Review of Tauck’s Italia Bella: Rome to Venice Tour — A Disturbing and Unsafe Experience
Review of Tauck’s Italia Bella: Rome to Venice Tour — A Disturbing and Unsafe Experience
I am sharing this so that other families — especially those traveling with children or with specific needs — are fully aware of what we experienced.
We booked Tauck expecting a premium, seamless trip. Instead, our family was met with neglect, humiliation, and unsafe conditions.
Important Family Needs Ignored
From the beginning, I clearly communicated that our family had a sensitive requirement — we needed connecting rooms. Despite this, Tauck never confirmed arrangements with the hotels. In Rome, we were told we had to pay $500 per night, per room for connecting rooms — more than double the hotel’s published rate. This was exploitative, and Tauck did nothing to intervene.
Tour Director Conduct
Our tour director, Marco, was repeatedly seen drinking while on duty, ignored urgent messages (including during a crisis in Florence), and completely avoided us at the end of the trip. In Venice, when I begged to be moved from an unsafe, mold-ridden room, Marco spoke with the hotel staff in another language and laughed — it felt like my concerns were being mocked. This was humiliating and unprofessional.
Unsafe Room in Venice (JW Marriott)
The most disturbing part of the tour happened in Venice. Our assigned room had a strong moldy, musty odor. I have allergies and one of our children has asthma — she began coughing immediately upon entering the room. Despite more than 30 rooms showing available on my Bonvoy app and Amex portal, hotel management and our tour director refused to move us.
• The odor was so overwhelming that I could not breathe properly and ended up sleeping on a cot in the hallwaybecause the room was unlivable.
• On our final night, the room flooded from rainwater seeping under both doors, soaking the carpet. This only made the mold and smell worse.
• It also appeared the room had a history of moisture issues — there were signs of prior water damage that seemed to have been painted over. The smell, humidity, and condition of the carpet supported this impression, but the hotel denied it and refused to show concern.
• I woke up barely able to breathe, with my throat nearly closed and a pounding headache. My daughter still cannot step into that room without coughing.
This was not only humiliating, it was unsafe. No family should ever be forced to sleep in such conditions on a luxury tour.
Florence – Known Noise Hazard Ignored
In Florence at The Westin Excelsior, our connecting rooms were placed directly next to elevators and stairwells. Worse, the hotel and Tauck knowingly assigned us to a room directly where construction and signage removal were scheduled that night.
At 10:00 PM, drilling, hammering, and shouting began outside our room and continued until past 1:30 AM. My daughter was inconsolable, our other children were in tears, and the noise was unbearable. When I confronted the hotel, they admitted they were removing a sign — at midnight — directly outside our door. A worker even screamed at me when I asked them to stop.
To us, this showed disregard for a situation they already knew was sensitive. Marco never responded to my urgent messages that night.
Survey & Disregard
At the end of the trip, Tauck did not even provide us with a guest survey. Marco sat with other families, collected their feedback, and deliberately avoided us. Our voices were silenced, and our family was disregarded.
Tauck’s Response Afterward
When I followed up, Tauck refused to take responsibility. Instead, their attorney emailed me, stating that Tauck had “already apologized” and would do nothing further. They also said they would not address the issue because the tour was outside the U.S. — even though Tauck is a Connecticut-based company serving primarily American guests. This response was dismissive, insulting, and showed how little Tauck cares when serious concerns are raised.
Final Thoughts
Tauck promises “luxury” and “family-friendly” service. What we experienced was disorganization, lack of empathy, overcharging, humiliation, and dangerous conditions. Our family’s needs were repeatedly ignored, our health and safety were compromised, and Tauck has since tried to brush everything under the rug.
We had two future Tauck tours in the works — both are now canceled. This was supposed to be a milestone family trip before our daughters enter high school. Instead, we left feeling taken advantage of, dismissed, and exposed to health risks.
Travelers should be aware: Tauck does not live up to the reputation it claims, and their treatment of sensitive matters is appalling.
Disclaimer: This review reflects our personal experience and perspective. It is based on how our family felt, the treatment we received, and the specific situations we endured during this trip.
