2010 Yosemite with Tauck or ABD

[Bobo912]

We're going to Yosemite with Tauck Bridges! Wanted to start this thread so that any of us who are taking the Tauck or ABD Nothern CA trips can compare notes. Since this is our first experience with Tauck Bridges, I'm interested to see how the two companies stack up. We are traveling on June 20. There are now only 4 slots open for our date. There are 14 kids on the trip so far - 5 boys ages 7, 9, 11, 13 and my 9-year-old and 9 girls - 6, three 8-year-olds, two 9 year-olds, 11, 13, and 14. Making the reservation was easy, so it's been a good experience, so far. The rep was friendly and did not hesitate to tell me how many people were booked and the details about the kids. I'll keep you posted on any similarities/differences I see between ABD and Tauck.

 

[kjd469]

Congratulations on booking your trip! Just last night, I was reading the booklet that Tauck sent to me with the U.S./Canadian trips in them, and they all looked fabulous!! I was especially impressed, reading the first few pages of the book, where it explained how Tauck came to be, and their philosophies, etc. - very impressive, I must say. After reading that, it got me super-excited about our upcoming Costa Rica trip with them. I am absolutely sure that we will have an amazing trip with Tauck, and you too! When are you going?

 

[Bobo912]

We are going on June 20. I read a lot of posts saying May and June were good months to visit Yosemite. We have school in May and my son's spring baseball season is still in progress at the beginning of June, so I figured the 20th would be good for us. That's why I went ahead and booked today. That trip was nearly full and I didn't want to miss out. There was another trip beginning on June 27th, but that one ends on July 4th and I thought it would be better to avoid the holiday. We may stick around a day or two and do some sightseeing on our own. Haven't decided yet. I've read a lot of positive things about Tauck and I think it will be a wonderful trip. You're going to love Costa Rica. It's a beautiful country. I would love to go there again, but there are so many other places I haven't visited yet!

 

[marcemch]

Congratulations! I'm leaning towards this trip too, but late July will probably be a better time for me to go work-wise (even though the waterfalls may be dried up - boo hoo!). I think I need to stay a little closer to home this year in case of work issues that need to be dealt with via computer in the am and pm (although I do avoid doing work at all costs while on vacation!). It would have been fun to meet you Bobo912 - wish we could go on the same trip.
I also like their trip cancellation insurance - although expensive, it might work for me given the uncertainty of my work situation this summer.
I was thinking about checking in with my AAA TA to see if they had any kind of discount or cash back card. Did you do that?
By the way, I did see on Facebook there was a group for the Aug 2009 Tauck Bridges N. CA trip - entitled "The Best Trip Ever". I wanted to join the group to quiz them more about the trip, but since it was closed and they didn't allow me to put a message in my request to join the group I figured I wouldn't be accepted.
I'll be SO ANXIOUS to hear the comparison posts from the ABD vetrans and vice versa after the trips start happening this summer, even if we decide not to go.

 

[Bobo912]

marcemch, I meant to call AAA every day this week and I was so busy at work I never got around to it. I tried to call this morning, but there is no one in their office on Saturday. After I heard how close to capacity the trip was I decided to go ahead and book. I did see Tauck World Discovery on the AAA website, but when I compared the prices they were the same as the prices that Tauck quotes and AAA had no mention of a gift card or other incentive. I was originally planning to book the Jul 25 trip, but after I read that the waterfalls were all dry in July & Aug (even Yosemite Falls), I changed my mind. It would have been nice to meet you. I hope you get to go this year. Since we'll be going earlier in the summer, at least I'll be able to let you know how it goes. I'm sure it's going to be a great trip.

 

[Bobo912]

One more thing I wanted to mention. The Tauck brochure lists the Portola Hotel & Spa as the accommodation in Monterey. For our date the hotel is actually Intercontinental The Clement Monterey. I checked the hotels website and it looks lovely. It has many really good reviews on Trip Advisor (Portola had some good reviews to, but not as good as the Intercontinental). So the hotel in Monterey is dependent on your travel date.

