I completed the survey and mentioned I prefer longer trips. I’m really not interested in trips of less than 10 days. On most of the trips I’ve taken with Tauck, I have added a week or two of independent travel. For instance, I added Capetown to K&T. I added Thailand to Japan. I added Singapore and Hong Kong to India. This works for me!
Mike - Likely the issue with the pre and post tour extension approach is it starts moving the philosophy to an ala-carte approach vs the all-inclusive approach. The more ala-carte it goes the more difficult it is from an overall management perspective to keep things under control.
Another exaggerated example of the ala-carte aspect of your pre and post tour extension approach would be - why don’t they allow you to select which meals you want included each day and which ones you don’t. Before you know it the tour becomes equivalent to walking up to the counter at a fast food restaurant and selecting the desired items. I know this is an exaggerated case.
For guided tours the more ala-carte it is, the more difficult it is for Tauck to manage.
Mike - Likely the issue with the pre and post tour extension approach is it starts moving the philosophy to an ala-carte approach vs the all-inclusive approach. The more ala-carte it goes the more difficult it is from an overall management perspective to keep things under control.
Another exaggerated example of the ala-carte aspect of your pre and post tour extension approach would be - why don’t they allow you to select which meals you want included each day and which ones you don’t. Before you know it the tour becomes equivalent to walking up to the counter at a fast food restaurant and selecting the desired items. I know this is an exaggerated case.
For guided tours the more ala-carte it is, the more difficult it is for Tauck to manage.
I'm not asking for a la carte meals - that certainly is an exaggerated example. Other travel companies offer pre and post cruise/tour excursions. Tauck should do what their customers want, not what's easiest for them. Pre and post tour excursions are not a la carte to an individual - they are an opportunity for a subset of the tour to experience some additional aspects of the area of the tour. Those people who have the interest, time and money to participate.
Other companies say in their literature that if they don't get a certain number of participants, the pre or post tour will not happen. They don't lose money on the pre or post tour excursions. It's a way to squeeze a few more dollars from their guests while they have access to them.
I hope my comment is taken as constructive criticism…..
Why is it necessary to copy and paste someone else’s post before adding your own comments? It is so impersonal. Can’t you say, “Jack, I have a different perspective…(or something like that).
Why can’t people acknowledge each other as humans, not inanimate objects?
Offered in good faith and merely my opinion.
Why is it necessary to copy and paste someone else’s post before adding your own comments? It is so impersonal. Can’t you say, “Jack, I have a different perspective…(or something like that).
There are a number of reasons:
It indicates exactly what and who you're replying to, especially if the post you're replying to is several posts back. If you don't copy, it requires the reader to go back and find what Jack said in order to make sense of what you're saying. When the other person's post contains multiple comments, you can quote only the part you're replying to.
People can change their original post (even delete it), especially after you make your post and the reader may wonder why you said what you did. They can't change what you copied into your post.
Some people just like to do it that way.
I wish more people would copy when they are responding to something specific that another person posted. It would make reading the post clearer. In other forums that I participate in people almost always copy a previous post if they are responding to what that person said. It's much clearer.
Of course, you can abuse copying, by selecting only certain words, phrases, or sentences, as Smiling Sam does in the next post, to ignore the full meaning of the original post.
Mike - Tauck should do what their customers want, not what’s easiest for them.
If enough people feel like you do, they probably will.
Other tour companies offer pre and post tour extensions …
Other companies also make you porter your own bags, etc., etc.
Each company develops their own personality and way of doing business. It that personality strikes the fancy of enough people then that company prospers. If not, then the company either changes or they go out of business.
If you feel strongly enough about Tauck’s personality not aligning with yours, then those other travel companies are always an option for you.
One thing for certain there is no pleasing everybody.
Mike - Very effective use of editing your original post after the fact to emphasize your point how people can change their original post. You might even say that editing an original post is an ABUSE of editing to fool people into thinking you are above reproach.
