BINGEN, Germany — With the christening of the 130-passenger Savor on Saturday, Tauck unveiled a suite-like design to the often overlooked lower-deck cabins.
Some 20 members of the Tauck family gathered in Bingen to attend the christening ceremony, which was performed by the ship’s godmother, Liz Tauck Walters, a Tauck board director and daughter of the company’s chairman, Arthur Tauck Jr., who was also in attendance.
The launch of the Savor follows sister ship Inspire, which set sail in April. Together the two vessels comprise Tauck’s new Inspiration class, which ushered in a lofted cabin concept.
The space for larger lower-deck cabins on the Savor was created by using some square footage from the second deck to allow for a higher ceiling and a raised seating area along soaring windows that can be opened with a control switch.
“The lower-deck cabins are [traditionally] the toughest to sell,” said Tauck CEO Dan Mahar in a media interview during the Savor’s three-day christening cruise.
Tauck’s previously launched four vessels have the standard lower-deck staterooms with porthole windows. The company since 2012 has been marketing them as solo cabins with no single supplements in order to better sell them.
But with its new class of vessels, Tauck wanted to incorporate more suites, larger staterooms and fewer of the standard lower-deck cabins. So, the company worked with Swiss shipping company Scylla to “reimagine that space,” said Mahar.
The Savor and Inspire measure 443 feet in length, compared with 360 feet for the company’s previous four vessels. With the additional square footage, Tauck could add the eight, 225-square-foot, lofted lower-deck staterooms on each vessel.
Tauck also increased passenger capacity on the new Inspiration class of vessels to 130, up from 118 on its Jewel class of vessels.
The Savor and Inspire have 22 300-square-foot suites, 24 staterooms on the second and third decks that each measure 225 square feet, and 11 cabins that range from between 150 and 190 square feet.
As with the Jewel class of vessels, the 150-square-foot lower-deck cabins on the Savor and Inspire will be offered with no single supplement for passengers traveling solo. There are four of these cabins.
The Inspiration vessels feature a main dining room, the Compass Rose, and an alternative dining venue for light meals at the aft of the vessel called Arthur’s. There is a lounge and bar, and a sun deck with ample seating, a putting green and a Jacuzzi.
With the launch of the Savor and Inspire, Tauck increased its river cruise capacity by 55%, according to the company. Mahar announced that Tauck would introduce another Jewel class of vessel — a category that includes the Treasures, Swiss Jewel, Swiss Sapphire and Swiss Emerald — to the fleet in 2015, and two more Inspiration-class vessels in 2016.
All three new ships are slated to sail the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers.
For 2014, the Savor will sail two Tauck itineraries — the 12-day Blue Danube, starting at $4,790 per person, based on double occupancy; and the 10-day Danube Reflections, starting from $4,590 per person. Prices don’t include air travel.
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.
This article has been corrected to reflect that the Savor and Inspire each have 22 300-square-foot suites, not two as originally stated.