Category 7 wait listing
This is our 3rd Tauck river cruise and had traveled Cat 7 on the previous trips. We booked last Sept but it was too late and Cat 7 was sold out on our northbound trip date (5/8/20). So we booked Cat 6. We are wait listed for Cat 7. My question is.... how common are Cat 7 cancellations on this cruise ? Normally I wouldn't sweat it but we are coming in early for a couple extra days in Cannes at the Martinez and we really wanted a "Sea view" room but were told by tauck that only Cat 7 got the "Sea View" rooms and we couldn't upgrade the Cat 6 Deluxe room. While we could get sea view room for our early days through the hotel, we would have to change rooms for the "tour days" which seemed like a PITB. Another thought, I guess I could wait till we got there and talk to the hotel. Has anyone stayed here before and do you think the "front desk" might be able to work something out ?
Joel
Comments
I would try calling the hotel, but quite honestly, you spend so little time in the actual hotels until night time, I don’t think it is a big problem. You might be lucky with current panic about the Coronavirus, I think people will be canceling vacations here there and everywhere, so I would keep calling Tauck to see if anything is coming up. Keep an eye on your flights too because I think the airlines will be cancelling flights as they become half empty.
Thanks for the reply. I thought I would call the hotel if the wait list thing doesn't work out in the next few weeks. I assume like most things in this world that if you knock on enough doors, or the right door, someone can usually make it happen. It was just odd to me that Tauck couldn't do it. I wasn't looking for anything free, just a room upgrade at the Hotel. Anyway, thanks again for the reply
Joel
So am I to understand when one books a cat 7 cabin then one can expect a higher category hotel room? I was told not at all on another thread. We’re cat 7 on an upcoming cruise and waitlisted for cat 7 on another. I would also be interested in knowing if one can expect some cancellations perhaps when final payments are due.
People cancel trips all the time. I’ve been on tours with people who book multiple trips well in advance with no intention of taking all of them. They just want to block a place on the tour when at one time tours booked up two years in advance. But you just never know and have to keep hoping.
The riverboat cabin categories have no bearing on hotel rooms. As indicated several times, the hotel assigns rooms randomly. However, Tauck usually publishes either a deluxe or superior hotel room for their guests.
Interesting but see the OP’s first post and the feedback they received from Tauck indicating the highest category received superior views at least.
It's worth asking Tauck about but may depend on the cruise and related hotel. We've had lots of view rooms and never had a Cat 7 cabin. On our Seine cruise friends did have a Cat 7 cabin and their rooms at the Savoy and the Versailles Astoria weren't any better than ours.
I have heard that if you have the loyalty card for the hotel chain (IHG, Hilton, Marriott) that you won't get credits for the nights but might get a room upgrade or perk. Can't hurt to ask.
I can’t recall being given a upgrade room because of being a loyalty member. I really feel as long as the hotels are clean, comfortable and have staff you can trust, the hotel is in a great location, then the quality of the tour is more important. After all, Tauck didn’t always stay in premium hotels and their tours were just as good but far more reasonably priced.
It's hard to tell sometimes how your room compares unless you talk to other Tauck guests.
I do appreciate a nice view. I've had a few perfectly okay rooms with views of the roof, ac unit, parking lot and yes the tour was still nice. But walking into our room in Budapest with an amazing night view of the castle opposite and chain bridge is a special memory. The same for Lausanne, Lugano, the ocean in Brittany, etc. And frankly if I'm going to pay the money I expect something special.
I had an upgrade to a suite at the Trianon Palace and a coupon for 2 free drinks prior to my Normandy, Brittany, Paris & the Loire Valley tour in 2016 -- probably because I told them I was a Hilton Honors gold member at check-in. At the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem, also a Hilton hotel, (on Israel and Jordan in 2020), I was told that Tauck already had the best rooms, but I got a $25 hotel credit, which I used to offset my bar charge. At the Royal Hawaiian, where I booked 3 extra nights at a much cheaper room than the Tauck rooms last year, I was able to upgrade to the Tauck rooms for $100 per night, because I was a Marriott gold member. (Both of those memberships came with my Amex Platinum card.) It never hurts to see whether there are perks available because of hotel loyalty status.
I have been on 12 Tauck tours including 3 River Cruises (4th booked ) all Cat 7 Cabins and do not believe I have ever been
given a preferential hotel room
Rileyboy, I’ve been on 11 Tauck journeys and I suppose the takeaway is to call or email the hotel in advance and state the fact you’re a member of a hotel group if that specific hotel is c part of that chain. It wouldn’t hurt to ask for an upgraded room. Sometimes I get a preferred room when traveling a couple of days ahead using my Marriott status before a tour starts, and I politely ask if I have to change the room once the tour abs most of the time, I can stay in the same room. I remember only one time, I asked if points can be applied to my Marriott titanium account even though I was on a Tauck tour. That only happened once, and it may have been a mistake from the person behind the desk granting me that.
We have been on numerous Tauck river cruises and always stay in Cat 7 but we don't remember getting any special treatment or preferred rooms. All the rooms have been very nice and we don't have any complaints.
We were on an Italian land tour and one of the hotels was a Marriott. I have lifetime titanium status with Marriott. I don't know how but the hotel picked up on my status and gave me an upgraded suite without my having to ask. They informed me of this at check in. I did not get any points for my stay however, because the room was booked as part of a tour.
I have seen it in writing somewhere that Tauck books the best rooms ‘available’, but the actual assignments are done randomly by the hotel. I don’t know that to always be the case, but we have received what I consider very ordinary rooms. and we once got what I called the ‘Presidential Suite’. It had five rooms with sixteen foot ceilings and two bathrooms. The entrance hall was three times the size of a large hotel room. I;m guessing that they ran out of normal rooms, and what we got was all they had left. I did find it interesting that the bathrooms and bedroom had telephones, but there were no phones in the living room or dining room. We have a modest number of Tauck trips … ten I think … and we have no ‘loyalty status’ with any hotel or credit card. We do, however, get our loyalty benefits from Windstar and Ponant. We have done K&T twice with rather ‘ordinary’ room locations at the Four Seasons … hoping for a room by the waterhole on our next visit.