Tauck Tours - Grand Alaska...anyone?

[DisneyBlonde]

Looking at Tauck Tours Grand Alaska Cruise tour for August 2005. Comparing it to the cruisetours the cruiselines offer, it includes a lot more, but cha CHING!!!! Much more expensive. Has anyone taken this particular tour? Looking for your experiences and opinions.

 

TIA

 

Diz:)

[charliem]

We did not do Alaska with Tauck but did use them for Hawaii 3 years ago - 9 days land tour only. I do not know if you have ever used them before but I can not say enough about this tour company. They are first class all the way!

 

We had looked at Tauck for our June 2004 trip to Alaska but because of the difference in money decided on Vision of the Seas - 12 day cruisetour. It was wonderful but you can not go wrong with Tauck.

 

Charliem

[Coral]

I have been eyeing Tauck for either a Canadian Rockies tour or Fall foliage tour. Everything I have heard about Tauck is awesome!

 

Doesn't Tauck combine their land tours with a Princess cruise? Keep us informed on what you decide to do.

[DisneyBlonde]

Hey you! How's Bunny and Erin? Love your pictures. The pictures in the Grand album are amazing! :cool:

 

Yeah, we're looking at the fact that Tauck includes so much more than the typical tour, like meals, which are not cheap in Alaska. But wow...the rates are killer. I'll let you know which way we go.

 

Diz:)

[Coral]

Hi Diz,

 

I should have recognized the name!!! My pictures from that Grand trip did turn out great! The rest are so-so. I love Alaska (4 cruises there) but have yet to pay the price for a land tour. One day I will. I have been looking at Tuack tours for awhile and am really tempted to try them out. Let me know what you decide!

 

Family is doing well.

 

Theresa

[lisiamc]

Hi,

 

I haven't taken a Tauck tour of Alaska, but have done several in the continental US, Hawaii, and Europe. I think they are the best tour company out there, and if I could afford the Alaska tour, I'd take it! They are wonderful. If you can combine it somehow with a cruise before or after, you'd be in vacation heaven!

 

Lisa

[Yukon]

Tauck Tours has a superb reputation - proof that you get what you pay for. Though I'm not a big fan of Princess (which they use on that trip), the only real downside, IMHO, is including meals. The tour company has to cover themselves by assuming that you'll order the most expensive thing on the menu at every meal (many people do, and overeat as a result), so you're making high Alaska meal prices even higher. The other side of that coin is that most high-end tour companies do include meals. You can find other companies doing similar cruise-tour trips at http://www.explorenorth.com/tours-motorcoach.html (Jerry Van Dyke, for example, uses Celebrity, and includes some meals but not all).

 

Murray

[DisneyBlonde]

Thank you for all the replies...we're taking everything into consideration and trying to come up with a combination that works for us.

 

Yukon...if we were to go with one of these inexpensive tours that don't include meals, like Insight or Trafalgar, would we go broke buying food? My concern is that we're at the mercy of the guide as far as where we are taken for meals. I understand that $25 a person for breakfast isn't unusual. I'm thinking I'd rather pay someone like Tauck or Brendan up front and know that I'm covered. What are your thoughts?

 

We've never done any kind of tour before and are just learning who the companies are, what they offer, and what kind of reputation they have. There's a lot to digest. :eek:

 

Diz:)

[Yukon]

Diz - $25 for breakfast is extremely unusual - $15 is common for a buffet. While you are sometimes at the mercy of the guide when it comes to meals, I've yet to see one who would take you to a very expensive place with no options - there is almost always another place close by, and most restaurants have ways to get by without breaking the bank if you have to do that for one day or evening. Unless you really eat "high on the hog", you'll find that on average you'll be spending $10 for breakfast, $10-12 for lunch and and about $20 for dinner. On most land tours, Denali is the most expensive location. If you do a land tour that includes the Yukon, you'll be laughing at the prices - less than $4 for a good breakfast way up in Dawson, for example. For both meals and accommodations, prices in the Yukon are just over 1/2 of Alaska prices.

 

Murray

[DisneyBlonde]

ty :o :cool: :o

 

Diz:)