ABD vs Tauck

[WendyYoung]

Based on my experience with both tour companies, ABD Arizona / Utah and Tauck London / Paris, both companies have similar business models. They both do exceedingly well getting groups of people to and from various locations with affable and intelligent guides in a safe and fun manner.

Both companies have similar itineraries for similar locations. We chose Tauck over ABD for London and Paris as Tauck had a slightly less kiddy itinerary than ABD (scone making and archery) plus Tauck offered a private Louvre tour. SCORE! We chose ABD over Tauck for American Southwest as Tauck finished in Las Vegas where we have previously visited.

We have been beyond pleased with the service to cost ratio for both companies. We don’t mind paying a premium price for the quality of service that is provided.

ABD does offer a trip photo access that both guides contributed to for the duration of the trip.

Both companies offer small treats or gifts throughout the trip based on the group activities.

Both have professional guides that are present for the duration of the tour. The guides are an invaluable asset to these tours. Both companies also bring in local guides that are well informed and entertaining.

Tauck includes all gratuities for tour guides, local guides, restaurant staff, etc in the price of the trip. ABD excludes the gratuity for the tour guide leaving that cost and amount up to individual families to decide.

All in all, I don’t think you can go wrong with either tour company.

 

[sayhello]

Tauck offers private transfers to and from airports no matter if you arrive or depart earlier or later than everyone else. ABD shuttles everyone together which can leave some people milling in airports for hours while waiting on flights. We choose to spend $200 extra for a private shuttle to avoid having to wait four hours for our flight to go home.

Thanks for the comparison!

Just wanted to mention that *most* ABD's have private transfers to and from the airports, too. The group transfer for the Arizona/Utah trip is unusual because of the distance from Phoenix to Sedona and from Moab to Grand Junction. It would be extremely impractical to have multiple transports making a 5 hour round trip.

Sayhello

 

[elat27]

I booked a pre stay in Rome through ABD and that includes a private transfer.

 

[Bobo912]

I was going to mention the same thing. Group transfer depends on the trip. With ABD we had group transfers in Costa Rica, Alaska, Arizona/Utah and a private car in Ireland. We were stranded at the airport in Peru, but if the driver had bothered to find us it would have been a group transfer. By group transfer I mean they put us in a bus or van with a group of other travelers arriving at or near the same time, not that we waited around for everybody to arrive, like they do at Phoenix. Tauck picked us up in a van with another family for our river cruise and we had a private car for the land trip. Also wanted to mention that on our Tauck land tour our guide took photos all during the trip and burned a CD for each family that she presented during the farewell dinner. And on our river cruise the guides did a slide show at the farewell dinner, just like ABD. So sometimes you get that with Tauck, as well, but it's dependent on the guides. I agree both are excellent.

 

[WendyYoung]

Thank you for the information. That is certainly good to know. I edited the original post.

 

[tink1970]

We've done both as well...not picked up at the airport once by ABD, private transport every trip with Tauck.Another benefit with Tauck is the "gift of time-" after you take a trip with Tauck they will pay for a prenight or post night. We're getting a free night a Dromoland Castle this June-easily worth $400 or more. I've enjoyed both and look at pricing and timing of both to help me decide now since they are essentially equal for my needs.

 

[laceltris3]

We've done both as well...not picked up at the airport once by ABD, private transport every trip with Tauck.Another benefit with Tauck is the "gift of time-" after you take a trip with Tauck they will pay for a prenight or post night. We're getting a free night a Dromoland Castle this June-easily worth $400 or more. I've enjoyed both and look at pricing and timing of both to help me decide now since they are essentially equal for my needs.

We are doing Tauck Ireland this June too, but we are using our pre-night at the Conrad Dublin! And since we are a family of 5, it saves approximately $1K between the two rooms.

 

[OhanaCuz]

We've done both as well...not picked up at the airport once by ABD

That sucks! It was such a relief to see a person holding a sign with my name on it in the Budapest airport for our ABD.

 

[BluesTraveler]

I will say one thing about our Alaska trip that was annoying was arriving at the airport after a painfully long travel day and having to wait around for another hour in baggage claim after we already had our bags for more travelers to come in, before we were transported to the hotel. Had I known that was going to be the case, we really would have gone outside and flagged down a taxi ourselves. And because it was technically a pre-day we weren't met by the guides themselves, so there was really no benefit to having used ABD's transport, other than saving the $20.

In Wyoming our transportation didn't show up, so we took a cab and got reimbursed.

Hoping it's all smoother in Iceland.

 

[tink1970]

We are doing Tauck Ireland this June too, but we are using our pre-night at the Conrad Dublin! And since we are a family of 5, it saves approximately $1K between the two rooms.

That's great! Congrats on the savings We're doing the "regular" (aka adult) trip since DD will be in Spain. Hope you have a great time The last time I was in Ireland I went with a different tour company and kept wishing I was with Tauck...so excited to be going back with them.

That sucks! It was such a relief to see a person holding a sign with my name on it in the Budapest airport for our ABD.

I remember being relieved to see our driver in Budapest, too! Fortunately, when we weren't picked up in Amsterdam it was super easy to flag down a taxi, and we got cute photos of DD in front of the iAmsterdam sign so it wasn't a disaster by any means. Just helps keep me grounded that ABD isn't infallible.

