Grand Circle River Cruises GCT - Why I Love Them
 

There has been a bit of bashing on these forums lately regarding the service/reputation of Grand Circle riverboat tours. I thought I would write this post to offer one person’s opinion on Grand Circle. Needless to say, my circumstances constitute only one incident and are not necessarily representative of all Grand Circle behavior, but I think it is of some significance. Please read on:

In December of 2005 my wife and I signed on to take a Grand Circle river cruise title “Christmas Markets on the Rhine”. We had never taken a river cruise before, or an organized tour, so we were a bit skeptical.

Overall, we absolutely LOVED the trip and are planning a second trip even as I write this post. Without going into details of the why we loved the whole trip, which was marvelous, I will only comment on one particular “problem” that developed and also report on how GCT “solved” the problem.

On the third day of our ten day trip, the boat that we were on had engine problems that made continuation of the trip, with this boat, impossible. Since it was mid-December, most of the GCT fleet had already been moth-balled for the winter. I am certain that, at this point, it would have been both easier and cheaper for GCT to end our cruise and simply bus us about on the remaining seven days of the tour, thus, for all purposes, ruining the trip.

Rather than do this, GCT arranged for another ship to meet us in Cologne, Germany. This ship had already been cleaned and secured for the winter. By choosing to put this ship back in service, GCT guaranteed a successful vacation for the 140 passengers aboard. Keep in mind it was not a simple matter to change ships. It involved GCT getting the second ship to Cologne, tying up aside the “broken” ship, having the crew work 24 hours straight to move ALL items from the old ship to the new ship. This included all food, kitchen utensils, laundry, and Christmas decorations that had been lavishly displayed on the “broken” ship. While we slept that night, the crew made the transition from new ship to old without hardly any impact on us. Sure, we had to pack our bags (which the crew moved to the new ship), but other than that we had no adverse impact.

When we boarded the new ship, all of the Christmas decorations were in place, including the decoration that had been previously affixed to each cabin door. The Christmas trees were in the dining room and bar, the decorations were in place in the lobby and elsewhere. In other words, they made a seamless transition from one ship to another.

Does this seem like the way a company would behave if they had anything but the best interests of the guest at heart? I think not. We were most impressed with Grand Circle, thank them again for a great trip last year, and look forward to another trip with them in the near future.

If anyone would like to contact me off-board about GCT, feel free to email me at dwzemens AT Comcast.net.

That's a fine testimonial--it's always good to get detailed information on why something was good (or bad) rather than generalizations.

I've been on only one GCT trip, the Danube Christmas Markets one, and thought it wonderful. Since I'm primarily a no-tour traveler, I was amazed at the lack of "herding" on the cruise and the excellence of the accommodations and meals.

A friend of mine has been on 11 GCT cruises and speaks highly the company. Evidently a few people have had bad experiences, and they tend to post about them over and over. That's why it's good for those of us who have enjoyed our trips to say so.

Good post - let's face it things do go wrong - what is important is how a company resolves the issue. Sounds like CGT did a great job

Thanks for the replies. Certainly, with tens-of-thbousands of passenger miles yearly, all tour companies have customers who are disatisfied.

We were happy with GCT and evrything about them!

Underhill,

Any more GCT river cruises in your future? We had planned doing the "Holidays on the Danube", but dog sitter issues over New Years are causing us to have to miss it. I must admit, I am bummed out about it.

Dave

&quot;<i>There has been a bit of bashing on these forums lately regarding the service/reputation of Grand Circle riverboat tours</i>&quot;

The only real bashing of any note was from one Fodorite on a vendetta - posting multiple times to several forums. Many more Fodorites seem to have had very good experience w/ GCT. Maybe not the extreme &quot;extra mile&quot; they went to on your cruise - but mostly really good reports.

Your story sure sounds like &quot;Wow!&quot; customer service to me.

Dave: Great to hear good things about GCT.

Mike

December 2007, with luck--and a new knee! My husband decided to go along this time after hearing about the meals...it figures.

We have taken six Grand Circle trips, three of them river cruises, over the past four years, and have totally enjoyed all of them. The program directors have all been outstanding, and felt like family by the end of the trip. Not everything goes perfectly on every trip, but the resolution by the program directors and the other Grand Circle staff has always been quite satisfactory.

We have encountered occasional billing problems, but they have always be resolved in a satisfactory manner. The staff in the Boston office has always be very courteous and pleasent.

We highly recommend Grand Circle to anyone. Their pace is excellent and the emphasis on the local people and culture is the best part of the trip. A tribute to Grand Circle is the number of repeat travllers on every trip. I would estimate that at least half of the travellers have taken prior trips with them.

Jack and Ann

Sorry to be the 'sour' note here, but Grand Circle's business practices and customer service have been highly questionable...need to do a little research. One good experience does not make a case, one way or the other. My advice is to do a little research on the aspects of any company. We have personally had two pretty

One good experience or one bad experience is not definitive either way. The imporant thing to realize is those having BAD experiences are much more likely to post than those having good experiences. So, it is nice to hear from someone with something positive to say.