Rick Steve's Tours-femaie traveling solo-share or private hotel room?

I have taken eight RS tours as a solo traveler but have not been on the Turkey tour. I have chosen not to pay a single supplement but that is my own personal choice and I am willing to share a room with someone. My reasoning for this is that I will be sleeping in the room at night and not spending much time there. So far, I have only had to share a room on two tours. Both times I got lucky and had wonderful roommates and everything worked out well. We planned out who was going to wake up and shower first, etc. On one tour, I was the only single female so I got my own room without paying a supplement. On the rest of the tours, the other solo female(s) chose to pay a supplement so I got my own room without paying for the single supplement. While my experiences have so far been positive, you may have your own preferences. Some people want to have quiet and privacy so they would rather have their own room. I have found that folks on the tour are like-minded and not "high maintenance" (for lack of a better word) so I don't expect to be paired up with a "difficult" roommate.

Fran,

I took a RS France tour in 2009 as a single woman. There were three other single women on the tour and we rotated roommates throughout the tour. Although it wasnt necessarily a bad experience, I would pay for the supplement if I took a tour again as a single. One of the women snored louder than a grizzly bear, the other was having jealous fits with her boyfriend seeing other women while she was gone, and the last woman was actually the perfect roommate. If I had the third woman the whole time, I would do it again, but you never know what your going to get. Again, none of them ruined the experience, but it made me realize how much I appreciate my own bathroom and quietness.

I've done 5 RS tours and done the private supplement each time. On each of those there was one other woman traveling solo who had also paid the single supplement except my last one, Village Italy. That one the other solo woman had not paid the supplement and actually insisted on taking me to dinner to pay me back for her getting a private room, lol! She was thrilled!

I have also done 2 Road Scholar international and 2 domestic tours for which I also paid the private supplement. On one of them I would have been OK sharing with the other solo women, but the other one made me realize that would not have worked at all. She did not bathe for the whole 10 days even though the Road Scholar leader talked with her and made her change clothes. You would hope that no one would turn up on a Rick tour who doesn't bathe, but you just don't know. FWIW I also think the Rick Steves guides would be more assertive in dealing with issues than the Road Scholar leader was.

I am sure I will never run in to a traveler like that woman but it made me realize that it just won't work for me. I also just need some quiet down time at the end of an exciting day of sightseeing! I, too, am 65 and wow, do I enjoy Rick's tours!

I have been eyeing the Turkey tour so I would love to hear how you enjoy it!

I have taken 13 RS tours and have always paid the single supplement to have my own room. If you have the funds to pay the single supplement then I would highly recommend to do so. It is nice to be able to go back to your room and take a brief nap, or use the bathroom any time, or just to have some quiet time as it is a full, active tour of two weeks. Never having to worry if you are coming in late, or if someone else will be coming in late and you are already in bed. If you don't have the extra funds and are willing to comprise and share, then by all means do not let this stop you from taking a tour even if it means sharing a room. If you live alone, you get used to doing things your way, and spreading your stuff out in the room or in the bathroom, but if you have a roommate, you will have to be more neat, and make sure you are being a considerate roommate. I have taken 12 cruises in my 20's and did not have the extra funds to get my own cabin, I had many roommates, some good, a few great and some I did not care for, but since it was only a week and we were not in the cabin much you put up with it. But remember you are sharing for 14 days and you will get more than one roommate if there are more than one single woman who did not pay the single supplement. They will rotate roommates so that everyone shares a room with someone. So you may not have the same roommate for the entire tour. I hope this helps you make a decision. Have a wonderful time. I went on the Istanbul tour and loved it! Ann

I've been on 9 RS tours. Two of them were with my boyfriend and I paid the single supplement on the other seven tours. Even though it does add significantly to the overall cost of the tour, I don't regret a penny. I need that privacy and downtime at the end of the day. Also, I don't want to inflict myself on some other poor, unsuspecting traveler (snoring like a grizzly bear, that's me!). :)

That being said, I've been on tours where other single women roomed with strangers and ended up having a ball ... or ended up wishing fervently that they'd paid the supplement. Fortunately, if you don't pay the supplement and end up with a roomie you don't really care for, you're not in the room that much. And nobody says you have to be best friends with your roomie either.

I guess it just comes down to your risk tolerance and your financial situation.

I would pay for the single supplement. I did one tour with a roommate who was quite lovely. but. Since we were the only two single women we were roommates the whole trip. There was an age difference and sleeptime difference. I bent over backwards to give her the best bed and closet space and gave her more info on my plans than I would ever give my own mother. Yet she complained to the guide and others in the group that I would come in late (11pm) and wake her up.i would inform her daily on my comings and goings and agree upon things ahead of time. There were a few hotels where they only gave us 1 key. But she refused to leave it down at reception so I could get in. Damned if you do.. Damned if you don't.

