small trip option

Hello!

We are considering this trip, and would like to hear opinions of the small group option. On our previous Tauck tour, our group of 40 was usually split between two guides. We did get to know most group members, so we're not sure if we need to worry about paying extra for the small group.

Thank you!

Comments

  • We have been on several trips with Tauck. Our last one was a land / bus tour of Spain & Portugal. There were only 20 on the trip. It was fine and I guess easier and quicker at restaurants , potty breaks etc. We are going on this trip - Sept 13th (which was added recently). Could be 40 people on it ? I personally wouldn't pay extra for a smaller group.
    Some people love smaller trips though. I like to meet a lot of different people.
  • Smaller Group tours don't have anything special with them except fewer people. I generally enjoy fellow travelers so I don't mind the larger groups.
  • My wife and I did the small group tour England, Scotland and Wales last August and our group of 26 I did not think qualified as "small". If the Lotto Fairy visits us soon and we can afford another Tauck tour I would not consider another small group tour. I just think they are a waste of money and not value for the dollars spent.

    Rod
  • We took a small group tour (23 people) of Scotland, England, and Wales in August 2013, and we greatly appreciated the small group aspect. There was plenty of room to spread out on the bus, and many participants took advantage of that option. It was nice to have extra window seats and room for carry-ons. The rest room stops were shorter due to the smaller number of people.

    Going forward we will always book the small group option. It is well worth the added cost in our opinion.
  • edited March 2015
    There are pros and cons to both types of tours, I think it is a personal (financial and other) decision.

    We are proponents of small group tours- we did England, Scotland, Wales (SG) in 2013 and the Ultimate Alps (SG), last summer, but went on a standard Hidden, Gems of N.E. last fall. It may just have been that tour, the fact it was much shorter, or something about the group. But after that experience, we decided small group tours are for us whenever possible in the future.
  • There are pros and cons to both types of tours, I think it is a personal (financial and other) decision.


    Alan, Whilst I agree in principal with what you say I still think it boils down to defining what is a "small" group. If a normal Tauck tour group is around 40 people than surely a small group should be around 20 not 26. The fine coaches that Tauck use carry 52 people so that in reality comfort aboard the coach is not much different for 26 or 40 people. Tauck rotates the group daily irrespective of the group size.

    In my case I felt that the extra I paid for a "small" group did not represent value as if I'd have gone on the next trip for much less I'd have been a part of 40 people and received exactly the same service and attention to detail I got as a part of a 26 person group. In fact you could argue that I'd have been better off in a local guide group of 20 than 26.

    I expressed my concerns on the end of trip report card and whilst I would opt for another small group tour it would only be with a guarantee that the group did not exceed 20. I've tried very hard to calculate just what extras we received in our "small" group that the next group of 40 missed out on. For around an extra $1250 p/p there must have been something I missed.

    Rod
  • edited March 2015
    Don't get hung up over semantics. Call it a "Medium Group" if you want. Tauck says up front how many travelers constitute their "Small Group" and how much it costs. With that info you can make your own personal decision as to whether or not it is worthwhile to you- whether the size, 26 +/-, is worth the extra cost. It is to some, but isn't to others. Just like the additional cost single travelers must pay- not all agree it is appropriate, but it is what it is, so everyone must make up their own mind.

    I beg to differ about the roominess of coaches- the same coach seems much more roomy with only 26 than it does with 44 or more, especially American buses (no mid-door), when boarding or disembarking after sitting in the back! Though, again, it is a personal call. There can be a number of subtle and not so subtle differences between the two sizes of groups. Beyond the obvious effects of size on bus space and boarding/exiting, dinner seating, time to pass out keys, load baggage, etc, etc, there are other, subtle differences, like the greater probability of having a "high maintenance" traveler in a larger group, etc. Not that it isn't possible with a small group, just the probability is higher with a large group. The counter to that is the effect might be more on a smaller group.

