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Laundry Service on Tauk Tours

GinaW

We’re new to Tauk and excited to experience our first tour this fall! We are going on the Sicilian Odyssey tour with fairly short (2 or 3 night) stays at multiple hotels. I’m wondering about laundry service, given that there is a lot of turn in the hotel stays. Does Tauk support access to laundry service or advise which hotels can get laundry back in 24 hours or so? I can research on each hotel website, but I don’t want to duplicate effort, or possibly there is a special arrangement with Tauk? Thank you for any wisdom on this question!

Comments

British

There are no special arrangements for Tauck guests, not on any of their tours. If you pack wisely, you may not need to do any laundry. Best tip is to decide what laundry needs doing, have it ready and give it to the hotel as soon you get there. It can sometimes comes back the same day or the following day. I’ve been to Sicily but not with Tauck.

Ken from Vegas

First of all, it's Tauck not Tauk. Tauck does not make any provision for laundry. Many of the hotels will do laundry service, but at exorbitant prices. I've done 3 weeks just washing smalls in the sink. You should be able to do your 10 day tour without a problem, if you pack wisely.

Happy travels!

terrilynn

Welcome! We travel to Europe for 2-3 weeks each time and we never have the need to do laundry. Use packing cubes, rewear things, pack things that coordinate together. Some of the hotels may have laundry service, but we find we don't take the time, find the time, or have the time to deal with laundry on vacation. I'm sure others will chime in who do laundry that may be more helpful, but you can certainly go for 2-3 weeks without the need to do it. The Sicily Tauck tour is on our list - please post a review here for us when you return.

Claudia Sails

If you really have to send items out, just do it the afternoon you arrive at a new hotel and double check with the front desk that it is sufficient time.

As others have said, it's best not to have to rely on that. It is doable to pack for a 2 week tour in 1 checked bag and moderate hand luggae that meets Tauck limits. Everyone's wardrobe preferences are different so you need to develop a strategy that works for you and the clothing you prefer to wear. Things that have helped me:

not over estimate how dressy dinner wear needs to be - if you like dresses that's fine but a nice pair of slacks, 2-3 tops and a pair of flats does me just fine - your tour packing lists says a sportcoat/tie are optional for men
it's not a fashion show and nobody cares if you wear the same outfit multiple times
focus on being able to adjust to the weather conditions (very hard to predict these days)
sink washing is doable if you have at least some items made of blend fabrics that dry fast - rayon/poly/spandex slacks, high tech fabrics made to keep you cool, etc - some cotton and wool can take forever to hang dry
minimize the number of shoes you need - I don't bring any that are only needed for one outfit unless it's going to be worn more than once

Best wishes on your tour.

BKMD

As one Tour Director said to our group, "Re laundry, it may be cheaper to buy new clothes."

henrypoon_66

I don't believe it! " Re laundry, it may be cheaper to bug new clothes".

henrypoon_66

Silicy is hot! Wearing sweaty clothes for two weeks in a crowded, seat assigned Tauck bus. Oh no!

Dont you want to be part of the Tauck crowd? Look at the posts regarding dressing up at this forum. Look at all the previous posts, many people said that they have to dress in suits and cocktail dresses just to sit and eat dinners at the Ponant dining room or the regular Tauck farewell dinner. The other company, one of Tauck's competitor, made Ponent drop its policy requiring every one dressed up in nice clothes in order for them to eat the dining room. For guys, the only requirement is: shoulders and knees have to be covered and that's it.

Sink washing on vacation. You must be kidding! You need to call the front desk asking for hooks and hangers to hang your wet underwear. Where is the detergent?

British

I can easily pack for more than two weeks, apart from maybe washing the odd pair of undies, and who needs detergent, what’s wrong with shampoo!
I went to Sicily a couple of years ago and on a much longer tour than Tauck does. For a start, I went early in the year when it was pleasant weather. Also, when you are a seasoned traveler you learn all the tricks of what you can take and need to be appropriately dressed. In fact, on that very tour, some people on the tour just had carry on. While I do so much more prefer tours that don’t have ridiculous dress codes, I’ve still managed to dress to the so called Tauck standard and often get compliments.

