APPS AND FORUM

BritishBritish
in General Discussion
Less than two weeks to our upcoming tour and no app available. Has anyone else found that there is no app for an upcoming tour? Has Tauck stopped them?
Forum—wasn’t there supposed to be a new forum coming? Wondering if that has been suspended too.

Comments

  • AshvEdAshvEd
    We had an issue before and Tauck suggested we delete and reinstall the app. Both of our trips appeared after doing that. Their new website and Forum are MIA.
  • MarvinFMarvinF
    I logged out of the app and then logged back in. Voila! It worked. Try it.
  • AlanSAlanS
    edited June 2018
    Tim assures me the new website is coming. Large parts are currently in the debug mode. The forums will switch to a totally new, modern software. Unlike the transition from "Ask and Share," the complete archives will transition too. And, it will have new, automated spam filters. The forum software is in testing now.

    I don't have any info about the App. Frankly, I'm not sure the value added is worth the expense from a Tauck perspective, but only they might know that. The App software is the easy part; the additional manpower required to keep it current for hundreds of tours and departures, not so much- e.g. guest lists must be updated at the last minute, all aspects of the itineraries continuously tweaked, etc. Then they must get the CDs/TDs onboard to upload and/or revise the daily schedules. As the multi-trip regulars here know, you will often see three, sometimes four different sets of itineraries- on the website, in the Green Book, and the multi-day or daily "go" (activity) sheets distributed by the CDs/TDs.
  • AshvEdAshvEd
    We have found the app useful for preplanning only. While on the trip it is of no value to us.
  • BritishBritish
    AshvEd wrote:
    We had an issue before and Tauck suggested we delete and reinstall the app. Both of our trips appeared after doing that. Their new website and Forum are MIA.

    Ed, THANK YOU. I had tried this ages ago, I just reinstalled the app and......my trip for September came up, not the one I am doing next. I had inquired some weeks ago, seems they still do not have the app ready for my upcoming trip.

    Yea agree, the app experience we had for our last trip was good before the tour but useless on tour as the itinerary we actually did bore no relation to what was on the app.
    But now I can look at the next app.
  • Claudia SailsClaudia Sails
    Here's our experience with the app on our just completed Best of Ireland:

    Both my husband and I were able to load the trip on our Samsung phones with relatively few problems. Upon arrival in Dublin and the 1st tour day the TD uploaded the daily agenda's for the first half of the trip and the guest list (and provided hard copies as well). Sound like a good start? Not so much. My husband couldn't get the agendas or guest list even after deleting and reloading the app. The daily tweeks of the agenda weren't adjusted nor was the later half ever available. The guest list had names on it of people who weren't on the tour and missed some who were.

    At the end, it provided the option to complete a survey of the app which I did reporting these problems.

    I do think the app could be very useful but not yet. The preplanning info is lacking needed items like opening hours (no use planning to go there if the only time available is when its closed), costs, etc. The guest list feature could be really useful if you could add info to it like a contacts list - photos, exchanged email addresses, shared interests, etc.

    In my opinion, improving the forum (and hopefully better blocking the spammers) is more important for now.

  • KahleesiKahleesi
    My app didn't work at first, but tech support helped me out. Now it's doing fine, has everything except guest list, which it says will be available once the tour starts.
  • BritishBritish
    Yes, the list becomes available but nothing else gets changed and the daily itinerary cannot be changed either. There is a long way to go. And can you believe for our upcoming tour, Tauck sent us the green booklet from the last year’s tour and we just got a letter to tell us with a one piece of paper review of the correct tour itinerary ????
  • Ken from VegasKen from Vegas
    edited July 2018
    British wrote:
    And can you believe for our upcoming tour, Tauck sent us the green booklet from the last year’s tour and we just got a letter to tell us with a one piece of paper review of the correct tour itinerary ????

    I can believe it. On our recent tour (Danube Reflections), the green book and app said one thing, but they sent us a letter telling us that the actual intinerary was closer to the website listing. It turned out that there were additional excursion options not listed in either.

    Still a great trip, despite the documentation flaws.

    We've found that it's best to take a photo of the handouts on tour and keep them on our phones or tablets. That's the best source of information. Now if they could just find a way for the TDs to upload these to that App (probably not going to happen anytime soon).
  • AshvEdAshvEd
    It seems to be so difficult to get everything coordinated: website, booklet and TD changes. So happy that all of our trips have been amazing regardless of this disconnect.
  • BritishBritish
    Yes Ed,of course you are correct, all tours are wonderful. And Ken, what a good tip to take photos of the day to Day itinerary the tour director gives us because those papers get pretty ratty very quickly. Will impliment this on our upcoming tour. Thanks.
  • TauckTimTauckTim
    Hey everyone,

    Thanks for all of your understanding as we get things updated and improved.

    Alan's statements up above about the forums still being on their way is correct - it'll have those features, including automated spam filtering, thank heavens, as I think I've mentioned on here once or twice before.

    As for the app - we've got a lot of ideas for where to go with it from here, including several of the things that have been suggested in this thread, and we're always happy to hear your suggestions. If you've got any ideas for improvements - or if you need help with the app at all - you can reach out to us at esupport@tauck.com, and I and the rest of the web support team will be happy to help.

    (And, British, if you have a tour closer in than the one you're doing in September, check the "My Trips" section, available in the app menu - it should have an option to switch to the closer in trip. If your closer trip doesn't show up, or it doesn't work or you have some trouble with it, please let me know at esupport@tauck.com - I can work with you to get it straightened out.)

    Thanks for the patience, everyone!

    -Tim
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