Please publish Mike’s rules for the correct use of copying and pasting from a previous post. 😃
Mike - You probably don’t even realize but you “spot quoted” kfn”s original post, as opposed to copying her entire post.
That’s exactly the reason you accused me of ‘abusing’ the copying and pasting of earlier posts. I felt I was highlighting the sections that I was commenting on as opposed to your entire comment. I’m actually one of the people that ‘Liked’ your comment in response to kfn’s. I feel the copying and pasting does just what you suggest it does. In my opinion there was no reason to copy all 5 lines of kfn’s post, copying just the two lines you were commenting on was effective.
So if you’re thinking you’re on the moral high ground of copying and pasting, then at least follow your own rules. You copied only certain sentences of kfn’s post, not the entire post. I guess you’re the only person allowed to “spot quote”. 😂😂
I'm not seeking any "moral high ground". I don't know where you got that from..
I try to quote the part of a previous post that expresses what the person is saying. Quoting the words around the major idea does not add anything. Go back to kfnknfzk's post and see if quoting everything would add any clarity.
You'll notice that I only quoted the major theme of your post above. The additional sentences were just noise and would not have added any clarity. Probably written because you were upset.
I get that you understand about writing when upset.
I agree that not all of kfn’s post needed to be copied and posted in your post. I agreed with everything in your original post. Like I said I was one of the people that Liked your post.
My comment was because you said people shouldn’t copy and paste selected words, phrases, or sentences. When you only copied 3 of kfn’s 5 sentences you were copying and pasting selected sentences.
I think that was the correct thing to do, but in your statement about ‘abusing’ copying and pasting you said that you shouldn’t do that.
I think we agree that copying and pasting from previous posts is effective at highlighting what you are trying to comment on. That’s all I was trying to do when I copied and pasted sections of your post. I wasn’t trying to change your meaning or anything else, I was trying to highlight the portion of your post that I was commenting on.
You seemed to take offense on how I copied and pasted sections of your post, simply to highlight what I was commenting on, not to change any meaning.
Well, I'm not exactly known as loquacious but you were able to edit my post down to a sentence and a half. That's either exceptionally good editing or spot quoting.
It’s HIGHLIGHTING the section I was commenting on, that’s all. It’s not trying to interpret your meaning or edit it or anything else. It’s meant to be a pointer to the section of your post that my comment applies to.
It’s HIGHLIGHTING the section I was commenting on, that’s all. It’s not trying to interpret your meaning or edit it or anything else. It’s meant to be a pointer to the section of your post that my comment applies to.
The thing you have to watch for is nitpicking. Just looking for something to disagree with and ignoring the rest.
While I agree that only a 4 or 5 day vacation isn't good, I'm intrigued with the possibility of short stays in just one city. Too often the brochures talk about a visit to a city and you see one or two sights. A five or six day city stay would give so much more depth. Road Scholar has success with their short city stays. We always extend Tauck tours with more days or week on our own so it could work for some people. Mike H: I hope you get your tour to China. We went there with Tauck in 2018 and loved it (coming in a couple of days early to see more sights in Beijing). We loved Shanghai so much that we intend to get back there before our ten year visas expire.
I agree with the moores about how nice it is to spend more days in one city, as well as staying in one hotel during that city’s stay. I suggested that Tauck follow up with some examples and allow us to vote on their choices.
Seeing some of the major attractions is nice, but some of us prefer a more in-depth, immersive experience. Overall, I thought the survey was well done and I am glad Tauck solicited input.
I did this all by myself without copy-paste-copy paste and I even acknowledged a fellow traveler *
Tauck tried doing one week stays in one city for a few locations some years ago. It obviously wasn’t successful because they stopped doing it. Same with the ‘Culturious’ tours, they were not successful either.
I would not consider doing a 3-5 day trip. It's not worth my time and money. Flights are expensive, long and exhausting from the east coast to places like Australia and Asia. One would not have much time in the location to see and experience much. If Tauck is trying to attract a younger clientele (i.e., 30s and 40), I don't think it will happen. Most folks in their 30s and 40s don't do tours, riverboats and high end cruise ships. It's too expensive and/or regimented. They want to be able to do what they want when they want.
