Oct 14, 2019 essence of Japan
Has anyone scheduled on this trip canceled due to the horrific Typhoon Japan just had followed by an earthquake. We are a little upset that Tauck made such light of the situation given the severity of the storm.
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Has anyone scheduled on this trip canceled due to the horrific Typhoon Japan just had followed by an earthquake. We are a little upset that Tauck made such light of the situation given the severity of the storm.
Comments
We leave for China and Hong Kong tomorrow. We have travelled with Tauck a lot. Yesterday my husband called to check about accurate dates for applying for our upcoming Kenya and Tanzania visa that we will be taking in December. While on the phone, he asked about the HK part of our tour, they have been no problems with the tours that are just finishing there.
Tauck have people in all the areas they travel to to monitor situations of all kinds. They will modify or change itineraries if necessary or cancel if necessary. I trust them until I don’t, and if things go wrong for us, people on the forum will definitely hear about it. They have an obligation to keep their tour director and customers safe, if they haven’t or don’t, they would not have been in business for almost 100 years. I personally know how Tauck have dealt with some unexpected things happen in countries and how they have evacuated customers. They have only lost one customer and that was during the Mumbai hotel bombings, I hear that the guy did not stay in his room as directed.
I haven’t been to Japan for almost 30 years, I’ve been twice. We have a tour booked there in two years time with another company, we are not that enamored by Tauck’s offering of Japan, knowing it quite well. When we booked, the company we are using only offered two tours a year, the one we had to chose because of other commitments was the September one and my first thought was that it is typhoon season there but my husband has been there in September before, so we are chancing it. It’s possible that your tour does not go to the most affected areas and quite frankly, I’ve never been to Tokyo but it’s still the place that would be bottom of my choices to visit in Japan, so if they offer you a different location, go with it, Japan is wonderful.
So what did Tauck tell you when you called?
Tauck claimed that no one cancelled, which was untrue because we did. They also said that they would probably be changing some of the itinerary around because of the typhoon and earthquake. They said day one would now start on day two which means the guests already lost a day. For the amount of money that we are paying, I personally don’t want to lose a day of touring & I don’t want to miss sights and places and have the itinerary tweaked Changed or modified due to the typhoon. I understand life happens & I understand that the typhoon was totally out of their control. I truly do. What I don’t understand is why this highly reputabl, well run company isn’t being honest with their clients when calls come in about typhoons & earthquakes. The airports in Tokyo were closed. It was all over the news. The British government warned their people not to travel to Japan. Yet Tauck said the trip is still on as scheduled as if it was only drizzling in Japan. We too have traveled numerous times with Tauck. They run a very well organized trip which brings us back to use them repeatedly. It just rubbed us the wrong way to hear them make light about a deadly situation that was occurring and to not acknowledge that anyone had canceled.
Well, here I am in China. We have had the Tour Director before, he says there has been no problem with the Hong Kong part of the tour. 24 people, I believe 8 cancelled. I still think Tauck were doing the best for the people that still wanted to go to Japan in your situation. My husband arrived in Japan on the day of the great Kobe Earthquake years ago, He was not aware that it had happened until I called him after he arrived at the hotel, yet the news showed devastation. I had friends calling me saying how sorry they were and how could they help. He was fine but the company brought him back home. maybe there is a similar situational in Japan now. At least if you chose to go to Japan withTauck again, you’ll know not to go during typhoon season.