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2022 River Cruise Fiasco

Kirk Beasley

My wife and I were on the Rhine and Moselle river cruise at the end of May. Four days into the cruise my wife contracted COVID and we had to leave the boat in Cologne, Germany. We were very disappointed in the cruise for the four days we were on the boat as it didn't live up to our (generally well earned) high expectations from Tauck. As I write this note 60 days after our departure from the boat, I'm still waiting on Tauck to refund the balance of the trip and for the insurance company (AON) to settle my claim. I've been told several times by Tauck that the "check is in the mail" but it has yet to arrive. As for the insurance company, I've gotten well acquainted with the call center in the Philippines but not much further. You may want to lower your expectations of Tauck and look around for a different insurance provider.

Comments

Ken from Vegas

Due to the high number of COVID related refunds, Tauck's accounting department is overwhelmed. I have also been waiting two months. The check is not in the mail, it's in accounting's inbox.

Kirk Beasley

I suspect it has more to do with cash flow. Everyone in this industry is overwhelmed with COVID issues. They have now turned their problem into my problem. I don't know much about AON but I expect more from Tauck.

Claudia Sails

Just so you have realistic expectations. Having been a member of this forum for 8 years and never having posted or contributed anything, don't be surprised if forum members as less than moved by your first post. For those who are here on a regular basis contributing information, answering questions, and generally making this forum function, we aren't going to grab our wigs in dismay that you aren't getting your money fast enough in a summer of travel that has been fraught with problems across the industry. If you can find a better travel company or insurer that aren't swamped then certainly you should do so.

JanP

We had to cancel our Best of Hawaii last January due to being Covid positive 3 days prior to the tour. We received our refund from Tauck about a week later—but it took 3 months for Aon to refund our airfare. I’m sure both Tauck and Aon are overwhelmed with cancellations and refund requests. With Aon, we called with the occasional status inquiry, but we knew it would come eventually.

British

I look at it this way…if you contract Covid on a Tauck tour, then you can’t have been masking or masking at every opportunity that you could. I’ve only taken three tours during this pandemic, and I can assure you that everyone who contracted Covid on the last tour was not making their best effort to mask up, keep their distance and so on from everyone else, who also mostly did not wear masks. They had to quarantine in Canada.Same with the first tour, the non maskers got Covid and had to quarantine in a foreign country. The second tour was in the US and there was no testing.
AON…..I had my first dealing with them on the phone this week, certainly not impressed. The agent, yes probably in the Philippines, said it was impossible for us to increase our pre July 2021 insurance to travel pro plus, even though the Tauck agent I had just been talking to, sent me a link. The agent was useless, I got off the phone and did the whole thing on line and received a link and copy of the updated insurance immediately. I should have done that in the first place.
Tauck have always been good at making refunds…but because so many of their customers are getting Covid on tour, yes hundreds of people, it’s going to take time. I’m just glad they are still in business. I've traveled with them for almost 20 years and they remain one of the best companies out there.

bucketlist

I find some of these comments very rude. Attacking the poster is particularly offensive. The original poster was stating facts. The fact they are not frequent posters is irrelevant. Blaming the victim not knowing how the infection was contacted is rude and irrelevant. This is a public forum and not a private club and exclusive. Personal hits are offensive.

jeffr775

On our June trip to Ireland six of our group of 24 ended up getting Covid and were pulled off the tour. Don't believe one couple wore masks much but 2 other couples were pretty strict about wearing their masks and social distancing. One of the couples who ended up with covid were both practicing MD's (I believe General Practitioners). Don't think the rest of the group wore masks much but to be honest I'm not obsessed with that any longer so wasn't paying that much attention.

sudhamali

While waiting for a refund 60 days might seem long ;as mentioned by others these are unusual times and it may take longer.My personal experience with Delta vacations travel insurance at the beginning of the epidemic in 3/2020 was about 6 months waiting and multiple persistent emails and calls.Eventually got a full refund!So hang in there Kirk Beasley.

Claudia Sails

Yep bucklist I was being a bit rude but then reality often is. Just to put my comments in context, we got a call this morning before I saw this post from our son. One day back at work for a different travel company after a second bout of covid and his blood pressure is already spiking dangerously. Primary reason are the rude impatience customers, software problems he has zero control over and a company demanding overtime because they're short staffed. He's looking for another job. How about we all give these poor frontline call center employees a break. They'd all love to be on a nice, expensive vacation too.

Sealord

“Star Trek’s” Spock would have a terse comment about all this ‘mask dogma’. I will leave it at that.

British

The tour directors wear masks all the time, it appears to work for them. I only know of one river cruise Director test positive.

Sealord

I think you just made my point. Yes. We have had two directors test positive … one Tauck and one Ponant.

sudhamali

Can’t believe we are still talking about masks!Quality of the mask,how you wear it and when/where you wear it are all important in addition to your personall immunity;not to mention your luck or chance.Thank goodness the severity of illness is less.When we were in Equador at the beginning of Omicron surge most of the time most of us wore masks.Now with relaxing rules everywhere the collective chance of getting Covid-19 is definitely higher.

