Milan and Coronavirus

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Comments

  • Thanks for your comment William! I am taking the same tour heading north from Milan to Amsterdam in early May. I have many of the same concerns but I've decided to wait a bit and see how the situation unfolds before I call.

    Recently, as you may have noticed, the situation in Italy has gotten more severe with the quarantining of 16 million people in the north! I imagine that within a week we should hear something, and if not, we should definitely call.

  • Hey everybody,

    (I originally wrote this post in response to another thread, but it's relevant here too, so I'm crossposting it here.)

    In addition to implementing the new travel policy (found here: https://www.tauck.com/travel-policy-update) our Global Response Team is carefully monitoring the situation. Thankfully, global travel still has been continuing overall with relatively few disruptions.

    Though we've already canceled our tours through April focused on the Veneto and Lombardy regions of northern Italy (such as Milan), we're also in the process of modifying other tours that only visit the regions.

    Once we've removed those regions from the itineraries, we are hopeful that the trips can continue to operate in a modified format -- more information about that should be forthcoming from us; if your scheduled Tauck travel is affected, a member of our Reservations team will reach out to you directly once more definitive plans have been made. (We're also in the process of making contingency plans based on a number of possible scenarios -- as you all know, things are very fluid and changeable right now.)

    We all appreciate your patience and understanding in the meantime as we work through this. :)

    -Tim

  • Trex, I think you need to call Tauck and cancel, you are obviously very concerned about travel. Why don’t you cancel and then you will not have any worries.

  • Trex , I know how you feel. Unfortunately we had to cancel this trip , two years ago, because my husband had health issues.
    He had heart surgery 3 months ago but is doing great ! Finally we were going to go. At our ages of 60’s / 70’s , I am questioning International travel and traveling on a cruise ship at this time.
    I believe Tauck will do the right thing and not put their guest in danger. We are waiting to see how things develop.
    Best wishes

  • Thanks Trex. I was wondering myself if the warning would also apply to river cruises. I imagine it would but would be glad to hear if anyone knows differently.

  • I am over 60 and have a riverboat cruise scheduled in May/June. While I will continue to monitor the situation, I think there is a big difference between the cruise ships with thousands aboard compared to riverboats - our ship, even with the crew, will have less than 200 people. I think Tauck is probably a member of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). CLIA has instructed member cruise lines to implement enhanced screening measures upon boarding passengers. I would think there are enhanced cleaning procedures in place as well. Like many who have posted on the forums, I trust Tauck to make the right decisions for their guests and employees. Ultimately, to travel or not is a decision individuals must make. The situation will continue to change over time - I am hoping it changes for the better.

  • The Milan part of the trip has been cancelled on the April 3 departure. The Rhine cruise is still operating, and a $2500 pp refund is being offered to passengers. I have friends on this departure and they are VERY unhappy and disappointed - can't say that I blame them - as the trip to and stay in Milan is why they booked the tour in the first place and they aren't interested in just taking a Rhine cruise, which is now their new trip.

  • I was booked on the northbound April 27 Rhine Enchantment trip and cancelled and only got back 75% of the trip cost. The reason we booked was specifically to visit Milan. I would also be very disappointed if they were going to change the itinerary. I have asked Tauck to provide a credit for the penalty that I could use next year after all this settles. It is quite frustrating as the CDC has a Level 3 alert, the country is on lockdown, so even if the cruise were still going we would not be able to get there. I hope that Tauck will do the right thing. The travel industry is taking a big hit because of this and I do feel sorry as things are out of their control.

  • Responding to the post by Tim
    **
    _Though we've already canceled our tours through April focused on the Veneto and Lombardy regions of northern Italy (such as Milan), we're also in the process of modifying other tours that only visit the regions.