Comments
Very strange, never heard of anything like that and if it’s the same Marcos that many people mention, we’ve had him too and he’s awesome. Never heard of Tauck lawyers being mentioned, never heard of a survey not being given to everyone etc etc. Traveled with Tauck for over 20 years including two Bridges cruises.
That was a really terrible experience. Having the company attorney respond to you is something I've never heard of before. I know you're only telling your side of the story.
Here's a picture of Marcos Soto. Was he your TD? [I see you said his name was Marco, not Marcos, so this probably isn't him.]
I can totally believe that the Westin in Florence assigned them lousy rooms as it was one of the hotels on our Classic Italy tour that I was less than impressed with. As near as I can tell, all our group had interior rooms with a view of an airshaft in spite of the fact it's a huge hotel with loads of rooms with exterior views. It's also the hotel where we were supposed to have dinner at their roof top restaurant but half our group didn't get it and were switched to a different hotel's restaurant. Basic feeling was the hotel didn't feel taking care of Tauck travelers was important.
We did have a bad room in Perugia which we solved by going up to the front desk and very politely asked for a change.
I can't find anything on Tauck's website about connecting rooms which I would certainly want with young children. Maybe someone with Bridges tour experience knows what the rules are.
The rest of this story I feel is missing some info. On any other tour the TD has been very insistent on filling out the comment cards and even when I once filled it out but didn't put my name HQ sent a letter a week or so later including one. Never heard of getting a response from Tauck's lawyer or pretty much anything else in this review. Maybe it all happened but who knows.
One post, zero visits, joined at noon today … can you spell SPAM? Those of us with numerous Tauck tours know this is not the way they operate. On our stay in Florence we stayed at the Intercontinental and it was fabulous. But, I also love JW Marriott. And, I once.had a room I did not like, and they immediately changed it. I’ve never had a Tauck TD ignore my questions.
Sorry. ‘They’ were talking about a Westin. I am sure that Tauck did not knowingly assign rooms next to the elevators and the stairs … which are rarely in the same place. I talk with Tauck customer relations frequently. They know me. This is not the way they operate. I am not sure, but I don’t think Tauck ever guarantees connecting rooms. I also doubt that any upscale hotel allows people to sleep in the hall.
I don't think the fact that they just joined is indication of spam. Most Tauck guests are not members of the forum. If I was in that situation, and felt that I had been treated badly and then ignored, I might go to the forum to tell my story. Probably also go to other sites and tell the same story.
I’ve taken Bridges tours, they don’t guarantee adjoins rooms, not all hotels have them. As far as I can recall, our three families were near each other but we didn’t need to be.
People do tend to start posting if they have had a bad time, that’s why trying to look for reviews of hotels can be misleading because they may have more negative reviews.
Many times, it’s the start attitude of people of how responsive tour directors or hotel managers and other personnel are to customers.
Did any other families have issues like yours on the tour? I would be surprised if you were the only ones who got bad rooms.
I remember on our South America tour, I kindly asked our tour director if my teenage daughter can have a room “near” us. I also mentioned that pre-your. Obviously, a female young girl in a room by herself in a foreign country didn’t make me very comfortable. The tour director told me that there were no rooms available. Long story super short: They put her in a room the furthest away from us. You can understand my concern. I also asked the front desk, if there was a room so she could be near us. The very next morning, I open the door of our hotel room, and guess who has the room right next door to us? The tour director! Holy cow. I had to bite my lip until I mentioned this on my comment card and Tauck called me on the phone to hear my thoughts. This was a long time ago.
I thought even teenagers were supposed to be with at least one adult in a room. The hotel assigns the rooms, not Tauck. It does seem crazy the TD did not change rooms with you
. We have only once had an issue with a room, the tour that included Death Valley. Our A/C was broken, someone came to attempt to fix it, they couldn’t. We asked the TD if we could change rooms. He went away, got another room for us…only later did we find he had switched rooms with his. We have had inferior rooms compared to others on occasion, but we always figure this is evened out on a tour and another hotel we may be the ones who get a super room instead. I think this is why Tauck has gone to standard international hotels instead of the lovely smaller boutiques hotels they used to use when we started traveling with them, to reduce complaints. Our first Italy tour in 2003 had charming small hotel rooms, and I can remember the complaints from people about their rooms.
