August 16, Tour

Just arrived back from Moscow.
Was most disappointed with Tauck, there seems to be a lack in communication between the US office and the tour director.
There were so many glitches and "kerfuffles", as constantly alluded to by our director. who dismissed every snafu by calling it a "kerfuffle". It was most shame full, it seems they have a tour group every 3 days. It is a mass produced tour.
They either do not make a note of special requests or do not forward them to the tour director. We are Pescatarians and even that was conveyed to the tour director by us , even though I had informed the U.S. office.
We had requested a separate shower stall in the bathroom. The tour director had no record of it. In the Vilnius Radisson Blu there were tubs with showers but the tubs were just too high, one member of the group was actually going down to the spa to take a shower. The rooms were like boxes. We requested a room with a shower and were told that there were only suites with a walk in shower. We requested a suite and were given one on August 15. However at the St. Petersburg Hotel we encountered the same problem. Separate showers or walk in showers were only available in suites. We requested a suite and got one but had to pay $360.00 a night extra. It was explained to us this way. Tauck does not pay for deluxe rooms they pay for standard rooms and the hotels upgrade rooms for their repeat clients to reward them for their loyalty, even though I presume we all pay the same amount for the tour. The hotels are not very comfortable. Mediocre at best. Some were members of the Leading Hotels of the world Organization like the one in St. Petersburg so I am a little dubious about their claim that only suites have a separate shower stall.
The problem with the Tauck reservation system is one never talks to the same person. So one never knows if it was recorded on the computer under your name. They also make up notations which you did not request. For example I noted that they had sent me a confirmation in the Tauck booklet that I had declined airport pick up at the Vilnius airport. I had to call them to tell them that I had never declined a pick up Indeed why would I? After all I did not have friends or family in Vilnius to pick me up.
Two people hurt themselves, some members of the group were supplying the medications and ace bandage, and a walking cane. One person's I- Pad got stolen from the bus. As the Tour Director urged us to leave our belongings on the bus if we did not need them, and yet kept reiterating that "your hand baggage is your responsibility" They would pick up our suitcase at check out but not the carry on. Which in itself is not very convenient.
The policy of not providing three meals a day and asking us to fend for ourselves for some lunches and dinners is very bad indeed. It would be better to provide all the meals and those who wanted to try restaurants could do so if they so wished . I could go on and on. But I will stop now as you get the idea of what a bad experience we had
in Tauck's August 16, 2013 Russian Glories Baltic Treasures tour.

Comments

  • Hi waswise,

    We're sorry to hear you were so disappointed by your recent trip! A member of our Guest Relations team will reach out to you shortly to address your concerns.

    Thanks!
    Tim
  • Curious . . . was this your first Tauck Tour? If not, had you had good experiences on previous trips? Who was your tour director?
  • My husband and I took this tour last year. When we filled out the form about personal preferences on the first night I wrote that I cannot eat rich food or rich sauces. For two weeks there was never one meal where my request was not honored. Our Tour Director (K o r i) showed up at each meal when necessary and put a colored sticker by my place setting so that the server would know that I was to receive a special meal. I have to say that there were times I wished I hadn't said anything and had been served the regular meal because it looked better than what I was served BUT the bottom line is that I know I did the right thing -- my request was always accommodated -- and I did not have one stomach issue for the entire tour. I am sorry for what happened to you and cannot understand why it happened. My aunt and uncle have taken 30 Tauck tours -- both have strict dietary restrictions -- and never had a problem. Was your Tour Director new? As far as meals on your own -- each detailed itinerary shows exactly what meals are included so that is something that is known upfront. Maybe you would prefer a cruise where all the meals are included. I would imagine that Tauck does not provide every meal both because they have found that that is what their clientele prefers (I know we do) and also because in some of these countries it would make the tours prohibitively expensive.

