Anyone going on May 4th?

I’ll be paying for this trip soon and hope there are other travelers booked on this trip that check the forum.
Im also gathering information for highlights and impressions from prior trips and have read comments from prior trips, more is better!

Yesterday I received a letter from Tauck that our after hours tour to the Vatican has been cancelled.😢in its place we will see it along with other tourists during the day. I guess it will be an early morning start. I wonder if anyone else has gotten this notice from Tauck. I imagine there will not be too many people there as travel is just getting started, but I am disappointed.

Comments

  • As your trip is early May, you may be lucky and find that it is not too busy. When we went to the Vatican with Tauck about 2004, there was no after hours tour option. It did not seem too crowded then snd the Vatican employs ‘shushes’ who literally keep saying shush if the crowd talk to loudly, so it is pretty quiet. As most people are looking up, the number of people in there doesn’t really matter fro viewing.

  • That truly is a disappointment...when we went in 2014 "A Week in Italy", the private after hours visit to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican museum was truly a highlight. Having just 25 people viewing with you was priceless. I wonder what prompted this...you will love Rome!

  • Covid I would think.

  • It could be that the Sistine Chapel is being closed for cleaning/restoration. That happened to us years ago.

  • We will be seeing it, just during the day when the Chapel is open to the public. Tauck is refunding each of us $100.00 which is the fee for after hours. I’m curious if others traveling on this tour but on different dates are also affected.

  • We are cancelling May 4th and rebooking for next May

  • Hi franlovestravel, I posted a notice of this cancellation on our Bridges Italy tour for June 10th. Again, no reason given and a statement that we will see the Chapel and museum during the day. They are also giving a $100 per person rebate at the end of the tour.

  • I spoke to Tauck today and the reason The Vatican is cancelling the after hour tours is they don’t have enough staff right now to man the extra hours. They are building everything back from the pandemic, so every tour that takes guests to Rome with Tauck is affected. Our group will be seeing the Chapel at 8:00 am. I was reassured the length of the visit is the same. It’s disappointing, but not Tauck’s doing. The 100.00 is the amount we all paid for the after hours tour. What a great trip to be able to take with family! I’m sure you’ll have a blast.

  • We are booked on the May 1 tour and just got our Vatican after hours cancelation notice. Disappointing but we will still have a nice visit I'm sure.

  • Took this tour in 2017 and it was wonderful. The Sistine Chapel private tour was a highlight of the trip, I am sure any way you see the Sistine Chapel whether privately with Tauck or with all the other visitors it will be fantastic.

  • Have a blast SueMS! I’ll be right behind you! Can’t wait.

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