Avoid Walks of Italy “Complete Tour” of Vatican

There is so much more to see beside the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums - acres and acres of art.

I'm sure if you are on holiday it is hard to stay up with the news and the procedure when a Pope dies.

There has been a lot of discussion here in the Italy Forum about what is happening and what will happen, including to tours.

It is not Walks of Italy's fault that the Pope got sick and died, not their fault that the procedure is to close the Sistine Chapel for the Conclave.

Did Walks of Italy give a good tour of the 90 percent of the Vatican Museums that was still available?

As near as I've been able to tell from those I've checked, virtually all companies that offer Vatican tours that include the Sistine are keeping them 'on'. Some of them include disclaimers about the chapel being closed so they'll follow alternate itineraries. As Nigel said above, not their fault, and the closure on the 28th until conclusion of Conclave had been widely communicated as far back as April 23rd - including on the RS forums - so shouldn't have come as a surprise.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/expect-disruption-to-sistine-chapel-and-st-peter-s-basilica

If a tour included the chapel and basilica, it's not possible to access the church through the interior passage as that access is from the Sistine so no surprise there either; most companies also include disclaimers regarding unscheduled access closures of that one too.

Sorry for your disappointment but the circumstances were unexpected, and the disruption lengthy enough that I'm sure tour companies simply can't afford to shutter their tours altogether. As already said, it's one of the largest museums in the world (9 miles of collections) so there's a lot to see even if one part - albeit the one at the top of most visitor's list - is closed. For instance, hope you got to see the Raphael Rooms?

My mistake was assuming there was a chance of the tour getting a glimpse inside the Sistine. When I told the rep Sistine was closed as of April 28th, she told me the tour was on. She didn’t disclose the key info. Good customer service would go like this: Your complete tour definitely won’t include the Sistine. You may cancel if you like. Viator did that.

You told the rep that you knew the Sistine Chapel was closed. You are unhappy because you expected her to repeat back to you that it was definitely closed and you would not see it.

This seems a strange thing to get upset about. As you knew it was closed you could have cancelled the tour if you wanted to. Did you really need to hear from the guide before cancelling to tell you what you already knew?

You knew the Chapel was closed yet still assumed you would get to peek inside?

We had a Vatican tour with Walks on the 28th, and although it was supposed to, it didn't include the Sistine Chapel either. I wasn't surprised, given that the Vatican had announced that it would be closed starting that day. It was a great tour anyway. Some people were upset at the start of our tour when the guide made the announcement about the closure, and a few ended up not going because they didn't think it was worth it without access to the chapel. I don't know if they got a refund, but the guide made it sound as though they could get one.

The way I see it, there was absolutely nothing we could have done to see the chapel that day (or any of the following days we were in Rome). There was no tour we could have switched to and no person we could have asked nicely (or paid). So to my mind, there wasn't much point in being upset about it or trying to get a refund. Yes, it's something we paid a lot for, and yes, we probably won't get another chance to see Michelangelo's masterpiece in person, but the chapel isn't closed for some random construction or restoration. It's closed because the gears of history are turning inside. What a time to NOT see the chapel, is how I now feel about the situation. Maybe I'm just trying to make lemonade though :)

And, the rest of the tour was excellent, so I don't feel like we missed out on that front either. Great guide. I learned a lot.

Just my two cents. I understand that Walks could have been clearer explaining things to you beforehand, though, so you could make a fully informed decision about whether you wanted to cancel. Hopefully they'll do better about that sort of thing in the future.

Yes, Mae. My point was honesrty or lack thereof. I knew Sistine was closed as of 4/28. When I pointed that out, the line from Walks three days away from my tour was “we don’t have all the information yet, but will text or email you with any changes…” The text the day before my tour: “Hello
We are excited to see you tomorrow. For Booking#Xxxx, please arrive 15 minutes
prior to your tour start time.” Hmm. Anything missing about the “Complete Vatican Tour?”

So I think your complaint is that you knew the Sistine Chapel was closed, but you hoped this would change. When you didn’t get any further updates from the tour company you assumed it had changed, and that you would indeed see the chapel.

It’s good to be optimistic but the news reports were clear that the Sistine Chapel would be closed for quite a number of days.

Sorry but the chapel was closed and that wasn't going to change. The museum's website was clear about that so I'm confused that you thought the tour could override that very official closure for a "glimpse inside"? Had it been my booking, I wouldn't have expected that nor expected the tour company to contact me with that change, as it had been so widely publicized. What I would have expected is for them to let me know if the tour was cancelled or still on, which they did.

What didn't change was the that the rest of the museums were largely still open for touring and well worth doing, according to Mae's account. When it was posted by Alex Kwan on 4/23 (in the thread I'd linked above) that the museum's official website stated that the chapel would close on 4/28 for the duration - and you were participating in that thread so were aware - I would have cancelled the booking right then if not seeing the chapel was going to be a big enough issue to do so.

Disappointment is never fun so I'll sympathize there but I don't feel that Walks acted in a 'shady' manner for a situation that was out of their control.

I going to disagree with the general statements that walks didn't do "anything shady." My experience is that they are often "shady". From selling tours that they don't have admission tickets for and are unsure that they can get them, to misleading clients that call in to confirm their tours, it is just about standard operating procedure.

Now I know many people use them without difficulties, but there are been so many reports here on the forums from the people that do- as well as my experiences, I would never use them again.

Is there a comparable company you would recommend? I found Walks unique for the comprehensive offerings

Now I know many people use them without difficulties, but there are
been so many reports here on the forums from the people that do-

To be fair, there were some issues for a time largely with their tours of the colosseum that included the underground. They no longer offer those tours but neither do Through Eternity, LIV tours (both companies previously recommended on these forums) and maybe some others I've not checked. A run-through of years of past forum threads turned up a VAST amount of posters who've had positive experiences with WOI/Walks.

Does that mean that stuff can't happen with ANY company? Of course not but under extenuating circumstances such as COVID, sudden illness of a guide, renovation of a structure/monument, a workers strike, unusual celebrations such a Jubilee, death of a pope, etc, it's not unreasonable to assume that things may not be able to operate as expected, sometimes with little notice. Again and kindly, I do understand the disappointment. :O(

A wee bright spot? At least you weren't visiting Rome last year when so much was under restoration or construction in anticipation of Jubilee: Bernini's Baldachin covered in St Peter's and "Pieta" missing in action; 1/2 the Borghese closed and works moved to another location; the wonderful Bernini-designed angels on Ponte Sant''Angelo under scaffolding; Trevi and many other most-visited fountains fully/partially covered or otherwise not up to normal-viewing snuff...
https://www.cnn.com/travel/rome-jubilee-vatican-pope-renovations-chaos

Per Nigel's earlier question:

Did Walks of Italy give a good tour of the 90 percent of the Vatican
Museums that was still available?

Yes, how did that go?