Walks of Italy tour company

Wow that is disappointing
We’ve used them in the past and thought their tours were excellent
I sure hope you get an answer and a guide tomorrow am

They’ve had a good reputation here for a long time so I wonder what’s going on

I am not sure, but I believe it was Walks of Italy that a fellow Forum member, Aimee, had a disappointing experience with in January.

Hers was different — the guy showed up okay, but then seemed to spend a good deal of his time on the phone or chatting with friends.

I am going to see if I can find her post to put a link to it.

I agree that is really irritating — and who knows what might happen tomorrow.

Edit to add: after a quick search, it seems that Aimee might have left the Forum — and deleted all her entries besides. That's unfortunate, she had a lot of good information in a lot of her threads and seemed like a cool person.

Edit again: maybe I am remembering wrong, and hers was specific to Taste of Italy or some other.

Looking at the website, I realize that I used Walks of Italy in January for my visit to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums, and I was very happy with my tour.

Now, I’m kind of not surprised you might not have received an email or found anyone in the office today, since it is May Day, but that doesn't explain why your tour guide wouldn't have shown up, nor why you wouldn’t have heard back from them when you emailed them earlier in the week. I hope things go smoothly tomorrow morning.

Kim, I wondered as well if it might have something to do with May Day but you're right, that doesn't explain the no-show without prior warning.

I'm sorry about Aimee leaving us too; noticed that a couple of days ago. Along with the useful info she provided, she was a fellow hiker so we had some trekking places in common to chat about.

Thanks, Kim. Yes, we knew it was a holiday here, but there were other tour companies that showed up at the same spot while we were there. One tour guide actually told us to expect the Walks of Italy tour guide to show up in the next 15 minutes. Didn't happen. Very odd.

Digger, let us know tomorrow what you hear about the no-show, and what shakes out with your Vatican tour? Crossing fingers that all goes well for you!

Oh,oh. We have 4 Walks scheduled. I actually emailed them earlier this month and they confirmed. But it took a couple days to get back with me. I’ve reached out again after reading this post and I’ll see what they say. They are definitely a top-notch, well-respected company. I wonder if this was just an unfortunate, isolated incident.

Thanks. I will let you know what happens tomorrow. We are booked for the "VIP Pristine Sistine Vatican Tour with Museum Breakfast." Meeting at 7 am. Sure hope today's no-show was a fluke. Hope we can somehow get to see the Catacombs before we go home to the U.S.

I remember seeing that Walks of Italy was recently purchased by Hornblower Corp. Just checked their site and it does list the two tours we have booked with them in August and September. The tours also show on the Walks of Italy site. Hope becoming part of a larger corporation doesn’t mean their reliability has deteriorated. I really like the two tours that we booked better than similar from other companies.
Good luck @diggerdeb39 in getting a resolution. Hope to see more info soon.

Digger, you know you can see some catacombs without a WOI tour? You can book tickets online. And just FYI? I don't consider the Capuchin Crypt a "catacomb", and it's not even close to being as old as the subterranean burial chambers, say, out on Via Appia Antica. THOSE as the ones you want to see, IMHO, unless you're really into bones. Take a look at San Sebastiano and St. Callixtus?

https://www.catacombesancallisto.it/en/index.php

http://www.catacombe.org/uk_index.html

These two are close together out on the historic road; no bones to see as they're been removed from the visitor passages out of respect. Good history on both pre-and-early Christian burial practices, though.

FYI all the guides are hired piece meal and work for many companies. So it comes down to which company administers, organizes, and pays their guides decently. Let's hope the new owners get their act together.

When we had some tours with then a few years ago, my review of one of the guides wasn't sterling. They immediately contacted me for input and refunded some of the cost. They were reactive and proactive in this age of social media reviews.

IIRC Aimee had a bad experience with Eating Europe- the Trastevere food tour
That was disappointing as well since we’ve used that tour company and always recommend

So -- how did this morning go ???

And if the guide came this morning, were they able to put you in touch with someone at the company who could explain what happened yesterday/ give you a refund ?

