ANNOUNCED SCHEDULE ACTIVITY CHANGE DAY 6 OF PARIS TO RIVIERA NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR TAUCK STANDARDS
From : Robert Belinke; 28 Tauck tours
Subject:: Change to day 6 as per notification
UNEXCEPTIONABLE REVISED PLAN:
DATE sent to Tauck on Line 3.30.24
Tour French Escapade: Paris to the Riviera
Journey Begins Aug 20, 2024 6:30PM at hotel in Paris. Airport/train transfer included.
Journey Ends Sep 02, 2024 Any time transfer to airport. Airport/train transfer included.
Additional Information This cruise is on the Emerald.
REF:
itinerary change on Day 6 in
Macon. Due to a scheduling conflict on Day 6, we will no longer be visiting Chateau Pruzilly
after our tour of Cluny Abbey as planned, and instead will be returning to the riverboat for lunch
and an afternoon of cruising.
I'm writing to express my displeasure with revised plan day 6. I can understand not visiting a Location but this ALSO WAS A TAUCK EXCLUSIVE which included a meal. Substituting what I expect is a buffet lunch instead of what I paid for and was expecting is not acceptable. Tauck knew the Olympics were going to impact the Summer but Tauck being one of the best IF NOT the best tour company by reputation should have found an alternative location for lunch OFF THE BOAT.
As it stands, I would expect Tauck to offer guests one or more of the following options:
1. Free trip cancellation and total refund including trip protection if purchased.
2. Free rescheduling of this trip at the same price in 2025 or 2026 NLT Dec 31, 2024.
3. A minimum cash credit of $350 in lieu of the schedule change and proceed with the revised itinerary.
Like I mentioned, if this was not a Tauck Exclusive and/or did not include a meal at a special location, a change like this would be totally understandable but the change back to the boat with a meal on the boat is rather insulting for what I expected from Tauck.
Thank you.
Robert
9412663998
Comments
Bob, Tauck does not regularly monitor this forum. I understand your frustration, but…. You have posted, I believe, four times on the forum and all have been complaints on different tours and yet you still travel with them. Why don’t you just cancel your tour and find a different tour company, While I have sometimes been disappointed with a few issues with Tauck, I’ve never had to complain in such an angry manner, in fact, in more tours than you, I’ve only had to resort to calls twice, and always in a polite way. They must dread you calling and as all of us are reported on from the tour directors when we are on tours, your tour director will be expecting issues with you.
I doubt Bob will even see this as he only seems to visit the forum to complain. Ten visits in five years.
Yikes, and is that his phone number he put at the end!
That's something I didn't know. So the tour directors do reviews of each guest? Sort of like Uber or AirBnB where we rate the provider and the provider rates us?
I wonder what's in my file
Yes, I was also told a very long time ago that tour directors keep a profile on guests on a trip. If makes sense.
I don't know about profiles but last year a TD said she had looked at what tours we'd taken and the TDs we'd had. Commented that we'd had good ones. I agree we'd been pretty happy with the ones we'd had.
"..... a flexible attitude, intrepid spirit and cheery sense of adventure....." - So very true.
You must be unaware of the forum feature when a title is posted in ALL CAPS, it's automatically forwarded to Tauck management.
Like Claudia, I don't know how much detail the TD's have on us, but I do know they have (or have access to) a list of our previous tours and the TD's we had. Once we were even given a copy of it. At the start of Jordan & Egypt trip our TD left a bottle of wine and a note in our room thanking me for helping with the forum when we had problems with spammers and issues with the new website and forum software!
I'm still waiting for my toiletries bag, currency, etc. 
Bob has written to Tauck, he states that somewhere on his complaints about other tours and he may not have a travel agent.
For me, I just would not have booked a tour that includes Paris during the Olympics.
I think BKMD was joking about capitals
@cathyandsteve - Paris is a magical city. Going there while the Olympics are going on may not be the best time but I hope you fall in love with it - as I did long ago.
There's so much to see and do in Paris.
AlanS - I suspect another Tauck gift (number 3) is awaiting me at home. I'm currently up in the mountains skiing, but got a UPS notification about a 1 lb package from El Segundo delivered today. Have a trip leaving in just over a month.
British - most definitely a joke, hence the smiley.
(edited for typo)
I know that some of the TDs read the forum. We are more or less anonymous, but I know some of the TDs know who I am. I exchange emails with some of them on occasion. I don’t think they are ‘members’ or ever post anything. They just lurk. We actually have had two TDs that we have done multiple trips with, and another that we just happened to run into while on another trip. It is sometimes a small world. A little ‘by the way’. One should not take for granted the qualifications of the TDs. All of our ‘boat drivers’ in Antarctica had advanced degrees in marine sciences, and one of our Africa TDs could use the title “Doctor” if he chose to do so.
Cathy: I know you will love it. Missing a restaurant stop is no big deal. We have been there many times.
