Best Of
Re: Assistance needed
SandyFeet,
This is so exciting! Thanks for the feedback for those of us yet to travel to EPIC NAMIBIA!
Will give your love to Chantel most definitely! Judith and Melissa will get Shoutouts as well!
My trip leaves July 30th!( after Elegant Adventure!)
I'm getting VERY excited never having been to Africa!
HEY MIL! Check out SandyFeet's post!
Today's a great day!
CHEERS!
Stellie
Re: Dinners seating?
Regarding a taxi, if you take an hotel card with you which has the address on it, just show it to the driver and you will be fine. Japan is a very safe country.
For getting up off a futon mattress… I assume that is what you mean, not a tatami mat…we do the trick we learned from getting from a kneeling position when we are acting on stage…. Roll over and get into a kneeling position, get onto one knee and then use your hand to push onto the thigh of the other leg to help you get upright. it really helps. We spent six nights in Japanese hotels with futons last year and it was a true Japanese experience. Japan is our most favorite country we have visited with sub Saharan African close second. And we never wear shoes inside our home anyway.
British
Re: Dinners seating?
We have taken 15 tours also and this is the first time, we felt the tour was more "challenging" than Tauck claimed. For 2024, this trip was rated a 2 in pace and activity. (For. 2025 it has been changed to a rating of 3).
We greatly enjoyed the trip and found we came away with a great understanding of the Japanese people and their culture,
But I felt that Tauck did not represent this trip accurately in terms of the activity level.
With a rating of 2, Tauck states we may have "uneven pavement"- we had more than that....there were hills at times where the ground was rocky and uneven and there were no handrails We were not given notice about this.
As far as sleeping on tatami mats...there were no other choices. When our tour director asked in advance if we wanted our "beds" elevated, we assumed maybe they would be raised to a cot level. Before we got to the hotel, he said everyone's "beds" would be elevated. We were all thrilled.
But "elevating" just meant doubling the mats. And there was nothing in the room to lean on to help you get up.
Also, upon entering the hotel, you had to remove your shoes. But not everyone was comfortable walking around in slippers for our entire stay...where your feet can slide out of the slippers.
One other thing that surprised me with Tauck...there was one day where, after lunch we had a walking tour of the Geisha district.
It was very interesting...but after the tour, we were not given transportation back to the hotel. We were told about this a few days before.
We were given money and told we had to take a taxi back.
Not everyone felt comfortable, (especially single travelers) in a foreign country being told they had to take a taxi on their own to return to the hotel.
Tauck has always given folks the option to be taken back to the hotel or stay in town to shop and find their own way back.
We were not given the choice.
When we got home, I called Tauck and spoke to a person in the customer service department.
Again, most of the tour was wonderful and Tauck does a great job of immersing their guests in the culture.
I just think that the general itinerary that we read (when booking) did not address the activity level accurately.
I am sure I was not the only one feeling this way , as for 2025, the tour is now rated a 3.
Sue M
Re: Assistance needed
@317engineer Just arrived home after a truly epic adventure in Namibia. You will have a mini fridge in the two major hotels: the Weinberg in Windhoek and The Strand in Swakopmund. The only one of the three lodges where there is a mini fridge is the final one, the amazing Omaanda Lodge south of Windhoek. But not to worry; the staff at Kwessi Dunes and Ongava are so warm, gracious and accommodating that I am certain they can keep things refrigerated safely for you in their main buildings. Each one of us was greeted by our names by the lodge staff members from Day One. How they did it without name tags is amazing to me! Please ask for Judith or Melissa at Ongava. They were very special, and I will always remember them fondly. The first pic is of Judith 
The second photo is Melissai
Re: The apparent new Covid policy
I'm a Nurse who has been in the trenches of COVID since day 1. I've seen it all - final good-byes via an iPad, proning patients, face breakdowns due to 16hr shifts in N95s . . . and all along, Virologists, Infectious Disease MDs, & everyone tracking this have told us that COVID would eventually be treated like a common cold. WE ARE THERE!!
