Tauck overlapping Tours
My wife and I with 2 granddaughters are going on the Italia Bella Bridges tour this June. I noticed that Tauck has added a bunch on additional tours in June so that they are 1 and 2 days apart. Same with the Bridges Castles and Kings tours, where they have scheduled tours 1 and 3 days apart. Question for the group, has anyone experienced being in the same hotel with a second Tauck tour at the same time? Sounds like fun, and I'm glad for Tauck, but I can see getting on the wrong bus or competition between the groups. Looks like a new chapter in Tauck adventures.
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Tauck has overlapping tours at the same hotel or the same destination often. The overlapping tours rarely mingle together from my experience. I've been on 11 different Tauck tours and it's really hard to get on the wrong bus.
Sandman,
Yes, we have had several overlapping Tauck tours and it can lead to some confusion. Be sure to make note of the bus number and always verify the bus corresponds with the name of your tour director.
I would imagine it could be much fun for the children by making even more new friends. Besides, if you tire of your grandkids, you can always send them to the wrong bus! Just kidding!
Enjoy and have fun.
Thanks, OurTravels34. I never experienced this on 5 prior trips. Just glad to see Tauck get so busy this spring/summer.
Unless it is Day 1, you or the errant traveler will quickly notice that you /they don't recognize anyone else on your bus (and in the case of a child, will quickly realize his/her parents are not aboard.) Besides, the TD will do a head count before the bus leaves- if there are too many or too few, the bus won't leave until the count is correct.
It is very unlikely there will be "Home Alone" incident, Tauck is well aware it is a remote possibility on a Bridges tour.
"Kevin!! Kevin!!
Tauck, in it's past has always had tours only spaced a few days apart. We have been in the same hotel at the same time as other tours….one example being when we met Sealord in Africa when he was on KandT and we were on Tamzania Zanzibar.
Years ago, as soon as all the published tours filled up, Tauck would add more. If you wanted to take a particular tour and all dates were full, they encouraged you to call and if there was enough interest they would keep adding more dates.
I would not rely on Tauck not leaving people behind, I’ve known it happen several times. Just two weeks ago when we had just 14 on a tour, the TD told the bus driver to start rolling when one of the wives shouted, hey, my husband isn’t here!
On our ESW tour a couple was left behind at the hotel. TD was very embarrassed and said that it had never happened to her before. The bus stopped on side of road while someone from the hotel drove the couple to bus. So it does happen!
Seems like we had an overlap of tours at the Savoy in London once but our schedules were different and no chance of confusion. Plus on all the land tours we've taken you had assigned seating with seating charts and/or names taped to the overhead rack. Unless it was two river cruises with more than two buses I would think the odds are slim you'd end up on the wrong bus.
Probably higher odds of getting on the wrong bus if you're at a tourist site with loads of buses unless you're on one of the fancy Tauck buses with the nice pictures on the side. At Windsor castle the bus lot held about 50 tour buses. I was so grateful we had the clearly labeled Tauck bus. For neither of our tours last year did we have those buses but there were smaller signs. We did need to learn what our bus and driver looked like.
I hope this doesn't become the norm. I love the picture buses.
When we took the tour where we have had the only tour we thought the TD was unacceptable, I almost found myself on the wrong bus. The TD changed where we were all to meet the bus, but did not make it clear to everyone. There was more than one exit to the park building. My hubby and I went to the bathroom, he came out and met up with a group who couldn’t find the bus. They all exited and found the bus. I came out, no one around, went outside, saw a Tauck bus, headed for it, it was locked and empty. I ran around the large parking lot which extended around all sides of the building, literally like a headless chicken. I saw another Tauck bus, it was ours. Climbed on the bus where all were waiting. I was actually quite scared
I see that there were not many people getting on your bus with Masks Claudia
It was a stop for coffee and pastries in a tiny town enroute to Lugano. After we had our treat most of us walked outside to take pictures or just walk around in the lovely weather. So yes there were probably some who had not re-donned their masks. Other than one pair everyone else on the tour was good about masks on the bus and indoors. Switzerland did not require masks outdoors in most places.
From my years of following the forum posts, there are few people from Bridges tours that seem to post. It would be nice if anyone from the June 8, 10th (our tour) or the 12th would post so we can meet up before the bus exchanges!
Has anyone else heard that Tauck artwork on outside of buses is some sort of attached wraparound, so nicely done that you’d never know, but convertible as needed?
Tauck motorcoach graphics are a vinyl appliqué. I believe there used to be a video of one being applied on the web, but I couldn't find it. An applique' is being applied to a Charlottesville transit bus in this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdl45ZQz7ho
Does anyone know what the Covid situation is like in Italy now?
A feature of this tour "After-hours tour of the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel, without the lines or crowds, for unhurried viewing" has been canceled. Doesn't appear to be something that Tauck could fix, but it is still disappointing. I believe they want to arrange a tour during the day "with the lines and crowds." Travel in this post covid period appears to be challenging at best.
Hi Sandman. We are booked for June 15th and hope things will be normal by then🤞🏻🤞🏻.
We did not know about the after hours tour being cancelled. Thank you for mentioning it.
How did you find out that it was cancelled?
We did not receive any kind of notice.
Hopefully other things will not be cancelled.
Hi jowell; my travel agent forwarded me a letter from Tauck addressed to us (which we still have not received). The letter said little more than I said in my post, other than they will give each traveler a $100 rebate after the tour. Not sure if this cancellation was just for our tour, but I had the feeling it would affect more tour dates. As I responded to my travel agent, "what choice do we have?"
Hi sandman. So I just got off with Tauck and they informed me it was the Vatican who cancelled it and it was out of their hands.
There are 4 dates that are cancelled and so far my date is okay 🤞🏻🤞🏻.
They said people are free to change their dates and there will be no penalty or anything.
Hope this helps.
Sorry forgot to mention that i was told the rebate will be a return to your credit card.
Tauck, like most companies refunds to the source of initial payment.
Jowell, we booked a visit to London for four days pre Tauck tour. With London hotel and 4 flights with 4 business class reward tickets booked, it would be impossible to change our Tauck date. Also, had to fit this tour in between the end of school and the start of summer camp. Will have to settle for the daytime tour, but I am curious as to what they will eliminate to make this possible.
Tauck may not need to eliminate anything, the are good a adjusting the schedule to meet the situation.
Years before we did Classic Italy there were people on the forum who cautioned against making private plans for "free time" in Rome because the Vatican is notorious for changing their schedule, only a day or two earlier with little notice, sometimes at the last minute. That happened to us in 2016- Tauck quickly adjusted so we didn't miss anything, however the schedule previously published for all three days changed completely.