 

[sayhello]

Congrats, Bobo912! I'm sure you'll have a fabulous trip! I *love* Northern California, and I've said before, Yosemite is one of my favorite places on Earth! I'm really looking forward to hearing about your trip, and also how Tauck stacks up to ABD.

Yay!

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

Thanks, sayhello. I'm excited about the trip and happy to have finally made a decision.

 

[Momof3greatkids]

Wow! We have been really debating this trip ourselves. After looking over all the Tauck and ABD options, this was the one we had seriously considered taking. ABD has really been out with us, since there are no EBD's and such an increase in price. I am also considering doing Yosemite on our own for a couple of reasons. First, there is no whitewater rafting. There is wonderful whitewater about 30 minutes outside of Yosemite that runs until July, so I would love an option to do that, but with no car it would be a no go. We where also interested in some rock climbing, which is a highlight of Yosemite. The tours, offered by Tauck, for Yosemite are just the standard fare offered through Park services. However, Tauck has alot to offer. So, we are debating our options. Have a wonderful time on your trip, and be sure and report.

 

[Turtlemom]

Hi Bobo912--
Guess I didn't read these in order, before I replied on the other threads.
Congratulations on booking your trip! I'm really excited to hear how it goes and would really love a full report of how Tauk Bridges stacks up against ABD. I am such an ABD fan that it was too tempting not to sign up for Central Italy this summer, but change is also good--so they tell me ;0)

Good luck and tell us all about your adventure!

 

[marcemch]

FYI-I emailed my AAA travel agent, and here is what she said they offer for Tauck Bridges. Maybe this differs by area/office? (Not much of a savings, so don't think you missed much by booking directly with Tauck, Bobo912).


- $50 per person air credit if you book airfare with Tauck
- Trip cancellation insurance offered by Tauck is $165 per person; AAA Vacation insurance is based on age of parent traveling with child and for this tour, depending on age, total cost is $119 pp - $143 pp. AAA policy allows children up to 17 years old to travel free w/parent on the same itinerary.
- There is no ticketing fee for airline tickets booked thru AAA when booked in conjunction with tour.
- AAA Membership promotion from now until March 31; AAA will refund the cost of a primary AAA membership when you book a tour vacation thru AAA vacations. The membership is paid for upfront and refunded to the Member by check after final payment is made on trip.

I have no idea if the insurance coverage is the same for the money - I need to look into that further and also into private insurance per other disboard posts.

 

[Bobo912]

FYI-I emailed my AAA travel agent, and here is what she said they offer for Tauck Bridges. Maybe this differs by area/office? (Not much of a savings, so don't think you missed much by booking directly with Tauck, Bobo912).


- $50 per person air credit if you book airfare with Tauck
- Trip cancellation insurance offered by Tauck is $165 per person; AAA Vacation insurance is based on age of parent traveling with child and for this tour, depending on age, total cost is $119 pp - $143 pp. AAA policy allows children up to 17 years old to travel free w/parent on the same itinerary.
- There is no ticketing fee for airline tickets booked thru AAA when booked in conjunction with tour.
- AAA Membership promotion from now until March 31; AAA will refund the cost of a primary AAA membership when you book a tour vacation thru AAA vacations. The membership is paid for upfront and refunded to the Member by check after final payment is made on trip.

I have no idea if the insurance coverage is the same for the money - I need to look into that further and also into private insurance per other disboard posts.

Thanks for the info, marcemch! I saw the $50 air credit on the AAA website, but we're probably going to fly on Southwest. I've almost got a Rapid Rewards ticket - just need to eat out a few times to get the last half point. Was the membership dues refund only for new members? I didn't see that anywhere on their website, but I was logged in, so if it's only for new members they might not display it for me. Unless I get a pretty big discount I think I'm happier to deal directly with Tauck (or ABD or whoever). That's one thing I like about ABD and Costco, I get the Costco Cash Card, but all my communication is still directly with ABD.

