July 2010 Costa Rica...Tauck or ABD participants

[Techtravler]

So has anyone going on this trip heard from Tauck on when they may have their flight contracts available with the Airlines?

 

[Techtravler]

Tauck called me today and said they have their contracts in place for flights for this trip. They said currently the contract is only with American, but should have Delta soon. They gave me a rate of Nine hundred and something to fly from and to Jacksonville, FL. I had to ask if that was per person, which it was.

How this is a special rate I do not know, because when I search on my own I am finding rates for about $700 per person. If this is the case it looks like i will book my own.

 

[Bobo912]

Tauck called me today and said they have their contracts in place for flights for this trip. They said currently the contract is only with American, but should have Delta soon. They gave me a rate of Nine hundred and something to fly from and to Jacksonville, FL. I had to ask if that was per person, which it was.

How this is a special rate I do not know, because when I search on my own I am finding rates for about $700 per person. If this is the case it looks like i will book my own.

Not sure if you are flying into San Jose or Liberia, but as a point of reference our flight last year from Nashville to San Jose was around $700 per person on US Air.

 

[Techtravler]

Not sure if you are flying into San Jose or Liberia, but as a point of reference our flight last year from Nashville to San Jose was around $700 per person on US Air.

Into Liberia and out of San Jose.

 

[Techtravler]

Jet Blue now has pricing during the July travel period for this trip. Flights out and in of Orlando to San Jose are only around $300 R/T PP. This is half of what I am seeing going into Liberia and out of San Jose on other Airlines.

For the $1K plus saved it seems worth a little hassle get to Liberia from San Jose. Plus we will get a tour of the Island during the ride.

 

[Techtravler]

FYI, as some of you know I am considering flying into San Jose instead of Liberia for the start of this trip. I am researching options for getting to Liberia from SJO or at least San Jose somewhere.

One option is to fly Nature Air from San Jose to Liberia. Cost is about $130.00 Per person. Keep in mind Nature does not fly out of SJO they fly out of Tobias Bolaños Airport about 15 minutes from SJO.

There is another option using interbusonline for the 3 of us it will cost about $95.00. I do not have any reviews yet on these guys.

I am looking into what I private driver/guide would cost. I think it would be great to get some sort of guided drive along the way. It seems the drive should take around 4 hrs or so.

I will update when I learn more, but if you have some new info on this please post. I know some of you only had good flight options into San Jose also.

TT

 

[kjd469]

One option is to fly Nature Air from San Jose to Liberia. Cost is about $130.00 Per person. Keep in mind Nature does not fly out of SJO they fly out of Tobias Bolaños Airport about 15 minutes from SJO.

I looked into the flights, and unless you are planning on packing super-light, it won't work for us...they have a weight limit of 30 lbs. per suitcase...I think we will be doing a private transfer from San Jose, arriving the day before the start of the tour.

 

[Techtravler]

I looked into the flights, and unless you are planning on packing super-light, it won't work for us...they have a weight limit of 30 lbs. per suitcase...I think we will be doing a private transfer from San Jose, arriving the day before the start of the tour.

Actually, this is what we are thinking of too. It looks like a private driver/guide will run around $180-$230. I have received two quotes already from SJU to the Hotel. This sounds like a great way to go because we will get a bit of a tour along the way. The driver we are looking into has had some very nice recommendations on some popular travel boards. He said he will be stopping at some great picture taking locations and stopping for some good Costarician food along the way.

Our only decision is weather we will transfer to the hotel on Saturday the 10th or Sunday the 11th the first day of the tour. We are going to arrive in San Jose on Saturday, but have been thinking about staying in Saying Jose and seeing the area on Saturday and then travel to the hotel on Sunday.

 

[Techtravler]

So I have set my Tivo to record anything with the words Costa Rica in it. When I came home yesterday I found it had a recorded an episode of Samantha Brown's Passport to Latin America. She was in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, this is where our trip begins.

The first place she was at on the show was Hacienda Guachipelin, this is also the first place we go when the trip actually begins on day 2. It was very cool to get a glimpse of some of what we will be seeing and doing.

 

[WeLoveABD]

I've noticed that Samantha Brown covers many of the same areas as ABD--and the Disney cruise ship--coincidence since Disney owns the Travel Channel? (Smart marketing for sure!)

 

[sayhello]

I've noticed that Samantha Brown covers many of the same areas as ABD--and the Disney cruise ship--coincidence since Disney owns the Travel Channel? (Smart marketing for sure!)

