Tauck Reviews 80

This was our 6th and last Tauck tour. The hotels were fine, but no itineraries any value. Food was meh, charged for a glass of wine at dinner.Tour guide was sweet but did not add any knowledge. A guest was obviously ill the first night, and by day 3 many were coughing, and I tested positive for Covid.Had to return home early, only to find out if you are still in the hotel you are paying for it. Aon was an absolute nightmare. Almost 200, I kid you not, pages to get reimbursed for travel. Will be checking on Trustpilot for a new travel company.

Same thing I'm hearing here. A travel agent at AAA explicitly assured me that my $750 deposit was refundable since the trip scheduled was a year and a half out. We decided to cancel when we realized a one week bus tour of the SW was as much as a two week African safari. The agent admitted she gave me bad information and Tauck took off with my $750. We travel extensively and have never had a company say you only have ten days from booking to cancel. Not once! I put it in dispute on my CC and will pursue it further against AAA for duping me.

We have taken 9 Tauck tours and all have been exceptional. This year we were going on a river cruise from Madrid to Lisbon. My wife was hospitalized one week prior to going. Tauck immediately credited 50% of the total to our credit card and within 10 days we received the balance from Aon insurance with no hassles. I will continue to use Tauck happily.

I was injured on a trip to Patagonia in December 2023. I asked the tour guide to get me a doctor. Instead she sent me to the front desk who would not help me other than tell me to go by myself to a local clinic. I could not walk easily and was in pain and could not go alone to a clinic. When the tour guide got back, I again requested that she help me get a doctor, and advised her what the hotel front desk had said.
She never got me a doctor and never offered to help get a doctor.
When I got back home, I finally saw my own doctor , and arrived in a wheelchair. I was told by Tauck Tours insurance that they could not cover me any of my bills because I did not see a doctor in South America. If they had been notified, they would have even sent a doctor from another city, if necessary.
Tauck would do nothing to help with medical bills when I returned home. They were very nasty on the phone and threatening.

Do not expect any help if you become ill.

I have taken 6 trips with Tauck and recently took my last. The trip was to Central Europe. The food was pedestrian at best: flavorless and tough meat. The rooms used to be deluxe or superior and are now standard with views of the garbage or buildings that are being renovated. The worst part is the lack of common courtesy of sick guests who were coughing and hacking without using a mask, distancing and using their arms or nothing to cover the spread of germs. By the end of the 16 days more then have of the 27 guests were sick. Oh, did I say 27? Yes there were supposed to be a max of 24, but they packed a a few more sardines in the can. I called Tauck guest relations while still on the trip to ask for private transport for my friend and I and they said they have no policy in place to even ask other guests to be courteous and wear a mask of use tissue. The tour director agreed that guests were being rude, but refused to even ask them if they wanted a mask or tissue. My friend and I finally just distanced ourselves, and paid for our own food and transport to stay away from the sick masses.

EVERYTHING ABOUT TAUCK IS OFF THE CHARTS AMAZING. We took a Northern Italy tour pre-covid, and a Switzerland trip this summer. Both times, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ everything! The hotels drop dead gorgeous in great locations; food amazing; the itinerary was incredible; the tour director knowledgeable and kind; service at all levels was terrific. I cant understand anyone not having an incredible time with Tauck.

I was told at the time of reservation that the max no of people was 25, but ended up with nearly 40 without notification of the change. Others on the cruise said the same. Tour dir said Tauck changed the max.

Asked specifically about attire, and was told it was casual. Only when we were on the trip did we learn that a sport jacket was recommended. My husband wore a sweater and was the only male without a jacket.

Our dep time from Dublin was provided, corrected, confirmed, but still wrong with tour dir. She had us leaving for the airport at midnight for a 11:25 flight.

Bus issues:
While driving between overnight locations (all bags, passports, money on the bus), we stopped at a roadside rest stop/restaurant. The tour director assured us we could safely leave our things on the bus, that it would be secured. The bus driver left the bus unlocked and the door wide open the entire time.

People claiming to have motion sickness sat in the front of the bus the entire week. Why would you book a bus trip if you have motion sickness? The tour director said they would rotate everyone from front to back each day, but we were in the back the entire trip.

Hotel views were very bad, garbage bins and roof tops. Generally nice facilities, but the worst rooms.

Tour director was disorganized, blamed company for issues, stayed with single women for meals. She was subpar - not engaging at all, read notes so flatly during bus trips that she put most to sleep. She misdirected people at our stops. When the same people repeatedly arrived late for departures she did not address it. Tour director did not seek out feedback from us for anything. A few times she said, “wasnt that/he great”.

