Luggage on Tauck

[whiskers9]

Our paperwork says one piece of luggage each and we were given only two "Tauck" luggage tags. Our carry-on is to be the size of a backpack? Did most passengers adhere to bringing only one piece p/p? We usually need one additional 22 inch (with wheels) but I'm nervous about their wording that it may not fit under the bus. Thanks in advance for any info.

[ddschur]

I can't speak to the current situation, however, when we took a Tauck river cruise (BUD/AMS) we brought 4 pieces of luggage + our carry-on's.

 

I don't recall how many tags we received prior to departure but I am sure you can call Tauck to:

 

Get more tags

Clarify the 1 luggage piece p/p.

 

I suspect you won't have any problems...but I don't know.

 

We are doing a Christmas Markets cruise with them later this year so any other updates re: luggage policy will be appreciated by me as well.

 

Thank you...

[shoshona2]

We have taken over 18 Tauck Tours and have always taken one 26" suitcase and a 22" rolling bag for each of us. For a two week tour, we manage fine with the one bag. No one cares if you wear something several times and there is laundry service. Unless you travel First Class or Business Class in Europe, the European airlines limit the amount of luggage you can check or they charge you a lot for extra weight or luggage, it's not worth it. Some people do bring more than one bag a piece and Tauck will give you more tags if you need them. I suggest you call them.

 

Sheila

[Redtravel]

On my first Tauck tour, I put everything in one case. It was large and tough to handle. I found many people brought 2 or more. I like smaller bags...lighter and easy to handle. Bring whatever you want. As time goes by I have started to bring less clothes with me on trips. I pack clothes that wash and dry quickly, don't wrinkle. Even though the tour handles your luggage, you still have to handle it getting to and from your home and the airport or dock. Less luggage makes the trip better. Nobody cares if you wear the same clothes multiple times. I'm not down to just acarryon yet, but I'm heading in that direction.

[Paulmj]

Without getting into extraneous discussions of how much luggage one should take while traveling, any restrictions by the airlines, etc., here is the truth re luggage and Tauck.

 

Take whatever you want to take. Tauck "urges" people to limit what they take because they want to minimize any porterage or handling costs and/or inconveniences for THEM by spelling out ground rules for the number of bags you should bring. After five Tauck tours, it's becomes quite evident that anyone can and do take whatever they want to take. The tour director has extra colored tags, and will give these to you as needed at your first meeting.

 

Bottom line is that regardless of what they specify, when the rubber meets the road NOBODY CARES.

[lucinjo]

I am sure a call to Tauck will provide you with an extra luggage tag. Note though, Tauck only wants you to put luggage tags on pieces that you want delivered to your room/cabin. So be sure to have a day bag with your camera, meds, water bottle, etc that you may want to access before luggage delivery. Also, be sure to check what the size and weight limits are on carryon bags on your airline, especially if you are transfering in Europe to a regional plane. Those planes often have more stringent carryon requirements, some as small as 5 kilos (about 11 lbs.)

[Paulmj]

A maximum-allowed 22" roll-aboard will fit in the overhead compartment of a standard-sized jet aircraft. It will not fit in the small overheads on the Canadair CL-series nor the Embraer regional jets. To accommodate this, all airlines flying regional jets will allow a "gate check" where they tag and take your bag at the end of the jetway. Upon reaching the destination, you wait in the jetway until the bags are brought up and delivered to you.

 

In considering this, it's a pretty good arrangement for the passengers. There's no charge for the service, you get your bag sooner than if you had to go down to baggage claim, and the bag is no less secure than if you put it through the regular check-in procedure.

 

Passengers should know to carry an additional smaller bag containing valuables such as jewelry, a camera, a laptop computer, which will store under the seat on even the smallest jet aircraft.

[Ozjohnno]

We're off in a couple of weeks on our Tauck Amsterdam - Budapest cruise and whilst it's true that Tauck "suggest" you take just one piece of luggage and a carryon we found that our airlines both in Australia and Europe actually dictated what was appropriate to take. We are restricted to 23kgs on all internal flights so we'll be taking just 1 piece each and our back-pack carryons and we feel that we won't be at any disadvantage.

[Missabby]

We also found plenty of room for our luggage under the beds after we unpacked them.