Carry on bags
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I find it is bit difficult to know from the printed information if carry on bags are permitted on the tours. The material makes a strong suggestion that they are not wanted, but I was one of the few on my first tour who did not have an actual carry on bag. Since the airline permits it, packing would be much easier with it. Has anyone ever encountered a problem with one. Generally I find rules much easier to deal with than suggestions. The suggestions tend to favor those who do not follow them.
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If everyone had two bags it would take a larger hotel staff longer to move them from the bus to the rooms and back again. Bags would arrive at rooms later on arrival day and would need to be ready for pickup much earlier on departure day. Accounting would be more of a challenge for the TD. Many of the smaller, older, downtown boutique hotels that Tauck uses, especially in Europe, New England, etc. have narrow corridors and tiny elevators, neither of which can handle large baggage carts if they can even accommodate a cart at all. On more than one occasion our departure has been delayed while they finish loading baggage.
The TD will usually have extra tags and Tauck will usually accommodate excess baggage. The buses they use have excess capacity in the baggage compartment, but not so much in the cabin or racks above the seats, especially for large carry-ons. On an England, Scotland, Wales tour, the large carry-on brought by one couple (in addition to their regular baggage) was easily accommodated in the luggage compartment, but they were asked by the TD to carry it to and from their room at each hotel.
As a fellow traveler, I benefit and appreciate it when others in my group follow Tauck guidelines.
These situations may not seem to be an issue on the surface of things, but I am quite sure they are for the tour director, just imagine the implications of a large number of people appearing with five pieces of luggage. The tour director would likely ask people to leave their luggage ready for collection for the bus even earlier than they do now on a change of hotel day. To me that is a huge inconvenience since so many of the tours start the day very early and I value my sleep time when I am dealing with jet lag time changes. At the other end of the day, it might mean I am waiting for my bag longer than necessary while a porter has to transport five pieces to someone else plus he has been tipped to move one piece of luggage per person. In addition, someone correct me if I forget, but when you have a carry on under the bus,I think sometimes you are responsible for waiting for it to be unloaded and take it up to the room yourself.
I do wish however that it had not been posted on the General discussion because once clients assume that Tauck might be lenient about baggage 'rules' it might open the floodgates for the numerous people who ask on the forum about being able to take more than the recommended 1 bag and small carry on, it does not make it fair to anyone, particularly those of us who try to obey the rules in consideration of all concerned.
If Tauck has a problem with any of our posts -- they have the ability to remove them. After all -- this is their board and they do have moderators.
If it says in Tauck's Before you Go:
"Checked Luggage – General.
Due to space restrictions, we ask that you please limit your checked luggage to one suitcase per person weighing no more than 50 pounds (23 kg) and with overall dimensions (length + width + height) not exceeding 62 inches (158 cm). . . . .
Carry-on Luggage - General
Although oversize bags and wheeled, carry-on luggage are popular for airline travel, they are often not convenient or appropriate for motor coach travel or for many on-tour flights. Most modern sightseeing motor coaches offer limited space for numerous or larger items. Space under seats or in the overhead rack is typically small, and designed to accommodate items like coats, hats, purses, and small camera bags, etc.
For your day-to-day travel while on tour, we recommend that you limit your hand luggage to a small, soft-sided carry-on piece, and that you bring only those items you need handy during the day such as make-up, medications, cameras, film, etc. Items too large to fit under the motor coach seat or on the overhead rack must be stored in the luggage bays beneath the motor coach, and may be inaccessible during daytime travel. "
that is what I do. I don't question it, I don't try to game the system and figure out how to carry more. But that's just me.
Just to lighten up, I'll tell you about two of my recent bags experiences. We got to our room after one of those long travel days you sometimes have to do in the middle of the tour. Waited a while no bags appeared, so because there was very little time to get ready before we were due to get to the dinner on time, we took showers anyway and I washed out the underwear I had been wearing. Mr B did the same. But, no bags, almost time for dinner. One hour after arrival in our room, our bags appeared. Lesson, don't wash your smalls unless you are sure you have some clean ones to put on. Next time,the bags did not appear we decided to wait for them before we showered, half an hour no bags, Mr B starts pacing the floor, dinner time is approaching. One hour, Mr B calls the front desk but decides to go see if he can locate the bags himself. He found them, it was one of the hotels with different buildings with different blocks of rooms, he found our bags totally unattended in one of those blocks, not ours.