I know most of us who are retired don't see the need for shorter tours, but on our most recent 1 week river cruise there was a fairly high percentage of working age adults on the tour. Higher number than any I've ever been on before. Several were part of two different family groups that had to limit their time away to one week. While it might not be the predominant market for Tauck, it's a way to get younger travelers introduced to the company who hopefully take the longer tours when they can.
Comments
I completed the survey and mentioned I prefer longer trips. I’m really not interested in trips of less than 10 days. On most of the trips I’ve taken with Tauck, I have added a week or two of independent travel. For instance, I added Capetown to K&T. I added Thailand to Japan. I added Singapore and Hong Kong to India. This works for me!
Mike - Likely the issue with the pre and post tour extension approach is it starts moving the philosophy to an ala-carte approach vs the all-inclusive approach. The more ala-carte it goes the more difficult it is from an overall management perspective to keep things under control.
Another exaggerated example of the ala-carte aspect of your pre and post tour extension approach would be - why don’t they allow you to select which meals you want included each day and which ones you don’t. Before you know it the tour becomes equivalent to walking up to the counter at a fast food restaurant and selecting the desired items. I know this is an exaggerated case.
For guided tours the more ala-carte it is, the more difficult it is for Tauck to manage.
I'm not asking for a la carte meals - that certainly is an exaggerated example. Other travel companies offer pre and post cruise/tour excursions. Tauck should do what their customers want, not what's easiest for them. Pre and post tour excursions are not a la carte to an individual - they are an opportunity for a subset of the tour to experience some additional aspects of the area of the tour. Those people who have the interest, time and money to participate.
Other companies say in their literature that if they don't get a certain number of participants, the pre or post tour will not happen. They don't lose money on the pre or post tour excursions. It's a way to squeeze a few more dollars from their guests while they have access to them.
I hope my comment is taken as constructive criticism…..
Why is it necessary to copy and paste someone else’s post before adding your own comments? It is so impersonal. Can’t you say, “Jack, I have a different perspective…(or something like that).
Why can’t people acknowledge each other as humans, not inanimate objects?
Offered in good faith and merely my opinion.
There are a number of reasons:
I wish more people would copy when they are responding to something specific that another person posted. It would make reading the post clearer. In other forums that I participate in people almost always copy a previous post if they are responding to what that person said. It's much clearer.
Of course, you can abuse copying, by selecting only certain words, phrases, or sentences, as Smiling Sam does in the next post, to ignore the full meaning of the original post.
If enough people feel like you do, they probably will.
Other companies also make you porter your own bags, etc., etc.
Each company develops their own personality and way of doing business. It that personality strikes the fancy of enough people then that company prospers. If not, then the company either changes or they go out of business.
If you feel strongly enough about Tauck’s personality not aligning with yours, then those other travel companies are always an option for you.
One thing for certain there is no pleasing everybody.
I wonder if Tauck will announce the results of this survey. Or maybe we'll have to see the results in the lenght of the new tours that they announce.
Mike - Very effective use of editing your original post after the fact to emphasize your point how people can change their original post. You might even say that editing an original post is an ABUSE of editing to fool people into thinking you are above reproach.
Please publish Mike’s rules for the correct use of copying and pasting from a previous post. 😃
Ah, yes. It's a good reason to do more than "spot quoting" just a few words, phrases or sentences.
I agree it's a good idea. Most forums have the quote feature built in, but as we all know, this forum has very limited features.
Mike - You probably don’t even realize but you “spot quoted” kfn”s original post, as opposed to copying her entire post.
That’s exactly the reason you accused me of ‘abusing’ the copying and pasting of earlier posts. I felt I was highlighting the sections that I was commenting on as opposed to your entire comment. I’m actually one of the people that ‘Liked’ your comment in response to kfn’s. I feel the copying and pasting does just what you suggest it does. In my opinion there was no reason to copy all 5 lines of kfn’s post, copying just the two lines you were commenting on was effective.
