Any feedback on Puglia?
Hi! We love Italy and have gone many times, but have never been to this area in Puglia. We think it looks amazing. Has anyone taken this trip? Any feedback for us? Much appreciated. Carol
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Hi! We love Italy and have gone many times, but have never been to this area in Puglia. We think it looks amazing. Has anyone taken this trip? Any feedback for us? Much appreciated. Carol
Comments
Yes, took the trip about three years ago. Think I wrote a review.
I just had time to look for my review of this tour in 2015. It may have changed a little since then because it was a new tour at the time. Go to the search option and type in in capitals in case it matters, My tips on Puglia tour
will be going there in Oct. will post review. looking forward to the trip especially Matera and di Fasano
Wildcat - Did you go to Puglia? Any feedback? Thanks
We just booked the Puglia tour today for September 2021. We wanted to go on a very different trip and came upon Puglia. The hotels are all 5 star and the itinerary is unique. British's review and comments helped us make the decision. Thanks British!
We took this trip with friends on September 2, 2016. Up until this year we usually took a Tauck trip every year since 1999. We are hoping that our Seine riverboat goes in May. We have been with them in Southeast Asia, India, Sicily, Costa Rica, Japan, Canadian Rockies Tanzania and Kenya etc. Would you believe that Puglia was our favorite! It was a small group tour and we made wonderful lasting friends. The food ( of course) was spectacular and the whole itinerary was so unusual and unexpected. We really didn't know anything about the area even though we had been to Italy many times ( I did my study abroad in 1968) except that Francis Ford Coppola was from Matera. Be sure to watch the Il Volo concert on YouTube that took place in Matera. The farmhouse boutique hotel was so welcoming. When we came in near midnight they put out a platter of cheese, fruit, meats and bread in case we were hungry. The hotel had a beach club on the Adriatic with a seafood restaurant a short free shuttle away. . We were really glad that we came in a few days early. The beach was out of La Dolce Vita. You will LOVE it.
Travelartist -
That is great to hear! Before we went to Italy for the first time a few years ago we took up an Italian class for adults for an entire year at a local high school. Our teacher was from Bari in Puglia and she was wonderful. Didn't think much of Puglia until we came upon the Tauck trip. Now we can't wait to go. Thanks for your great feedback!
A number of people on our trip combined Puglia with Tauck Sicily. We did that trip at a different time combined with a cruise. My kids live in Arlington Va. I've missed them terribly this year along with everything else. Bring a bathing suit.
Travelartist - please check your inbox.
You can also watch the movie Walking on Sunshine ( 2014) UK . It was filmed on the Apulia beach and has shots of the main piazza in Lecce. It's a happy Rom-Com with beautiful scenery and people.
Last week our Travel Agent booked our air for us with United/Lufthansa thru Tauck for our September 2021 Puglia trip. No cost for air until final payment is due. If trip is cancelled we don't have to worry about dealing with the airlines. Just a quick call to our TA and it's done. Really looking forward to this unique trip.
We are going on this trip in May(hopefully). So far Tauck has said the trip will take place. Fingers crossed
Judith - hoping it happens for you. Sent you mail. Check your inbox top right.
We were told by our TA two weeks ago that Tauck will move forward with our September 2021 Puglia trip. HOWEVER, there are so many rules and restrictions to make the trip a real pain and worth our postponing it for a year when we can actually enjoy the trip! We have to fly from DC to Atlanta to fly on a "non-covid" flight (extra cost). We will have to fly into Rome when we were not planning to. We will have to be tested multiple times before leaving DC, in Atlanta, in Rome and arrival in Puglia. If we arrived in Italy and test gave a false positive - guess what? - a 10 day quarantine. That's longer then the tour itself. ALL meals will be outside. And that's just the beginning. This doesn't seem worth it to us. Hopefully all these restrictions will be done away with soon.
Virginia travels, have you postponed your trip?
Virginia, what are your alternatives? Can you "trade in" the 2021 trip for a 2022 tour?
I don't recall which trip it was, but before an "official" cancellation from Tauck, I pushed a trip back a year without any penalty. I wanted to beat the rescheduling rush, when the trip was finally cancelled.
This is where I am confused, because when you read about changing the trip if it is not canceled, it implies you won’t get the insurance back, but I’m not sure what Tauck actually does because I’ve always waited for Tauck to cancel all my tours. So frustrating to have to wait, but then I only re-scheduled two of the tours, both in 2022, the others, I will have to decide whether to take those sometime in the future. Still trying to prioritize the more challenging tours first now, the easy European ones later. Also trying to prioritize those tours we are betting will actually go in 2022
I had the same experience as BKMD...but I cancelled and rebooked twice! I changed my October 2020 Morocco trip to November 2021 and then I cancelled the November 2021 and booked the trip in October 2022. No monies were lost!
I changed my trip before Tauck cancelled and Tauck just applied my insurance and deposit to the new booking. (Twice!) and of course, the tours and insurance increased a bit so I needed to send a small amount of money to Tauck with each of the new bookings. I did not want to double book and tie up money on duplicate ins and trip deposit. I did not want to hold onto my reservations when I was so ambivalent about traveling in 2021 (I’m on the Mr. British mindset) and I was willing to forego the $500 bonus from Tauck. My concern was getting a trip for Morocco that worked for me in 2022- the trips (especially for 1 person/1 room) are mostly sold out.
