get a referral credit.

[jeniliadisuja123]

ya,offcoruse its great idea,enjoy n i wish best of luck to u.

[4774Papa]

We did Vantage Russia and it was great. This August we do Vantage China.

[travelgirl87]

To pbnjrockkett

 

We are going on a Holland and Belgium tour with Vantage in late April, 2012. This is the first time we are traveling with them. We are having a bit of difficulty with the flight department and need a response. Any tips on how to get through to them?

 

Thanks.

 

 

We're doing our first cruise on Vantage this spring -- the Tulip cruise on their newest ship! For questions about the air portion of our trip that have arisen in recent weeks, I've just called the main customer service number -- and put it on speaker phone so I could do other things while on hold! <g>

 

We chose to pay the extra $100 each months ago to change our flights -- we're adding on some days in Amsterdam -- and found the travel agent that handles air derivations very easy to work with. After electing to make the change on-line, we did have to wait several days until they contacted us, but all was smooth from that point onward.

 

All my best.

[chicoharv]

We have been on 2 river cruises with vantage plus a clipper ship cruise. We have had great times on all. The food is great ships are made for Americans, tours are well planned. I would recommend buying seperate travel insurance at 1/2 the price though. We plan on traveling with them again on the Holland ,Belguim river cruise and maybe the Tahiti cruise within the year.:)

[lhall85917]

Thanks for all of the advice and information. We have booked the Tulips and Windmills cruise for April 2013 with extensions in Brussels and Paris. Vantage has been easy to deal with so far; however, we have had one small glitch - somehow they booked our air for April 2012 instead of waiting to book for next year!:eek: hopefully that gets straightened out quickly. In the meantime, I love reading all about Vantage and the sites we will be seeing!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I have the impression that Vantage caters entirely to Americans, and doesn't even package Air from Canada. Can somebody confirm that for me?

 

Can someone also comment on the name tag thing? Do you really wear name tags around all the time? I've been around GCTers and Vantagers in Tahiti, and that's what they did.

[rayandjean]

Vantage will package air from the US or Canada; most of the air is included out of NY or Boston so you would only have to add the air from Toronto. They do an exceptional job with everything...Valerie

[DoggyDaddy]

We took the Tulip river cruise in 2011 and it was great. We had vantage arrange our flights from Newark and were very happy with them, but heard from others who were not happy at all. Yes, everybody wore their name tags. They are preprinted by Vantage and are color coded according to the number of trips you have taken with Vantage.

 

We will probably take another river cruise with them in the future.

 

 

Bill

[franski]

Wendy -

 

I don't think that air from Canada would be an issue, but just as an fyi - they are not affiliated with TICO.

 

That may not be a concern for you, but I prefer to book with a TA - and have TICO coverage as a back up.

 

If the price is good enough, however, it might be worth the risk.

 

Fran

[Talisker92]

Can someone also comment on the name tag thing? Do you really wear name tags around all the time? I've been around GCTers and Vantagers in Tahiti, and that's what they did.

We do not wear ours, except maybe at the welcome dinner, so everybody knows our names.