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Where to go next? Looking for advice on Tauck trips
My husband and I have been on 4 Tauck trips and will be going on a 5th in March. We have also traveled on our own quite a bit (Greece, Italy, Costa Rica, the Baltics including St. Petersburg, Norway, Germany and England many years ago). We've also been to Japan and China (on business). But we are enjoying traveling with another couple who prefer to only travel with Tauck. We enjoy activity, history, culture, meeting local people. We need help on a lovely problem to have - where to go next? We've done the following with Tauck:
EXCEPTIONAL
Tanzania and Kenya
Israel and Jordan
REALLY GOOD
Peru and the Galapagos
ENJOYED
Blue Danube (had terrible weather)
ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE
Australia and New Zealand
I know there are many Tauck travelers who have been on 10, 20 even more Tauck trips. I'm interested to hear which ones, for you, were in your exceptional (not to be missed) category and why.
For anyone who has done Patagonia or Ultimate Alps - which category were they for you? At one point we considered Tauck's Iceland, but it seems ridiculously expensive compared to other Tauck trips (because Iceland is ridiculously expensive).
EXCEPTIONAL
Tanzania and Kenya
Israel and Jordan
REALLY GOOD
Peru and the Galapagos
ENJOYED
Blue Danube (had terrible weather)
ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE
Australia and New Zealand
I know there are many Tauck travelers who have been on 10, 20 even more Tauck trips. I'm interested to hear which ones, for you, were in your exceptional (not to be missed) category and why.
For anyone who has done Patagonia or Ultimate Alps - which category were they for you? At one point we considered Tauck's Iceland, but it seems ridiculously expensive compared to other Tauck trips (because Iceland is ridiculously expensive).
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Comments
You are right - it's a wonderful problem to have! I would highly recommend the Croatia trip. We did it in 2017 and absolutely loved every minute of it. We have done 7 Tauck tours - which is nothing compared to a lot of Tauck devotees! After Kenya/Tanzania, Croatia is my second favorite trip. It is a great mix of activities - from truffle hunting to history lessons about the Balkan wars I don't have enough superlatives to describe it!
So far it looks like you (or your traveling companions) lean towards geography/nature/ animals (K&T, P&G) with a sprinkling of history and culture (Israel & Jordan). I suggest Classic Italy; England, Scotland & Wales; Ultimate Alps & Dolomites (significant changes since we went on UA&D.) Also, if you are at all interested in the Passion Play in Oberammergau, you should hold off on the Ultimate Alps until 2020. Using your ranking, we would categorize UA&D as REALLY GOOD+ It had a mix of geography, history/architecture, and culture.
Also, don't forget to examine how much your TD affected your rankings- that can make a big difference.
We are still rookies, leaving on #9, Blue Danube in a bit over two months with #10 Botswana booked for 2019 (maybe another in between). We find it hard to rank our trips and don't always agree. Also, due to my previous point and the fact we had a fantastic guide who still measures up to the best ones since, trying to compare other trips to our first Tauck trip - England, Scotland & Wales- is like a first girlfriend or boyfriend- it will always be our favorite or at least one of the best, ever. We both agree which was our least favorite- because of a large group (a few people with issues) and the TD. When available we choose small group departures. Also, like many, you may find you can't visit Africa just once! Just ask British, our 'African Queen,' and some of the other forum regulars. : )
You might also want to consider interspersing big/exotic tours with smaller Stateside tours.
E,S,W (EX+)
UA&D (RG+)
Hidden Gems of NE (EN)
K&T (EX+)
Classic Italy (EX)
Best of Ireland (RG+)
P&G (EX)
Romantic Germany (RG+)
Blue Danube (TBD)
B,SA,Z (TBD)
to least favorite. Go to the Patagonia forum and read my review of the trip for details. The glaciers were beautiful, but they were a very small part of the trip. Since you have been to Norway, you might be disappointed. I thought the rest of the trip was not particularly interesting.
