@wdhinn89, I've done both CIE and Tauck for Ireland and CIE is definitely more basic. I preferred our CIE guide to our Tauck guide but the lodging, meals, etc were much better with Tauck. CIE is underwritten by the Irish government (or something like that, I was a little fuzzy on the details) so when I went on an 8 day trip (with Day 8 being the airport day), our guide departed after we arrived on Day 7, citing EU labor laws(?). It was weird (to me). "Here are your hotel keys, fill out the survey, g'bye."
An example is with Dublin-with CIE we actually stayed in Dun Laoghaire at the Royal Marine Hotel and the group took a bus into Dublin (by that point I was ready for me time so I took the train in). With Tauck we stayed at the Shelbourne and Trinity College and other sites were within walking distance. We had a private viewing of EPIC the museum and a very nice dinner at a restaurant right around the corner from EPIC...things like that.
I'm not discouraging you by all means, just want to give you a head's up. If I had my choice, I'd split 2 7 day Tauck tours over a year or a couple of years, although I acknowledge flying gets tiring and expensive.