Jim West Craft Tours..... forgive me Rick

I also had never heard of Jim West until now.

I went to visit the website, http://www.craftours.com/, to see what their tours are like.

My first reaction was how low the cost is. For example, $2347 for a 9-day Tuscany tour including airfare.

Although the website shows an overview of the tours, there's no daily itinerary. There's no indication of the size of the tour group. There's no information about the type of accommodations. And the "Trip-at-a-glance" shows a heck of a lot of stuff for a short tour. The terms and conditions indicate that they will collect all gratuities up front with your final payment. There's no indication of how much that might be.

My impression is that they are primarily a crafting company/organization and secondarily a travel company.

If you're interested in the craft activities described, it might be a good deal. But I find the lack of detail on the website to be troubling, and I'd definitely want to get more information before committing.

I know you asked for information from those who've taken one of these tours, but along with the other Bob, I'm responding because you haven't gotten any other replies.

I was wondering, Marbleskies - is there a particular craft that you're interested in, and do? Maybe there is a place in Europe (or beyond) you would like to go to take a workshop in said craft. I know there are at least a couple of places in Ravenna, Italy where you can learn to make mosaics, and there's a place in Tuscany called la Meridiana, which offers pottery workshops (I make and teach pottery, so the latter is a pipe dream of mine). And there must be lots of other possibilities. Just something to think about.

Thanks for the replies to keep me from feeling abandoned. ;)
My wife is a HUGE passionate participant in quilting and became interested in the Jim West crafting shows and she expressed interest in the trips he taunts. I have my reservations about the validity of the travel program for similar reasons you have written plus my google searches were coming up empty (big ⚠️) Our travels have greatly benefited from the contributions of posters like you so I turned to this trusted source for counsel.
For Christmas I will give her a gift box set of the TV series The Wild Wild West and let experience the best Jim West.
Thanks!

Whelp, I Googled 'quilting workshops in Europe', and got some fun-sounding results...

I’m not sure why “the other Bob” sounds so dubious, or even negative, concerning crafts tours. I don’t know anything about Jim West or these tours, but over many years I have certainly read about various tours, in different countries, that focus on local artisans and their crafts, the way other tours might focus on churches, food and wine, battlefields, lighthouses, bicycling, etc. Some might focus on varied crafts in one country (ceramics, weaving, silver work, wood carving, painting, etc), others might just cover one specific craft in a country or region here that is a specialty, such as weaving, ceramics, etc. catering to people involved in that craft.

http://www.craftours.com/destinationcraft.php

Is this what you (or your wife) is looking for? Looks like a lot of shopping opportunities.

The only Jim West I was, until now, acquainted with was the Robert Conrad character, and reprised by Will Smith

I suspect someone who would take a craft tour, is not likely to be an RS kind of person.

Sorry, cannot answer your question

"I suspect someone who would take a craft tour, is not likely to be an RS kind of person."

Actually, I don't know if that's mutually exclusive. I think there is a person who posts who has done a couple of needlework/cross stitch tours/cruises as well but I don't know which company she used.

I have a few comments on this thread.

Thanks Pam for the PM and yes to your question it was me!!

I have never heard of Jim west crafts.

To your response joe - I do lots of crafts. I knit, scrapbook, counted cross stitch, glass blowing and fused glass and I LOVE Rick steves tours! Infact, another fellow cross stitch friend went on her first RS tour and loved it due to me . So I am sure there are crafters out there who enjoy RS tours beside me.

I work at my local needlework shop in a Tulsa ok ( this pays for my one time a year trip to Europe). The owner has lots of customers who have the desire to travel. She is friends with a Canadian designer and a friend who owns a Expedia cruise franchise. Together those three wonderful ladies sponsor a cross stitch cruise about every year and a half or so. They have done about 4-5 large ships like celebrity or others and we have done 2 river boat cruises down the Danube and the Rhone which I have been on. We stitch and take classes a couple of days while on the river. At port we go into the cities, villages etc to see the sites. Food is awesome. We have the whole boat to ourselves and some ladies bring there husbands. They are a lot of fun. The ladies come from all over the USA. We are scheduled for the third one for holland/Belgium waterways in April 2019 We charter the entire boat. The company is AmaWater ways. Unfortunately, I am not going. Staying behind to help hold down the shop. Plus I have already been their on th RS holland/Belgium tour. It was my 2nd and hubs 1st. Since we are both retired, he is my travel partner now. I loved the cruises but they are a little more pricey. We will continue to do Rick Steves tours . My 5th and 6th are May 2019.

Sorry I have no info on your craft tour, but have done my cruises for cross stitching.

Also our travel agent finds out local needlework shops, lace etc in the areas we will be in.

On the British isles cruise( I did not go, still working full time) the ladies took a class at Hampton court where the royal school of needlework is located.

