tauck's switzerland tour

I have never taken a tour, but my mother swears by Tauck. She has been taking their tours for quite a while and has converted a few of her friends. She doesn't like to do the planning, but wants to make sure she is in first rate hotels and taken care of so it works well for her. She does say that they are worth the money for her.

Tauck is more expensive. typically they have better hotels in more central locations - and when they do give you meals (which may well be less often than most tours) the food tends to be better quality/more authentic.

Friends of my parents have taken them a couple of times - since they are no longer comfortable driving in europe and they were relatively satisfied - much more so than with a Perillo tour they were conned into with friends. However, they still often did meals on their own - to get better fare. (But these are people used to traveling 4 or 5*.)

thanks folks. have read that tauck actually gives you more food than you need. the hotels look beautiful and all look like 4 star but doubt u even have much time to enjoy them. have tried looking into some discounts on tauck but all i keep getting is the price tauck quoted me. money is tight all over the country and don't understand why someone doesn't have "deals" on these tours.

Tauck is well worth the money. We know people who do their tours and they have had wonderful experiences.

I went with Globus - it was cheaper. Try this website, they give discount for some tour companies

http://www.affordabletours.com/

We have done three Tauck tours and have booked to do another later this year. We have always been impressed with the itinerary that they offer and have never had to pay for any optional excursions -- everything is included.

We have done only one Insight tour, but have compared the itineraries and inclusions for both operators quite often. Insight is a bit cheaper, but they do not include as many meals, and they seem to offer more optional extras than Tauck.

You certainly get fed very well on a Tauck tour, perhaps too well. On each of our tours we have had meal selections ranging from bistro to fine dining, all included in the tour price. In part, this is what the extra Tauck tour cost is paying for. For a week of indulgence, it is a nice treat.

Some of the people that we have met on the tours had done more than 60 Tauck tours. There must be something to them.

I might add that Switzerland is easy to do on your own. We bought a Swiss Rail pass in the States before we left ( have to buy it in the states) and it gave you a free ride on the trains,the bus and even the boat! The trains are excellent and run on time. If you miss a train, your watch is wrong. We traveled all over on the train and enjoyed it.It was the easiest country to travel in when it comes to Europe for us. Tauck is excellent but expensive and I would imagine it would attract an older group of people.

I agree with southeastern about doing Switzerland on your own. It is easy.
We have found that the age mix on our Tauck tours has been quite broad and definitely not limited to "older" people.

BTW southeastern, "older" is, in any event, a relative description. An "old" person is anyone who is 15 years or more older than you are. Hence, in our eyes, we are never part of any "older group".

What I meant by older is that it would probably attract people that have a more disposal income. In addition the people that I have known to do it were the over 50 group which now sounds young to me.

Accepted. I agree that Tauck is not for the budget-conscious.

What I do find noticeable with the age mix on any tour is the fact that a lot of people getting into their 60s (and older) become a bit more conscious of the need to look after their fitness and diet and, as a result, they are ofter fitter than many of their travelling companions who are 15 to 20 years younger. The huffers and puffers are not always the older people in the group.

paula~ Everyone decides their own comfort level, of course, but Switzerland is one of THE easiest places I have ever traveled. I've been there 5 times. It's just so darn organized! Especially if you plan you itinerary to do all by train.

thanks everyone for your thoughts. did u have trouble with the language in switzerland when traveling on your own? i heard they speak 4 different languages and i barely get by with english. our original plans were to stay in lake como for 5 days and then 5 days in switzerland with another cpl but they had to back out thus we had to change our plans. we also feel that we get more out of the trip when we have an experienced tour guide as u see more and learn more. i did look into hiring private tour guides if we were going it alone. and we are in our 60's and get along with all age groups so not worried about that part of the trip. and also compared all the other tour groups with what tauck offered and it did look like more was included vs. being nickle and dimed to death later on during yr trip.
and if anyone is interested in a great trip i highly recommend the mediteranean cruises. have taken two already and if they had one by the alps i wud do it again!

Paula.
I am under the impression that everyone in Switzerland speaks English. It may be drawing a long bow to reach that conclusion, but I have travelled there three times, all as an independent traveller, and I have never come across anyone in a tourism or retail environment that didn't. The Swiss people seem to be very accommodating towards tourists. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of some officials that I have encountered in France.
Rob.

My second trip to Switzerland was with Untours, a lovely mix of being independent and having just the help that you need: www.untours.com Along with that, the company's profits are used for philanthropy. We had no problems with getting around and using English.

Happy travels!

I was wondering how many people are in the tour group? I skimmed the website and couldn't readily see the answer. I ask because the only organized tour I went on was with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) and I agreed to them because they had only 15 people in the group. How do you feel about being in a large group of people? I would use OAT again since there was time built into the tour for ourselves. My husband and I tend to be wanderers, meaning we like to be free to wander where we want and to not be on some other persons schedule. So, while I like the idea of someone guiding me, I don't like to follow a large group.