    Would I like an even smaller "Small Group" of maybe 20 max? or how about 15? Sure! But, except for Botswana, South Africa, and Zambia and one or two of the Culturious Tours, that is not offered. Will I continue to take Tauck Small Group tours, when available, if I can afford it? You bet!
  • Well there must be a lot more people who do not mind large groups or the River cruises with 120 people would not be so wildly popular. But as you say ALAN, everyone can see up front size and cost, except that so many do not bother to read all the details of their tour or many of the questions that are asked here would not be necessary.
    Several of our tours have turned out to be 'small group' because they have not been full. In fact last year, the Kenya and Tanzania tour that left from ARUSHA the same time as our TANZANIA tour only had about 16 people, smaller than our 23, that, by the way was not classed as a small group tour.
    I especially think that the AFRICA tours are not worth any extra money for a small group tour because the groups are split into safari vehicles and on some of our safaris there may be as few as 4 in a vehicle, this was certainly true on our Kenya and Tanzania tour.
    High maintenance travelers
    apart from one of our US tours where there was a high end of the high end traveler that was lucky to still be alive at the end of the tour, in our experience of about 18 tours, the more exotic the tour, the more likely there is to be one or two high maintenance travelers, because let's face it, you are not going to make your first trip out of the US to places like AFRICA or India, you are going to be an experienced traveler and more likely be a pain in the ass. I am quite looking forward to my next Tauck tour that will be to a popular country in Europe and where our first Tauck tour was years ago, and why we continue to travel with them.
  • Regarding river cruise group sizes, yes the entire ship can hold 118 (Jewel class) or 130 (Inspire class). The ship is comparable to a hotel on a land tour. I would expect that on most Tauck land tours, you are sharing the hotel with many more people than your tour group.

    For the daily excursions, the passengers are split into 3 and sometimes 4 groups (low intensity walkers). Even if the entire ship is completely full and everyone goes on the excursion, max group size is 43.

    The poker chip system keeps the group sizes to a max. Every morning you pick a red, green or blue chip from the baskets in the lounge and that was your group that day. Go for the same color everyday or change it up. My rule was to pick our chips from whichever basket had the most left in it.

    We typically had about 30-35 people on the bus and there was always room to spread out. The TD's never mentioned nor enforced seat rotation on the buses - it was never really a concern and no one had a problem getting a good seat.
  • Speaking of Africa group sizes- our K&T tour date was showing "white" for the longest time (we were the first to sign up 12 months ago!) for whatever reason (Ebola, terrorism?), but eventually it went "tan" this winter, and now is full! Oh, well. It is limited to 30 max, and like you said, it is a different construct, except for possibly the in-country flights, so should be just about the right size :)
  • AlanS I must be missing something here. How does one check the status (i.d. number already signed up) for his/her trip?

    I've searched through most but apparently not all of the links and I can't find this particular one.

    Thanks for any help.

    Allen R.
  • edited March 2015
    Fly Wagon wrote:
    AlanS I must be missing something here. How does one check the status (i.d. number already signed up) for his/her trip?

    I've searched through most but apparently not all of the links and I can't find this particular one.

    Thanks for any help.

    Allen R.

    Go to the "Pricing & Availability" tab for any tour and look at the departure dates- as they fill they change from white, to tan, to pink highlight. The key is at the top of the list: White = "Available," tan = "Limited Space," and pink = "Sold Out." As to the actual number of travelers that represents (even "sold out"), your guess is as good as mine. The status often changes up to the date of departure, but you can call Tauck to find how many have signed up at any given time.

    Also, as I posted in another thread, you can see how many reservations (people/couples/families?) were made before you registered, by looking at the last three digits of your reservation number- if your registration number ends in 005 yours was the fifth registration, though again it doesn't tell you how many actual people that represents.


  • Alan, I read your posting about the reservation number. I really found it a fun fact. We were told a long time ago that when we are given the card with people's names on at the Welcome dinner that they were in order of booking. Now can you answer this one. If you make a reservation and then cancel for whatever reason, does that number get archived or is it used again? So for example, if a full tour represents 40 people and then say 4 cancel, will the reservation number if you are last to book end in 40 or 44, thus making it look by your method as if their might be 44 in the group when really it is 40 but 4 cancelled? Now there's one to keep us awake for tonight's forum participation when we can't sleep!
  • Thanx British. I wondered what was the rhyme and reason behind how the guest list had been sorted.

    As a suggestion, as our tour went along, I made notes on our card of the people we had met and chatted with to help me remember names. I have to see names in writing before my brain locks down the information for recall. Also used it to collect email addresses before we all parted ways. Very useful item.
  • British wrote:
    Alan, I read your posting about the reservation number. I really found it a fun fact. We were told a long time ago that when we are given the card with people's names on at the Welcome dinner that they were in order of booking. Now can you answer this one. If you make a reservation and then cancel for whatever reason, does that number get archived or is it used again? So for example, if a full tour represents 40 people and then say 4 cancel, will the reservation number if you are last to book end in 40 or 44, thus making it look by your method as if their might be 44 in the group when really it is 40 but 4 cancelled? Now there's one to keep us awake for tonight's forum participation when we can't sleep!

