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How many people have been on your Classic land tours?

Bythebeach

Small Group tours cost about $1000 more per person. I saw a posting on this forum saying that this extra cost is not worth it as Classic tours often do not fill up. How many people have typically been on Classic land tours you have taken? On the Tauck website many tours are listed as limited or sold out but, since the cancellation insurance is so flexible, I am curious if you find that many people do cancel last minute. Does Tauck offer last-minute discounted fares to fill up a tour?

Comments

gladysorlando984

I have taken the Classic land tours and there could be up to 42 people, so now I take the small group, 42 people is a lot.

BKMD

usually 30-34. I agree it's not worth it. I actully prefer the larger group because if there's a real problem person on tour, easier to avoid.

ginger_201

What AI can say with confidence:

Tauck's classic land journeys today average 35–44 guests, Small Group tours average 24, and the newer "Even Smaller Group" tours average 15 travelers — the tiered structure itself is relatively recent

Smiling Sam

I prefer the small groups, especially if there are lots of coach rides. I'm a tall person (in 16 Tauck tours, I've been the tallest person on each one) and with the small group tours there are always empty seats on the coach allowing me to move to a row by myself (there are no business class seats on the coaches 😂).

The other reason I prefer the small group is the logistics time is reduced in loading and unloading from the various forms of transportation.

As I age, ease and comfort become larger choice drivers - hence we always fly business class to/from the tours now, whereas years ago we would fly Economy Comfort/Preferred/...

I like the old saying, 'Either spend the money and fly business or your kids will when you die.' 😂

MikeHenderson

The short version of that is "Go First Class or your children will."

ginger_201

Another version " why not"

British

In the past, I’ve met people who book several Tauck tours when they used to sell out way in advance, never intending to take all of them, they cancel, don’t know how soon before the tour.
Each classic land tour is different in the number of people at maximum. I believe the US tours pack the most people. But for years, I have rarely been on a full tour. I don’t think it’s worth the extra $1000 each. Some people mention loading and unloading the bus. At rest stops, especially in Europe, it might be one of the times that the driver by law has to have a break of a certain time, so even if it’s a small group, the time at the rest stop will be the same, big or small group.
I also agree with BKMD, big groups give the chance for you to avoid someone you don’t care for. Smiling Sam, yes, you need more space, would not like to sit behind you in the theatre.
There is a waiting list for many tours and you would be surprised how often places open up. Recently, Tauck started the Tauck 25 group, people who had taken more than 20 tours. Since then, I’ve been offered amazing bargains, only been able to take one as it’s usually only a few months before the trip and I’ve already got a tour booked. That one saved us $20,000, otherwise Tauck.never gives public discounts.

Claudia Sails

Not counting our 2021 tours we've had 39 guests twice and 28 once. The second one with 39 was the one that made me say never again. It was the Classic Italy tour and the group size contributed to it being our least favorite.

kfnknfzk

Regarding rude/entitled people on tours, my experience is that they learn very quickly on small group tours that their behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. My opinion on larger tours is that they can just move on and find other guests to irritate.

Thankfully, I have only had to personally confront egregious behavior twice—an inebriated misogynist and a photographer who delighted in repeatedly shoving his camera in my face so he had photos for his “blog” or scrapbook. I can only imagine the stories tour directors can tell!

bucketlist

British - Were the Tauck 25 discount offers via email? I am part of that group and don't recall getting any discount offers. Maybe there is another hidden tier?

British

Yes, via email. I don’t know of any other hidden tiers but maybe they email those who have the most tours first. If you are only hovering around just over 20 tours then we have met peoples over the years who have taken 70 tours.
If I recall correctly, I think they have mostly been river cruises or small ship tours.

SGF

Our Essence of Japan tour I'm currently on (Classic) has 34, so technically not full. Interesting, because the bus we're using has all the rows filled, except for the way back. We have 4 singles who have their own row, so that may be the reason why we are full. Plus the TD, a local Japanese guide and a trainee who have been with us the whole time.

I don't mind the Classic tour- we've done Small Groups when that was the only option- I like having a good mix of people. There are two groups of 4 and one of 5 on this trip; if we were a smaller group, it might feel awkward for the rest of us.

Sussan

On our classic sized tour of Bellissima Northern Italy last September, there were 28 people. We have not tried the small group tours, mainly because I don’t want to spend the extra money. After 5 classic sized tours, we have not experienced any negative things with the larger group. Like someone else noted, it’s nice to have a big group to find the people you connect with. I noticed some 2027 tours only have the small group size. There seems to be some peer pressure about being the last one on the bus and one time it happened to us. We felt awful, but we were in Hawaii buying a beautiful necklace that my credit card company was suspicious about. Everyone on the bus cheered when my husband showed them the jewelry bag.

Kathy M

We have taken 19 tours with Tauck and always take the classic size tours, if available, and only twice had over 40 people. One was the Classic Italy tour which I think is one of the most popular tours. The other was the Germany tour in 2010 that included the Passion Play in Oberammergau.

I agree that saving the money is a good incentive. I would rather put it towards business class tickets which we find leaves us much more rested and avoids jet lag.

PF606590

There is a problem with a smalll group if a large number of people are in a group who stick together. One of the great things about larger groups is that there are a lot of interesting people to associate with..

Sherrill

we have never done a "classic". Our tours were in 2012, 2014, 2023. The first two were "culturious" and fantastic. Culturious are no longer listed. I think those were capped at something like 16 (someone else here might know). 2023 was "small group" so al little bigger.

Now we are doing the Douro river cruise and I am really wondering how this all works as I think the boat takes 84 passengers. That is like the size of two Classic tours.

kfnknfzk

We were very concerned about the number of guests when we took our first river cruise. We never felt crowded at all. The logistics of the excursions were handled seamlessly thanks to the professionalism of the tour directors. If there is a special event in the lounge, I recommend getting there early to secure seats with good views.

On the Culturious tours, I think we had ~ twenty (20) guests.

MikeHenderson

I tend to favor the small group tours. I just prefer less people on the tour.

Sherrill

@kfnknfzk Will be a new experience for us. Excited and trying to get packed!!!!

kfnknfzk

Sherrill - Have a wonderful journey! I look forward to reading your critique.