British

Our upcoming tour requires masking on our flights and at the destination, or you can be fined $300. This should be interesting in a place you can get fined for chewing gum.

smfxterr

I wonder if the Lone Ranger ever had COVID🥷
Just kidding, it’s Friday so lighten up folks.

Meg533

The idea that you will contract Covid because you haven't been masking is ridiculous. You might. You also might wear your mask all the time and still get it. It's a virus. It can be contracted lots of different ways. If you aren't showing symptoms, a worthless mask will not help and blaming someone who isn't masked for infecting others is very rude. Truly, if I were that worried, I'd stay home.

British

What are the lots of different ways you can contract Covid? Sorry, I’m not aware of anything but droplet infections. Touching surfaces and getting Covid are rare, we should be hand washing and not touching our faces anyway.
What I think is rude, is when masks are supposed to be compulsory, like in the National parks where we were. And even worse, knowing the abuse the tour director got when the positive people were told they had to leave the tour. He had been warning us all week that not masking was playing Russian roulette. They chose to ignore him. I feel bad for the Tour directors on the cruise ship tours where testing is still required.

Folsomdoc

Well Meg533, you are very wrong, sorry. If you really believe masks don’t stop the spread of pathogens please be sure to tell your surgeon who is about to operate on you to ditch his/hers.

kfnknfzk

Why must there be such pernicious vitriol on this forum? My G-d, some of you act like petulant children throwing temper tantrums because you haven't gotten your way. Grow up and learn some civility.

And the same individuals who constantly whine about "flaggers" will probably be the first ones to pound their fingers to flag this post.

Sealord

USA Today had an article ‘yesterday’ about the cruise lines testing and masking requirements. The CDC ended it’s covid cruise line program last month. So now the requirements are determined by the cruise line and the destination. They go everywhere from testing and masks to no testing and no masks “requirement’ for passengers. If you are going cruising, you need to check with your cruise line for the specifics for your cruise.

Meg533

So if masks stop the virus, why do people who mask still catch Covid? We've been vaccinated and boosted and caught it anyway. It's a virus. It happens. Luckily, it is much less serious than originally. We're all going to have to learn to live with it.

Smiling Sam

Meg533 - if seatbelts save lives, why do people wearing seatbelts still die in wrecks? Per your analogy, I guess no one should wear a seatbelt.

Thomas

I was worried about traveling, but have just come back from three weeks in Scandinavia and in late May the Tauck Bucharest to Budapest river cruise. I was careful, wore a mask and got 🍀 I guess. I’ve realized that if you are concerned about the current travel situation (Covid-19, cancellations, airport chaos etc) it’s best to put off travel. We had some trips scheduled in early 2020 and some portions of the trip we never received refunds. Travel is an adventure and sometimes it goes sideways. If you want everything to go perfectly YOUR way, you are gonna be disappointed. Tauck is about as good as it gets. IMHO.

ChrisW12

Regardless of my feelings on whether or not someone should be wearing a mask in order to reduce the percentage chance of getting covid....I strongly believe that one should wear a mask to protect others on your Tauck tour in case you do have the virus and are infectious. This world we live in today, it seems to be all about "you". It needs to change.

JMine

I imagine people turn to this forum for insight into their upcoming travel experience (though it is also a social club that newcomers like me rely on for that insight)…..

I had the opposite experience these past two weeks. Tauck exceeded our expectations on every detail that was within their control. They made adjustments that took money and time to accommodate my family and never showed any sign it was a burden.

In Cologne we were allowed to send our two minor children on the bus going back to the boat after the morning tour while my spouse and I chased down lunch at this great Chinese restaurant near the cathedral (that was the recommendation of the local guide). It was one of those travel moments where you know ten years from now you will be eating Chinese take out and say “do you remember that tea mushroom and pork belly dish we got in that hole in the wall place in Cologne?”

When I was reading this forum prior to leaving for our river cruise part of me was looking for the fiasco experiences to brace myself for what might happen. We made a backup plan should we have to leave the cruise.

But none of that happened. We did two weeks in Europe with two kids, 13 and 9, with only carry on luggage and it was fantastic — just wonderful, educational, life-affirming. We made lifelong friends. None of us will forget the moments.

I came on the forum today to post a laudatory trip report and some Bridges details as I had read in other postings other families wanted more details about the Bridges approach. I saw the word fiasco in the title here and remembered that just a few weeks ago I was looking here for the fiascos. All I can say is Tauck went above and beyond for us. I am thankful enough to the CD and the company to be posting at 5 am the day after a ten hour flight. I’ll post a trip report elsewhere on this forum.

I in no way disagree with the original poster or anyone else here. I just know we are an example of a very different experience. It is a tricky time to travel.

Hopefully all travelers will get more of the joy and less of the fiasco.

janet_dzubow

British- do you have the link for the AON insurance upgrade? Couldn't find it. Thanks

SandyFeet

Janet, this is the info I received from.British: aontravelproplus.com. For $49.00 I added $2000 in case of trip delay. It is aon’s TVPPLUS policy. You will need your Tauck reservation ID number.

NancyCohen

You also need the date of your deposit - my initial trip was cancelled 2 times but in the ‘Financial’ section of my account, it shows the original deposit date.

janet_dzubow

Thanks for the info

British

Glad my info was helpful everyone!