Tauck/Disney Italy Tours

[syannlynn]

I was researching the Italy tours from both companies and I see that Tauck has a two week Italy tour that is less than one Disney tour. Seems rather obvious of which one to pick. But if money weren't an issue and just looking for the best experience, which would you choose. For a two week Disney tour (really expensive..yes, I know), I was looking at the Amalfi and Classic tours (cool thing about these two is that one ends and the other begins the same day, but already in Italy anyway). Would be for three people including a 17yo female.

Thoughts?

 

[sayhello]

I don't know if it matters to you, but you may want to check out the hotels the Tauck tours use. The ABD hotels are, in general, pretty high quality, and very centrally located. Tauck's may be, also, but that's the first thing I'd check, to see if that's part of the price difference.

I believe Tauck only provides 1 Guide, whereas ABD's have 2. In my experience, that can also make a big difference experience-wise.

Beyond that, if price was not an issue, I'd look at the individual days/activities, and see which company's activities sound better to you.

I have no experience with Tauck, so I can't speak to that.

Sayhello

 

[need2travel]

Hi syannlynn,
While I have no experience with Adventures by Disney and so cannot speak for them, my husband & I (early 40's) just booked our 8th Tauck tour for this summer. It will be our 8th Tauck in 8 years, they are a fantastic company, they do everything top notch. Many of the hotels they use are the same as the Adventures by Disney hotels. One of the reasons ABD uses 2 guides is because they have trips geared toward people traveling w/ younger children and then 1 guide works more with the adults and 1 guide works more with the younger set (or so I've been told from people who have travelled on ABD). You have a 17 year old so you are fine with the adults and no longer need things geared toward the children.

Both are terrific companies, but we just love Tauck-huge Disney World fans- just prefer Tauck for travel. We did their "Week in Rome, Umbria and Florence" 2 years ago and are doing thier "Week in Venice, Florence and Rome" this July.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Bobo912]

syannlynn, are you looking at Tauck Bridges tours or the regular Tauck tour? Bridges are geared toward families, so your fellow travelers will tend to be younger. You may find some young people on the regular trips, but in general the guests are older. I've done multiple trips with both ABD and Tauck and they are both very good. I haven't traveled to Italy with either company so can't comment on those specific itineraries. From my experience TB tends to have very nice hotels, right in the middle of the action. And very often they are the same hotels used by ABD. There is the 2 guides vs. 1 difference. Not a big issues for us, but I'm sure it could be for some people. I've had some wonderful guides with Tauck, but I believe the Adventure guides tend to be more consistently awesome. Or at least the 6 I've had so far were.

 

[mapsd]

I'd consider doing what we did this past summer. We did Viva Italia with ABD, but did the majority of the Bella Italia tour own our own. Do a search of my prior posts to see some of the details, but we did it with a 14 & 11 y.o. quite easily, so with an older teen it shoud be even simpler.

We stayed in Sorrento (ABD's hotel) & hired a private driver to see the Amalfi Coast, which I think is superior to even an ABD tour since these small coastal towns favor smaller groups and smaller vehicles. Stopped @ Pompeii on the way back to Rome to meet up with ABD. The amount we saved allowed us to stop in London on the way home & still spent thousands less than if we'd done the 2 tours.

 

[Bobo912]

What Tauck tour are you looking at? The only two week tour I see on the Tauck website is Classic Italy and for a double it's $6490 - $7490 depending on the departure date. For a triple $6691 - $7091.

 

[syannlynn]

Sorry. Must have had the prices mixed up in my head when writing this. But it's still two weeks versus one. Guess I'll just read more threads and figure it out. Italy seems to be quite the popular place.