So if you’re thinking you’re on the moral high ground of copying and pasting, then at least follow your own rules. You copied only certain sentences of kfn’s post, not the entire post. I guess you’re the only person allowed to “spot quote”. 😂😂
I'm not seeking any "moral high ground". I don't know where you got that from..
I try to quote the part of a previous post that expresses what the person is saying. Quoting the words around the major idea does not add anything. Go back to kfnknfzk's post and see if quoting everything would add any clarity.
You'll notice that I only quoted the major theme of your post above. The additional sentences were just noise and would not have added any clarity. Probably written because you were upset.
I get that you understand about writing when upset.
I agree that not all of kfn’s post needed to be copied and posted in your post. I agreed with everything in your original post. Like I said I was one of the people that Liked your post.
My comment was because you said people shouldn’t copy and paste selected words, phrases, or sentences. When you only copied 3 of kfn’s 5 sentences you were copying and pasting selected sentences.
I think that was the correct thing to do, but in your statement about ‘abusing’ copying and pasting you said that you shouldn’t do that.
I think we agree that copying and pasting from previous posts is effective at highlighting what you are trying to comment on. That’s all I was trying to do when I copied and pasted sections of your post. I wasn’t trying to change your meaning or anything else, I was trying to highlight the portion of your post that I was commenting on.
You seemed to take offense on how I copied and pasted sections of your post, simply to highlight what I was commenting on, not to change any meaning.
Well, I'm not exactly known as loquacious but you were able to edit my post down to a sentence and a half. That's either exceptionally good editing or spot quoting.
It’s HIGHLIGHTING the section I was commenting on, that’s all. It’s not trying to interpret your meaning or edit it or anything else. It’s meant to be a pointer to the section of your post that my comment applies to.
The thing you have to watch for is nitpicking. Just looking for something to disagree with and ignoring the rest.
I got the survey as well. I am not interested in short trips at all. I am not sure what prompted the interest.
Oh, geez guys give it a rest!
I agree with Alan S.
Geez guys; get a hobby.
While I agree that only a 4 or 5 day vacation isn't good, I'm intrigued with the possibility of short stays in just one city. Too often the brochures talk about a visit to a city and you see one or two sights. A five or six day city stay would give so much more depth. Road Scholar has success with their short city stays. We always extend Tauck tours with more days or week on our own so it could work for some people. Mike H: I hope you get your tour to China. We went there with Tauck in 2018 and loved it (coming in a couple of days early to see more sights in Beijing). We loved Shanghai so much that we intend to get back there before our ten year visas expire.
I agree with the moores about how nice it is to spend more days in one city, as well as staying in one hotel during that city’s stay. I suggested that Tauck follow up with some examples and allow us to vote on their choices.
Seeing some of the major attractions is nice, but some of us prefer a more in-depth, immersive experience. Overall, I thought the survey was well done and I am glad Tauck solicited input.
Tauck tried doing one week stays in one city for a few locations some years ago. It obviously wasn’t successful because they stopped doing it. Same with the ‘Culturious’ tours, they were not successful either.
I would not consider doing a 3-5 day trip. It's not worth my time and money. Flights are expensive, long and exhausting from the east coast to places like Australia and Asia. One would not have much time in the location to see and experience much. If Tauck is trying to attract a younger clientele (i.e., 30s and 40), I don't think it will happen. Most folks in their 30s and 40s don't do tours, riverboats and high end cruise ships. It's too expensive and/or regimented. They want to be able to do what they want when they want.
I know most of us who are retired don't see the need for shorter tours, but on our most recent 1 week river cruise there was a fairly high percentage of working age adults on the tour. Higher number than any I've ever been on before. Several were part of two different family groups that had to limit their time away to one week. While it might not be the predominant market for Tauck, it's a way to get younger travelers introduced to the company who hopefully take the longer tours when they can.