Current conditions on RS Ireland tour group

Christine,

I don't have an answer for you, but just want to advise you that very few people who go on Rick Steves tours are actually on the forum. I found it hard to believe, but of the four tours I've been on there was one person on each of two different tours who read the forum, but didn't contribute. On the other tours, people I mentioned it to didn't know about it. So, hopefully you'll get a reply, but you may not get one.

Good luck.

"...want to advise you that very few people who go on Rick Steves tours are actually on the forum."

This is me. Took two back to back RS tours and then found out about the forums. Just knew about RS from the TV shows on PBS for a number of years before I could finally travel.

Don’t know if you’ve read these reports:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/on-the-road-reports

They report last week there were 74 tours on the road and 49 of the 1705 tour members tested positive. Not broken down by tour or country.

Thanks for the replies. I do know about the weekly On The Road tour reports and have been checking them. But it would be more helpful to know about the country I am traveling to. It is far too general, no breakdown of where the Covid cases are occurring and how a particular tour is being affected.
It is too bad that more travelers aren’t sharing their experiences nor following the reports. Hoping for the best. We loved our RS Italy tour pre-Covid.

It is too bad that more travelers aren’t sharing their experiences nor following the reports.

I don't imagine I'll be on these forums when I'm actually traveling. They only way I see myself doing that is if I've tested positive and I'm stuck in my room for a length of time. So, I would consider the lack of play by play posts on the forum as a sign of a good tour.

Christine, my wife and I just returned from a RS Ireland tour in late June. We did have three people test positive and they had to leave the tour, all persons were being careful and we wore masks while on the tour bus, this is surprising since all had to be vaccinated and share a negative test the first day of the tour. It is just the tricky nature of Covid and being near other people. We were lucky in that we were able to enjoy the tour without incident. Regards, MP

Sadly, as careful as my husband and I have been with masking, vaccines, etc., we tested positive the first full day of our July 1st Ireland tour, sudden, subtle symptoms but enough for us to think we should re-test. Positive! We had been negative with no symptoms the night before. After isolating 5 days in our Dublin hotel, we will now venture out, being careful to mask everywhere, try to distance as much as possible. Our 2 adult children are so far negative and still on the tour. I believe at least 2 more members are positive but not anyone we had contact with. This Covid doesn’t play by any rules, it seems.

I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you feel better soon and can make some alternate plans to enjoy what’s left of your time in Ireland.

Christine... We miss you! We are up to 8 Covid cases today on the tour. I'm glad you are feeling better and able to start sight seeing! We are really hoping to be able to finish the tour at this point. Hoping for the best for all of us!

How many were on the tour initially? And, with the RS tour help, was everyone able to book accommodations for quarantine? Any other issues?

On Christine's tour, we started with 28 tour members and are currently down to 18. Rick is taking care of the members who had to leave but I personally don't know to what extent. I believe each day lost on the tour is prorated but Christine could answer that better.

Marna, the group started with 28. My son and daughter continue with the group, still testing negative. So far, I think there are 10 cases.
Our guide helped secure our room in Dublin for our isolation period. We used room service for food, 5 days. I don’t know about the tour members testing positive after us. We are now on our own, a few days in Galway and then Kinsale before we head home on our original scheduled flight. Or so we hope. We are trying to be careful around others by masking when in crowded places, distancing when we can. We see very little masking or other precautions here, really. Seems most don’t care. Disappointed to be missing out on the Rick Steves tour experience and the time we planned to spend with our son and daughter.

Marna, we understand that Rick Steves will refund money for days missed on the tour. Honestly, we haven’t investigated yet whether that is being processed. We also have the extra travel insurance. Once we are home, we will get it all straightened out, hopefully.

So, this is really disturbing. That's a big percentage of the group testing positive. I'm sorry that you are among them.

I fly from Seattle to Dublin via Heathrow on July 20, arriving on the 21st. I'll be in a different hotel from the tour hotel for 3 nights before checking in on the 24th for the beginning of the tour.

Does the Republic of Ireland require that you isolate for 5 days after testing positive?

Or is that an RS tour requirement? If so, can you rejoin the tour after isolation? Or is it over for the rest of the tour whenever you test positive?

I'd love to hear how you make your own tour in these circumstances, especially since some of my favorite parts of the tour involved places that are hard to get to or back from using public transportation.

And if anyone out there is a solo traveler who paid the solo supplement to have their own room, then tested positive and had to leave any RS tour, I'd love to know if the solo supplement is included in the refund for missed days.

My situation is a little different since I'm planning to go to Wales the day the tour ends in Belfast and spend about 2.5 weeks there before flying back to Seattle from Heathrow on August 24th.

In any case, I'll test the day before I fly and you can bet that KN95 mask will be on my fully vaccinated and boosted face all the time I'm not eating or drinking.

Republic of Ireland currently requires 7 days self isolation with a positive test.

We asked hotel staff and looked at websites. 5 days was “recommended “. to isolate. One place said 7. Not clear. No one checks on you to make sure that happens. We followed that advice, though. Then masked. You may not rejoin the tour after positive test, pretty much make your own plans. My husband did this for us.

Update: our daughter on the tour is now having symptoms this morning, our son not yet but they have been close together so he will be next. They are staying behind in Westport. They said there was coughing in the bus from others yesterday, too. It will be Interesting to see if more people are missing today. So 11 with our daughter, 12 if our son gets it. And likely more?

One disturbing observation as we continue our mini-self tour: hardly anyone is masked, much coughing among the people we see, some clearly looking unwell. Seems not to matter, Americans and tourists from other countries alike. I don’t understand he non-challance. The hotel breakfast buffets kind of freak me out, common serving utensils 😱. And perhaps RS needs to rethink the indoor, close together group dinners. At least move them outside.

@Christine. The comments about 7 days were not directed at you and your choices, but in answer to the other poster’s direct question wanting to know what the government requirements are, This information is found on the US Embassy website as well as the Health website for Ireland. For anyone wondering how to find such info in the future, you simply put the question, “what if I test positive for Covid in (insert name of country)” in the search engine. The US embassy site, UK travel advice, and the country’s health site will come up.

I am very sorry your children are now ill. It does seem like this tour was ill-fated. It also seems to follow the pattern that some tours get through without any problems and then others are hit hard. I hope that all are well soon.

We just returned from the Heart of Ireland tour Tuesday. Early on, one couple tested positive and had to leave the tour and just a few days later, a second couple had the same experience. The rest of us, a full tour now minus four, continued on with no further positives. Mask compliance on the bus and at group events was very high. This tour had many outdoor experiences and didn’t visit many larger cities with the exception of Dublin, our final stop. That might account for covid not affecting the rest of our tour members. My speculation is that some tour participants are contracting covid on the airplane trip over as everyone had been vaccinated and initially tested negative before joining the tour. I was traveling with my granddaughters and none of us tested positive at any time. By the way, this was my experience on a truly wonderful tour!

Christine - thank you for all of this information and Carol, good to know exactly how to search when we may need to. Newest B5 variant really seems contagious and getting those who have fully vaccinated and boosted. I think this information will help mask compliance! We leave August 21st on Heart of Scotland tour, but will then tour Ireland, after England, on our own.

FYI: RS tours notified us last night that our tour refund is being processed. They are efficient and prompt, I will say.

That is reassuring.

For breakfast buffets, it would be nice more places did them like the Paradors in Spain. Each person gets bamboo tongs to pick up their food. Nobody else touches them. Items that could not be picked up were in individual serving sized containers. It worked well.

Love the bamboo personal tongs idea. That would be much less risky.