Anyone recently back from this tour, how is HK handled?

British

As we are about to go on this tour, I’m wondering if any forum members are out there to hear if Tauck has had to amend the tour for the Hong Kong portion or any other input. We’ve paid for the whole tour now and don’t want to cancel. Trusting Tauck will come through.

KarenW

Hi British
My husband and I are also taking the China, Yangtze River and Hong Kong trip in October, the one starting October 3, 2019. Like you, we made our own flight arrangements, so have been curious as to how Tauck has been handling the troubles in Hong Kong.
I happened to speak with a representative from Tauck today regarding another trip and asked about their handling of Hong Kong. She said that their current tour does not depart Hong Kong until September 11th, but they’re watching it closely. Maybe this is why nobody has responded to you yet? Hopefully we will get some more information after September 11th.

British

Good to hear from you Karen. Most of our friends think we are barmy for not canceling. Yes we booked our own very expensive business class tickets and I am not sure if we would get money back. We have the Tauck insurance. We have been traveling with Tauck for a long time and have heard of many instances where when things have happened beyond their control, such as the hotel bombing in India and the stuff in Egypt, Tauck has been generous to their customers with compensation. Right now, we continue to think that our tour date is too far away for them or us to make any decisions but I still monitor the news daily and am concerned. We have not called Tauck to discuss anything. If things are canceled, unfortunately it’s too late and at an odd time of year to be able to book another Tauck trip then. We are lucky to already be booked on a tour with them in mid December, so I keep focusing on that instead which feels really odd.

mcmaj

British - I think that you will enjoy the rest of this tour so much that whatever happens with Hong Kong won’t make much of a difference to you. I believe we only had 1 1/2 days there, so it was a very small part of a fantastic trip. Don’t cancel! You will love, love, love it!

British

Yes, I know we will love it and I am not canceling, but if I can’t get to the HK airport on a weekend to get my flight home, that’s a problem
We booked our own air, so not sure if insurance covers that when it is beyond the airlines control and seen as civil unrest, not always covered by any insurance.

mcmaj

Ah yes. I’ve just read that HK police are making sure protesters don’t disrupt transportation to the airport again. Apparently, they are now targeting the high end shopping district popular with mainland Chinese tourists.

British

I read the news on Hong Kong every day, and it was even featured on CBS Sunday morning today. We were affected by tear gas the evening before our tour of Patagonia began in Santiago last year when there were protests and fires, won’t go into details of reason for protests. We were inside the hotel in the restaurant but it was open to the outside. We were quickly evacuated to an inside courtyard. It quickly affected our throats and eyes. The staff were great, they brought around lime wedges to suck to help counteract the tear gas. It happened so quickly and out of the blue, quite frightening. Protests in HK get pretty crazy and quickly spread out, due to Facebook type messages between protesters. We keep abreast as much as we can.

MrCross

Keep us informed as soon as anyone hears any updates!