 

[Bobo912]

I just booked our flights. The fare from Nashville to San Francisco went down $40 per person today, so I thought I might as well go ahead and book it. Today's specials were only for travel through June 24, so our return date wasn't included. The return fare is $252 pp, which I'm hoping will go down, but it's the lowest I've seen that will fit our schedule, and the only flight that SWA has from SFO to BNA after 12:00PM (which Tauck requires since they have to transfer us from Monterey), so I didn't want to risk waiting. I booked two one-way trips just to make it extra easy to rebook if the price drops on the return leg. If it goes down I don't think I'll have any trouble using the funds, since I'm almost certain we'll be at Universal to see Harry Potter sometime this summer. So that pretty much takes care of everything for the Northern CA trip, except final payment and packing, of course.

 

[marcemch]

We're going on the July 11 trip. There were only 3 slot open when I called and many kids near my daughter's age, so decided to bite the bullet and book it. Peru with ABD and Costa Rica with Tauck were the other finalists, but in the end, everything just kind of fell into place on this trip. Got a pretty decent price/times on Southwest from RDU, so that was the clincher.

Will definitely want to hear the details from Bobo912 as we seem to be following in the footsteps of your trips (last year we went to Alaska in Aug after you were there earlier as well).

Now... hopefully, I won't have to cancel due to work!

 

[RSM]

Congratulations on booking your trip marcemch. Have a great time.

Hey Bobo912, have a great time at Universal. Our son is a huge Harry Potter fan and we can't wait to go. But he is a shade under 53" tall, and the two big coasters (he loves roller coasters) have a 54" minimum height requirement. So, it looks like we will wait until next April vacation (April of 2011). He should hit the 54" mark by then (or we'll use thick soled sneakers

 

[sayhello]

Congrats, marcemch! You will love Yosemite! Have a fabulous time. I will be doing this trip at some point!

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

We're going on the July 11 trip. There were only 3 slot open when I called and many kids near my daughter's age, so decided to bite the bullet and book it. Peru with ABD and Costa Rica with Tauck were the other finalists, but in the end, everything just kind of fell into place on this trip. Got a pretty decent price/times on Southwest from RDU, so that was the clincher.

Will definitely want to hear the details from Bobo912 as we seem to be following in the footsteps of your trips (last year we went to Alaska in Aug after you were there earlier as well).

Now... hopefully, I won't have to cancel due to work!

That's fantastic! Seems like making a decision was the hard part for a lot of us this year. It looks like a great trip and I'm sure we'll all have a wonderful time. I almost booked the July 11 trip, but decided at the last minute to go end of June instead. I'm really interested in seeing how Tauck compares with ABD. Besides us, there are a few people on the Tauck Bridges Costa Rica trip too, so I hope we hear from them. There were 15 kids under 12 on our trip and there were still 4 slots open when I booked, so there could be more. Maybe it's just this itinerary, but they seem to have more kids than ABD. I've read trip reports on their Grand Canyon trip, as well, where about half the group were kids.

Hey Bobo912, have a great time at Universal. Our son is a huge Harry Potter fan and we can't wait to go. But he is a shade under 53" tall, and the two big coasters (he loves roller coasters) have a 54" minimum height requirement. So, it looks like we will wait until next April vacation (April of 2011). He should hit the 54" mark by then (or we'll use thick soled sneakers

We go to Orlando pretty often, but we haven't been to Universal in almost 3 years. DS wasn't tall enough for the big roller coasters last time either, so besides Harry Potter there will be a lot of other new things for us.

 

[marcemch]

I remember what you (Bobo912) said about the waterfalls at Yosemite often drying up by mid-summer, so I'm hoping there's still water flowing in mid July. Wonder if that area of CA has had as much snow as the rest of the country this year.

Oh well -will be fun no matter what!

 

[Bobo912]

I remember what you (Bobo912) said about the waterfalls at Yosemite often drying up by mid-summer, so I'm hoping there's still water flowing in mid July. Wonder if that area of CA has had as much snow as the rest of the country this year.

Oh well -will be fun no matter what!

If not waterfalls, then I'm sure there will be something wonderful and unique at Yosemite no matter when you visit.

 

[WeLoveABD]

We (Calif) are still short on water, but did have a good late winter re snow and rain--so hopefully the falls will be flowing strong through July at least!