Maybe this is an unfair question

[vwlfan]

Has anyone done both done an ABD trip and a Tauck tour? How do they compare?

 

[sayhello]

Not an unfair question at all. I'm sure there are more than a few people here who have done both. I think you'd be more likely to get them to reply if you put that in your thread title instead of what you did.

Sayhello

 

[vwlfan]

Yes thanks . I got confused by the formatting. Thanks

 

[sharktums]

My mother has done both. She prefers Tauck, but she is not a Disney fan like we are. I mean, she has an annual pass and enjoys the parks but she doesn't need THAT much Disney on an organized tour. We have not done both, but when we do a rare organized tour we'll go with ABD because we ARE Disney people! She says they are VERY similar in quality, hotels, guides, meals, activities, etc. Tauck seems a little more 'grown up' to her and a little higher level. In fact Tauck and ABD share very similar itineraries, hotels, contractors, etc.

 

[Grifdog22]

Tauck does not have a cadre of lawyers that blitz you with releases and promises to indemnify them like Disney. They are more responsible, with an excellent website portal where you can update your trip reservation and receive specific answers to your inquiries that are accurate. Their trip insurance is far more reasonable and flexible, and they don't seem to cancel even for smaller groups. My upcoming trip has 11 including us and there is no question about cancellation based upon numbers. They don't use dynamic pricing and they offer incentives such as free pre/post nights for returning guests. They also often have choices for daily activities, for more active or less active...

 

[WeLoveABD]

We've done 5 Tauck and 13 ABDs-- they are similar in quality, but (except Tauck Bridges) the group trends much older on Tauck, and there is one guide not 2. We have had great guides and not so great on Tauck, and uniformly great guides on ABD. Paperwork is the least of it, and you can get your own insurance (which is what we do). In th end, for us, it is the itinerary that we base our travel decisions on.

 

[vwlfan]

All great information still marinating in the process! Thanks

 

[ftmill]

We've done 5 Tauck and 13 ABDs-- they are similar in quality, but (except Tauck Bridges) the group trends much older on Tauck, and there is one guide not 2. We have had great guides and not so great on Tauck, and uniformly great guides on ABD. Paperwork is the least of it, and you can get your own insurance (which is what we do). In th end, for us, it is the itinerary that we base our travel decisions on.

What insurance do you get?

 

[WeLoveABD]

Insuremytrip.com

 

[WeLoveABD]

Huh-- I wrote it out but it was blocked, I guess

 

[ftmill]

What insurance do you get?

Have you done the river cruises by ABD? Do you know who owns their river boats?

 

[WeLoveABD]

AmaWaterways owns the ships. We did a river cruise with Ama, with Viking and with Tauck-- not ABD yet!

 

[ftmill]

AmaWaterways owns the ships. We did a river cruise with Ama, with Viking and with Tauck-- not ABD yet!

Which river cruise was best? We cruise a lot but never been on a river cruise. Next spring I am going transatlantic on Celebrity Apex and wanted to stay there and either take a bus tour or river cruise looking for active organzied bus tours.


I am going to Grand Floridian in June using the points I purchased last August taking 5 grands so I postponed all cruising until the fall. I am glued to this board getting information at this time.
I have used this board over the years and learned a lot (and saved a lot of money).

Thank you for letting me pick your brain.

 

[WeLoveABD]

I liked Viking and Ama about the same (great itineraries, which makes the trip experience for us)-- more recently we did Tauck, which had meh guide service and an older and more conservative customer base which had its challenges. Based on that, we decided to wait on any more river cruises for a while. But! I didn't experience an ABD one, which I have seen from Disboards reports is more active.

 

[sayhello]

Which river cruise was best? We cruise a lot but never been on a river cruise. Next spring I am going transatlantic on Celebrity Apex and wanted to stay there and either take a bus tour or river cruise looking for active organzied bus tours.


I am going to Grand Floridian in June using the points I purchased last August taking 5 grands so I postponed all cruising until the fall. I am glued to this board getting information at this time.
I have used this board over the years and learned a lot (and saved a lot of money).

Thank you for letting me pick your brain.

I've done the ABD Danube River cruise. It was a fabulous trip! If you've done ABDs, you do lose a bit of the feeling of everyone being a family that the Adventure Guides work to instill, and you don't get to know the Adventure Guides as well, because of the number of people on the ship, and the fact that the makeup of who is on your particular excursion with you can change every day. But that said, it was still a wonderful trip, with plenty of active and cultural excursions available, and the AMAWaterways ships are beautiful, and the crew is amazing!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

and more conservative customer base which had its challenges.

Would you be able to tell me a little more about this..? I was considering Tauck as we begin researching for Egypt next year and this has stopped me in my tracks. In the last couple of years I have found folks want to debate me as we are from Portland Oregon and am over spending my precious vacation time doing so.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Would you be able to tell me a little more about this..? I was considering Tauck as we begin researching for Egypt next year and this has stopped me in my tracks. In the last couple of years I have found folks want to debate me as we are from Portland Oregon and am over spending my precious vacation time doing so.

This happens when you are from California, too! I get it frequently.

 

[aggiedog]

I've had the opposite. "oh, you're from Texas...." I just look them dead in the eye and say I don't understand what they're talking about. Usually stops them cold.

Back to river cruises - they are VERY different from ocean cruises. There is a good list of stickied threads on the CruiseCritic site about river cruises, including comparisons between lines. If you're looking at doing one it's worth the look.

 

[aggiedog]

Back to finish my post:

The biggest difference between ocean and river cruising is that the river cruise ship is not a destination in itself. There is no big shows at night, night clubs, etc. There is a lounge that might have some music, but is usually a fairly sedate area. There can be a "see local dancers" or "try local peach brandy" etc after dinner, but that is in the minority. There is also less selection of food. One dining room, with one seating. Some lines do offer a small cafe as well, or a small plates version of what they're serving in the lounge instead. It's hard to do DIY excursions, as ship docking locations and times can be fluid due to water levels, and it's not uncommon to get off the ship in one town and then meet it in another.

 

[ftmill]

I've done the ABD Danube River cruise. It was a fabulous trip! If you've done ABDs, you do lose a bit of the feeling of everyone being a family that the Adventure Guides work to instill, and you don't get to know the Adventure Guides as well, because of the number of people on the ship, and the fact that the makeup of who is on your particular excursion with you can change every day. But that said, it was still a wonderful trip, with plenty of active and cultural excursions available, and the AMAWaterways ships are beautiful, and the crew is amazing!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Sayhello

You certainly have done many ABDs! I was looking at the South Africa safari for next April, 2024 which isn’t listed yet. What is the best approach to getting a good price on these trips?