BKMD

Th troll is back

Claudia Sails

The horror at the thought of hand washing clothing. Apparently this is the image some have. Hilarious.

SandyFeet

I am a carry on only woman. I like detergent sheets. What other people think of me is none of my business.

terrilynn

We used to travel frequently w/Rick Steves Tours and we often did 'carry on only' and had to do sink/shower laundry in hotels = it was MISERABLE and we are happy NOT to be doing that anymore. On occasion, hotels had a washer/drier room, but we found the driers in Europe VERY different and the clothes never got fully dry - so we hung them mostly.
We learned to pack 'smarter,' rewear items more, and we gladly 'check' a bag now.
Our friends are 'carry on only' & don't mind sink/shower washing at all.

AJSinNC

Agreeing that fancy clothes for both Welcome & Farewell dinners, which are the only time we ever considered something outside the regular daywear rotation, need not be fancy. My husband stopped packing a sport coat which saves tons of room. My strategy is wearing some makeup and doing my hair up those nights and not any other time & pack lots of black clothes.

Folsomdoc

We still try (not always successfully) to do carry on only after some gut wrenching experiences with lost luggage, albeit long ago. We too are Rick Steves veterans having done a dozen tours. Our travel clothes can be hand washed but we try to get multiple wearings, sink washing only underwear and socks. Hotel laundry can wreak havoc with clothes meant for cold water washing only as much of ours is. We use little sheets designed for hand washing we buy at REI, so one less liquid for the 3-1-1 bag. I think one thing has made it easier to repeatedly wear items without being offensive: we carry Dial bar soap and use it exclusively while traveling. I know, TMI, but there it is….

British

What about the toiletries provided in the Tauck fancy hotels.

Folsomdoc

Dial is antibacterial. At home we use olive oil soap but for travel we have found using Dial makes it possible to re-wear shirts and blouses. We don’t use the hotel toiletries unless they have that great Italian toothpaste, Marvis.

British

All soap with water is anti bacterial.

Folsomdoc

Soap and water bind with lipids on your skin and in doing wash away dirt and bacteria. Dial contains a bactericidal chemical which kills bacteria (I think at present it’s benzalkonium chloride-it’s changed over the years). Using such products kills both good and bad bacteria so over the long run probably not a good thing. And it may contribute to bacterial resistance. But our anecdotal experience is that when we use Dial soap when traveling it keeps our clothes fresher. YMMV.

Claudia Sails

I use earth breeze laundry sheets. Lightweight, inexpensive, easily stored in a ziplock and don't cause an allergic reaction on my skin. One sheet does 2 medium machine loads or 4-6 sink washes. This summer we have back to back tours and will need to visit a laundromat so those will come in handy.

AlanS

And in the case of emergency (what you wanted to wear smells a bit funky), don't forget a spritz Febreze in strategic areas cures all! (actually it does)

GinaW

Well this has been a lively discussion—thank you to all posting! I also have used and appreciated laundry soap sheets for sink washables, and we will definitely toss those in the suitcase. Interestingly, Tauck informed me that our hotel on Day 9 and 10 offers complimentary laundry service and it’s same day! Yes, please!

BrianMcNamara

We recently stepped out to do laundry at a launderette on the Week in Ireland tour. (We were moving on to a do a week in London on our own.) Google and Rick Steve's pointed us to the All American Launderette which was a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We were able to wash/dry clothes for three people in 1.5 hours and I still had time to fit in a walk around Merrion Square and the Irish Archaeology Museum afterward.

