We are huge RS fans and have been on 6 of his tours. Our cousins have gotten us interested in a two week Odysseys tour that visits some cities that are not on Rick’s tours. As we prepare for next month’s tour I have noticed (as expected) that Odysseys uses larger, more commercial hotels and it appears that they are not located in the local neighborhoods that we’ve enjoyed so much on Rick’s tours. I’m wondering if we will be able to walk around as easily as on our previous tours. It also appears that Odysseys has more of its included dinners in these hotels. Does anyone have any experience with Odysseys? We would appreciate any and all tips.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
6500 posts
We've only taken one Odysseys tour (taking another this winter), so i can't really comment on all tours. Ours was in Scotland, and found the hotel dinners excellent, with only a few places i would consider large commercial (chain?) ones. As for location, the ones in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St Andrew's were certainly close enough to be walkable in the evenings. The ones in Fort William and Inverness were farher from the center, but a short ride by taxi if you wanted to stroll the city center in the evening. We found those days so busy, arriving at the hotel in late afternoon, that we were happy to relax in the lounge or bar after dinner, which often lasted a couple of hours- chatting over dessert and drinks. YMMV.
Posted by
la la land...
1327 posts
Come back and tell us about your experience...
Posted by
Freedonia
17794 posts
Which Italy tour are you taking? I've been on two Odysseys tour in Italy.
Posted by
OP
Upstate NY
37 posts
Frank,
We are on the Italy’s Classic Cities Tour. I believe it’s relatively new. The cities on the tour that we haven’t seen are Milan, Bologna, Verona, Bergamo, and Modena. We will also visit Florence, Rome, and Lake Como. We will be sleeping in Milan, Verona, Bologna, Florence, and Rome. We do look forward to wandering about and the passegiatta when we are in Italy and it looks like several of our hotels are on main, busy avenues.
We are by no means preparing to dislike the trip. After all, we’ll be in Italy! We just were wondering what to expect.
Posted by
Used to be Steilacoom, now it’s Las Vegas
2452 posts
We did their Paradors and Pousadas tour with friends a number of years ago. We met them on a RS tour but they no longer could shlep luggage, so they preferred the Odyssey tours. It was similar and we plan to move to their tours when the luggage hauling is no longer possible (spouse is 80). The groups were similar size and people were congenial. All the hotels were close to centrally located, depending to which center you wanted to be close to. The hotel in Madrid was closest to El Retiro Park rather than Plaza Mayor or Puerta del Sol and we overnighted in Carmona and day tripped to Seville and Cordoba. However, a little expectation adjustment in Carmona allowed us to joy watching kids play soccer in the town square while enjoying happy hour.
Posted by
Vermont
28 posts
We enjoyed our Odysseys’ trips to Japan and Egypt/Jordan. I think we had one dinner in the hotel on each trip. Hotels were very nice and the whole experience was fantastic on both trips.
Posted by
Freedonia
17794 posts
While I didn't stay in any of the ciites you mention, I found the tours were very good.
The hotels were all 4 star and up. Any included meals in the hotels were good. Everyone got along great and our tour directors were wonderful. They were from Italy.
I don't remember any hotel being far out of town. Most were centrally located.
Odysseys has taken a lot of the best of RS tours and notched them up a step--better hotels, bellman service, nicer restaurants.
Posted by
Michigan
106 posts
Anyone gone on an Odyssey tour of Patagonia? We are looking at one of those?
Posted by
OP
Upstate NY
37 posts
These replies are all very helpful. Thank you to all who responded. We are looking forward to our trip and new adventures!