2009 Itinerary
Day 1: Welcome to New England
Your New England vacation begins at 6:30 PM at the Hilton Boston Back Bay. A transfer is included from Logan International Airport to the Hilton Boston Back Bay, situated in the heart of picturesque, historic Boston. A welcome reception and dinner tonight gets your New England vacation off to a wonderful start!
Meals: Dinner
Lodging: Hilton Boston Back Bay, Boston, MA
Day 2: Plimoth heritage and Martha's Vineyard
From Boston, travel to Plymouth to step back in time at Plimoth Plantation, a re-created 17th-century village with costumed role players who bring the history of the Plimoth Colony to life; see Plymouth Rock, marking the Pilgrims’ 1620 landing site. After some free time in Falmouth, a ferry ride from the mainland takes you to the island of Martha's Vineyard. Whether you call it chic, fashionable, posh, quaint, charming, or trendy, it is one of the hottest New England vacation destinations of the 21st century – and where you'll spend the next two nights of your New England vacation, in the former whaling center of Edgartown.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Harbor View Hotel, Edgartown, MA
Day 3: Explore 17th – and 21st – century Martha's Vineyard
You'll bridge the centuries by exploring the Vineyard today. Start your sightseeing by admiring the historic stately homes in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven. Take in the salt marshes, long beaches, and picturesque yacht harbors. During an afternoon and evening spent as you please, you might want to bird watch at the bluffs, watch the lobstermen pull up their traps offshore, hang out at the fishing pier, or seek out what interests you most in this idyllic New England vacation spot.
Meals: Breakfast
Lodging: Harbor View Hotel, Edgartown, MA
Day 4: Whaling days on Nantucket
Explore a different New England vacation island today when you take a flight from Martha's Vineyard to Nantucket, one of the country’s most important whaling towns two centuries ago. Admire the Colonial architecture, winding cobbled streets, and historic taverns in the quaint harborside town, a National Historic Landmark District. See the coastal heathlands and long barrier beaches; approximately 40 percent of Nantucket is preserved as conservation land. Take a ferry to Hyannis and travel to the quaint seaside village of Chatham for the next two nights. The Chatham Wayside Inn is located right on Main Street, surrounded by historic buildings, art galleries, boutiques – and the colors of the season in plentiful flowerboxes.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Chatham Wayside Inn, Chatham, MA
Day 5: Whale-watching cruise and the seashore
Visit the Cape Cod National Seashore on the outer Atlantic side of the Cape with massive sand dunes above crested seas. Arrive in Provincetown on the tip of the Cape, another historic whaling town due to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary offshore, the summering grounds for a number of whale species. Weather permitting, take a guided whale-watching cruise to see them roll, flip their tails, and blow through their blowholes – a true highlight of your New England vacation. Have dinner back in Chatham this evening.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Chatham Wayside Inn, Chatham, MA
Day 6: History in New Bedford & Newport
Your New England vacation continues in New Bedford, a historic seaport on the Atlantic coast, where you'll visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the nation's largest museum devoted to the history of whaling. Arrive in Newport, Rhode Island, a long-time haven for yachting enthusiasts and former home of the America’s Cup. Drive past some of the ostentatious mansions that served as summer houses for affluent socialites during the Gilded Age, and travel the celebrated Ten-Mile Drive.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Lodging: Hyatt Regency Newport, RI
Day 7: A New England vacation day in Newport
Your Tauck Director will invite you for a stroll along the Cliff Walk, set between the sea and the mansions. Take a guided tour through The Breakers, a 70-room Italian Renaissance mansion inspired by the 16th-century palaces of Genoa and Turin. Built by Cornelius Vanderbilt, it’s now a National Historic Landmark. With so many boats off the shores, it is no wonder that a cruise is a highlight of Tauck's New England vacation days in Newport. Cruise through Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay, then explore Newport on your own. Attend a farewell cocktail reception and dinner in the evening.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Hyatt Regency Newport, RI
Day 8: A Presidential legacy and your New England vacation ends
En route to Boston and the conclusion of your memorable New England vacation, visit the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, the former home of John Adams, the second U.S. president, and John Quincy Adams, the sixth U.S. president. Tauck's memorable New England vacation ends at Boston’s Logan International Airport at 12:30 PM, or the Hilton Boston Back Bay at 1:30 PM, traffic permitting. Airport transfers are included; allow two hours for flight check-in.
Meals: Breakfast
Explore the earliest days of America on a
very special New England vacation – book today!
Inclusive Prices
Hotel Accommodations – Tauck’s price includes all hotel accommodations with private baths. The Tauck standard is to provide the best available hotels without sacrificing value. Although the quality of accommodations may differ from place to place, this standard remains uncompromised. Two-bedded rooms are reserved in most hotels. Triples are two-bedded rooms plus a rollaway cot and are not recommended for comfort.