The Adventure Guide also talked us out of the bus ride to the boat the next day "it will be very crowded, not sure if you'll have a seat" so we walked about a mile in the cold which again isn't horrible but not exactly ABD level service. Frustratingly, people we met on the river cruise told us it was just their family and another on the bus to the ship. In Budapest it was a short walk and fun, chatting with Betti. In Amsterdam, it was a longer walk for sure. Not a deal breaker, but did start off the trip on a sour note.

 

[tink1970]

Hoping it's all smoother in Iceland

Can't wait to hear about the Iceland trip! We were scheduled to go but then DD decided to do 3 weeks in Spain so had a change of plans. Kids...

 

[Rapunzellover]

Doing Portugal in June with Tauck, before I do My England/France and France ABDs in July/Aug. Glad to hear it has excellent service.

 

[tink1970]

Doing Portugal in June with Tauck, before I do My England/France and France ABDs in July/Aug. Glad to hear it has excellent service.

Sounds like a busy summer! I hope you'll report back on all three when you return

 

[Rapunzellover]

Sounds like a busy summer! I hope you'll report back on all three when you return

I will of course report back. I don't think I'll do ABD trip reports though. I tried those with other adventures I took, and I was just not capable of finishing. So far, I'm liking Tauck's service. The itinerary isn't that detailed, and I asked for more information, and an agent is supposed to call me back. She also said they did surprises, and actually told me about a surprise (made me promise not to tell though!) because it was related to something I was asking about. They seem very professional and helpful. And I love being able to pay online. Great feature disney needs to add pronto!

 

[carpenta]

We feel that ABD is similar to DCL. When our kids were younger we sailed with Disney mostly until our daughter graduated from the princess age. Then we sailed Royal Caribbean for the kids' ages skewed a little older. We now primarily travel with Tauck because we feel the kid's ages skewed older and also love the "Gift of Time" as well as paid gratuities which makes travel so much simpler. Every trip we took with Tauck we had private transfers when ever we needed even in Venice where we had a boat taxi all to ourselves.

 

[OhanaCuz]

The Adventure Guide also talked us out of the bus ride to the boat the next day "it will be very crowded, not sure if you'll have a seat" so we walked about a mile in the cold which again isn't horrible but not exactly ABD level service. Frustratingly, people we met on the river cruise told us it was just their family and another on the bus to the ship. In Budapest it was a short walk and fun, chatting with Betti. In Amsterdam, it was a longer walk for sure. Not a deal breaker, but did start off the trip on a sour note.

That was weird for us too now that you mention it. The Adventure Guide told us we could walk to the boat if we wanted but said heck no to that. Once we took the ride on the mostly empty bus we commented on how glad we were we didn't walk because of the distance.

 

[laceltris3]

We feel that ABD is similar to DCL. When our kids were younger we sailed with Disney mostly until our daughter graduated from the princess age. Then we sailed Royal Caribbean for the kids' ages skewed a little older. We now primarily travel with Tauck because we feel the kid's ages skewed older and also love the "Gift of Time" as well as paid gratuities which makes travel so much simpler. Every trip we took with Tauck we had private transfers when ever we needed even in Venice where we had a boat taxi all to ourselves.

We have also had private transfers with Tauck when needed. In Costa Rica, I guess we were the only ones coming in at the time we did, and we were picked up on our nice comfy bus, by our bus driver for the week. And we had the whole bus to ourselves. Since most people left for the airport at common times, they did do smaller batches of vans, but it was always at a convenient and reasonable time, relative to our flight.

And since we are doing our first ABD river cruise next year thanks for the tips on transfers. But since we are traveling with 3 kids, youngest would be 7, there's no way I would be talked into walking.

 

[WendyYoung]

I will of course report back. I don't think I'll do ABD trip reports though. I tried those with other adventures I took, and I was just not capable of finishing. So far, I'm liking Tauck's service. The itinerary isn't that detailed, and I asked for more information, and an agent is supposed to call me back. She also said they did surprises, and actually told me about a surprise (made me promise not to tell though!) because it was related to something I was asking about. They seem very professional and helpful. And I love being able to pay online. Great feature disney needs to add pronto!

I was able to get a more detailed itinerary from Tauck just prior to trip in order to schedule private excursions. I agree, the online pay feature and the better organized travel forum are better than ABDs

 

[tink1970]

That was weird for us too now that you mention it. The Adventure Guide told us we could walk to the boat if we wanted but said heck no to that. Once we took the ride on the mostly empty bus we commented on how glad we were we didn't walk because of the distance.

While I didn't mind the walk (it was nice and cold and I could pretend I was getting exercise!) I think it would have been hard with children or anyone with ambulatory difficulties. Kind of weird to me since ABD is all about family friendly and the walk...wasn't!

And I love being able to pay online. Great feature disney needs to add pronto!

It's a great feature, definitely. Perhaps out of Disney's IT league though

 

[sayhello]

While I didn't mind the walk (it was nice and cold and I could pretend I was getting exercise!) I think it would have been hard with children or anyone with ambulatory difficulties. Kind of weird to me since ABD is all about family friendly and the walk...wasn't!

I'm assuming that people complained about having to wait for a bus when it turned out to be such a short walk. Who knows.

Sayhello