Cathy - this will be an excuse to go back to Paris to see what it's like in normal times
I've only visited Paris. I wish I could have spent six months living there.
You will love the Eiffel Tower. I spent 37 years in the air, and my wife fears heights. She had no problem with the outside observation deck on the top. I was standing back from the edge. Paris is one of my favorite cities … much more than London. We spent a short week in Paris one time, and we walked the city. There is a museum at the top of the Arch de Triumph that I had never heard about … great view of the McDonald's restaurant. There is an underground access … don’t try crossing the round-about.
I’ve been to the top of the Arch de Triumph. Just personally, to see theTower from the ground is enough for me. I think it’s because I think about Blackpool Tower instead.
Good advice. The first time I went to Paris I didn't know about the underground access to the Arc de Triomphe and crossed the road around it. But I was young and foolish.
If you have trouble with long flights of stairs, they will let you up the elevator at the Arc de Triomphe.
Cathy: I noticed on Day 2 of your Tour that Tauck stated they have included admission into the Musée Jacquemart-André, a museum in Paris' 8th arrondissement. This museum is only 1/2 mile walk from the Hotel that we are staying at on our upcoming "Impressions from the Seine" trip in a couple of weeks. I was researching nearby attractions and this Museum looked very interesting. I had checked out the website for more details and unfortunately, per the Museum's Website, the Museum is currently closed for restoration and will re-open in September. I was so disappointed as it looked like a fabulous museum to visit.
If you like Monet, you should consider a visit to the Marmotton Museum. It’s a bit off the beaten path bot not difficult to get to. It was originally a hunting lodge.
I too like Paris. Three visits as part of Tauck tours and still haven't seen all I want. The traffic - especially for tour buses - has gotten difficult. A lot of sitting at lights and fewer spots they can stop for photo ops.
I saw a Facebook post talking about a "gala" dinner on a cruise and think some confusing terms are being used. I think I'll start a new thread on that.
Bob has not been back to the forum since he posted this. He probably won’t get back until he complains about something on his next tour. I’m not being mean, that appears to be what he does.
If we stop posting on this thread, ‘Bob’ will probably disappear in a week or so. This is my last comment here.
Hey, changes happen and it’s not unique to Tauck. Here’s a post from a Celebrity Cruise board posted on April 1:
This morning, I received an "Express Notification Alert" email from Celebrity stating that there has been a change to our April 20th Panama Canal itinerary aboard Summit. Apparently the extended drought has forced the Panama Canal Authority to reduce the maximum draft for ships to sail through the canal. The bad news is that full loaded, Summit's keel sits in the water deep enough that she exceeds this new allowable draft limit. However Summit has to get over to the Pacific Ocean to perform her Alaskan cruises this summer and going around South America will cause her to miss a number of those sailings. Therefore Celebrity is going to make a very unusual modification to our cruise.
Our modified itinerary will require all passengers and non-essential crew to disembark when the ship arrives at Colon. Unburdened by the passenger and crew weight, Summit will be able to proceed through the canal--although barely. At the end of the day, she will dock on the Pacific side at Panama City for passengers and crew to re-board. This emergency plan was just approved by the Panama Canal Authority last week.
Celebrity has apparently contracted luxury motor coach transportation through a third party company name, "The Canal Route", a well known regional tour company that was started by a group of retired dentists. Their air conditioned buses will transport us in style from Colon to Panama City. The Celebrity email points out that as a bonus, the sliding windows on all the buses will be a very close approximation to the cruise experience that passengers get with the Infinite Veranda (IV) cabins made famous on the award winning Edge series ships. So we at least get that.
In an attempt to simulate the canal crossing, there will be several flat screen monitors in every bus for us to view the live feed from Summit's bridge cameras as she sails through the canal. The live feed will include the guided narration that would have been given aboard Summit. Also Summit's captain will still transmit his morning bridge report to us through this feed.
As part of this unexpected land tour, Celebrity has arranged for us to visit an obscure special rescue center which has been caring for highly trained monkeys that were abandoned by the American CIA several years ago from a failed experiment to fight the war on illegal drugs. To give these abandoned primates a continued sense of purpose, the rescue center has been building off the monkeys' acting and improvisation skills to re-create famous movies and plays. Apparently we will be treated to the grand opening of a newly re-created "Oppenheimer" presentation which I think will be amazing. The email warns that the reproduction will not be perfect because many of the monkeys are suffering from PTSD from their time with the CIA and from side effects from their de-programming, but as long as we understand that and are willing to play along, everyone should have a good time. Although there is no admission fee to the rescue center, there is a strongly suggested $50 USD per person donation (plus 20% gratuity), so we need to bring some cash.
Nothing was mentioned in regards to any compensation however the email alert said that there would be more details forthcoming in a later communication. The email concluded with the usual, "Thank you for your understanding. We can't wait to welcome you onboard Celebrity Summit".
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For goodness sake, it was April 1st!
Heh-heh!