May 12, 2019 trip

Hopkinstx

We are getting excited for our upcoming trip in May. I have read the existing Classic Italy topics and have gleaned a lot of good info and tips. Would love to hear more thoughts from recent travelers. We are signed up for the new Capri tour and are extended 2 days on both ends of their trip. I know ATM’s are prevalent and we can use them as needed, but still deciding how many euros to initially take with us. Any lessons learned from others? Also, will be traveling business class from Houston on Air Canada and Brussels Air to Naples. Anyone have experience with those carriers? Looking forward to a fantastic trip and making new friends!

AlanS

Hopkinstx wrote:

We are getting excited for our upcoming trip in May. I have read the existing Classic Italy topics and have gleaned a lot of good info and tips. Would love to hear more thoughts from recent travelers. We are signed up for the new Capri tour and are extended 2 days on both ends of their trip. I know ATM’s are prevalent and we can use them as needed, but still deciding how many euros to initially take with us. Any lessons learned from others? Also, will be traveling business class from Houston on Air Canada and Brussels Air to Naples. Anyone have experience with those carriers? Looking forward to a fantastic trip and making new friends!

You can use plastic just about everywhere. Only you know your spending style. Go through your itinerary and figure if you'll need tips for extra-tour activities- we did Capri, Herculaneum, Pisa, on our own with guides so needed to figure tips for those. We aren't heavy into buying souvenirs, so started with only $200 - $300 in Euros (from an ATM at the airport) then augmented during the trip as needed. You can get rid of any extra Euros at the end of the tour by mixing Euros + $ to tip your TD or if you incurred personal room charges (laundry, room bar, etc.) in Venice you can mix Euros + plastic to settle the final hotel bill.

It really isn't a problem.

We flew Delta/Alitalia.

This is one of Taucks best!!

Hopkinstx

Thanks Alan, I’ve enjoyed reading a lot of your comments on this and other forum threads. Another question though, you mentioned tipping the TD. We did the French Escapade in 2015 as our first Tauck trip. Tauck advertises no tipping in their rate ads. I tipped the 3rd party contractors, such as ship’s room maid, and various other non-Tauck waitstaff, etc, but I didn’t tip the 3 TD on board for that trip. I assumed the Tauck staff (not outsourced employees) were not to be tipped. Did we make an unintentional mistake by not tipping the Tauck TD’s?

MCD

Hopkinstx, I flew Air Canada business class from Boston to Beijing (in 2009 -- hard to believe it was 10 years ago) and loved it. I always check Air Canada as an option for trips, but it hasn't worked out for me since then, either because it has been more expensive or because it involved an extra stop. I will keep looking, though, because I had such a good experience with them.

It appears that the Tauck TDs are not tipped on river cruises (which I have not taken with Tauck); however, the TDs are tipped on land tours. If you have one bus driver throughout the trip, you tip him or her as well. The "green book" that you will get about a month before your trip will give suggested tip amounts.

British

I think MCD meant that the Tour directors’tips are already included on the River cruises but not generally on the
Land tours, but that can vary, so read your green book carefully. The same with bus drivers, sometimes the tip has been included. Sometimes not.
Hopkinstx, I think the ship waiters etc that you mention have already had tips included by Tauck. On my upcoming Small ship tour all tips are already paid, even the tour directors.

AlanS

Hopkinstx wrote:

Thanks Alan, I’ve enjoyed reading a lot of your comments on this and other forum threads. Another question though, you mentioned tipping the TD. We did the French Escapade in 2015 as our first Tauck trip. Tauck advertises no tipping in their rate ads. I tipped the 3rd party contractors, such as ship’s room maid, and various other non-Tauck waitstaff, etc, but I didn’t tip the 3 TD on board for that trip. I assumed the Tauck staff (not outsourced employees) were not to be tipped. Did we make an unintentional mistake by not tipping the Tauck TD’s?

As MCD pointed out there is a difference between land and river cruises with respect to tipping the TD. Tips for the CD & TDs are included in the price of Tauck cruises and some land/mixed tours (e.g. Peru & Galapagos Islands). Also, except for those land cruise bus drivers who stay with you for the entire or most of the trip, gratuities for all other drivers, hotel and ship staff, and wait staff for Tauck-provided meals, are handled by Tauck.

On Day 2 of Classic Italy, Small Groups you will travel the narrow, winding road along the Amalfi Coast in smaller bus(es) driven by a local driver who is not your regular driver- his gratuity is provided by Tauck. You will bid farewell and provide your gratuity to your main Tauck bus driver in Florence where you will see him for the last time, since you travel from Florence to Venice by rail. On some longer land tours you may have a relief driver for a day or two. I'm not certain, but I believe the gratuity for the relief driver is covered by Tauck.

All that being said- unlike our upcoming Disney Cruise where the gratuities for our server, assistant server, head server, and room steward are automatically added to our bill and charged to our account prior to leaving the ship, gratuities for anyone, including the TD, are "voluntary," not "mandatory" with Tauck even though the Green Book will give you Tauck's "suggested" amount per person, per day. It is still up to you if you want give that amount, more, less, or nothing at all. Also, though gratuities for everyone else are covered by Tauck, it does not stop you from tipping someone who goes above and beyond to provide you with some exceptional "personal" service. This can be difficult or cause issues with tours like K&T- Tauck compensates the safari drivers, but some TDs do not "discourage" (notice my wording) a gratuity if warranted. You need to be certain that you are not tipping a particular driver because of personality- some are quite charming- but because he provided a personal service above and beyond what is required. You change drivers daily. If you decide to do so on K&T (and elsewhere), you might want to check with the TD as to an appropriate amount, since the economy is drastically different in Africa and a gratuity that would be considered routine here, might be more than a week's pay there.

judy05

Hopkinstx -- Alan is correct. If you look at the French Escapades tour online -- this is the first line under what is included by Tauck: "Gratuities to ship staff, drivers, local guides, Tauck Directors and Tauck Cruise Director." We did Rendezvous on the Seine in 2015 and it was the same then. You did the right thing by not tipping your TDs on that trip.

Hopkinstx

We want to have a Bistecca Alla Fiorentina with a great Chianti when we are in Florence. Only one night is “free” time. Looks like Buca Mario and Il Latina are good candidates. Anyone have a suggestion? Other restaurant choice?

Any “you shouldn’t miss this...” restaurant choices on other parts of the trip from past travelers? We have tacked 2 nights on each end so that we have lots of dining opportunities. Haha