Meals – Meals are included as specified in the itinerary. Meal codes are: B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner.
Gratuities for luggage handling, bellmen, doormen, dining room servers, housekeepers and local guides are included.
Tauck Director – Cape Cod, the Islands and Newport is conducted by a Tauck Director who remains with the group throughout the duration of the tour. Your Tauck Director is a professional, fully trained employee of Tauck.
No Options Sold – Your Tauck Director will assist you with information on free-time activities based on honest opinion and guidance but will not sell you anything. This means better value and a more relaxed and pleasant experience for you.
Not Included
Airfare to the tour departure point and from the tour ending point is not included. Airfare may be purchased from Tauck for travel originating in the United States.
Hotel Rooms Before & After Tours – To avoid jet lag and possible flight delays, you may wish to make hotel arrangements for the nights preceding or following your tour. As a service, Tauck will book additional nights for you on a space-available basis using special rates only available through Tauck. Hotel room charges will be added to the tour cost. If you wish to spend additional nights, please consult the Extend This Journey section on this website and discuss it with the reservations agent when you book your tour.
Tauck Director and Driver Gratuities – The customary gratuity to the Tauck Director and driver is not included. These gratuities should be extended on a voluntary, individual basis and not as a group.
Additional Information
If you are traveling from an airport outside the jurisdiction of the U.S, you will need to determine what travel documentation and identification is required for that particular airport.
Due to heightened security regulations, certain items such as a metal nail file, pocketknife, cigarette lighter, or tweezers, and some liquid, gel, and aerosol items may not be permitted in your carry-on luggage. Please call your airline prior to departure to obtain current information on non-permissible carry-on items and recommended airport check-in times.
Journey Start & End Times are provided at time of booking and are subject to change due to airline schedule changes. You or your booking agent will be advised of such changes. The tour starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Hilton Boston Back Bay. When making flight arrangements, allow sufficient time to claim luggage and clear customs. The journey ends at 12:30 p.m. at Logan Airport in Boston. Please allow a minimum of two hours for departure flight check-in at the airport.
Preparing to Go
Clothing and Packing - As you prepare to travel New England, select a wardrobe that is adaptable and allows for layering. Casual, comfortable clothing is recommended for sightseeing during the day. Hotel dining rooms for this tour are informal, although you are requested not to wear jeans or shorts. For the Welcome and Farewell receptions we suggest, but do not require, that men wear a dinner jacket.
Laundry and/or valet services, with the exception of the Harbor View Hotel and Chatham Wayside Inn, are available at all of the hotels. Hair dryers are available in all of the guest rooms. All of the hotels on this itinerary have a swimming pool.
The motor coaches used on this tour are air-conditioned for your comfort. All of the hotel rooms have air conditioning.
As you prepare to travel New England, we recommend that you pack your prescription medicines along with your travel documents and a change of clothing in your carry-on bags to avoid any inconvenience due to delayed or lost luggage.
Following is a list of recommended items to pack to travel New England:
- Shorts and pants for casual daytime wear
- Sunglasses, sunscreen, hat
- Bathing suit
- A light sweater or jacket for the cooler months or a breezy night
- Binoculars
- Insect repellent
- Camera, lenses, batteries and plenty of film
- Comfortable walking shoes
All of the hotels and resorts on this itinerary, with the exception of the Harbor View Hotel, have an elevator. If you have a walking difficulty, be sure to advise your Tauck Director at the beginning of the tour so that rooms close to the public areas or on the ground floor can be requested if possible.
While it is common that airlines allow passengers to check more than one piece of luggage per person, space constraints during your Tauck journey make it difficult to accommodate extra luggage. There is very limited room in the luggage bays beneath the motor coach, so we ask that you limit your checked luggage to one average size suitcase per person.
In addition, airlines have adopted more strict policies in enforcing number, size and weight limits. Luggage exceeding maximum restrictions may require expensive overage fees, frustrating and hurried re-packing at the ticket counter, or even risk being left behind.
Tauck World Discovery cannot be held liable for additional fees or inconveniences imposed by the airline due to luggage number, weight and size policies.
For your day-to-day travel while on tour, we recommend that you limit your hand luggage to a small, soft-sided carry-on piece, and only those items you need handy during the day such as purses, make-up, medications, cameras, film, etc. Items too large to fit under the motor coach seat or in the overhead rack must be stored in the luggage bays beneath the motor coach, and may not be accessible during daytime travel.
In general, visitors to the U.S. must provide:
- A valid unexpired passport and visa
- Citizens of countries authorized to participate in the Visa Waiver Program are required to present an unexpired machine-readable passport
- Mexicans may provide a passport and valid DSP-150 (BCC) in lieu of a visa
- Canadians flying to or through the United States are required to have a valid passport or a NEXUS card, when used at a NEXUS kiosk at designated airports.
