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ESW Aug-Sept Tour 2025 - Etiquette question
So excited to be taking my first Tauck tour, small group, and traveling solo. (Husband is a stay-at-home type!) I know we will have a choice of West End theatre performances two nights before tour’s end, but there is a play opening the night BEFORE tour’s end that I desperately want to see. If I go back to the theatre that night before departure and miss any farewell dinner or gathering, is this a major etiquette faux pas? I don’t wish to insult my fellow guests, but I really want to see that play!
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You won’t miss anything and many people are eager to leave the farewell dinners early, especially if they have early flights the next day. If you plan to give the TD and driver tips, you might want to do that the day before as most people give them on the way into the dinner.
Go and enjoy the performance. Just let the tour director know in advance.
Check with your TD. He/she might be able to get tickets or have Tauck pay for tickets to the show you want to see even if it is not one of the choices. It is your dime, within reason, you are rarely required to partake of any Tauck activities. After telling the TD first, we have often gone off on our own if we have done the Tauck activity during a previous tour.
We did ESW in mid May. The farewell dinner for us included the personal chef to then Prince Charles and Diana, William and Harry. Some very good stories and she is a wonderful, down to earth person. She sat with each table during dinner, along with a general talk. So glad we had that experience. You may want to check with your TD on what final night plans are.
Thank you all for the replies and advice, which I shall take to heart. Bon Voyage!
Your plan is definitely acceptable! We have skipped a couple of Farewell Reception and Dinners over our 18 Tauck tours for various reasons such as yours. It is absolutely okay...as long as you inform your Tour Director well ahead of time, since they must give the restaurant a guest count ahead of time.
Be sure to give your Tour Director the "Hope and Trust" form (the end-of-tour survey) before that evening, since you won't see your Tour Director after that. Those survey forms are very important to the Tour Director (they are encouraged to attain a 100% survey return rate). Gratuities are usually given to the Tour Director at this dinner, so remember to give it ahead of time also. If the group dinner is missed, then your last opportunity to say "goodbye" to fellow travelers will probably be during group activities that day.
We have also occasionally skipped other planned group dinners or activities along a tour. We do a lot of pre-tour research, and a few times we have wanted to see something, do something, or dine somewhere that isn't on the scheduled group itinerary. We always discuss it with the Tour Director ahead of time to confirm that our own plans make sense, and will work with their schedule. One Tour Director described this as the opposite of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out); she called it JOMO (the Joy Of Missing Out), and actually encouraged it!
We have found that some Farewell Reception and Dinners are better than others, and the one on this tour is a good one. That being said, for some people, other alternative activities might be even more important, or unique opportunities, or more likely to create those magical moments that will be remembered for years.
Enjoy your first Tauck tour; you chose a good one!