In over 30 dinners, I can only remember three meals that I would call marginal on a Tauck tour. My mother ordered Lamb that was tough, and the restaurant cheerfully brought her something else when I told them about it. One where my steak was overdone, I sent it back. The third was in Liscomb NS, don't order a steak in Eastern Canada. They have no concept of what a sirloin steak should be. :mecry: However, the planked salmon at the same restaurant was to die for. We had a bad experience (but great food) at the Alogonquin the first time we were there, the kitchen help quit en mass. We had early dining so luckily we were done with our meal but the dessert service got sorta screwed up and the late diners had some problems. But that can happen at any restaurant and was not the fault of Tauck. Even in the Gaspe, which is not a normal tourist destination, we had some fabulous meals, like poached salmon in a champagne sauce, medallions of beef in a Cabernet reduction sauce. I have had rack of lamb, breast of duck, (my mother ordered duck one place and got an entire half of a duck!), whole lobster more than once. I feel that my dining experiences with Tauck have been very similiar with what I had on the Navigator. When lunches are included they usually, but not always, are buffet. Again, some fabulous and others "just" good. This may be the one area that is the most likely to be less than special.

The group size on the tours I have been on has been between 35 - 40. You won't be herded around by a tour director carring an umbrella or a sign.

editing to add: only 1 dinner were we limited as to the choices and that was one night in the Chateau Frontenac main restaurant, because of the price, we had a choice of 3 entrees. Every other dinner and breakfast, we could choose anything on the menu.