Oct 7, 2023 - what a disappointment!
Just returned from this tour. What a disappointment - terrible TD who basically knew little about the area and gave little info, was often rude, and spent most of her time chatting with the bus driver; she was unable to even figure out how to seat all of my family together for many meals; cheap small hotel rooms overlooking parking lots and with partial views in some places - upgraded in 2 places, after I spent my vacation time emailing with the the home office; terrible service in many of the hotels; no whale watching (due to weather, which I know Tauck has no control over) - alternative hours spent on bus getting to/from Provincetown to look at tee shirt/tourist shops (after short dune tour); refusal to provide appropriate transportation back to Boston at tour's end, even though I had discussed this when booking the trip- arrived back 1 1/2 hour late delaying us to final destination. Bringing these issues to Tauck's attention (even during the tour) was met with excuse after excuse mostly blaming the travelers. I had lots of egg of my face, as I convinced 2 family members who had not traveled with Tauck to do so because of their wonderful service. Caveat emptor fellow travelers!
Comments
This tour got very bad reviews last year too. We had a week in Cape Cod independently and saw a Tauck bus in Provincetown and felt sorry for them being there. We had been to Provincetown years ago and it was great but last year it was a dump, we thought we could spend hours there but couldn’t wait to leave.
I’ve never seen as many complaining about poor Tour Directors ever on the forum as I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks. I do wonder what on earth is happening. There was a time where they got hundreds of applications for a couple of Tour Director jobs and vigorous training, weeding out the unsuitable.
The question is, is it very demanding customers or is it indeed Tauck?
It’s the same when people mention how many were on their tour, tours used to be sold out, but maybe that is not the case any more. How annoying to pay $1000 extra for a small group tour when you find a classic tour has no more people than a small group tour.
If people get satisfactory answers from Tauck, please let us know.
So sorry to hear of your negative experience in this tour. I think Tauck needs to upgrade the hotel on the Cape - the place to stay is the Chatham Bars Inn or the Wequasset Resort, only hotels that should fit Tauck standards. Since Whale watches depend on the weather, Tauck should have an alternative in its pocket to fill in.
The tour desciption says transport to airport or Tauck hotel. Did you wish another drop off?
In the past becoming a Tauck tour Director was very competitive and generally they came from other tour companies. I think they may be having trouble getting qualified TDs at least in US and Canada. The TD I had on a recent tour came from hotels as office staff, receptionist then concierge. No prior tour experience. It showed. Not bad like the desciption above.
Yes -- there are not many places on the Cape that compare to the usual Tauck standards. And those that do require multiple night stays. I've heard the same about the hotels on the Canadian Maritimes tour, but that's not stopping me from taking that tour next year. I can live with that. But there's no excuse for incompetent Tour Directors. Better to have fewer tours with experienced TDs.
Bucket list, when we stayed in the Cape Cod area as mentioned above, we stayed at the Chatham Bars Inn! It cost a fortune and we had a very very small room in the attic. Ok it had a good view of the ocean. We had booked dinner at the expensive restaurant weeks ahead, to find out when we got there that it was closed. We ended up eating in the other restaurant, the food was poor and service bad and the group nearby were so noisy that even the restaurant was asking them to be quieter. I’d never stay there again! As far as I can see, the hotels in that part of the US are pretty poor quality.
It's too bad about the tour directors. I'm sure that with the Pandemic, a good number of the regulars just decided that being around sick people all the time wasn't worth it, especially when you are far from home. Last year in Northern Europe we had a tour director who was universally considered to be grumpy by our group. (She had told us that the TD's were not allowed to work when they had Covid and were not paid when they couldn't work, I don't know how true this is now.) I saw her name mentioned on another tour where she got glowing remarks. I bet a lot of them, due to staff shortages, are having to relocate to tours they don't want to be doing, and their unhappiness is showing. Also, anyone who has traveled with Tauck prior to 2020 and has done a trip recently can see there is a difference, and with the price increases, it makes us complain more and is probably making the TD job even harder, especially when it is not their fault. I am hopeful that the majority still feel passionate about their work and are being appropriately appreciated by the company. We did have TD's in training on some tours last year, in addition to the regular TD, so I know Tauck is working to address the situation.
