How was the 'carry your own luggage' aspect of the RS tours - esp. the Venice, Florence, Rome Tour?

That is why Tauck's tour are more. Paying for more people to provide a higher service level. Steves' tours tend to be a little more do it yourself. The distance carried and the number of stairs is totally dependent on location and tour. But if you cannot or will not carry you own luggage for two or three blocks or up and down three or four flights of stairs, then you need to stick with Tauck. For the most part, but not always, rolling luggage will work until you come to stairs.

Most of our tour hotels in these three cities have elevators, but elevators often are small, and can occasionally be out of service. Packing light will help you weather the unexpected (out of service) as well as the expected challenges (24 people all checking in at the same time). On my two tours this year, one Venice hotel did not have an elevator (but provided a porter). At some Rome hotels which are located on the third or fourth floor up (not counting ground level), the elevator only works when the last user closes the door properly (so nothing is certain).

In Venice, most groups travel to and from a centrally located hotel using the vaporetto (the public boat). From the boat dock, walking distance to each hotel will vary, but will often include crossing one or two bridges, which include perhaps 8 steps up and 8 steps down each side.

You probably also saw this note about Activity Level:

Our tours are physically active! It’s an essential part of the Rick Steves tour experience. On our Best of Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days tour — among other things — you'll need to happily...
1. Carry/roll your luggage over uneven pavement (several blocks possible) and up stairways to reach your hotel; then up several flights of stairs to reach your room.
2. Be on your feet, walking and standing for up to three hours, indoors and outdoors, in all weather conditions.
3. Sleep with street noise and no (or weak) air conditioning.
4. After orientation and transportation lessons, be able to navigate cities on your own.

I have taken two RS tours in Italy during the past year, the My Way Italy tour and the Sicily tour, both excellent and well-priced I thought. In each case, there were some towns where the group stayed in the historic centers where a bus could not drive or park, and each person needed to carry or roll their baggage up to a few blocks, rarely more than that. I can remember especially Venice (including on the vaporetto ride to the bus parking), Monterosso (including on the train), and Florence, and in Sicily, Palermo and Cefalu. In Assisi and in Siracusa, Sicily, I remember the walk was longer, but I think there were vans to take the baggage from the bus to the hotel. There were a few hotels without elevators, with a flight of stairs or two to the rooms, and other hotels where there were a few stairs to go up to reach the elevator. While bus-to-room baggage transfer would be nice, and perhaps necessary for some people with physical limitations, I would not value that benefit at anywhere near $1300, unless it was a physical necessity.

china,

I've taken eight RS tours, and never had any issues at all with the luggage. While you are expected to carry your own luggage, it's never been a huge problem (in my experience). This is also a good incentive to pack light - for those who normally travel with a couple of Steamer Trunks, a RS tour is probably not for them. With the luggage you described, it shouldn't be a problem.

I've found on several tours that if the distance from the Bus to the Hotel is longer, RS tours always arranges a porter service to transport the luggage to the hotel. That was certainly true on the Adriatic tour this year, during our time in Motovun. Due to the narrow streets, the Buses could only get within about 300 metres of the hotel. A small van (owned by the hotel) was used to transport all the gear to the front door, and our Coach driver and one of the hotel staff took care of that. Each tour member took their own carry-on bags (although I suppose those could have been left for the van also). The same system was used on the South Italy tour (in Vieste and perhaps also Matera, as I recall) and a few of the others that I've taken.

Regarding the stairs, the majority of hotels now used by RS tours seem to have an elevator (in my experience). Those with only stairs are less common now. The stair situation varies somewhat depending on tour, city and which hotel is used. You may still encounter "stairs only" in a few locations. Some of the elevators are a bit small, so there's often a bit of a "stampede" when the group first arrives, so a little patience is needed. You may have to sit in the lobby for a few minutes until it's your "turn" for the elevator.

The hotels used on the RS tours are not five-star, but they're very comfortable. I've noticed that RS tours have been using more "upscale" hotels for the last few years, so unless you absolutely want five-star quality, the RS tour hotels should be quite adequate. One of the benefits of the hotels is that they're always relatively close to the city centres, rather than way in the outskirts requiring a bus or tram ride into town. This makes it very easy to wander around in the evenings and experience the local atmosphere. If they do use a hotel that's not quite in the centre, the RS folks always provide a transit pass and provide a tutorial on the best buses or routes to use. It's all very easy!

