ABD or Tauck Bridges for London/Paris

chloe77

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jul 20, 2013
We are planning to do the London/Paris trip this August. We have done one ABD in the past - Viva Italia - and loved it. ABD and Tauck Bridges have very similar London/Paris itineraries with about a $3k difference in price. Our kids are 8 and 10.

Is there a difference between ABD and Tauck Bridges in terms of hotel quality, luggage transfers and transportation, number of people on tours, etc? I'll pay more for ABD if it includes someting extra, but if it's the exact same product I may try Tauck Bridges... Any advice?
 
We are planning to do the London/Paris trip this August. We have done one ABD in the past - Viva Italia - and loved it. ABD and Tauck Bridges have very similar London/Paris itineraries with about a $3k difference in price. Our kids are 8 and 10.

Is there a difference between ABD and Tauck Bridges in terms of hotel quality, luggage transfers and transportation, number of people on tours, etc? I'll pay more for ABD if it includes someting extra, but if it's the exact same product I may try Tauck Bridges... Any advice?
The biggest difference I know of is there's only one Guide (or Tour Director as they call them) with Tauck.

And I believe they aren't allowed to eat meals with you like the Adventure Guides do.

Sayhello
 
I would call and ask each about number on the particular tour you are talking about. We’ve been very frustrated with the steady creep upwards in group size on our ABDs.

We’ve done a TB river cruise, so not exactly apples to apples, but had a great experience. Some things were better on TB, but we did miss the guide connections and the magical surprises. We did not miss them $3k worth however, and will be taking a Tauck trip again in 2019. We canceled our ABD because we hated how unmanageably large the group was on the Iceland trip.
 
We have done 9 ABDs and 8 Tauck Bridges tours. When the itineraries are similar, Tauck wins hands down. The only time we use ABD now is when it is a destination that Tauck doesn’t go to, or the dates work out better for us. I have 4 kids, and they ALL prefer the Tauck Trips now, especially as ABD has lost much of their magic over the past few years. We did the London/Paris ABD last summer (because the dates were better for me) and it was horrible. I wrote a post on it on another thread. Say Hello, do you know what thread that might have been on? I know you replied to it. I would wholeheartedly tell you to do the Tauck trip.
 


We have done 9 ABDs and 8 Tauck Bridges tours. When the itineraries are similar, Tauck wins hands down. The only time we use ABD now is when it is a destination that Tauck doesn’t go to, or the dates work out better for us. I have 4 kids, and they ALL prefer the Tauck Trips now, especially as ABD has lost much of their magic over the past few years. We did the London/Paris ABD last summer (because the dates were better for me) and it was horrible. I wrote a post on it on another thread. Say Hello, do you know what thread that might have been on? I know you replied to it. I would wholeheartedly tell you to do the Tauck trip.
@jenbadeaux I did a quick search and found your post here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-and-lights-and-france.3699670/#post-59602295

I re-read your post. You really did have a horrendous experience. Did you ever get any sort of explanation or apology or *anything* from ABD???

Sayhello
 
We are planning to do the London/Paris trip this August. We have done one ABD in the past - Viva Italia - and loved it. ABD and Tauck Bridges have very similar London/Paris itineraries with about a $3k difference in price. Our kids are 8 and 10.

Is there a difference between ABD and Tauck Bridges in terms of hotel quality, luggage transfers and transportation, number of people on tours, etc? I'll pay more for ABD if it includes someting extra, but if it's the exact same product I may try Tauck Bridges... Any advice?


I have been on tours with both companies and am at the point where I would pick Tauck over ABD unless the timing waa in favor of ABD...Tauck is just as good and usually cheaper. Also, if you travel with them again as a repeat customer you receive the Gift of Time (free pre or post hotel night, usually). That’s saved me money after my first Tauck trip- a frwe nigjt in a castle/big city/etc yes please!

The biggest difference I know of is there's only one Guide (or Tour Director as they call them) with Tauck.

And I believe they aren't allowed to eat meals with you like the Adventure Guides do.

Sayhello

True - only one tour director and the ones we’ve had aren’t as great as our favorite ABD guides but not as annoying as our least favorite ABD guides- fairly neutral! They also don’t eat with guests but for thousands of dollars (usually) less I’m okay with that! Also, as a family of 3, their single supplement isn’t as steep.
 
@jenbadeaux I did a quick search and found your post here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-and-lights-and-france.3699670/#post-59602295

I re-read your post. You really did have a horrendous experience. Did you ever get any sort of explanation or apology or *anything* from ABD???

Sayhello

WOW @jenbadeaux ! What a terrible experience! So disappointing to see the product devalued like this!n Thank you for sharing your experience. Hopefully Disney will take notice and correct things!
 


@jenbadeaux I did a quick search and found your post here:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...-and-lights-and-france.3699670/#post-59602295

I re-read your post. You really did have a horrendous experience. Did you ever get any sort of explanation or apology or *anything* from ABD???