    For accounting purposes, I doubt Tauck re-uses canceled reservation numbers. For that reason, you can have a reservation (sequence number) greater than the size of your tour. If they reused reservation numbers and every traveler was a single, the largest number for a standard group land tour would be around 88 or if everyone was a couple the largest number would be 44. On our tour last fall, well over half of our group were married or otherwise traveling together on the same reservation. I believe we were the last couple to register (two weeks before departure), yet our number was only 077, so there must have been some cancellations along the way. So, as I said, the reservation number only tells roughly when you made your reservation. The only one you can count on 100% is if your number is 001.
  • We were 001 for our Grand Canadian Rockies tour in '13! For last year's Treasure of Southeast Asia we were 053 . . . there were only 43 Tauck guest onboard.
  • AlanS wrote:
    Go to the "Pricing & Availability" tab for any tour and look at the departure dates-...

    Many thanks, AlanS, I had done that early on and missed our trip's info. We are booked for the Sep 16 departure ("Paradors of N. Spain") and perhaps when we booked that row had not been added. Or....I overlooked it. Probably the latter reason in my case.

    Our departure date is an added date for that popular tour according to Tauck and for some reason we skip San Sebastiàn and spend an extra night in Bilbao. I haven't yet found the final itinerary, but we're still several months away.

    Thanks again.

    Allen R.
  • AlanS wrote:
    For accounting purposes, I doubt Tauck re-uses canceled reservation numbers. For that reason, you can have a reservation (sequence number) greater than the size of your tour. If they reused reservation numbers and every traveler was a single, the largest number for a standard group land tour would be around 88 or if everyone was a couple the largest number would be 44. On our tour last fall, well over half of our group were married or otherwise traveling together on the same reservation. I believe we were the last couple to register (two weeks before departure), yet our number was only 077, so there must have been some cancellations along the way. So, as I said, the reservation number only tells roughly when you made your reservation. The only one you can count on 100% is if your number is 001.

    Quite right, Alan! For recordkeeping and accounting purposes, we never reuse reservation numbers; each number you receive is an identifier unique to you. And, needless to say, since it's unique to you, it's not something to share with people outside the group of people you've purchased the trip with -- so I'd advise you folks (for your safety) not to share any part of your reservation numbers in a public forum like this going forward. It's just generally not a good idea.

    Also, Fly Wagon, if I recall correctly, "limited space available" refers to anything less than 10 spots remaining -- so if that shows up on a departure you're interested in, you should call right away to hold the space! And sold out is, well, sold out!

    Please let me know if you have any questions or anything, any of you.

    -Tim
  • TauckTim wrote:
    ...Also, Fly Wagon, if I recall correctly, "limited space available" refers to anything less than 10 spots remaining -- so if that shows up on a departure you're interested in, you should call right away to hold the space! And sold out is, well, sold out!

    Please let me know if you have any questions or anything, any of you.

    -Tim

    Thank you TT for that information.

    Allen R.
  • Fly Wagon wrote:
    Many thanks, AlanS, I had done that early on and missed our trip's info. We are booked for the Sep 16 departure ("Paradors of N. Spain") and perhaps when we booked that row had not been added. Or....I overlooked it. Probably the latter reason in my case.

    Our departure date is an added date for that popular tour according to Tauck and for some reason we skip San Sebastiàn and spend an extra night in Bilbao. I haven't yet found the final itinerary, but we're still several months away.

    Thanks again.

    Allen R.

    As you have probably noticed Tauck often lists and takes reservations ("Call to book") for tours, before itineraries and fees have been finalized and posted. I have seen tours go from "Available" to "Limited Space" and even "Sold Out" while still in the "call to book" phase!

    Also, throughout the active season, if there is sufficient demand and Tauck can make the additional hotel, etc. arrangements, they will add departures. Early one year I took a screen capture of the departures available for a popular tour. I was surprised how few departures were listed, compared to the previous year, however, by the end of the season Tauck had added many more and the final departure count was almost double what it had been initially!

    There is never a guarantee that departures will be added and if they are, how many there will be, so if you are interested in a tour, don't wait too long to make your reservations, especially, if as Tauck Tim said, it has progressed to "Limited Space!" I don't know how often tour status is updated on the Tauck website, but I have personally seen the status change quickly.

    Also, if you really can only go on a certain departure, give Tauck a call right away. The rep will have the latest info on tour status and the number of people on the waiting list (I didn't know they had waiting lists).
  • I knew they had waiting lists! The website is updated once daily, so if you see availability on a tour and then you call and it is full, that's why. Of course the reverse could be true, if it says it is full, call anyway, someone might have cancelled that very day. The date for our latest booking has fluctuated from full to wide open to limited space and back several times before we eventually booked our spot, and now friends are joining us too.

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