If you are frequent traveler to the U.S. from Canada, you may benefit from the NEXUS program, as mentioned above, which is joint initiative between the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency that allows pre-screened and approved travelers faster processing at designated highway lanes in high-volume border crossing locations, at a NEXUS kiosk at Vancouver International Airport, and at certain marine reporting locations in the Great Lakes and Seattle regions. For further information, you may log on to the Nexus Internet website by clicking here.
If you not a U.S. citizen, you should contact an embassy or consulate of the U.S. to determine what travel documentation is necessary. You may also log on to the U.S. State Department’s Internet site by clicking here.
We strongly recommend that your passport be valid for six months beyond the completion of your tour. We also recommend that you make at least two photocopies of all the travel documents that you bring with you. Include copies of the photo page of your passport that contains the date of issuance, the date of expiration and your citizenship, as well as both sides of your driver’s license. Secure one set of copies in the safe in your room while traveling and leave one set behind with someone at home who will assist you in the event your documents or cards are misplaced, lost or stolen.
Travel with Children –
Babysitting – Tauck journeys are designed for adults and children to share the wonder of discovery together. However, our guests have occasionally inquired about babysitting services. If you are interested, your Tauck Director will put you in contact with the appropriate hotel staff with whom you may make babysitting arrangements, to ensure your precise needs are met. There is usually an additional fee for these services. Many hotels do offer babysitting services that may be arranged on site; however, babysitting services are not guaranteed at all of our hotels. Please note that our Tauck Directors are not responsible for providing babysitting services.
Safety and Welfare Responsibility – We welcome the participation of child travelers on our exciting excursions. For safety and security purposes, children under 18 years of age must be booked into a room with at least one accompanying adult. If you are traveling with a child on a Tauck journey, you have the sole responsibility for ensuring that that the child with whom you are traveling follows all rules of safety throughout the tour. By traveling with Tauck, you release Tauck, Inc. and our partners of all liability for any risks and/or injuries to the child with whom you are traveling.
Special Travel Documentation for Children
If you travel into or out of the U.S. with children under the age of 18, you should be aware of the following: because of increasing incidents of child abductions in disputed custody cases and because children are at risk as possible victims of child pornography, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) strongly recommends that unless the child is accompanied by both parents, you should have a note from the child's other parent (or, in the case of a child traveling with grandparents, uncles or aunts, sisters or brothers, or friends, a note signed by both parents) stating that the parent(s) not traveling acknowledge that the parent(s), family members, etc. who are traveling into or out of the U.S. with the child have permission to do so.
CBP also suggests that this note be notarized. While CBP may not ask to see this documentation, if they do ask, and you do not have it, you may be detained until the circumstances of the child traveling without both parents can be fully assessed.
If there is no second parent with legal claims to the child (deceased, sole custody, etc.), any other relevant paperwork, such as a court decision, birth certificate naming only one parent, death certificate, etc., will be useful.
All children who are U.S. citizens should also have a certified copy of their birth certificate or baptism record for ID. Children over the age of 14 are also required to have a photo ID.
Many other countries also share this concern for children who travel without both parents. To ensure smooth travel, Tauck requires all guests to comply with the travel regulations of each country visited. This information is available from each country’s consulate.
Authorization for Emergency Medical Treatment
In the unlikely event of a medical emergency, a medical facility will require permission from the child’s parents to provide treatment. Therefore, we strongly suggest that you bring along a letter from both parents authorizing emergency medical treatment for their child.
Tauck is not responsible for the disruption of travel caused by improper documentation for any travelers, including children traveling without both parents. While there is no definitive format or standard for these letters, click here to view a sample letter for guardians or one parent traveling with a child.
Destination Information
Please contact your cell phone carrier to determine if your service extends to New England.
The individual states within the U.S. levy sales taxes on consumer goods and services. There is no federal tax similar to the Value Added Tax (VAT) used in other countries that would permit non-residents to obtain refunds of the sales taxes levied by each state.