"On the British isles cruise( I did not go, still working full time) the ladies took a class at Hampton court where the royal school of needlework is located."

This ALONE would be enough for me to pull out my dusty cross-stitch stuff and go on this tour. I Would LOVE to do that. That Embroiderers Guild (not sure that is exactly what it is called) is just fascinating to me. Can you imaging working with all that Medieval tapestry art?

Thank you for the education regarding my apparently inaccurate suspicion.

What lead me there was that in the one 9 day tours that crafttour listed, on 3 of the days one of the main listed activities was 'shopping'.
RS deliberately avoids 'shopping stops', so I , mistakenly it seems, thought someone who takes a tour so heavily slanted to shopping stops, may not have the RS mindset that picking up a few souvenirs is a sidelight and not the purpose ( or major activity) on a vacation/trip.

Yes. - agree that shopping Is not high on RS travels, plus I don’t shop much.

I just admire crafts that are exquisitely made by local crafters and I realize the time cost etc it takes to make something from their heart and soul. And yes my shop owner would not like a RS tour cuz she like to shop. Lol

But as Pam mentioned .... all that is done at the Royal needlework school is amazing

If a craft tour does not sound good. You can always go on a quilting cruise. as for shopping. Just think FABRIC!! I am a keen quilter an knitter, every trip I take, yes, even RS tours, involves a stop to get yarn and fabric. That way when I wear what I have made I always remember where I got I. a wonderful memory

I'm a quilter and an amateur photographer. This one looks particularly interesting to me. Seems like a reasonable price to me, but wonder if one could skip their flights.

In addition to their walking holidays, HF Holidays offers art and craft holidays. Not sure if they have quilting, but they do have felt making.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/activities/leisure-activities/art-craft/

I am not a crafter (untalented and impatient--an unfortunate combination), but I very much enjoy looking at contemporary crafts, especially glass and ceramics. High-end craft galleries are like museums with price tags. I've seen one or two museum-organized craft tours focused on seeing rather than doing. They looked interesting, but museum-run tours are too pricey for me.

I took my first trip with Jim West (Craftours/Sew Many Places) in 2013. I went to Bali with Jinny Beyer-famous quilter for the noncrafters out there. Since then, I have gone to Italy, Costa Rica and India (also three trips in the US) with Jim West. I am not now, nor ever have been associated with his company. I will try to answer some of the queries posted above.
1) Hotels are very nice. Not a suite at the Four Seasons nice, but a good Marriott nice. The local, non-chain hotels are always great hotels. I’m pretty picky on that front. For example, in Delhi we spent a few nights at the Taj and in Montecatini Terme we stayed at the Grand Hotel.
2) The group size will vary depending on the tour. I went to India for $2,000 plus the optional tours. The group was split into two buses and we did things at different times except for the welcome and farewell dinners. Each bus had about 35 people and a local guide and a Craftours guide. All my other trips has 12 to 20 people.
3) There is shopping, but certainly not an excessive amount. It’s what his clientele wants.
4) In India we saw the regular tourist sights, spent an afternoon in a orphanage, had a beautiful dinner with a local family, and went to the slums to watch a puppet show.
5) Most of his travelers seem to be repeat customers. A friend of mine has gone on a dozen or more of his trips. I have met people on these trips that I still keep in touch with.
I’ve never been disappointed.

I don't know anything about these tours either but we've had any number of avid quilters looking for specialty fabric on the forums. This one stitched a VERY cool scrapbook of her RS tour!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/scrapbook-contest
http://hkeloney.wixsite.com/rs-europe

Back in 2016, this member (Nancy) mentioned that she was "finishing a tour for quilters" and is still an active poster so might be a good resource for quality quilting tours?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/bath-to-edinburgh-83f4847c-c351-4779-a011-8018e4611194

Yheah, the OP finally got someone who has taken one of these tours!
I had not heard of them, but I am taking my first RS tour this year and I’m an avid scrapbooker. So crafting people do take RS tours!

For those interested in learning about other people's crafts it would be hard to beat this tour with an excellent leader and in a fascintating area.

I went on a Craftours trip to Morocco last month (Jan 19), with Jim West and Pam Holland, a well-known quilter & photographer from Australia. It was a fabulous trip, and I would recommend the company to other quilters and crafters.

One of the best parts of the trip was the workshops with local artisans, accompanied by an interpreter. The interpreters were young women who were studying English in college/university. We had the opportunity to converse with the artisans as well as learning from them.

I would recommend this company to others. Although it differs considerably from RS and other companies’ tours, it’s a good company.

Jim West and his Craft Tours are frequently feature on our local PBS station along with Rick Steves. They do appeal to me but I could see how they would to someone interested in a specific craft. But it drives home the point how niche travel is becoming.