I have to agree with Amy about Untours. We used them for a 2007 trip to Switzerland and were completely satisfied with their operation.

We were so satisfied with them that we signed up for a trip to the Netherlands the following year. Unfortuneately, dw discovered a lump which required immediate surgery and we had to cancel a few days before the trip.

We have been on 6 Tauck tours; 2 out of the last 3 weren't worth the money. Tauck has become quite large and their quality is suffering - our last trip to the Scandanavia coutries (2009) was a disaster. we were in less than great hotels, some unclean and unsafe - one of the members actually slipped and fell in shower due to no safety mats, rails etc - and the Tour Director (if u could find him) told the group... "that Sweden has no TORT laws so u couldn't sue anyone and Tauck has as stable of lawyers that knew how to play the game,also."
It was very hot and most of the hotels had no a/c and it stayed light till 2am; hence, we were pretty miserable.
also, expect to have a full bus with Tauck now - 40-45 people.
Our first three trips were all ten, France was a 6, Panama Canal a 9 and then Scandanavia a 2. We have traveled our last Tauck trip.
p.s if u experience any problems and later need to resolve with Tauck - good LUCK!

This comment by 'ribbaz' is really interesting, as we are taking the Tauck Tour of Scandinavia in August. I did check with the BBB of Norwalk, Ct. and they have had two [2] complaints in the last 36 months. So then I checked with Fodorites to get their opinions. Actually [ribbaz] had another post on Nov. 2nd, 2009. In that post one statement was, quote,[my husband slipped and fell]. In the post of April 12th 2010 the statement was, quote, [one of the members slipped and fell]. INTERESTING I suppose the 'member' could have been the husband.

Interested remarks from Ribbaz:

- I've never seen a shower in Europe with safety mats.
- Most hotels in Sweden doesn't have a/c because it's so rarely needed
- suing is kept at a minimum in Europe

Ribbaz: Please stay away from Europe. It will never satisfy your needs.

I did the Insight CountryRoads of Switzerland and was very satisfied. I dont know how it compares to Tauck itinerary wise....but I was pleased w/ the hotels etc on the Insight tour.

I have used Insight for 3 vacations now and always find they deliver as promised.

This is indeed interesting: no one has posted to paula46's question in over a month but my post got two hits in less than 1&1/2 hrs.

Nor did either Iris nor schuler address paula's question but did critique my post....hmmmm?

The time I did post our last experience with Tauck (it was not positive) we received a call from a Tauck supervisor, within a couple of hours, wanting to offer us money on a future Tauck trip. And it was no coincidence because this Tauck rep referred to my post. It seem that somebody with a vested interest in Tauck is monitorting these forums?

Also, we only posted our trip with Tauck because we were road blocked for a resolution with Tauck at their 'customer service' desk. The Frommer's post got results!

As far as going to Europe again (schuler) we are off again in a couple of weeks, only it will NOT be with Tauck; this will make over 20 trips to Europe over the last two decades - ergo, we know of what we speak...

as I learned a long time ago, - Caveat emptor!

....and so it goes

p.s. we stand by our original post

Well, was it 'husband' or 'member' or both or neither. P.S. August will be our 31st trip to Europe, so we know a 'little bit'. I think you were just a very disgruntled person and that happens. This post today had some rational, but your previous posts were unbelievable. Lights hanging by a thread--really. PAULA; One thing 'ribbaz' said had some validity. I didn't answer your thread. We are happy to be taking this trip with Tauck. Anyways, one couple we are traveling with has done three Tauck Tours and all were exceptional. Whatever you decide will be the right decision for your trip. Have a great time. Richard

It wasn't the Switzerland Tour, but we did a Tauck Tour a few years back (A Week in Italy) and loved it. The quality of the hotels was high and the guide was wonderful.

wow! just happened to check this site and saw that i had other replies added since i first posted my question. well we did book the 9/19 switzerland trip with tauck so nothing to report as yet. it is expensive but actually found a local travel agent that gave us $500 off tauck's price, and i did try several companies looking for some help. so happy with that. and looking forward to the beautiful country.
planning on flying into milan and taking train up to lake como before trip for 3-4 days then meet the group in geneva. am doing all the research on lake como right now before booking our flight. so any tips any of u have on como or the surrounding towns wud be awesome.
have been to europe 3 other times (mostly italy) but always with others and always felt comfortable traveling but like i said before still a little leary with just my husband and i.
happy summer to all.

"It seem that somebody with a vested interest in Tauck is monitorting these forums?" - this would be only logical to monitor all travel forums, and I've heard cruise companies, for example, are doing it.

Iris: a husband who has a member?