Maybe we have been lucky, as the TDs on our post- pandemic tours have been excellent. Our Egypt and Israel/Jordan TDs were both veterans with Tauck and outstanding. The Sicily tour - a very experienced, excellent TD. Our Germany TD situation was unique. Our excellent,veteran TD had to leave the tour at about the half-way mark, and a younger, newer, very good TD seamlessly stepped in to complete the tour. Our recent Switzerland TD was newish with Tauck (3 years). She was great - organized, caring, pleasant, energetic.
One of my post-Covid TDs was just okay (I think he was a bit shell-shocked from the Covid experience -- this was on my first tour after some of the world opened up); the others have been up to Tauck's usual excellent standards.
I agree with cathyandsteve that there are many U. S. destinations that are quite easy to visit independently. One of my most memorable was a girls-only bed and breakfast vacation through the Cape Cod region. Granted, that was decades ago. As a couple traveling with relatives, we also stayed in bed and breakfasts in Vermont and New Hampshire. It was such a lovely way to see the smaller towns throughout New England, especially during the fall with the trees ablaze in color.
I was born in Boston, and lived in Rockport, Gloucester and Bear Skin Neck in my early years and visited there every year until I went to college. They have a short tourist season, plus the leaf crowd. They open on June the first and roll up the sidewalks on the first of September. It is very difficult to run a five star hotel or resort when you only have a three month season. I love the area, but I would not expect the normal ‘Tauck resort’ experience. But the lobsters, fried clams, and other great sea foods would still be a great experience. It’s a little like Glacier National Park. Don’t go there expecting the Four Seasons.
I’ve taken several Tauck USA tours and been to most of them independently in the past. It’s much easier to do it with Tauck and if it is National parks, Tauck appear to be able to get Park Lodge accommodation much more easily than doing it yourself. Unless you are going to stay in only one or two places, it is more efficient and less time commitment to go with Tauck.
I have taken over ten tours with Tauck and don't usually write a review about them, but having read this review I felt compelled to. The hotels overall were not up to what I consider to be the usual Tauck standard. Both The Lenox in Boston and the Marriott in Newport were really just standard business hotels with little or no charm. The Sea Crest in Falmouth looked nothing like the photographs on the Tauck website, with the accommodation blocks just standard motel rooms. Even with the a/c running in my room the condensation on the tiled floor was so bad that I had to lay towels over it in order not to slip and injure myself. Both nights we were there, wedding parties took over the hotel so that the clambake dinner was in a freezing, windowless 'conference' room, while the wedding party had the ocean view. The only hotel up to standard was the Harbor View in Edgartown. Overall the included meals seemed to fit a quantity over quality criteria. Service overall was grudging and surly. Our TD was relaxed but did her job well. The majority of tours I have taken with Tauck have been in Europe where the hotels have been of a much higher standard. There are a number of companies offering a similar itinerary and I would advise any prospective travellers to go with them, it isn't worth paying a premium to travel with Tauck in this area.
Hey rhgramsay, I remember you now! The Puglia tour seems a long time ago now. Glad we didn’t waste our money on the Tauck Cape Cod and did the area independently even though our hotel was expensive at least it was a high end room of very small. Where is your next trip? We are off to Africa in two days.
Out of curiosity, I just checked the hotels for next year's tour. The tour begins at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, which is lovely. (No more Lenox.) It still uses the other hotels that rhgramsay mentioned. I stayed at the Harbor View independently years ago, and enjoyed it.
Hello British, yes - the Puglia tour was a while ago, but still memorable. I'm tending to take short breaks in Europe as it's on my doorstep. Although I have two opera tours with different companies booked for next year. With quite a number of high end tour companies around now I'm questioning whether Tauck is the best.
British....by the way I can only post comments on by using a VPN. Otherwise non US clients are blocked. Kind of unfair.
Interesting! Any other Brits out there having the problem?
Yes, all non-US clients can read but CAN NOT POST to the forums unless they have a VPN. It is a (intentional?) feature of the new forum software.