Best Of
Re: Tauck's Updated Travel Policy (January 14, 2021)
Sorry guys but I have to agree with Dave Your thinking is fallacious. This is not about being “ lucky” to have only lost one insurance or contributing the cost of insurance to “help Tauck out”. And certainly not getting back insurance premiums when you don’t have a claim is completely off the mark. When we purchase insurance it is protect us if for some reason we are unable to go on the trip. If the trip is cancelled by Tauck or government mandate then by default the insurance is also cancelled and the cost needs to be returned along with any monies paid for the trip. Tauck can certainly protect itself by buying insurance, it is not the place of the client to help defray their losses. If you were to book a reception hall for a wedding or other affair and put down a deposit you would certainly expect it to be returned if the event couldn’t be held due to coronavirus and not be told that they were holding it as a credit for another date in the future. No one wants to see Tauck sustain large financial loses or potentially go out of business but as Dave says, this is not the way to do it. I certainly wouldn’t object to those of you contributing you premiums to Tauck if you want to help them out.
Re: 2021 Douro River Cruise
We are taking the Northern Spain and Rioja Valley tour on May 19 to June 1. We are also schedule for the Douro, Lisbon and Madrid from June 3 to June 14. We like to do back-to-back tours as we travel in business class. Keeping our fingers crossed!
Noreen
Tucson, AZ
2021 Douro River Cruise
After struggling for weeks to make up my mind, I finally decided to cancel my April tour and rebook it for November. I just don't think the April tour will come to fruition. Because I prefer a certain cabin, my only option was to select a November date since all other dates were sold out for my preferred room. I am very hopeful that Americans will be vaccinated by then. Being so hopeful, I think I might book a Hanukkah/Christmas cruise following the Douro cruise and finish out the year with a renewed hope for 2022.
I would love to hear from others who have a 2021 booking for this trip. Stay safe and well and enjoy your holidays.
Re: Cancelling a booking for 2 vs 1 guess
Well, you can guess what I think. I know the Israel and Jordan tours up to the February 25th are canceled. I can’t believe for one minute the countries on your tour will have their people’s vaccinated. I wonder if Tauck will visit countries where the people are not vaccinated, does anyone fancy calling Tauck to find out? Does anyone know what the mask wearing policies are in these countries? I’m not calling, because I know tours through June are extremely likely to be canceled. It’s just not possible to vaccinate the US population so quickly, there’s too many of us. Even iis older people have millions ahead of us in the line. You are very lucky to have gotten your vaccinations Mil, but I don’t think it will make a difference as to whether the tour will go or not.

Re: Is it worth keeping the premium credit card for 2021?
Credit card holders fall into those who do the math and see value in high-fee cards, and the rest of us. I know there have been some lucrative introductory offers on Platinums, but I'm in the camp that says there are plenty of credit cards with decent benefits and zero fees. I happen to love Barclays even though travel and dining are only 2.2% back, but somehow their website is so clean and clear and yes, fun to use, that it is the equivalent of flying Virgin Atlantic. My calculations often show that the differences in a year's rewards can be trivial; i.e. they won't change my life. Let's face it...we are all clearly privileged, even if some would argue that our cleverness and financial savvy may have combined with pure dumb luck to put us where we are today.
Re: COVID Policy Update (8 January)
I would like to know sooner rather than later so that I can rebook for 2022 before the date I would like has already sold out. I am sure it was just yesterday or maybe the day before I was looking at the policy and it was not this last one. I saw that we would have to pay the full amount for our next tour around the end of February and was going to make sure I called about two weeks before then.
Maybe Tauck has laid off more of their staff and so it’s taking them longer to call everyone. After all, they have been paying all those staff and getting no income, the dollars must be mounting up. I wish more people would come to the realization that very few of us will have gotten the vaccines in the coming months, it’s just not going to happen, it’s impossible. There are many other people who want to hope that their tours are only cancelled when it is absolutely definite that it is not going to be possible and that might be a reason Tauck are dragging their feet. Other four companies have already canceled way out in front.
How wonderful Yellowstone is going ahead... personally for me, I’m not that desperate ..... if I could go and swim in a lovely outdoor pool in lovely sunshine. Find some shelter, read a book, have a cocktail and eat a fabulously dinner at sunset, ok, I’ll make the effort. For now, touring somewhere exotic, a la Tauck, has gone off my radar.

Re: K&T July 1, 2020 - we are going! Anyone else?
We thought this link was for Kenya and Tanzania and Sealord's future exciting trip! Discussion topics seem to change like the wind and get far off topic.