If you are used to commotion in your life and like having people around constantly, you probably won't mind having assigned roommates. I am over 65. On 8 RS tours I've done it both ways and prefer having my own private room. I need a place where I can go and not have to socialize or "be considerate." I like to read in bed. I get up at night. I go to bed early and get up early. That makes me not the perfect roommate anyway.

Fran,

I've travelled on eight RS tours and have always preferred to have my own room. While I'm typically only in the room to sleep and shower, there are times that I come back at irregular hours to "recharge & reorganize" or come back later in the evening (when others might be asleep). Having a room mate that snores like a gorilla would definitely be a problem for me (earplugs or not).

Thanks to all for their replies. As most of you said it can go either way.
Related to paying the supplement & getting a private room, did anyone ever get a small, not as nice room as others that shared got? I ask because the posted tour info includes "do not expect a bigger or better room and in fact it may be the smallest because it's a single". I think the single room should be the same quality and size as a double since you are paying the supplement. Thanks

I think the room size has more to do with what the European hotels use for single rooms rather than the tours purposely picking smaller rooms for solo travelers, if that makes sense. In the US most hotels are newer construction and rooms are often the same size. You get a room based on whether you want a king or 2 queens usually. In Europe, especially city center venues such as the ones Rick's tours use, are older buildings and retrofitted to make hotel rooms and baths so size and layout vary wildly at times.

As a solo traveler sometimes I had a queen or occasionally a king in the same configuration as other travelers, sometimes I had a twin bed in a smaller room. I only recall one time on a tour when I looked at all the other rooms. In Bacharach the owner obviously did her own decorating and went out of her way to do each room differently. We had great fun looking at each other's rooms but no one was really comparing the size of the room.

BTW, some of the double rooms are pretty small too, so you may be pretty close to a roommate if you go with the sharing option.

I have not been on the Turkey tour, but really it is going to vary from hotel to hotel based on what rooms they have. It is good to have a mindset acknowledging things are going to be different and embrace that as part of the travel experience. Did I enjoy the shared bathroom in Switzerland? Not so much. Was my hiking/top of the mountain day the best and most breathtaking day in my life? Well, yes, yes it was!

Every hotel is different, every country has different types of hotels and different types of rooms. As someone said it is the type of hotel and what they offer for a single than what RS tour gives you. The European hotels are not cookie cutter hotels that RS uses, they are all different shapes and sizes. I have had small rooms, large rooms, small bathrooms and large bathrooms, it just depends on the hotel and what they offer. As I said I have been on 13 tours so I have had all types of rooms. It has nothing to do with you paying a single supplement but with what the hotel has to offer. You are so busy on the tour that you don't have time to see other people's rooms to see what they have. You are also so tired from the day and evening outings and activities, that all you want is a clean room, good bed and a good hot shower and decent bathroom. Plus I am sure that the hotels in Turkey will be interesting. I went on the Istanbul tour and the hotel we had was very nice, modern and I had a beautiful room with a queen size bed, wonderful bathroom and it was a large room. But the worst room I had was in London which was small and worn out, but I had a wonderful time for the week in London, one of the best tour groups I encountered and still keep in touch with one woman since that tour in 2005! Your only in each hotel the most two nights and you are there to shower, sleep and get dressed. And if you do happen to spend time resting in the room, it will be in the bed. You don't even unpack as you live out of your suitcase.

i have taken 3 tours on the single supplement and, yes, i do usually get a room designed for a single. that usually means a twin-sized bed, although there have been times that i get a double. i have had my share of terrible rooms on the spain, GAS, and sicily tours i've taken because single rooms do tend to be squeezed in the less desirable parts of a hotel. but i have also been pleasantly surprised whenever i do get a room as big as my double tourmates. i have basically come to expect the worst room of the lot, so am rarely disappointed. but i'd much rather have my own room than have to share. you'll appreciate the quiet and privacy over having less space.

I have been on 5 Rick Steves tours including the Best of Turkey and have never paid for the single supplement. Twice, including last summers GAS tour, I was the only "lone" female that didn't pay the supplement but had a single room. I have never had a "bad" roommate. As someone has said, you spend little time in your room and most of that time is sleeping. I have had some tiny rooms and some huge rooms. I have also had some pretty fancy looking bathrooms that turned out to be pretty dangerous (you can get into the tub but maybe never get out of it)

I have been on The Best of Turkey tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is amazing how much of Turkey you see. The best hour was the optional hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia. The tour included large cities, small towns and ancient ruins--hard to beat. Waterways included the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul, the Mediterranean and the Aegean. The food was fresh and good. I probably could have done without Ankara or Konya but it was good to see cities in Turkey not on the same scale as Istanbul.