Update: We did go on the VIP Pristine Vatican Museum (breakfast included) tour this morning, and it was excellent. The Sistine Chapel is outstanding! We received an email from Walks of Italy this morning, apologizing for the guide not showing up yesterday. They said the guide had a "personal emergency" and was not able to inform them before the tour started. They offered to give us a substitute tour booking or a refund. We were hoping to do the Catacombs tour on the day before we head home. Unfortunately, the tour ends at 5:15, and we need to get the required Covid test before 5:00 at a pharmacy near our hotel. We also have a Borghese Gallery booking that morning. So our schedule is just too tight, and we don't want to risk not getting our test before our early flight the next morning. So....we won't get to see the Catacombs after all. BUT we did get into St. Peter's Basilica after standing in line for about 45 minutes this morning after our Vatican Museum tour. Worth the wait! And we're doing the Walks of Italy Underground Colosseum and Forum tour tomorrow. So we're seeing a lot in 5 days. I guess the lesson learned is always have a plan B, because no matter how well you plan and book in advance, there are things that can go wrong that you have no control over. And if that happens, you can at least have an alternative to turn to, and you won't feel your whole day has been ruined.

Thanks for taking the time to get back to us, Digger! Very good to hear that the company was responsive - based on extensive history regarding WOI on the RS forums, I expected that they would be - and that you greatly enjoyed your tour today! We'll hope tomorrow's at the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine will be just as good. :O)

Such a wise comment:

I guess the lesson learned is always have a plan B, because no matter
how well you plan and book in advance, there are things that can go
wrong that you have no control over.

Yep, things can go sidewise sometimes but you are a trooper for not letting it ruin your day or your trip. Just think? What you couldn't get done on this trip is a great reason to come back to the Eternal City someday, eh? There are so many fascinating places one can explore there! Good luck with your pre-flight tests tomorrow!

Thank you Diggerdeb! I’ve been checking all morning hoping you would get back with us! I’m so glad you had a wonderful experience today. We took 2 tours with them in 2015 and were pleasantly surprised at how each guide was so knowledgeable, but more than that, enthusiastic to share and teach of all sorts of tidbits!

Thank you @diggerdeb39! I’m breathing a good sigh of relief for our tours with WOI this fall. Very happy to hear that they reached out and your other tour was a success. Yea!!

Was it the Crypts and Catacombs tour?
If so you can easily tour/ fit in the Capuchin Crypt on your own. It’s close-ish to Borghese and we found it to be more interesting than the Catacomb included on that tour. Wouldn’t need more than an hour.

Thanks Christine for the Capuchin info. I checked the website and it looks like we buy the tickets right there. Though there may be a line to get in. (Couldn't be worse than standing in line to get into St. Peter's Basilica yesterday.) We'll see how we feel after touring the Borghese tomorrow morning.

To help assuage Lulu's concerns, I like to share that we have had excellent experiences with Walks of Italy. Our guides were very knowledgeable and friendly.

It is also unfortunate that someone posted here based on misremembering someone else's post, casting doubts based on an entirely different vendor. Even though they followed up and pointed out the error, I would hope they would edit their post to remove erroneous information.

Finally, Lulu I couldn't help but remember a favorite 78 record in my collection. It's performed by Billy Murray and entitled "Don't Bring Lulu". It was a huge hit in 1925, almost 100 years ago!

We also had an excellent experience with Walks of Italy back in 2014. Our "Pristine Sistine" (very early) tour had to be cancelled because the Church was "sainting" two Popes -- John XXIII and John Paul II -- that weekend and they needed the Chapel for the formalities. We were reassigned to a 9:00 a.m. tour instead. The guide was excellent and we were very, very pleased.

For our inconvenience, though, the company contacted us by email, and asked if there was another of their tours we would like to do during our time in Rome. They also offered -- if Rome wouldn't work out -- a tour in a different city. Since we had other plans for our remaining time in Rome, we accepted an incredible Doge's Palace Secret Passage Tour in Venice a few days later! We were totally delighted. Again, an excellent guide and a great tour. I would highly recommended Walks of Italy and their exceptionally excellent customer service. :)

So glad to hear there was a logical explanation and they attempted to make it right.
We have done multiple tours with them in Rome and Florence and consider them top notch.
On one tour we were in the wrong meeting spot and I called them thinking they messed up, they called me right back and verbally instructed me where to walk to meet the group ( I was on the wrong level) and did not get off the phone with me till I had made contact with the guide.