The original poster apparently does not care what any of us think about it … she has not been back.
P.S. Another question. Why would you book three Tauck trips before you even tried one? I have three Tauck trips booked right now, but I’ve already done eighteen.
One thing that strikes me is the comment about "clearly communicating" their need for connecting rooms. Since it doesn't seem like that's something Tauck offers or commits to I have to wonder what the communication was. They always say on the phone that they record conversations for training purposes but I also believe they use them to check on stuff like this.
One member of our girls Christmas cruise group somehow got booked in a Cat 1 cabin like the rest of us but on the wrong ship. By the time she realized the error someone else had the last Cat1 on our ship (our goal for the group was to all be in Cat 1s). They moved her reservation to the right ship but a Cat 2 cabin with the single supplement. She couldn't afford that. My recommendation, after months of Tauck not correcting this, was to ask them to review the tapes from when she booked and if she was at fault then that was that, but if they were they owed it to her to not charge the single supplement. Don't know exactly what they did but they did remove the single supplement.
Sometimes it's all about how you handle the issue.
Attention to detail. Don’t let things go ‘adrift’. I am confident it was not you that booked the wrong ship. I find it difficult to understand how someone could look at there reservation confirmation and not realize it was the wrong ship. They sailed from the same port on the same date???
I can imagine missing the name of the ship. When I book a cruise/tour, I look to see that the booking is for that cruise/tour, not what ship is being used.
Claudia's example is for one of those Christmas cruises and Tauck runs a bunch of those. The guest might have seen that the cruise was titled "Christmas Cruise" and not noticed that the departure date was a couple of days different. They would just expect that the agent booked the right cruise.
Sure, we can blame the guest for not checking more carefully, but people make mistakes - on both sides of the reservation. It sounds as if Tauck decided that the agent made an error. The good part is that the guest got a one category upgrade out of it.
[Well, she had to pay for a Category 2 cabin, but didn't have to pay the single supplement.]
It was the Danube Christmas cruise. On the same date one ship leaves Vienna bound for Nuremberg and a different ship leaves Nuremberg bound for Vienna. For privacy sake, "A" is the woman who was booked on the wrong ship (right date) who is a good friend of my sister "B". As I understand it, B had booked her own cabin and A called later referencing B's booking. So while I agree in an ideal world she should have caught the error as soon as the invoice was emailed it's also all too easy to understand that she only looked at the date, cabin, price and not the ship name.
In an odd twist, about a week before the cruise start Tauck called and said the one lady who had the Cat 1 cabin canceled out on the cruise. Tauck wanted to know if A wanted to be moved down from the Ruby deck to the Emerald deck with the rest of us. She was like, nope I'm good here. And then we all met up with the mystery woman's travel companion who ended up going solo.
I once had a friend who was going to join us for a cruise from Panama, and she booked a flight to Tampa.
I once reserved a rental car at Albany, NY airport. When I got to the counter, they had no record of it. Turned out, I had a car waiting for me in Albany, GA.
This is similar to people who have accidentally flown to Auckland, NZ instead of Oakland, CA.
We also had a friend who made a reservation in Portland, Oregon instead of Portland, Maine.
Auckland is in New Zealand, not Australia
I'd have thought the price difference from Auckland vs Oakland would have been a hint.
Airline tickets were not always computer generated and they did not always have QR or bar codes. When I first worked for World Airways the tickets were written by hand, sometimes tickets were written for the same seat, and passengers boarding the wrong airplane was much more common. Gate agents often don’t speak clearly and sometimes they have accents. … and … there is no IQ test required to fly on an airplane.
We are human, we make mistakes all the time, is how you handle it that makes the difference. Most recently I booked a river cruise which would have me be away at my grandson's wedding, I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, next day I called Tauck and was able to move to another river cruise.
Certainly. When I was flying for AirCal I almost missed a flight because we forgot about the changeover to daylight savings time. Of course I was not really going to miss the flight because I was flying the airplane. We did manage to get everything done and depart on time after taking a taxi to the airport.