| CLIMATE CHART | ||||||||
| Temperature | ||||||||
| Boston | Edgartown | |||||||
| Massachusetts | Martha's Vineyard | |||||||
| Fahrenheit | Celsius | Fahrenheit | Celsius | |||||
| High | Low | High | Low | High | Low | High | Low | |
| Jan | 36 | 22 | 2 | -6 | 39 | 22 | 4 | -6 |
| Feb | 39 | 24 | 4 | -4 | 40 | 23 | 4 | -5 |
| Mar | 46 | 32 | 8 | 0 | 46 | 29 | 8 | -2 |
| Apr | 54 | 38 | 12 | 3 | 55 | 37 | 13 | 3 |
| May | 67 | 50 | 19 | 10 | 64 | 47 | 18 | 8 |
| Jun | 76 | 60 | 24 | 16 | 73 | 55 | 23 | 13 |
| Jul | 82 | 65 | 28 | 18 | 78 | 61 | 26 | 16 |
| Aug | 80 | 64 | 27 | 18 | 78 | 60 | 26 | 16 |
| Sep | 72 | 57 | 22 | 14 | 71 | 53 | 22 | 12 |
| Oct | 61 | 46 | 16 | 8 | 64 | 44 | 18 | 7 |
| Nov | 51 | 37 | 11 | 3 | 53 | 36 | 12 | 2 |
| Dec | 41 | 28 | 5 | -2 | 44 | 27 | 7 | -3 |
| Chatham | Newport | |||||||
| Cape Cod | Rhode Island | |||||||
| Fahrenheit | Celsius | Fahrenheit | Celsius | |||||
| High | Low | High | Low | High | Low | High | Low | |
| Jan | 38 | 25 | 3 | -4 | 37 | 21 | 3 | -6 |
| Feb | 38 | 26 | 3 | -3 | 39 | 23 | 4 | -5 |
| Mar | 44 | 32 | 7 | 0 | 48 | 30 | 9 | -1 |
| Apr | 52 | 39 | 11 | 4 | 58 | 39 | 14 | 4 |
| May | 61 | 48 | 16 | 9 | 69 | 49 | 21 | 9 |
| Jun | 70 | 56 | 21 | 13 | 77 | 58 | 25 | 14 |
| Jul | 76 | 62 | 24 | 17 | 82 | 64 | 28 | 18 |
| Aug | 72 | 62 | 22 | 17 | 80 | 63 | 27 | 17 |
| Sep | 69 | 56 | 21 | 13 | 73 | 54 | 23 | 12 |
| Oct | 60 | 47 | 16 | 8 | 63 | 44 | 17 | 7 |
| Nov | 51 | 39 | 11 | 4 | 52 | 35 | 11 | 2 |
| Dec | 43 | 30 | 6 | -1 | 42 | 26 | 6 | -3 |
| Rainfall | ||||
| Boston | Edgartown | |||
| Massachusetts | Marth's Vineyard | |||
| Inches | Mm | Inches | Mm | |
| Jan | 3.5 | 88 | 4.5 | 114 |
| Feb | 2.9 | 73 | 3.5 | 90 |
| Mar | 3.7 | 94 | 5.0 | 127 |
| Apr | 3.4 | 86 | 4.2 | 107 |
| May | 3.5 | 89 | 4.0 | 103 |
| Jun | 3.3 | 83 | 3.5 | 88 |
| Jul | 3.0 | 76 | 3.3 | 84 |
| Aug | 3.0 | 76 | 3.9 | 99 |
| Sep | 3.1 | 80 | 3.4 | 87 |
| Oct | 3.8 | 96 | 4.1 | 105 |
| Nov | 3.6 | 91 | 4.4 | 111 |
| Dec | 3.5 | 88 | 4.5 | 114 |
| Chatham | Newport | |||
| Cape Cod | Rhode Island | |||
| Inches | Mm | Inches | Mm | |
| Jan | 4.8 | 122 | 3.3 | 84 |
| Feb | 3.9 | 100 | 3.4 | 87 |
| Mar | 4.8 | 123 | 4.9 | 125 |
| Apr | 4.3 | 109 | 4.2 | 108 |
| May | 3.8 | 96 | 3.8 | 97 |
| Jun | 3.3 | 84 | 3.4 | 87 |
| Jul | 3.6 | 90 | 3.1 | 79 |
| Aug | 4.1 | 103 | 4.2 | 107 |
| Sep | 3.8 | 97 | 3.6 | 90 |
| Oct | 4.3 | 109 | 4.0 | 101 |
| Nov | 4.6 | 118 | 4.4 | 110 |
| Dec | 5.1 | 118 | 4.2 | 106 |
If You Have to Cancel
Cancellations Fees – Regardless of reason, cancellations result in Tauck incurring costly penalties and cancellation fees from our travel and hotel providers. Therefore, if you have to cancel a confirmed booking, Tauck will charge you a cancellation fee according to when your cancellation notice is received in its Norwalk, CT office. To help limit your liability, Tauck offers a Tauck Protection Plan.
If you choose to purchase Tauck’s Guest Protection or Cancellation Fee Waiver, you will you’re your cancellation penalties waived. Please click here for more details.
If you choose not to purchase the Tauck Protection Plan, you will incur cancellation penalties per person as follows:
60 days or more before departure
$350 per person
59-8 days before departure
$600 per person
7-1 days before departure
$900 per person
Did you know that you can link-up Tauck itineraries to create longer journeys? Many of these trips are in the same region, and depending upon availability you might connect with them before or after your trip. Alternatively, you might find one of these options better suited for your interests and preferences or for when you are available to travel.
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