Have enjoyed 10 trips with Tauck so far and all were excellent and worth every dollar. (Three trips were to Africa, one to Peru/Bolivia, Patagonia & several to Europe). Our most recent was Manitoba in November 2023 which was still excellent all around as expected.

We stick with fully Tauck led trips and not those where the Tauck group is a smaller part of a larger group i.e cruise,etc.—as we can do those outside of Tauck on our own if desired.

Will try them again to insure their high value is consistent—especially since they are priced even higher these days. Note: we’ve found their nonrefundable insurance premiums and/or deposits lost due to cancellation are common practice with most travel companies we’ve worked with.

My family just retuned from Alaska Bridges July2024. Our tour director was a very nice person named Kara. Our pick up from Anchorage was by Premium Limo. The attendant had no sign for us. We had to search him out. He did not lift a finger to help us with luggage. Night one was a late switch to a Mariott hotel in a room adjacent to noisy elevator. I complained. The last night again Tauck placed me as close as one can get to a noisy elevator. I suggest ownership and management sleep in such a room and explore that adventure. I would encourage everyone who travels on Tauck to read Taucks mission statement. While on the tour one excursion on a jet boat was a big 2 hour bore. The selection of that excursion was a big nothing on a river filled with logs and trees. The scenery on Long Island Sound is more intersting to me. We were scheduled to have a cookout on a gold mine hunt. No such cookout but instead cold crap pizza served. Therer were several sandwhich lunches with potatoe chips which were mediocre at best. This is not what I signed up for . When I pay the fees Tauck created and tauck delivers mediocrity at best I am angry, feel misled, and feel financially abused. There are too many guests for 1 tour director to manage in my opinion. I have asked Tauck to review my concerns. Iwas told by guest relations that I have so many complaints that she needs to reach out to many different managers. Perhaps some of the managers should be on tour to see first hand. Lastly on the farewell dinner Kara the tour diectoe allowed non paying guests of a family to sit at a table that had comfortable seating and early buffet access. My wife and I could only find seating at the childrens table. I asked Kara about it and she told m,e she authorized it. Read Taucks mission statement and should i feel Tauck fullfilled its mission statement to my family?

I booked a tour with Tauck 21 months in advance to Egypt and Jordan. I paid a deposit of $600 and a Guest Protection Fee of $750. My friend going on the trip with me wanted to cancel and so I had to or pay thousands more for being a single, and thus, I cancelled as well. Meanwhile, when cancelling 7 months ahead of time, I was told I would receive my deposit back but not the $750 fee. After checking the cancellation policy, it appears that if I had not purchased the Guest Protection Fee, I would have lost the deposit of $600 instead of losing $750. I am trying to get someone from Tauck to explain to me exactly what that fee is and why would you charge people more to protect a deposit than the deposit itself. I am a frequent traveler and this would have been my first trip with Tauck. I have not experienced this procedure with any other tour company. Cannot recommend Tauck.

My husband and I did a Tauck tour of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Wonderful hotels, THE BEST tour guide and great excursions. We feel like we would never have seen everything on our own and got our monies worth!
Highlight is the Jazz concert in Preservation Hall and World War II museum.

Just returned from 14 days travel the coastal perimeter. It was our favorite trip + we frequently travel. Our Tour Director (Vincent Baxter) was very knowledgeable + made the trip wonderful. He shared his life with us. He explained The Troubles + The Hunger and told little known facts. We’ve never learned so much. If you go in mid May all the Hawthorn trees will be in bloom. They are everywhere + beautiful. The Irish love their country + are very proud of it. The beauty will stay with us forever.

During the pandemic my Huband and I planned a trip to Africa. Unfortunately, I was frightened and there were no airplanes flying anywhere, so we canceled. Consequently, the trip was canceled altogether. Tauck wouldn't give me back my down payment even then. They said it will be held for a dreamer's trip. Earlier last year, since I couldn't get my deposit back, we decided to take a trip this year. Unbelievably they made me pay another $1200 payment. I know insurance is important; my husband was going to get it this year. Unfortunately, we both can't make the trip due to illnesses. Again, I was told I would not be getting back my payments of $2400. They didn't care that we would have gone but for medical issues we could not. We are both 77 years old. I sent messages to two TV stations, and I hope they take the case. I've seen other travelers not getting their money back either. We should all get together and put in a complaint.