I may be mentioning the obvious, but if you have not been to Alaska, do consider the Tauck Alaska Grand Adventure—2 weeks, one on land and one cruising. It is my husband’s favorite trip of all, and I loved it too. Tauck did a fabulous job. Or Wild Alaska, 9 days just on land (think bear watching and sailing in the bay looking for whales) if you have already done the cruise thing.
We like to do a mixture of trips, some more oriented toward nature and wildlife, some more cultural and historical. He likes the great outdoors, I like
castles and cathedrals. We have found that we prefer land travel and riverboat cruising to ocean cruising. One thing for sure, we always go on
small group trips.
Happy travels, wherever you go.
Nancy (Dixie Chick)
We have 3 trips booked now. In 2018 it will be a River Cruise from Amsterdam to Brussels at Tulip Time, and in August the Grand Canadian Rockies. In January 2019 we're booked to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Our bucket list seems to grow longer and we hope that one day we'll meet some of you frequent travelers and Forum bloggers.
Which river cruise?
Loves2Travel2 - we stopped in Croatia twice while on a cruise. It was lovely. Was Tauck's trip a cruise that made a lot of stops or do they also have a land tour?
smarks50- yes, the Passion Play in Oberammergau has appeal.
Sealord - I think Zamibia, Botswana and South Africa have to go on the to do list. Africa was just wonderful. Like you, I could watch animals all day long (and photograph them too).
AlanS - Our friends just did ESW and we did a thorough Italy on our own. I wish I had known about Tauck's Classic Italy first. Everyone says it is fantastic and I am sure it is. UA&D is on my list. I'll look into Romantic Germany, although I have seen a lot of Germany through work trips and other trips. I'll be very interested to hear your review of B,SA,Z. We haven't done small group tours, but I think we might start. I can see the value in that. One of the hardest things about Blue Danube is that there were 120 people with 3 TDs. You would be on a bus or broken up into 40 people. No real lasting connections with any of the TDs, so yes, that does influence.
British - I will eagerly await your reviews of Patagonia, Iceland and V,C,L. How wonderful that you have 6 tours already booked. Enjoy!!! Do you have a top 10 list or top 20? How many have you done? Lucky, lucky you.
Dixie Chick - I will go read your review of Patagonia. We have done Alaska 3 times, including land tour and cruises. Need I say more? It is fabulous. Thanks for the tip on small groups.
AshvEd - I'll look forward to your V,C,L review!
Claudia - can you give me a list of your top 5? or top 10?
For shear beauty, it's hard to beat Belgium and Holland at Tulip Time. Keukenhof Gardens is unbelievably breathtaking! The rest of the trip was great too, but Keukenhof was definitely the highlight. We adored Classic Italy, but I see that Italy is on your list of places you've been. We've been on 5 Tauck tours plus lots with other companies, and one of our all time favorites of all 25 or so is Tauck's tour to Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. The history and beauty of these cities is unbelievable. We highly recommend it!
Clearly, we love Africa and have taken four of our five trips to Africa with Tauck.
One of my favorite countries is Japan, I have been twice but not with Tauck, but when my husband also used to travel frequently for business, he could even speak great Japanese at the time. I really want to go again on a Tauck tour but I have not been impressed by their Japan itinerary though I know they have tweaked it quite a bit.
I have a different opinion about the small group experience, we recently took a tour with just 13 people and only one other married couple like us, they did not mix much with anyone. On another Tauck Africa tour of 16 I think it was, again there was only one other married couple, two bigger groups and I think two singles. Our upcoming tour to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos is a small group but because the date was when we wanted to go. For our China tour the date we wanted was small group so we changed it to a normal size group. Unlike some who have mentioned about having more time with the tour director in a small group, we have always had plenty of interaction with our tour guides and made good friends of them. On the other hand, we do not tend to bother the tour director with trivial stuff and dominate time with them, which can happen with a group, big or small. We sometimes feel bad for the situations they have to deal with by some clients.
The reason we have so many tours booked in advance is that The tours fill up way more quickly than they used to and we do not want to be disappointed. When we booked a tour for 2019 the other day, the Rep said there were no definite plans to even give the ‘Gift of Time’ yet for 2019.