Sayhello

This is awful! I read your post, and am so sorry that your trip went this way. It sounds so different than our Italy trip. Kelli and Massi in Italy were 100% organized, had snacks and water for us around the clock, and were altogether fantastic. I am also interested to hear whether you ever received a response or had a conversation with ABD directly about your experience.

I thought I had read that the London/Paris hosts are pretty good - is it Frankie and Adam? - but it sounds like that's who you had and it didn't go well.
 
@kaseyC how many were on your Ireland trip?

I believe we had about 30-35. It was a good size with a great mix of kids. As @laceltris3 posted, there were plenty of surprises and added little extras.

We have two ABDs booked for this year so I will have something to compare TB to. To be frank, one of the main reasons I chose ABD for these two trips (SoCal Short Escape and China) is because they are not offered by TB.
 
For those who have done Tauck Bridges, do they allow solo travelers? The Bridges itineraries look more my style than the regular Tauck ones.

Sayhello
 
For those who have done Tauck Bridges, do they allow solo travelers? The Bridges itineraries look more my style than the regular Tauck ones.

Sayhello

The one we did, our daughter was technically a single traveler, as we got her a separate cabin and reservation. For which we paid no single supplement
 
The one we did, our daughter was technically a single traveler, as we got her a separate cabin and reservation. For which we paid no single supplement
That last sentence is something you'd never hear with ABD!!!

Not sure how important it is to travellers, but TB tends to allow you to order off the full menu at restaurants while ABD tends to have more set menus/buffets.
That actually could make a big difference. On some ABDs, their food selection gets a bit monotonous.

Sayhello
 
For those who have done Tauck Bridges, do they allow solo travelers? The Bridges itineraries look more my style than the regular Tauck ones.

Sayhello

We had an adult couple on our TB land trip. And there were solo travelers on our TB river cruise.
 
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i did finally get a phone call from ABD. They said they appreciated my feedback,were sorry, and mailed me my daughter’s 8th trip pin. THAT IS IT. I already had my 9th trip(New York) booked with them for November. No offer to give me a discount or a perk...nothing. Contrast that to my Tauck Bridges Galapagos last summer. On the end of trip survey, I gave RAVE reviews. It was an AWESOME trip. The only negative thing I wrote was that the Ecuador airport let several suitcases in that were larger than the size I was told was required(not recommended). I got a letter the next week with an apology and a $500 discount per person ( there is 6 of us so that’s $3000) on any future trip. So we used that to go to Ireland with TB last summer. I booked the London/ Paris ABD because the dates worked that I could fly from there to meet the rest of the family for the Ireland TB. Tauck wins in customer service, dining, adult beverages, price, gift of time(free pre or post night every trip)...really all of it. You do have one TB guide, but you also have a step on guide everywhere, so really functionally 2 guides.
I’ve gone dark on the DIS boards for years because it’s a pro-Disney site, and people get protective of what they love. But since you asked a question I have direct and recent knowledge of, I felt the need to speak up. I’m booked with TB this summer for Tanzania. I’d go on an ABD again (NY was lovely and only 13 of us) but only if it’s a place TB doesn’t go.
 
i did finally get a phone call from ABD. They said they appreciated my feedback,were sorry, and mailed me my daughter’s 8th trip pin. THAT IS IT. I already had my 9th trip(New York) booked with them for November. No offer to give me a discount or a perk...nothing. Contrast that to my Tauck Bridges Galapagos last summer. On the end of trip survey, I gave RAVE reviews. It was an AWESOME trip. The only negative thing I wrote was that the Ecuador airport let several suitcases in that were larger than the size I was told was required(not recommended). I got a letter the next week with an apology and a $500 discount per person ( there is 6 of us so that’s $3000) on any future trip. So we used that to go to Ireland with TB last summer. I booked the London/ Paris ABD because the dates worked that I could fly from there to meet the rest of the family for the Ireland TB. Tauck wins in customer service, dining, adult beverages, price, gift of time(free pre or post night every trip)...really all of it. You do have one TB guide, but you also have a step on guide everywhere, so really functionally 2 guides.
I’ve gone dark on the DIS boards for years because it’s a pro-Disney site, and people get protective of what they love. But since you asked a question I have direct and recent knowledge of, I felt the need to speak up. I’m booked with TB this summer for Tanzania. I’d go on an ABD again (NY was lovely and only 13 of us) but only if it’s a place TB doesn’t go.
Thanks for the honest feedback. I think you'll find that most of the folks on the ABD board are open to hear both the good and the bad about ABD. Because it's become such a mixed bag quality wise, I know that I really appreciate folks being straight about the good, the bad and the ugly. These are expensive trips that we spend a lot of our hard-earned money on, as well as a lot of time and effort planning, and knowing what we're up against, and what's out there, is a good thing. I know that a lot of the other forums are really protective of Disney, but I like to think we have a slightly more realistic view here. :) I could be wrong, but that's just been my observation!

Sayhello
 

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