That said, this was apparently such a novelty to our fellow travelers that we were the talk of the farewell dinner. Several folks told us they just pay the high prices for in-house laundry at the hotels and others seemed mystified by the idea of doing laundry at all. We lucked into great weather in Ireland and were expecting hot weather in London, so we needed to get our meager summer clothes back after burning through them when the weather was predicted to be cooler in Ireland.

Sealord

If anyone catches sight of me in a ‘Launderette’ while paying a thousand dollars a day for a Tauck tour, you have my permission to shoot me. (;-)

That being said, when we cruise on Windstar (we are on the Wind Surf in three weeks) we are Windstar Yacht Club Four Star members, and we get free laundry, free wifi, discounted cruise prices, onboard credits, discounted shore excursions, and discounts in the ship’s store. We normally go home with bags full of clean clothes.

British

Me too

MikeHenderson

We did the Ireland tour back-to-back with the England tour so we had clothes we wanted to wash when we got to Dublin. We found a laundry (not self-service) and they did the laundry for us. It was ready in a couple of hours and the price was very reasonable (€18. it would have been €150 in the hotel). The place was Bright Wash, 26 Aungier St, Dublin 2, Ireland

The guy didn't count the clothes - he just looked at the size of the laundry bag we had and gave us a price. We went to a nearby coffee shop and waited there.

Claudia Sails

We've only used self service laundry on our back-to-back tours i.e. on the road for 3-4 weeks total. I'm a pretty good packer but 2 weeks is my limit before I need a full bag of laundry not a few carefully chosen items to send out. We've only once had to rely on an actual public launderette in London in between the Seine plus Paris and London cruise and heading to Edinburgh for ESW. It really wasn't a big deal other than feeling sort of silly lugging my bag of laundry thru the lobby of the Savoy.

Mostly we've found hotels with guest laundry facilities. The best was a hotel in Zurich in 2021 that took a fully stuffed bag at reception and a few hours later delivered a basket of warm laundry to our room - and didn't charge us for it.

And yes we do spend a lot of money taking tours. Neither my husband or I got to the financial point that allows us to do that by not prioritizing how we spend money. I neither own nor need a wardrobe of expensive clothing that would justify the ridiculous laundry prices Tauck European hotels charge especially for small items like socks and underwear.

PS - Sealord you sounded all virtuous with your anti doing laundry on tour comment then blew it with the "we get free laundry" line. Yep, we'd all take advantage of that.

MikeHenderson

I've been frugal all my life. I’ll certainly do my own laundry rather than pay hotel prices.

British

On adventure tours, I can easily pack for three weeks and just wash my smalls.
One of the lovely hotels in Japan had a washer and dryer in the room as you went in the door. We all stripped off the clothing we were wearing and threw those in the washer with everything that we had in our laundry bag….sorted into light and dark for two washes of course. Laundry detergent was provided The tour director was on hand to help us all with reading the different programs. Then we all changed into our evening yukatas and went down to dinner in them which of course is totally fine in a Japanese hotel.

Sealord

Claudia: Perhaps you missed the difference … not doing laundry on a ‘Tauck’ tour, versus getting free laundry on a ‘Windstar’ trip. Before we became “Four Star” on Windstar, we paid for the laundry. Another thread talks about acquired benefits with tour companies. I was going after two birds. Tauck’s partner Windstar has good food, good service, and good benefits if you are a frequent cruiser. Actually, Windstar’s Yacht Club program is relatively new. We were immediately Four Star when they created the program. We have two Windstar cruises scheduled, Wind Surf and Star Seeker, both basically sold out, and three Tauck trips on the calendar. I will not be doing laundry.

Claudia Sails

Its all a matter of trade offs in money spent vs how to spend my time. If my spouse and I need suitcases full of clothing washed (tops, bottoms, underwear, socks, night wear, etc) - I'm going to a launderette. If I just need some smalls done then it's probably a sink wash job if for no other reason that having some stranger wash my panties is a ick situation. And if I need some jeans washed then yep they're going to the laundry service which I've done multiple times.