    I have a real "thing" about good hotels. We found every hotel on this trip up to Tauck standards (which I will say has not been the case on every Tauck tour we have taken). In one of the hotels we were going to breakfast one morning and saw the bags outside the doors of the rooms of some Vantage clients because they were leaving the hotel that morning. Some of the doors were open and I pointed out to my husband how small the rooms were which was not the case with the Tauck guest rooms. I am sorry about your experience and hope that you will be able to work something out with Tauck.
  • LaniP wrote:
    Curious . . . was this your first Tauck Tour? If not, had you had good experiences on previous trips? Who was your tour director?
    Yes this was our first tour with Tauck due to a friend's recommendation.
  • judy05 wrote:
    My husband and I took this tour last year. When we filled out the form about personal preferences on the first night I wrote that I cannot eat rich food or rich sauces. For two weeks there was never one meal where my request was not honored. Our Tour Director (K o r i) showed up at each meal when necessary and put a colored sticker by my place setting so that the server would know that I was to receive a special meal. I have to say that there were times I wished I hadn't said anything and had been served the regular meal because it looked better than what I was served BUT the bottom line is that I know I did the right thing -- my request was always accommodated -- and I did not have one stomach issue for the entire tour. I am sorry for what happened to you and cannot understand why it happened. My aunt and uncle have taken 30 Tauck tours -- both have strict dietary restrictions -- and never had a problem. Was your Tour Director new? As far as meals on your own -- each detailed itinerary shows exactly what meals are included so that is something that is known upfront. Maybe you would prefer a cruise where all the meals are included. I would imagine that Tauck does not provide every meal both because they have found that that is what their clientele prefers (I know we do) and also because in some of these countries it would make the tours prohibitively expensive.

    I have a real "thing" about good hotels. We found every hotel on this trip up to Tauck standards (which I will say has not been the case on every Tauck tour we have taken). In one of the hotels we were going to breakfast one morning and saw the bags outside the doors of the rooms of some Vantage clients because they were leaving the hotel that morning. Some of the doors were open and I pointed out to my husband how small the rooms were which was not the case with the Tauck guest rooms. I am sorry about your experience and hope that you will be able to work something out with Tauck.

    Glad your experience was good with Tauck. We have taken other tours but with Abercrombie and Kent. Some of our group members were on their 7th, and 19th Tauck tour too. I guess everyone has a different perspective. Interestingly never had a problem with A & K The hotels are all deluxe like The Peninsula and Four Seasons. All meals are included and the tour directors simply exceptional. The groups in A& k are much smaller too.The tour director in the Tauck tour was trying his best, due to retire soon too. But he just could not handle 36 people we were simply too much for him.
  • We actually looked at A&K but wanted a longer trip. Not all meals were included in the A&K Russia tours either. Tauck has small group tours if that is what people are looking for. Believe me -- I am not saying that Tauck is perfect. No tour company is. We were on one of Tauck's first Essence of Japan trips and there were a lot of problems. There were too many kinks that had not been worked out -- and our group was far from pleased. (That said -- it is a fabulous itinerary -- and has even been improved since we took the trip.) The Russia trip has been a staple for years and it sounds like you had a seasoned tour director. Things certainly should have run smoothly. It's good that you know you are happy with A&K. We met a couple on our Classic Italy trip who travel constantly and said that they much prefer Tauck to A&K. That's what makes horse races! Happy travels!
  • Tim
    Thank you for responding. Would very much like to talk to your guest relations people.
    Just wanted to point out that your book states that we would generally be walking about 1/2 mile a day. I think we usually walked 2 or more miles daily.
    I do realize that Peter was trying his best and he has a good sense of humor. But we felt he was simply overwhelmed. We arrived in Vilnius on the 14th and we had already been assigned a room. We were under the impression that all special requests had been conveyed by your US office. which was an erroneous assumption. We got our suite from Ausra at the front desk on the 16th and immediately informed Peter that we had moved from room 636 to 640 due to no walk in shower. Obviously it was a minor detail to him because we faced the same problem in Riga. at the Grand Palace hotel. I have had knee replacement surgery and just cannot go over a tub specially one which is too high. Usually on other tours when I get off a bus there is a little step stool to assist. On Tauck buses no such help. We completed a form August 17 and delivered to Ausra at the front desk. Peter obviously received it because he had noted that we were pescatrians. but he insisted we had not submitted the form. In fact he showed us his sheet with the notations made by him, but insisted that it was not from the form we completed.
    Most of all what disturbs us is the additional daily rate we paid to the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg. Had we known that you do not consider special requests we would have withdrawn from the tour. After all there are tours from specialist companies such as Exeter who specialize in personalized attention and were happy to take us to the Baltics and Russia.
  • Kate B. - our tour director in Peru & Bolivia - assured us that our things would be safe on the private bus when we got off to tour a site. My sister and I were seated in the front row; when we returned to the bus, her money was missing from her purse. Beware ! Do not leave anything of value on the tour bus.
  • We took this same trip in September, 2011 and we thought that it was a really good trip, and recommended it to our friends. That is not to say that we did not encounter problems, but we took those in stride. Based on this, we took another Tauck tour (Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague), the one that started on June, 1. On this one I felt that we were traveling with a very average/mediocre tour company, while paying a premium price. I am talking from experience as beginning in the mid-nineties, we have run the gamut of all types/levels of tour companies, as initially we started with travel agents booking us on the likes of Global and Trafalgarl, and others booking us with tour groups that operated locally in the countries that we traveled to.

