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Deposit Transfer

JulieAdamik

We booked a cruise to northern Norway for March 2027 months ago. For various reasons we no longer can take that trip and asked Tauck to transfer our deposit ($3000) to a different land trip in September 2027. We were told that we can't transfer the deposit until the pricing comes out for the other trip and then only "maybe." So disappointed in Tauck! My husband has taken 20 trips with Tauck and I've taken 14. You would think they would be more accommodating to their loyal travelers. Have others experience this with Tauck? Were you able to eventually transfer the deposit?

Comments

Smiling Sam

I thought that if you reserved/booked a tour prior to Tauck having it priced, that once the pricing was announced you had, TBD days to proceed with the booking or not. If that's still the policy then it seems odd that you couldn't transfer the deposit (or get it refunded) prior to pricing be announced.

I'd call Tauck again and see if you get the same response, asking about what the policy is once the pricing comes out. If you can get a full refund once the pricing is announced then you could proceed with booking your September 2027 trip, knowing you can get a refund on your March 2027 trip once it is priced.

OurTravels34

Did you purchase the Tauck insurance? I know that I have transferred a deposit from one trip to another a handful of years ago without a hitch. However, I use a travel agent and she does the dirty work for me. I don’t know if that makes any difference.

BKMD

I, too, transferred a deposit from one trip to another several years ago.

Goddess

Never had a problem transferring deposits, but have been warned with cruises - one time only.

British

Never had a problem. But the contract with Ponant may be different. Also $3000 for two people seems a huge deposit. Are you including the insurance price too. I would also say call back. They do record all conversations. also try calling customer service.

Goddess

I agree with Smiling Sam. Call Tauck again - you may have gotten a beginner on the phone. Better yet, in the future work with a Travel Agent and let them take care of all the details.

Claudia Sails

Sam, I believe it's 10 days after booking that you can cancel and get everything back. It's what we did 2 years ago attempting to use Tauck's Take Off with Tauck airfare deal. They couldn't find flights that worked for us so we canceled and got all the money back. Booked the same tour later.

I do think it gets tricky with cruise changes especially to a land tour. If it had been one land tour for another then it's much easier since Tauck totally controls those vs the cruises where other companies like Ponant, Scylla, etc are involved. That's why there are 2 different guest protection programs for land and cruise tours.

I don't understand the need to wait for pricing on the land tour other than it's built in that you have the ability to cancel and receive all money back on a tour that has a date but no final pricing. Then you get 10 days (?) to cancel if you decide you think it's too high or whatever reason. They may be trying to avoid too many changes.

I wouldn't give up. Sometimes it's just getting the right agent on the phone who has more experience,

the moores

I recently tried to get out of an upcoming riverboat cruise and wanted to transfer the money paid to another tour later in the year. Tauck told me that while you could do so with a land tour you are unable to do it with a riverboat cruise. And, having paid in full, because the tour was in 58 days I would only get a 50% refund and would, of course, lose the insurance paid.

OurTravels34

If and when you decide to call back, ask to speak to a supervisor. I have done that. You can also call the Connecticut office and state your frustration. It’s not that you’re cancelling a trip, you just wanted to transfer your deposit to another trip.

AlanS

We have never tried to do it so I can't say, but in addition to what it says on the website (quoted below), the likely reason for the restriction trying to switch from a cruise to a land tour (especially less than 60 days before the cruise departs), especially to a land tour that hasn't been priced, is that it would allow people avoid the more restrictive cruise cancellation penalties and time frames, for another tour where the cancellation penalties are less or no penalty at all (get protection plan premium back too) for cancelling the new tour within "two weeks." It would be gaming the system.

Since OP is almost a year out (>120 days) they can cancel, but, if they have it, will lose their trip insurance premium (Cruise & Event Protection, which includes both the Cancellation Fee Waiver and the Travel Insurance Benefits and Assistance Services) $799 per person. The following was taken from Norwegian Fjords & Coastal Treasures Important Info > If You Have To Cancel section:

"If you cancel more than 10 days after initial deposit

Regardless of reason, cancellations result in costly charges from our travel and hotel providers covering penalties and fees incurred by canceling confirmed bookings. These fees vary from tour to tour. Therefore, the following fees apply for this tour."

If OP did not have the protection plan, there is a $1500 per person penalty for cancellation >120 days out so they would lose their entire $3000 deposit in this case. If they had the insurance they would lose that. The penalties for both cases are on a sliding scale and increase the closer you get to departure.

So, if the OP had the insurance she should be able to cancel and use the $1500 e.a. deposit and apply it to a different tour. However, the deposit amount for the new trip has not been announced. It may be a paperwork thing, or new sales agent. "then only maybe" needs explanation.

Birder49

We have had a couple of the above mentioned situations. Early last fall we needed to change the date of a river cruise reservation and Tauck allowed us to do so but said it was a one time deal. I am not sure if they meant we couldnt change that particular tour again or if we could never ask them to change a date on any tour we choose in the future. I didnt question them. It did take a couple of days for them to get back to us.
About 5 years ago when we were all trying to work around covid we asked about changing an exhisting river cruise reservation to a land tour and we were told that they could not do that. We didnt get into particulars except that they are two seperate products.
No mention was made of the protection plan in either case but we always get it so maybe that is part of the reasoning.
These are just our experiences but it sounds like they are consistant in these policies.

kfnknfzk

I have never had an issue with securing a Gift of Time hotel stay but, like others have said, I always book extremely early. Nor have I had any issues with additional pre/post tour days. I did have to wait a few days for confirmation on adding five (5) additional days at the end of a land tour.

Only once have I changed a tour date. It was the Douro cruise. Since it was right when the world started opening after COVID, I thought it would be best to take a later date. I am glad we did since we were able to experience the beautiful fall vineyard colors along the Douro valley.

Again, in my opinion, it is all about doing it early. I realize that might be difficult when planning a trip with a group. I also believe Tauck’s policies are transparent, especially between land versus cruising.

British

Tauck do seem to be tighter about changes and so on. Remember that management is not handled by the family any more, the company is becoming more in line with other tour companies.
Some years ago, we were on a Tauck tour and discovered that a number of other people on the tour confessed that they often early booked different tours with no intentions of taking all of them. They would cancel nearer the tour date and Tauck would return the deposit. They did not seem to care that they would lose the cost of the insurance. Maybe this is another reason they have become more strict. As Tauck seems to be catering to a more exclusive type of customer, this may happen even more as money seems no object to some people.

sudhamali

My only experience with canceling and rebooking was last year.Everything was very smooth; we just had to pay the difference in the cost of the tour because the price had gone up up for 2026!

MarketArt

Just a heads-up to stay on top of Tauck refunds, etc. My recent cancellation by phone never made it to my Account & now Tauck has charged me for a 2nd deposit, rather than issuing a credit. In fairness, it's been a comedy of errors with online transactions this year. Maybe there is something to Mercury in (delayed) retrograde.

gladysorlando984

I've had some medical problems this year and had to cancel 2 tours, the first one had been paid in full and had no trouble getting a refund, the second they transferred my deposit to the one I booked for 2017.

JaneP

Just discussed this issue with Tauck today. If it a land trip to a land trip it is all within Tauck and they will transfer everything from one to the other including any deposit and trip insurance - that is, if you cancel one Tauck land trip and then book a different land trip right away. If it is a cruise the problem is that it goes outside of Tauck to the cruise company and you then have to comply with that companies policies...alot of it then depends on timing - how far in advance of the cruise you are trying to cancel. Sometimes you can get different explanations from different staff, but this is what I was told this morning.