That still doesn't mean that long-term COVID no longer exists (it does), or that elderly and immunocompromised people are at a higher risk (they are) . . . but it's time to move on and treat it like a cold or flu. Get vaccinated and take precautions. Don't get on a plane with 300 strangers and travel with a group of 44 if you are scared of it. Or do, but keep a mask on. Most likely you are grocery shopping, in line behind people, sitting close to people in restaurants daily who have COVID. Happens here in your hometown just like on a trip. Be wise, protect yourself, if you are immunocompromised - don't travel with herds of people.
On our most recent Tauck trip last month - that was both a land and river cruise tour, some wore masks, some didn't, many had coughs and runny noses. It's going to be the new norm and a risk we are willing to take if we choose to travel. I don't even think testing is a requirement anymore by most travel companies. Most say to use precautions if you are sick - whether it's COVID, cold, flu, GI, etc.
COVID is here to stay, will continue to change & form new strains. All the travel companies are following the correct recommendations now.
terrilynn
Re: The apparent new Covid policy
The death rate for COVID in older people is significantly higher than for flu, colds, etc. in older people.
Also, hospitalization rate.
Re: The apparent new Covid policy
Why should guests with Covid be treated any different than those with the flu, colds etc? I frankly think drawing this Covid phobia out any further is just silly. When will this end? What a waste of time and effort. Traveling can be stressful enough without having to worry about being thrown off a tour for a malady that is basically no different from many others.
gop6104
Re: Christmas Market
Hmmm, looks like my comment did not go through. So if the original does appear, please forgive the repetition. There is not a lot of beautiful scenery between Vienna and Nuremburg and most of your cruising time will be after dark, so even less to see. You will also spend a lot of that cruising time negotiating the locks and once you've seen one or two, you've seen them all. Also be aware that the locks make the wifi very spotty unless Tauck has improved on its system. It is a great trip for visiting the markets. Have a wonderful time.
Karenna
Re: So far, not happy with 2 of the 3 hotels...
terrilynn - Other than some hotel issues, I am enjoying the trip. The time is flying by. Just killing some time before dinner right now.
Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but to me it seems that the trips have been "cheapened" since Covid, in terms of premiumality (a new word) of hotels/rooms, the number of included meals, etc.
Regarding the Duomo climb, I suggest you buy the ticket online a few months before your trip. There are none available for sale at the site for several days going forward.
BKMD
Re: So far, not happy with 2 of the 3 hotels...
I'm sorry you aren't happy with your hotels, but I hope you're happy with the trip, food, things you are seeing and learning. Italy is such a wonderful country.
We've been on 6 Tauck land tours, most recently in April we were in Bern Switzerland and we are not solo travelers - our views looked into a brick wall, even worse than the photo you posted -- many of our rooms since 2004 have had NO view. For us - it's a place to sleep, and shower, and dress- the adventures happen outside the hotel. Hope the trip gets better for you. Italy is probably our favorite country.
Just a side note, we often travel with a single friend - her views are sometimes better than ours, sometimes worse than ours. Europe has single rooms meant for singles - that is where Tauck has to place the solo travelers - I don't think they have a choice - they put solo travelers in single rooms - they can't change what the view is in those rooms. The hotels are built this way. Our TG mentions this on most trips when people start talking about and 'comparing' rooms. Most of these hotels were built 100s of years ago- most were old abbeys, palaces, etc - so all the rooms and views will be different. Embrace the history and differences. It's what makes Europe so special compared to America.
We are going in October on the Tuscany and Umbria tour and look forward to staying in places that are centuries old - we aren't concerned with our view - we just can't wait to be in the culture. Please post a review when you return. I hope the trip is great on other aspects for you. We all spend a lot of money on Tauck Tours and it's tough to be disappointed. I hope you feel like it's been worth it when it's over.
And congrats for making it to the top of the Duomo, we hope to do this in October.