    I was very disappointed with Tauck this time around. Initially, I tried booking with them directly, but the people answering the phones were very rude, and impatient, and not at all ready to answer questions that I had. Secondly, every time I called I encountered someone different. Finally, I decided to go through my travel agent. I too specified religious dietary restrictions, namely that we do not eat pork/pork products and no alcohol or alcohol related products. This was never given respect and consideration. The tour director was very flippant, and not at all caring when I told him several times that we had been served pork, especially on meals that had been pre-ordered by him. On the included meals, on a few occasions we were given the choice of entrees, and we were not even served the one we chose! On one meal, nearly every item contained pork in one form or the other, and we were actually served solid lard with bacon/ham bits in it in lieu of butter. We were so offended that I had to keep myself from throwing up! I tried writing this on the comment form but that form is so limited that I doubt it made any impact, though I did get the standard form letter from the CEO!

    It also seems that a tour director can either make or break your trip as they seem to have a lot of leeway in the way they conduct the tour. I can say that the director that we had was mediocre at best, and not at all helpful when asked about other things that interested us. The other complaint that most of the group had was that we did not get whisperers even one time, and in the crowded cities that we were in it was certainly a handicap.

    Another thing that is somewhat misleading is that most of the letters that accompany their brochures tout the offer of one free night either at the start or conclusion of a trip for repeat travelers. However, when you ask for it, it is conveniently unavailable, as they said that they were offering the airfare special. That fare was not in any way "special" as we managed to get the same fare when we booked the air by ourselves.

    On my return, I did ask my travel agent for a phone number or e-mail address so that I could communicate these concerns, but I guess it slipped her mind, as I did not get it from her.




  • WASWISE - I am sorry that you were disappointed in your tour. I have discovered that traveling in Europe is much different than what we are used to here in the US. Their hotels which are highly rated are still not comparable to those here. You mentioned that repeat guests with Tauck get hotel room upgrades. On the 20 tours that I have taken, I have NEVER gotten an upgrade at a hotel. I will admit that I did get one on a river cruise because the cruise was not fully booked but never at a hotel!

    Also Tauck will only pick up tagged luggage from your room and that is stated in the documents. Having something stolen from the coach may happen in that area of the world but again, it has never occurred on a tour that I have been on. I would also never leave anything of value on the coach anyway.

    When I first traveled with Tauck 20 years ago, I did get three meals a day. I and others who I know commented that there was too much food. I believe this is why they no longer include every meal. I also know that I have always been given suggested places to eat so I was not searching on my own for some place.