We've only taken 3 river cruises with Tauck and 1 land tour. Booked for Ireland in June.
Of the 3 cruises the Rhône has been our favorite. It was our first so everything new to us. The routine, the little Tauck surprises, etc. We had pretty good weather - too cool for sunbathing on the deck ( if there had been time to) but pleasant for walking around. But mostly because so many of the stops you could walk right off the boat without bus time. Our only neg was that we didn't give ourselves enough time in Paris and would have liked more river time like adding one of the tours that includes the Soane.
We had a great land tour last jun -England, Scotland, Wales. Was impressed by how smoothly the hotel changes went. That's part of why we booked Ireland for this year instead of the Danube although we may do that eventually. 2019 will either be Danube or Scotland small ship if Tauck goes through with plans for that.
The Rhine/Moselle was a good tour though we did it in Oct which I would not recommend. Cool, wet and short days. Also pretty much all bus to sites. The only positive was the fall colors were beautiful. We enjoyed Heidelberg and Strauss berg the best.
The Seine in jun was nice. We used GoT at Versailles so extra time to explore. Giverny was amazing. Some nice daylight sailing. Its a prettier river I think than most of the Rhine.
Good luck picking your next tour.
I have enjoyed reading the many responses to your original post. We are about to embark on number 16 and 17, and I think we have had a variety of international experiences (we do the domestic trips on our own...although, always checking the Tauck accommodations and activities for ideas). We loved Classic Italy, our first Tauck tour in 2000. In fact, we liked it so much we took our sons, post-college, on that same trip a few years later. We have done a number of European trips, some no longer offered. The Paradors of Northern Spain and Romantic Germany were both great and very enlightening. There was a Southern France that was wonderful but no longer offered. I suspect it has been replaced with a river trip of some sort. The Grand Australia/New Zealand tour was our favorite until others kept replacing it as number one! We loved the spiritual and mystical part of Machu Picchu and the wonderful snorkeling in the Galapagos! A Treasures of the Aegean tour included Greece and Turkey, and our time on the Windstar was wonderful, although, we are not patient cruisers. Sadly, that trip is no longer offered. We loved Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and spending time in Hong Kong after the trip was wonderful. We, too, loved Kenya and Tanzania, perhaps our favorite. We met two couples on that trip who highly recommended India, and we then took the Portrait of India trip. It was outstanding, my number two trip! My husband was not enthusiastic but ended up loving the experience. I thing we liked the Portrait trip, as opposed to the shorter trip, as it took us to Southern India which was such a contrast to the northern part. Last year we took the Land of the Rising Sun, and while I was highly critical of the organization of the trip, I loved the itinerary and the activities. Part of it is on a smaller ship, but many of the places you visit are more accessible via small ship, so it's a trade-off.
When we first started traveling with Tauck, they were just beginning their European trips, and they were land trips. Now there are so many options, I can understand why it is difficult to choose new trips. We love traveling with Tauck, but it is getting harder and harder to make choices. Hopefully, the respondents on the Forum have given you some food for thought and helped to direct you to some trips that will fit your travel needs!
Dixie Chick - I tried to find your Patagonia review, but I couldn't. Can you copy and past to this discussion thread? Also, what other Tauck tours have you been on?
How many wish Tauck could, would start running the old Egypt and Jordan, Timeless Treasures, Ancient Lands- especially with the new museum and recent discoveries?!?! If it could only be done safely! I know a few operators are still running tours there. Maybe just stay away from the lower Sinai?
I do not know how to copy and paste, but I can tell you how to find the Patagonia posts. There are two from me.
Go to the thread called Highlights, begun by Mike and Deb, Sunday, March 23, 2014. Look at post #7 dated Monday, December, 15, by Dixie Chick.