A few years ago on our return to the Hotel Colon in Equador after the Galapagos tour, our bags did not appear. After half an hour, Mr B called the Tour Director, again, the farewell dinner time is approaching if I remember correctly. The front desk calls to ask were we sure the bags were not in the room No. Then obviously they decided to call everyone on the tour to see if they had the wrong bags, because they called us too, no we don't have any bags. We are the ones who have no bags. Eventually, after a search of the entire hotel, our bags were found in a vacant room.
When flying to the tour start point, we both use checked-baggage suitcases that meet airline and Tauck size requirements for almost everything. Also, I carry a soft-sided, over-the-shoulder "man purse" that holds my laptop, camera, reading material, and maybe a few other small items. My wife carries a purse and a small soft-sided "bag". It is roughly the size of a small shopping bag, but is not a "suitcase" or carry-on "luggage" by any stretch of the imagination. That bag holds her iPad, magazines, possibly her latest sewing project, and a spare sets of washable travel undergarments for each of us just in case our luggage gets lost for a day or two at the start of a tour. On the way to Africa the bag also held a set of washable safari clothes for each of us since they are very lightweight and take up so little space.
Once a tour starts, since we are rarely ever separated from our luggage (except when waiting for the porter to deliver it to our room or are on safari using Tauck duffel bags), we carry the bag (but not always) and my man purse both of which easily fit under the seats or in the small overhead rack. We carry only things we will need during the touring day- maps, tour book, camera, iPad, VOX, rain jackets if the forecast warrants, binoculars, and minor items like facial tissue, hand sanitizer, bug repellent/wipes, etc.
It is not like we are slogging through a swamp or trekking the outback. If we arrive at the hotel and our luggage hasn't made it to our room by dinner time, so be it. A shower and a quick shot of Febreze and we are good to go. We certainly are no dirtier than the numerous times we went straight to dinner after a game drive in Africa.
Also, would you like to share the Tauck tour you have already taken or the one you are about to take to see if any of the regulars on the forum have been on the tours to see if they can give you some kind of idea what they saw people wearing at the evening dinners. If Alan can help, I guarantee he could even produce a photo or two of some of the dinners as evidence. I'm thinking of starting to do that on my following tours to help people, if I could just figure out how to get my photos on the forum, well that's another story. I confess straight up that I have never taken any of the Tauck River cruises, none of any kind, I have never taken an Ocean cruise and I have only taken one small ship expedition with Tauck, the Galapagos. All my tours have been land based. I just cannot think of one tour I have taken where people wear such fancy clothing. Maybe the first night, people might 'dress up', but that is relative. Then generally speaking, those men who did wear a jacket, you might get to see it one more time, then not again, they might just put the jacket on at the last dinner but that is less likely. Some days, people might change for dinner., some days not, even if there is 'Time ' to change. One delightful lady on the forum said when it was a choice of going to change for dinner or sitting in the lounge for a cocktail with newly made friends, she knew what she would rather do! I loved that. One of my past tours, I noticed almost all the women wore black day and night, so I quite honestly don't know if they ever had different clothes on, I think that is a great idea but not for me, I look awful in black, it doesn't suit my personality and when you were born in England, you know that like the queen you only appear in black at funerals.
A very good friend who travels so much, she is rarely home likes to wear those floaty, nylon colorful jackets/tops over basic, capris or pants and t shirts during the evenings, I do that sometimes, it really elevates an outfit from day to night and those tops weigh nothing and take up no room in the suitcase. You can start the day in the basic outfit, run up to your room and put the jacket on for dinner. Or you can put a clean outfit on with the jacket and wear the outfit again the next morning without jacket, is your head spinning, mine is!
There is often a huge range of clothing that each tour group will class as normal evening wear. You might even find that your next tour is a completely different set of people with a totally different idea of what to wear. I even went on one tour where there was only one other couple apart from us, everyone else was either, a group of women, a group of men, can you guess that this group were very very casual, and a couple of singles.