We have taken one TAUCK 8 day tour (Savannah/Hilton Head/Charleston) and based on that experience would not recommend them for the following reasons:
1. They are expensive. We paid $5,589 PP. If you booked this yourself, it’s only ~$3,165. This means you are paying almost twice as much for the same experience.
2. The experiences were “nothing special”. We could have booked any of them on the internet.
3. The food was mostly “OK” with one meal being superb and one meal being inedible.
4. We got the impression that our tour director was “phoning it in”. She really didn't seem like she wanted to be on the tour.
5. They also overcharge – we booked an extra day at the hotel and were charged $298.50 (the single person rate) times 2 (since there were two of us) for a total of $597. The published rate for our room was $383.
I’d also consider another aspect of the tour: You are being “programmed” and in order to get the most out of the tour, you need to be up in the morning and stick with the group. If you’ve never watched the movie, “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium”, please do so prior to booking. Sure it’s satire, but there’s a lot of truth there. There's not fault to Tauck for this, that's what they do, we just decided it's not our "style".

If you do decide you’re a “tour person”, check out Roads Scholar tours. A similar tour from them would have been $3,099 PP and the tour leader, Ruth Miller, would have been fantastic (we had her for our Tauck bus tour in Charleston, she was fantastic, one of the highlights of the trip. )

Net-net, do your homework and make sure this type of travel is really “for you” and whatever you do, don't book extra days through Tauck.

Tauck is a disaster! Save your money and use another tour company. Went on very expensive Danube tour starting 10/1/23 from Budapest on the Danube. Cabin filled with sewer gas the whole trip. Asked for help three times and Tauck employees pretended they didn’t know. Never helped. Left review an Tauck said tough. Sorry sewer gas was so bad in your cabin it kept you awake at night.

No help and no consideration. Avoid Tauck. If Tauck is brave enough to contact me they can check their internal reviews from 10/1/23 Danube trip starting in Budapest. However, Tauck cares not for their customers and are cowards. I only wish I could give them less than a 1 star review. My feeling are negative 5 stars or worse.

Was on tour with another family that will verify sewer gas and no relief from Tauck. Very sad company. Happy to talk to any prospective future Tauck victims.

Take my advice and avoid Tauck. Find another tour company.

My wife and I recently took a trip to Italy, a 14-day Tauck Classic Italy. The trip was wonderful until my wife fell and could not continue on. Although we had issues with the travel insurance company, Tauck stepped up and agreed to reimburse us for the expenses we had because of some communication issues when we left. I will definitely be scheduling more trips with Tauck. They are a first-rate company who understands the value of dedicated customers.

After 16 trips with Tauck, this was my last. The overall trip was BORING, on and off the bus, packing/unpacking after 1 or 2 days in each hotel, dull sites. Their choice of hotels has deteriorated considerably. One of the "hotels" was less than 1 star. But the worst part is their customer service. Apparently they could care less about keeping customers. Maybe ignorant first-timers will keep them going for a while. Doubt it.

More than a year ago we signed up for the Switzerland: Europe's Crown Jewel tour for September 2023. One of the featured items on the website and in brochure was a trip on the Glacier Express glass-domed train through the Alps. About a week before departure, Tauck sent an email saying that they couldn't get tickets so they substituted for a regular train, a very long bus ride, and a tour of a cheese factory. Getting train tickets is their core business. They knew the dates. We booked more than a year in advance. We questioned them and were told that they would not be providing any compensation because they provided an alternate excursion. The basement of a very small, stinky cheese factory was not a suitable alternative to the world-renowned Glacier Express. During the trip, we learned that some couples got cash back - when we protested to Tauck, they offered a voucher if we booked a future trip. I feel that this was a bait and switch. This was our third Tauck trip and I question whether I will ever use their voucher.

Otherwise, this trip had way too much bus time. The meals were good. The hotels were average. Pace was geared to people 70 plus years old....we are 60 and were the youngest people on tour.

Tauck does it best! This was my 8th Tauck Trip and it was wonderful. Well planned and excellent experiences. Would highly recommend Tauck. They are the best!

First time Tauck Tour, Essence of Japan. It will be my last. Spent more than 45k and they handled flight booking. They booked international layover outbound with 40 min window. Not surprisingly my bags, clothes and medicine didn't arrive for 30 hours. They acknowledged their fault in email but Guest Relations tone deaf. They offered small cash refund and future credit on next tour. Won't be a "next tour ". It was once a great brand but they have lost their feel for customer retention. If you use them, book your own travel and save money and aggravation.