Can I ask why you do not recommend Tauck? We are looking at their South Africa trip because we like the itinerary better than ABD's.
I'd also like to know this. I've seen a trip with Tauck and I liked the itinerary. Would love to hear your thoughts
@AquamarineSteph
Touring is very personal, and what matters to one person may not matter as much to another. So feel free to take this with a grain of salt.
We were on a Tauck land trip with no children. In fact, the youngest person there was somebody's adult grandson. We were the youngest couple, and we're not that young. Almost all of these people were veterans of multiple Tauck trips, which speaks well for their product and company.
Having said that, most of the people on the trip complained incessantly that they had to walk any distance at all, that the driver didn't smile at them, that this wasn't available or that wasn't available, or things were different on their last Tauck trip...etc., etc. After day three, it was very depressing. Now you may find people like that in any group, sure, but I've never run across such a concentration of unhappy people on an ABD trip. (And ironically, in spite of all these complaints, these people were already talking about their next Tauck trip.)
Now that's a group specific observation, so let me move onto the way the tour itself works. The hotels, save one, were fabulous. (The one that was horrible was unfortunately the last hotel which didn't leave a good impression.) The food for group meals was excellent local fare which showcased regional specialities. There were repeat issues for people who had dietary restrictions. The guide was available to the entire group for questions for five to ten minutes each morning before loading the bus to travel. That's being literal. We had a printed daily schedule, and the ask the guide anything time period was very clearly marked. You could ask location questions during the tour, of course, but not personal questions.
The printed daily schedule also took a lot of fun and anticipation out of the trip. There was nothing to look forward to in that sense, because we knew at 4:10 pm we would be going there. And at 5:15 pm, we would be leaving for there. And we could all sit and obsess together if we were running late because of traffic, etc. I don't think all of their tours do that, but I did not enjoy that experience.
And there were a lot of other little things that would take too long to list here. In general, the service was adequate, but not what I would expect from a trip that costs what ours did. The hotels were great, except that one. The food was decent. And we were able to see everything on our itinerary, and that's the key point here. We picked out this tour with Tauck because it had a very specific itinerary which was not duplicated with any other tour company. So in that respect, I am very glad we did this trip with them. I wanted that specific itinerary; however, I do not plan to take another one with them, even though returning guests are given a free pre or post night's stay on the next tour they book.
We didn't do the South Africa tour. Our tour was in Europe. If you have any specific questions that I might be able to answer, please free to message me.