Laundry, we rarely get laundry done, we hand wash underwear maybe a couple of times on the tour if we think we are getting unexpectedly low, we got some done on our Africa tour when our bags didn't make it the first day, maybe one time on the Galapagos tour, I thin that is about it. Too expensive and don't want to risk any of my traveling clothing being improperly laundered, that's just me being fussy --- by traveling clothes, I do not necessarily mean specific travel specialist clothes, but lightweight, non creasing clothing, adaptable, that I find when I shop that I can see will meet criteria for travels. Someone pointed out that when you have paid so much for a vacation the price of laundry is inconsequential, but for me, that is one of the easy ways I can save money, like I am one of those people that leaves a room and immediately turns off the light, but don't ask Mr B if I am good at going t the Mall and saving money by not buying something, because I am not so good at that.
The longest time I have been away on a tour with Tauck that includes usually extra days at the beginning of a tour is I think 16 days. I have been traveling to foreign shores pretty regularly my entire adult life, during the early days, I certainly was not even able to contemplate getting laundry done I could not afford it. Trips may have lasted longer than two weeks in those days, after all if I was still working in England I'd be entitled to eight weeks vacation. Yep I miss English vacation time! Either way, I have never ever travelled with more than one suitcase and small, 'Carry on'. I have camped, but as the years have gone by and hotels and destinations got fancier and eating establishments got even fancier, I still can manage with one suitcase and feel suitably dressed.Does any of these ideas help anyone?
Sorry, can't expect you to wear a colorful floaty top.
Packed the essentials for the flight which included my dress and shoes for dinner that night plus long haul stuff like head phones, blow up pillow, etc. Bag wasn't stuffed and didn't seem too heavy. That was at this end. Totally changed my opinion about halfway thru De Gaulle airport by which time I had it on the floor kicking it along in the endless customs line.
Was worrying about this a bit for our next adventure but think I solved it at a thrift store last week. For $6 I found a like new Swiss Gear carry on with wheels. It's sized somewhat between the usual wheeled carry on and the newer ones that fit under the seat. Also it has the strap that lets you stack it on your wheeled checked bag. My husband loves it and my bag fits on it just fine. We can take turns wheeling it around the airport.
As to the whole Tauck "recommendations" vs reality discussion, for river cruises I don't think this is as big an issue as bus tours. I had assumed that we would always be responsible for handling our carryons and wasn't too worried that they were over sized. When we got to the hotel the TD's offered us extra luggage tags and explained that on the trip down from Paris to Lyon, the luggage would be trucked and we could send any bags down with it. I used a small, thin tote I'd brought for shopping to hold anything I really had to have on the train and sent all our luggage with the truck Departing the ship there wasn't any limit on bags to go under bus that took our group to the airport. You just told the Cruise Director how many tags you wanted.
Definitions- a small soft-sided, carry-on bag that is the responsibility of the traveler to schlepp vs traditional carry-on suitcase-like luggage that is large enough that it must be stowed beneath the bus and may or may not be the responsibility of the porters to schlepp from bus to room to bus.
I believe that Tauck "discourages" the later. Since this type of bag must go in the luggage compartment, the TD will always provide a luggage tag if for no other reason than accountability. It will likely be up to individual TDs to determine who will schlepp this "extra luggage."
Self- image- everyone has a different self-image and comfort level as to what he feels is appropriate to wear in public. I'm no slob, but am certainly no fop, either. I'm a wash and wear kind of guy, so when I travel, if a shirt isn't starched, pressed, and wrapped or doesn't have collar stays, or there are a few wrinkles in a jacket, it is fine with me. My grandfather on the other hand was just the opposite. He shined his own shoes, frequently, but they were always neatly arranged, each with shoe trees and when he traveled each shoe had its own special pouch. His suits were all hung neatly, all facing to the left and covered with paper/plastic suit bags. His (mainly white) shirts were starched, pressed, wrapped, and neatly stacked on shelves. All required cuff links.
But Spain being that formal that people needed to go out and buy clothing to wear that was appropriate for dinner, where on earth did they find the time and the stores to do that on a Tauck tour? When I was a teenager in England, Spain was where all the Brits took their first trip abroad, it was cheap, the food was terrible but it didn't matter because all people were interested in doing was getting drunk on cheap alcohol in bars that stayed open until the last customer left, unlike the early closing in English pubs ( They stay open much longer these days) yes, I am not exaggerating this is what it was like in many coastal resorts, noisy crowds at night and so on. Things must have changed
I think the problem is that the packing suggestions are generic and someone, on the advice of the tour directors, should make them a bit more tour specific. Certainly in Australia and New Zealand I think you could get away with no jacket at all but just a bit more resort casual. Europe is a bit different.