    Finally, I am sorry that your knee replacement was not successful. I have had both knees replaced and in the seven trips I have taken since then, getting into and out of the tub was never an issue. I have found the tubs fairly low considering at home I have to get into and out of an antique claw-foot tub which is much higher than anything at a hotel!

    LOVESTOTRAVEL - I do not understand how you have not received the free night before or after the tour if you are a repeat traveler with Tauck. I have gotten it on every tour (it is not available on Events only) since it was first given. I have only asked. I was never told that it was unavailable!

    Again to both of you, I am sorry that your experience with Tauck has been less than you expected. I guess that I am lucky because all of my 20 tours have gone way beyond my expectations. They were not always perfect and had glitches at times but then I remember what I was told years ago when I was on a trip (not with Tauck) in which a number of things went wrong - Whatever happens is all part of the total experience.
  • Kathy18 wrote:
    WASWISE - I am sorry that you were disappointed in your tour. I have discovered that traveling in Europe is much different than what we are used to here in the US. Their hotels which are highly rated are still not comparable to those here. You mentioned that repeat guests with Tauck get hotel room upgrades. On the 20 tours that I have taken, I have NEVER gotten an upgrade at a hotel. I will admit that I did get one on a river cruise because the cruise was not fully booked but never at a hotel!

    Also Tauck will only pick up tagged luggage from your room and that is stated in the documents. Having something stolen from the coach may happen in that area of the world but again, it has never occurred on a tour that I have been on. I would also never leave anything of value on the coach anyway.

    When I first traveled with Tauck 20 years ago, I did get three meals a day. I and others who I know commented that there was too much food. I believe this is why they no longer include every meal. I also know that I have always been given suggested places to eat so I was not searching on my own for some place.

    Finally, I am sorry that your knee replacement was not successful. I have had both knees replaced and in the seven trips I have taken since then, getting into and out of the tub was never an issue. I have found the tubs fairly low considering at home I have to get into and out of an antique claw-foot tub which is much higher than anything at a hotel!

    LOVESTOTRAVEL - I do not understand how you have not received the free night before or after the tour if you are a repeat traveler with Tauck. I have gotten it on every tour (it is not available on Events only) since it was first given. I have only asked. I was never told that it was unavailable!

    Again to both of you, I am sorry that your experience with Tauck has been less than you expected. I guess that I am lucky because all of my 20 tours have gone way beyond my expectations. They were not always perfect and had glitches at times but then I remember what I was told years ago when I was on a trip (not with Tauck) in which a number of things went wrong - Whatever happens is all part of the total experience.
  • Kathy 18 expert, please be assured my knee surgery has been superb. No problems there.you must be tall. I am not. "Whatever happens is all part of the total experience" may be fine for you. But when I spend money I prefer to get good value. To each his own.
  • edited September 2013
    Another thing that is somewhat misleading is that most of the letters that accompany their brochures tout the offer of one free night either at the start or conclusion of a trip for repeat travelers. However, when you ask for it, it is conveniently unavailable, as they said that they were offering the airfare special. That fare was not in any way "special" as we managed to get the same fare when we booked the air by ourselves.
    I'm not sure when you booked your trip, but all of the documentation I've seen states that to receive the free night you have to book by either the end of September or December, depending on the type of trip. I've never been denied the free night when booking within the specified timeframe.

    The airfare special is usually in January, so the free night special has ended by then. Tauck has always made it clear to me that you cannot receive both specials. I'm sorry the airfare special wasn't worth much to you, but it's always saved me ~50% on airfare.
  • We are going on Tauck's Treasures of Southeast Asia tour in January. We had planned this for January of '15 and I had previously requested a brochure. In August we received an email indicating that if we booked one of the three departures in January/February of '14 by September 30, we would receive not just the "Gift of Time" (1-night extra pre or post) but free companion air also. It was an offer too good to pass up!
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