Robben Island excursion canceled

SnJ

We are on the February 23rd tour, and we’re just informed by Tauck that they are cancelling our planned trip to Robben Island and substituting the botanical gardens and an art museum. Reasons given were concerns about safety of the ferries and privacy concerns about the requested passport information for the visit (a new requirement). I understand Tauck’s decision, but I am disappointed as this visit was one I really wanted to experience. They did say we could arrange to go on our own and that there would be free time when we could arrange such a visit. To those who have gone before, is this a worthwhile enough experience that we should arrange a tour on our own? Also, I can’t tell from the itinerary we were sent when we might have a free morning or afternoon too visit the island and take the tour of the prison. Thanks! Sue

Karibu

Give Tauck a call about this. If you are coming in a day early, you could do it Day 1 of the tour as welcome reception doesn't begin until 6:30. I'm doing this tour in March and have mixed feelings. As much as I would like to visit Robben Island I am not good in small boats on rough seas.

AshvEd

Shortly after we left Cape Town in early October, one of the Robben Island boats had a serious problem and started listing. All passengers were safely evacuated however we heard Tauck did not want to put their travelers at risk until they were confident that maintenance and other issues are remedied. A smart plan in my opinion. If you are interested in this piece of the Mandela story and Apartheid and want to view Cape Town and Table Mountain from a distance across the water, take the trip in your free time. Overall it is a small piece of a spectacular experience.

SnJ

Thanks for your responses. We already had a private tour booked for the cape winelands for the first day, and I wasn’t sure if we should cancel it and arrange our own visit to Robben Island instead, as we do want to learn more about apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s experience there. It sounds like it may not be a must see, and I assume we will have other chances on the tour to learn about this important time in South Africa’s history.

AshvEd

We spent a day in the winelands with a private driver and it was lots of fun. You will have other opportunities to connect with the Apartheid era on this tour.

Calaf1

I was on the South Africa: An Elegant Adventure tour that began in Capetown on September 15, 2017. Were scheduled to visit Robben Island on September 16. On the 15th, extremely high winds swamped the ferry on its way to Robben Island. 68 people had to be rescued from the damaged ferry, all were safely evacuated. At first we were advised that alternate arrangements would be made to take us out to Robben Island, but then local authorities suspended all ferry service to Robben Island due to continuing high winds and to allow for the incident to be investigated. Though we didn’t get to visit Robben Island itself, we did visit the small museum that now marks the embarkation point to Robben Island and Tauck provided a local guide who lived through Apartheid era and provided us with lots of fascinating information.

With or without Robben Island, this is a fantastic trip. Enjoy! You can read about the ferry incident at the link below.

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/breaking-69-people-in-emergency-evacuation-off-sinking-cape-town-boat-20170915

British

Roben Island was one of the highlights of the tour for us and the superb guide we had when we got to the island. We went to Kirstenbosch gardens on our own before the tour began and we loved it there but glad we did it on our own so we could take plenty of time, Plus, the gardens can be visited so easily on your own and Roben Island tours get filled weeks in advance, so it must be planned well ahead.

smarks50

I did this tour several years ago. I did find the Robben Island excursion very interesting but if it is impossible to visit there is information about this at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. At that time the museum was not included in the Tauck tour but I did it independently; I am so glad they are now including this as it is critical to understanding South African/Apartheid history.