Best Of

Like I’ve been saying, some people don’t tip, some people tip less then suggested, some more than suggested and some just can’t afford another penny once they have paid for an expensive tour. It should be at your own discretion .
However, please remember the Tour directors have to do a ton of things behind the scenes including a recap of what the day was like to headquarters, any things that did not work out, did anyone get injured, was there a bad meal etc and most surprisingly, a report on every single person on the tour. The driver cleans the bus and goes to get gas, resupplies the bottles of water on the bus and maybe empty the bus toilet!

Great conversation.
I’ll make this short and sweet. I put all Tauck phone numbers, all foreign embassy (depending where I’m going) in my contacts in my cell phone including all of Tauck’s emergency numbers and transportation numbers under the letter A in my contacts so if I need to call Tauck, I just have to press “call”. It has happened which makes that much easier than searching for a phone number under a stressful situation.

Really tired of Henrypoon trolling the Tauck forums. Every post is a criticism and put down of Tauck. We get it Henry, you don’t like Tauck travelers, you don’t like Tauck tours and A&K is the bestest in the world. We get it.

And Leigh, I’m sorry your first solo trip was so traumatic. I started traveling by myself right out of college, Long before there were wheels on luggage and people had any sort of thing resembling a cellphone. I traveled with my little plastic fold out map and a little notebook that I used to write every detail I needed to know in case I got lost. Being solo does mean you have to rely on yourself to be prepared. Hopefully the beauty of the trip will leave you with good memories.

A super well thought out reply Claudia. You are certainly well qualified to understand the logistics of river cruising having been on so many. I’ve only taken one river cruise with Tauck but maybe 5 small ship cruises with them. I can’t recall an exact number right now. Again, I hate it when people are not on time but this did appear to be an exceptional choice by a TD if indeed there was no real important deadline. A reminder to all on the bus afterwards that lateness is not tolerated would have cautioned people going forward And all for Paris, I’ve never understood the big deal about Paris.

Leigh - I'm so sorry this happened to you on your 1st Tauck trip. We just returned from "Rendezvous on the Seine" & we had late people a few times and we waited for 10-15min most times. Eventually, a TG got off the bus to continue to wait & the rest of us went on. One of the issues with traveling as a group is that the TG/CD have to keep everyone 'happy' - and that is not always easy. They are on a schedule & I think do their best to keep us happy. The Captain had nothing to do with this and most likely doesn't even know it happened - not his job.

To have a whole bus who is on time, wait on others who are not is a tough call. I'm not saying what they did was right and you certainly deserved an apology as you were the guest. But we all have to be on time to make a group tour work well. If you don't know the area - arrive extra early. There are great apps for your phone to help in European cities to avoid getting lost.

Another issue is that there is always the option to stay later on your own & get back to the boat via UBER - they mention this often. Since you weren't there at the specified time, they may have thought you were staying longer on your own. This does happen and we have done it.

We were just on the Seine Tauck trip also and our cards were easy to read, so I don't understand why yours wasn't?

What kfnknfzk says is true - we've been on several Tauck river cruises & 'usually' they do give out ship info at the 1st meeting & again on the bus & it is in your stateroom. I do hope that Tauck will make this right for you. We have traveled with Tauck since 2003 & trust them & like them as a company (and we have been with many other companies over the years). I hope you will give Tauck another try, but if not, there are many other companies to choose from. Don't let this deter you from traveling solo again.

henrypoon_66 -- if Tauck is so "nasty," why don't you do yourself and all of us a favor and move on to the A&K Forum & not participate here. I've been on the forum for 11 years & have never seen postings such as yours. I travel w/other companies also. None of us are 'influencers' here - we are just people who love to travel, both with Tauck, on our own, & with other companies.

Let's get this forum back to what it is meant to be - a place to learn from, give recommendations to, ask advice about.

Plenty of blame to go around on this one.

Reading the online itinerary it was clearly the 2nd tour day after they had had the cruise info briefing held the night before. The day had 2 excursion options in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I'm assuming rather than returning to the ship for lunch, guests were offered the option to stay in Paris and be picked up later by a shuttle bus back to the ship. If I were very nervous about finding my way around Paris solo I'd have gone back to the ship. Did none of the 3 guests have a map? Did anyone take note of where the bus pickup location was? None of the 3 of them could figure out how to call the ship's number? I have to wonder if each of the 3 thought one of the others would take care of things.

The bus did come for you - but you weren't there. If they were truly only 5 minutes late then it's easy to say the TD should have waited. But what if they'd been 10 minutes or 20 or whatever? What if the trio had decided to just stay in Paris all afternoon? No way for the TD to know that. The TD should have contacted the cruise director and made sure they were following up on this and they certainly shouldn't have been rude later.

In what way was the Swiss ship's number indecipherable?

No calling the Paris police was not the right option unless you'd been robbed or mugged.

No it's not the ship captains job to console you. The captain's primary job is to pilot the ship safely and on time. The hotel manager answers to the captain to take care of cabins and meals. The Tauck tour directors and cruise director are responsible for excursions and activities. For those new to river cruising, the timing is a big issue. When the daily schedule says All Aboard at a certain time, they won't be waiting for you. A ship's docking and transit thru the many locks are pretty tightly timed. If one ship is too late or too early it causes a domino affect. I've been on cruises when that happened.

Leigh, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. While I'd expect Tauck to apologize I doubt they could ever guarantee that nothing wrong is going to happen especially when you aren't actually with the TD. People are given free time to explore and when that happens they have to be ready to take care of themselves making there way thru unfamiliar areas, public transport, languages, etc.

Both sides on this one need to do better.

(And once again, no I'm not a paid influencer)