    Once we've removed those regions from the itineraries, we are hopeful that the trips can continue to operate in a modified format -- more information about that should be forthcoming from us; if your scheduled Tauck travel is affected, a member of our Reservations team will reach out to you directly once more definitive plans have been made. (We're also in the process of making contingency plans based on a number of possible scenarios -- as you all know, things are very fluid and changeable right now._

    Tim - I along with many others booked these tours based on visiting northern Italy and in my case Milan in particular. As Italy is in lockdown now it may not be possible to fly into Italy. I had to cancel my flight into Milan and while United has waived change fees that only applies if you are going to the same destination. There would be fare differences which I and other travelers would have to pay.

    Rather that changing itineraries perhaps Tauck should be considering a credit that could be used against a future trip. I for one would like to take this trip in 2021 starting in Milan.

    Perhaps Tauck should post a notice on their homepage explaining their policy and how they are dealing with travel and ccvid-19?

    If you want to keep engaged with your clients you need to share information on Tauck's main page rather than sharing here where visitors to your site would not even know about.

  • I checked the Romantic Rhine starting in Milan availability April 27, 2020 Northbound trip this morning and it no longer shows on the site. Does this mean that it has been cancelled?

  • I'm almost positive it has been cancelled, and suspect the website is just slowly catching up. Remember, all of Italy has turned out the lights and gone home for a Month or so. The 15 March Jordan & Egypt which was cancelled yesterday no longer shows, but my 22 March departure is still showing, despite the President's announced ban on travel from Europe (with a few exceptions and they might not be flying, almost all flights to and from Jordan and Egypt go through Europe). I'm assuming it will be cancelled as well.

  • edited March 2020

    Kaplan, I agree with you that it is now time to have something on the main website page, even if it also encourages people to call and speak specifically for their tour. Because for example, Viking has a personal ,message from the CEO, and although I have personal faith in Tauck right now, the majority of their customers don’t even know about the forum, especially those who book through a TA. Tauck needs to reassure and retain their newer customer who don’t know how they usually handle difficult world events like this.
    I am still hoping my June tour will happen.
    Right now I am in Malaysia, it’s extremely quiet, We rarely get near anyone because the city is so deserted, the airport screening was very impressive, we had to fill in health forms and even document which plane seat we were sitting in, for easy investigation of anyone on the plane is later discovered to be Covid 19 positive. There is just a handful of Positive Covid patients here.Hoping we can get back into the US when the tour ends at the end of March.
    We took Rhine Enchantment last year, specifically because it included Milan. I think we arrived two days early and that was our favorite part of the tour.

  • British enjoy your tour & stay well. A former colleague is traveling in Malaysia this week. His company cancelled the trip and requested he return home to USA and self quarantine for 2 weeks...ugh

  • Hi British, We were arriving into Milan 3 days early and had booked a private guide for Verona. Also purchased tickets for the Duomo tour. We have been to Italy many times with fond memories. This was going to be our first visit to Milan and we booked specifically for Milan. Hopefully they will still have this itinerary in 2021.

    Good luck with your travel and return from Malaysia.

    Jim

  • Just had message from my kids. The county where we live now has cases and all public things closed, schools, gyms, movie theaters etc

  • Yep, same here in New Mexico. We were late to the "party" but now have cases. Banning most gatherings of 100 people in a single room. Exceptions like airports, stores, churches, schools, etc. A major arts & crafts show canceled as well as smaller events. My church just postponed a memorial service and our Sunday service this week. Looking at televised/streamed service alternatives. Trying to get ahead of this.

  • edited March 2020

    Schools closing here in IL and people freaking out buying toilet paper like crazy. I am retiring after 46 yrs on Mar 31st and my party cancelled. Thinking we will be told to work from home had a few people be exposed to virus. Be safe folks and hopefully we will be back to normal soon!💔

  • Sorry about your Party Catsoos! But trust me, you will love retirement. At 71, I am almost as busy as I was when I was working...but now doing the things I love. But you have hit on something...what we need is a great big national party when this thing is over!

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