I think the confusion comes about because of the terminology- when you cancel a trip, you don't get the insurance back, which is true- you don't get it back, it is not refunded, **BUT . . . ** it is put in the Dream Saver which you can apply to a re-booking or another trip.
We have never lost a cent due to a cancellation or re-booking. We had to cancel a trip due to a family illness. It was a covered situation, so the insurance covered the cost of the trip and self-booked airfare. I don't remember if we received the insurance premium since it was technically used but it may have been placed in the Dream Saver. Another year we decided we had too much going on to take all three of our booked tours, so we cancelled one. We received our deposit back, but the insurance premium was put in a Dream Saver. We didn't re-book, but many months later, booked another trip. We applied the Dream Saver to the new trip. We have never lost a cent.
Now all we need to figure out is how to avoid increasing air fares!
I've never purchased trip insurance, so it was simple for me. As they say on the blackjack tables, "never buy insurance; it's a sucker's bet."
British/Bob Hamburger -
We have not cancelled the trip yet. We will wait a month or so to see if they reverse course and officially cancel. Final payment and cancel date without penalty is in early August. If they continue the trip as is we will probably cancel and roll the down payment and insurance into the "Wallet" without receiving a trip credit. Then it can be used for any trip in the future. If they reverse and cancel the trip we will do the same thing but will then also get the $250 per person credit.
Our July 2021 Romantic Germany trip was Tauck cancelled a few weeks ago. We rolled our down payment, insurance and credit into the wallet already.
The way it is looking we will have monies in TWO "Wallets" to help pay for our March 2022 Egypt Jewel of the Nile trip AND/OR move to another 2022 trip and it could be Puglia in 2022.
We have three trips booked for 2022, it would have likely been four, but we don’t want to chance booking anything else because if we do and then one of the 2022 tours gets cancelled, we might find the best time or go for us becomes blocked by another tour we already booked. We don’t like excessive heat or cold these days for touring.
BKMD, You are lucky. Those of us who have experienced family with sudden death abroad are more cautious . Several people on our Tauck tours have also needed hospital care including heart attack
Also, some countries insist you have insurance and even more now want to see Covid insurance.
British - I don't consider it luck. I consider it a risk-based calculation. I also consider myself self-insured for these trips. While it wouldn't be peasant to lose the cost of a trip, it wouldn't break the bank for me.
Insurance companies price their products so they make money. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in business. Of course, you have to evaluate your own risk factors. I consider mine on the low side. I don't recall the numbers off-hand, but essentially, I get one free trip for every 10 by not buying trip insurance, as long as nothing happens that causes me to abandon a trip. So far, I've beaten the odds.
Interestingly, on one of my Tauck tours, the group had a discussion about this during a long bus ride. There were only two of us who didn't buy insurance - me and an actuary. And as the old saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Virginia, I am in a similar position as your's with a Classic Italy Small Groups tour scheduled for October 3rd. This is a trip of a lifetime for us, and I don't want to find sites, restaurants and indoor cafes closed, have to wear masks and have anxieties and be responsible for negative COVID testing. I plan to follow your tactic and see if Tauck cancels.
Alan S :We have never lost a cent due to a cancellation or re-booking. We had to cancel a trip due to a family illness. It was a covered situation, so the insurance covered the cost of the trip and self-booked airfare.
Did the Tauck insurance cover your self booked airfare or did you have additional airfare insurance?
BKMD - Always take even money if you have blackjack and the dealer shows an ace. 😊
Bob - We agree with you. We work with a great Tauck Certified Travel Agent. As soon as Tauck gives him information he informs us. Italy seems very slow on this issue. I suggest you work with a TA or if not just try to keep as informed as you can regarding the trip.
Here is another point not mentioned in above texts. We got our air booked for the trip not long ago when the flights opened up. We decided not to get Business Air because the cost was almost double the normal business air rate because of limited flights so we got a Premium Economy fare that was almost as costly as the original business. There were only 2 rows of the PE. That being said, now because of the non-covid flights and having to go to Atlanta and Rome we will have to cancel the PE fare and book new flights. Our TA informed us that the new flights are even more expensive because there are a limited number of flights and that if we decided to go we had to rebook the flights almost immediately. The way things are looking it appears that even economy upgraded seating, if available, will be more expensive then the cost of this entire tour!
I don't want to put a damper on your trip of a lifetime but these are all things to consider. If you have questions feel free to email me separately in above right top of forum Good luck!
Yes, self-booked air was covered and we didn't have separate airfare insurance. In fact we received a few dollars more. Aeon or whoever was the underwriter for the Tauck insurance at the time paid the entire airfare. Several months later we got a few more dollars directly from Aer Lingus, because Irish (or EU?) law requires taxes be refunded too, so we got a check directly from Aer Lingus for the amount of tax which was also included in the insurance payout.
Not sure if you are being serious, but that a very poor play. PM me if you wish to discuss further.