Also look at the thread for Santiago vs. Buenos Aires for gift of time. Start with Ken from Vegas’s post dated February 26, 2015. I agree with what he said about the gaucho event and Tango dinner on same day. The amount of food was obscene at the gaucho event. Good, but way, way too much. We could not enjoy the really elegant and delicious dinner that evening because we were too tired from a long day and virtually comatose from pigging out on the BBQ picnic.
Then go to post #2,by me, dated February 25, 2015, for the long review.
We started our Tauck trips with the 1)Canadian rockies and Glacier National Park. Both hubby and I loved it. That one was a regular size tour. The next trip 2)was a small group to Capital Cities of Eastern Canada. That was our least favorite trip of all, per both of us. Except for Niagara Falls, it was only ho hum. Besides, the TD was the worst of all that we have had. 3)Grand Alaska was next—-super fabulous per both of us. 4) Next we made our first trip across the pond to France for Paris, Loire Valley, and Normandy. I had almost died and gone to la belle Heaven with all those castles, cathedrals, wine, Impressionist art, and fabulous food. John really liked it because it was his first trip to Europe and because of Normandy. That’s the reason every man on the trip wanted to go. It is probably my favorite trip of all. And I speak French. 5) Patagonia was next. Need I say more? 6)Italy was next—-Italian Lakes, Venice, Florence, Rome. More art, culture, food, lots of wine, great travel companions. We both loved this. Sort of tied with France.
For the next trip we brached out to the river to do the 7) Blue Danube with Tauck. Again, we both adored this trip.
Last summer we did a Baltic cruise with Regent and had a fabulous time. Fabulous ship, elegant service, food, etc. We will definitely sail with Rege t the next time we do an ocean cruise.
The next trip will happen soon, 8) Belgium and Holland in the Spring, sailing April 14. It is all about the tulips, and I can hardly wait.
On the wish lish for 2019 is Switzerland, Crown Jewel of Europe.
We are faithful Tauck travelers, wouldn’t go any other way for land tours.
Best wishes.
Nancy
Hi Dixie Chick, I was able to go back and read your review despite the disappearing region forums. We are taking the Patagonia tour in November. I do have friend who went there with another company and loved it. But having read the places you have visited with Tauck, I realize why the traveling regime you had may have been a shock. Many of the tours that have vast areas to cover have to start days early so that more territory can be covered. Especially with such beautiful scenery I quite enjoy time on the bus. We know that the scenery is not all glaciers, we know that part of the planet is sort of high arid desert so the scenery you describe is one of the attractions for us. We hope we will not be disappointed. We will heed your warning about the gaucho BBQ. And if I find i do not take enough warm clothing Mr B says I can cozy up to a nice young gaucho! I must admit I have never ever had to wear as many clothes as you mention. I have been out walking this morning wearing a long sleeve T-shirt and a cheap thin down coat in 32 degrees F temps. Though there was not much wind. I rarely wear more than this unless it gets to maybe 10 degrees, but of course I wear hat and gloves. Do I really need so many layers, what were temps when you were there?
OP - I don't think it's been mentioned, but another worthwhile trip is China. While I hate China for their politics, human rights violations, and how they are destroying our planet with their soft coal fueled power plants spewing unbelievable pollution, it was worth visiting. It's simply amazing how far they have advanced into the first world, with the world's second tallest building and world's fastest train in Shanghai, yet they remain third world in that there is no potable water anywhere in the country.
I was there with Tauck in 10/17, their last trip of the season. I recommend this time of year if you don't like hot, humid weather. In northern China, the temps were similar to the northern US (50s-60s) and in southern China (Guilin and HK) it was shorts weather. It only rained for one afternoon our entire trip, the downside of which was the smog lingered in the air to the point where several tour members, myself included, wore a mask most of the time we were outdoors.
We flew business on Cathay Pacific over the North Pole and it was wonderful. We did have to stop in Hong Kong, but the layover wasn’t long at all.
REPLY: I think the above was from CatLover8. I have a question:
I wondered if the weather was the main problem with the Danube trip. What month did you go? We're doing
Danube Reflections in May. I think that might be a rainy season. :-( Thanks for info. MaryWills
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