If you've never taken a RS tour, I'd suggest trying one so you can see how they compare with Tauck.

I have been on 3 RS Tours, with a 4th one planned for next year. (10 Day Venice, Florence, Rome, 7 Day London, 7 Day Paris). My 65 year old mother and I (29) went on the 10 day Venice Florence, Rome tour in May 2013. We are both in average shape and have no knee or hip issues. We each brought a RS bag (Mine is the backpack, her is the one with wheels) and a day bag. Overall I thought this tour was fine for carrying our own luggage and we did not expereince any major issues. The other people in our group (mostly my mom's age) did not seem to have any problems either. I have broken down specifics though for each city.

• Venice: We arrived via train from Rome the day of the tour, then took the vaporetto to the hotel. The vaporetto stop is literally right in front of the train station, like maybe 1 minute from the entrance. The vaporetto took us to a stop that was about a 3-5 minute walk to the hotel (Pensione Guerrato). At this hotel there are no elevators. Our room was on the top floor and there were 67 steps to that floor. Climbing those stairs with luggage wasnt fun, but we managed and it was only 1 time up, and then 1 time down when we left. However there are a few rooms on the bottom floor of the hotel so no steps are involved. The closer it gets to the tour you might could speak with the hotel and ask them to place you in a lower level floor. Transfer from the hotel to the bus when leaving Venice with the luggage was a little bit longer walk. We walked about 10 minutes to the vaporetto stop (crossed over the bridge, with about 8 steps on either side). Rode the vaporetto for maybe 15 minnutes, then got off and walked 2-3 minutes to the bus that was waiting for us. Driver helped us load our bags under the bus. I managed a little better with my backpack than my mom did with her wheeled bag, but overall we didnt have any major issues. All of the group seemed to keep up and nobody seemed to have any issues. The only problem was that is was POURING down rain during this entire process, but we had umbrellas. Venice was the most challenging city on this tour in terms of walking length, flights of stairs, etc with luggage.

*Florence: The Bus pulled up across the street from the hotel. The driver helped us unload the bags and then we crossed the street with the bags and walked up maybe 15 steps to the lobby. Our room was on the bottom floor so we didnt have any issues, most of the group stayed on the same floor, as it was a larger hotel. When we left the bus pulled up in the same spot (across the street) and the driver helped us load our bags underneath the bus. I don't believe this hotel had an elevator.

*Rome: The hotel was half way down a small alley, so the bus pulled up at the base of the alley and the driver helped us unload the bags, and then we walked up a slight incline to the hotel, maybe a 2 minute walk, but (slightly) uphill. This hotel had an elevator!

As I said, carrying our own luggage physically was not a major issue to us, and nobody in the group seemed to have a physical issue with it either. If you have never been on a RS tour though, be warned they are very active. My mom wore a pedometer and most days we walked 5-10 miles, but we did a lot of siteseeing on our own without the group during our free time.

The city tours may be a good option for you if you are worried about carrying your luggage. You stay at 1 hotel the whole week, and at both the London and Paris hotel we stayed at there was an elevator, so no issues.

I have not been on a Tauck's tour, but it sound like it is a very different experience than a RS tour, (luggage service, trains, 5 star hotels, etc) Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just be prepared the RS tour will probably be vastly different, and you should be sure you are ok with that. Sounds like you have done a lot of research though. The RS Tour Department is VERY helpful, and if you call them they can answer most everything, even if you havent booked a tour.

I am usually not a tour person but decided to take one last year as I did not want to deal with the details... just wanted to be taken care of:)) Took a last minute GoAhead tour to Barcelona, southern France and Italy and it was really a nice trip and very reasonable (especially given the last minute discount...) way cheaper than most RS tours. Never had to deal with our own luggage, although I do travel light. Hotels and logistics were handled very well.

I'm 67 and just returned from 17 day best of italy tour. I brought a small suitcase and an overnight bag. Most days I would organize my overnight bag to carry to hotels and leave my suitcase on the bus. We stayed in one location for 2 days so that was the best way for me.