Disney owns the Travel Channel? Are you sure? I never heard that!

Sayhello

ETA: CNBC lists Scripts Network International as the majority stock holder in The Travel Channel as of a few days ago, purchased from Cox Communications:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33655231

They don't say who the minority stock holder is, however...

ETA again: Apparently Cox Communications, who previously owned the Travel Channel, retained the other 40%. No Disney ownership.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/bu...57FEFA5CE8900425862576660009E0E2?OpenDocument

 

[Techtravler]

I called Tauck Bridges today to add 1 night to the hotel prior to the trip begining. the price I was given for the 1 night was $225.00. This is far above the daily rate the hotel shows on thier website. I emailed the hotel directly about getting a price for this one night, and the hotel quoted $125.00 for the one night. The only difference between the 2 rates is Tauck's rate does include breakfast, the hotel direct rate does not. However, breakfast can be addedd for $25.00 for the 3 of us.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Thanks for looking into that SayHello! We heard some time ago that Disney retained ownership or some sort of stock interest in that channel, which I believed (given that they own ABC and have other media interests)--but your research looks good to me, so I'll speak of it no more!

 

[sayhello]

I called Tauck Bridges today to add 1 night to the hotel prior to the trip begining. the price I was given for the 1 night was $225.00. This is far above the daily rate the hotel shows on thier website. I emailed the hotel directly about getting a price for this one night, and the hotel quoted $125.00 for the one night. The only difference between the 2 rates is Tauck's rate does include breakfast, the hotel direct rate does not. However, breakfast can be addedd for $25.00 for the 3 of us.

I don't know how Tauck works, but for ABD, that cost also includes transfers from the airport. On a lot of the ABD trips, they'll only pick you up the day the tour starts unless you book a pre-day. So you may want to look into how much transfers would cost (although I doubt it's $100!) or whether or not that would still be included with Tauck.

And WeLoveABD, I didn't mean to imply you should stop talking about it!! I just got curious, and being me, couldn't stop until I had an answer!

Sayhello

 

[Techtravler]

I don't know how Tauck works, but for ABD, that cost also includes transfers from the airport. On a lot of the ABD trips, they'll only pick you up the day the tour starts unless you book a pre-day. So you may want to look into how much transfers would cost (although I doubt it's $100!) or whether or not that would still be included with Tauck.

And WeLoveABD, I didn't mean to imply you should stop talking about it!! I just got curious, and being me, couldn't stop until I had an answer!

Sayhello

Tauck was the same for Transfers. They will meet you at the Airport even if you arrive early. However, for us it did not matter. We are flying into San Jose Costa Rica instead of Liberia as Tauck would like. Because of this, we will not be using the Transfer into the the hotel. We have hired a private driver/Guide to take us from San Jose to Liberia. It was a very large savings to fly into San Jose and we will get a guided tour across Costa Rica. We are looking forward to this part of the trip.

 

[Bobo912]

Techtravler (or anyone else traveling with Tauck) did you purchase Tauck's travel insurance? The price per person isn't bad, but if I buy it directly from the insurance company (or insuremytrip.com) my son is free, so the cost is less than half as much so similar coverage.

 

[kjd469]

I didn't buy my insurance from Tauck...it was cheaper through AAA. Which trip are you taking?

 

[Bobo912]

I didn't buy my insurance from Tauck...it was cheaper through AAA. Which trip are you taking?

I'm almost certain we are taking the Yosemite trip. I'll probably book it tomorrow. We took a cruise last month and I purchased my insurance from Travelex for less than 1/3 of what DCL charges. I'm a AAA member, so I'll check with them too. Thanks!

 

[kjd469]

Have fun!!

 

[sayhello]

I'm almost certain we are taking the Yosemite trip. I'll probably book it tomorrow. We took a cruise last month and I purchased my insurance from Travelex for less than 1/3 of what DCL charges. I'm a AAA member, so I'll check with them too. Thanks!

Bobo912, you can also check out insuremytrip.com. It will let you compare the rates of tons of different insurance companies, and get exactly the coverage you want. I use it every time to buy my trip insurance. They also rate the companies. I use Travelex frequently; they're a good company, and I've had no problems with claims with them. TruTravel turned out to be cheaper for my cruise this time.

You will love Yosemite, whichever company you go with!

(Oh, and another downside to buying the insurance through the tour company is their policies rarely include a pre-existing condition waiver, and frequently don't cover you if the tour company goes out of business. The latter is probably not a big concern with Tauck, but who knows!)