Options
Incentive to book onboard?
This is our first river cruise. Does Tauck offer any incentives to booking onboard? ( like ocean cruises do) Searched and could not find answer...Want to be prepared with possible trips if offered
0
This is our first river cruise. Does Tauck offer any incentives to booking onboard? ( like ocean cruises do) Searched and could not find answer...Want to be prepared with possible trips if offered
Comments
Do you mean booking your next tour while on a tour? If so no. For returning guests they do give you what's called the Gift of Time which is a free night at the Tauck contracted hotel for a pre or post tour stay. If you look at any tour - land or cruise - under the Accommodations section you'll see an Arrive Early or Stay Later section which will tell you which hotel. It's typically a $400-600 bonus depending on the hotel .
Most guests use it for the Arrive Early option so they can start getting over jetlag and as a cushion if their flights are delayed. You can also add additional nights at your own expense if you want to see more before the tour.
Claudia... thank you for your quick reply
Joel, That's exactly what we have done for almost every Tauck trip. Well worth it!
Regarding a pre-cruise stay in a Tauck-contracted hotel: First trip with Tauck & wondering about transportation from the airport in Brussels. My itinerary indicates that I'll receive "complimentary transportation from the airport," but doesn't say exactly how that works. Will we be met by a Tauck rep? Will there be a cab(?) driver with a sign? Should we take a cab & request reimbursement? Help, please!
You will supply your fights to Tauck. They will have a driver meet you in the luggage area. They will be well marked so you won’t miss them. They will take you to the hotel. Doesn’t matter if you come in a day is a few days early. They will also transport you to the airport when you return. Very efficient. Easy peezee.
LindaB,
Yes, there will be a driver with a sign waiting for you and you will be transported via town car or van to the hotel. Details will be provided when you receive your final documents. Given COVID restrictions, you might need to exit the airport to meet the driver. This was the case on our last tour. Make sure you carefully read the pick-up instructions and carry them with you in the unlikely event something goes wrong and you need to phone the car service.
Booking onboard: When last on Ponant they had a meeting for people who might want to book onboard. However, they said, Tauck guests should book with Tauck. I did price it out on our last trip, and you got more ‘bang for the buck’ if you booked with Tauck.
Sorry, but no it isn't always a towncar. Depends on the transport company and the driver. We've been in some very nice 4 door sedans and also some very ordinary cars. Once you've finished with customs and claimed your luggage the driver will be waiting at the exit with a Tauck sign. Ask who they are waiting for to confirm they're your driver. At popular destinations there may be more than one driver.
Depending on your tour, e.g. Jordan & Egypt, you may be met by an expediter who will help you through security and hand you off to the driver.
On our first Tauck tour in Scotland a few years ago, we stayed some extra days in Edinburgh to attend the Fringe Festival. As the Tauck hotel (The Balmoral) was very pricey, we switched to a more basic hotel for the balance of our trip (and used the savings to see many wonderful performances). Our tour director arranged for us to have transportation from that second hotel to the airport for our departure!
Very unexpected but quite lovely! Made us appreciate all the extras that make Tauck special.
Basically the transport services will take you between airport, train stations, and hotels. They won't pick up or drop off at private addresses like Airbnbs.
A suggestion, ask the person picking you up who the are waiting for. In some locations, phony cab drivers have a Tauck sign and will pick you up, then attempt to charge you saying that Tauck doesn't pay.
Tauck recommended this in our trip to south America
Absolutely PF! When I see the person holding the Tauck sign I approach and ask the name of the party he is expecting. He most often offers it by greeting me by name before I can ask. I connect with the driver after exiting customs/immigration and the baggage claim area.
Wow, I never heard that about the fake drivers. Another good reason to ask. We have walked up to the wrong driver when there were multiple.
New to me also. Can you tell by the quality of the phony Tauck signs- professionally printed in green and white vs written with a marking pen?
The Tauck sign with the logo is very professional but I’m still cautious. The Tauck transfer driver is also careful. He doesn’t need any problems occurring from picking up the wrong party.
This is new to me. All of our trips with Tauck have gone smoothly with one exception. September 2021 we arrived at Basel train station and there was no one with a sign to pick us up. We just got a taxi and were reimbursed immediately and the TA was very apologetic.
Train stations are tricky since there are multiple exits. We arrived at the one in Edinburgh and the driver met us inside so we wouldn't go to the wrong exit. Family members who stayed in a Paris Airbnb met their driver at one of the train stations and he had given them info ahead of time about which exit.
With the new digital green books, make sure to at least copy or print the page with the emergency numbers for the transit. It's different from country to country.
Thanks so much to all who responded to my question! Your comments were very helpful.
Sometimes we have seen our name on the signs rather than Tauck and often the driver has a list with your name on it if he is picking up more than one person.