I've been trying to book this tour with a credit received in 2020. The website doesn't show any available dates. I've e-mailed them twice over the past month, received an acknowledgment e-mail of my inquiry, but no response. Does anyone know if this tour is still being conducted?? It's on their website still.
Thank you,
I would say it doesn't look like it is being offered from the website. This worries me since I have a paid reservation for this tour in September that I used a 2020 credit for. I hope you post back here when you receive a reply. I am going to email them as well.
I have this booked for the end of the month and so far, no contact from them suggesting that it has been cancelled (though similarly, no confirmation other than payment either).
First of all, I have found the way to communicate with Walks of Italy. Use their chat feature on their website during their business hours (translates to middle of the night here- but I was awake anyway).
The agent confirmed my tours in September. She stated that they have stopped selling tickets for this tour because the procedures/rules for tickets from the colosseum had recently changed. She felt confident that I would be able to go on this tour in September and that I did not need to reschedule to something else.
I am not sure that I share the same level of confidence, but I am willing to see how this plays out.
They did send me a new type of confirmation from what I had originally received that included a QR code.
I just did this tour yesterday and if was great so keep trying! I had a problem before I left in that I booked two tours with them and they only sent me tickets for one. Email inquiries didn’t work but their phone contact worked well. I did have to call twice to get if rectified but they were nice. We did the Vatican with them today too - really good tours.
Slight correction - ours wasn’t underground, it was called Gladiators Gate - included arena floor plus the hill and forum.
Carol, that's interesting information. On a whim, I did some looking around....
I see that WOI hasn't included any reviews of this tour on their website since January, and they've blocked all the dates for their underground night tour as well. Dark Rome is showing no open dates for their tour which includes the underground.
Context's private Colosseum with optional underground tour contains this text:
Tickets for the Colosseum Underground are among the most difficult to
procure in all of Rome. They are released for sale by the venue one
week prior to entry date and sell out quickly. The Underground upgrade
is not guaranteed until we confirm ticket availability.
Through Eternity's daytime tours with underground contain this text in their descriptions...
Tickets are only released 30 days prior to the tour date. If we are
unable to secure tickets to the dungeons (underground), the tour will
run with entrance to the arena floor included (as well as the Forum
and Palatine) but not the dungeons.
....and they are showing no availability at all for their group tour through June. No night tour availability showing until July, limited to 2 nights a week, and this text: "Please note that the availability of timed entrances to the Colosseum's underground area are extremely limited. As a result, the exact time at which we we will enter the underground varies on each date."
Roman Guy appears to still be offering their daytime and evening underground tour but might be a good idea to keep an eye on the site? That independent tour companies have as much trouble landing tickets for this section of the Colosseum is something I've read before but I wonder if this latest availability issue might have something to do with an possible upcoming installation of the retractable arena floor, plans for which were approved last year, and scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023?
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/05/11/colosseum-arena-retractable-floor-rome/
I’m the OP and I still have been unable to get through to them. Their phone message gives an option to press #1 for booking, or #2 to discuss tours. No matter which option I select it goes back to the original message. It’s a bit frustrating.
Also, I used a credit to book Pristine Sistine last August for June 9th and I booked Borghese in April for June 10th. I received a “confirming email” but no QR code. Sounds like others have received QR codes….?
Oh well, I guess I’ll keep trying.
Use the chat feature on their website during their office hours and you will get through right away.
Hello,
I was also trying to book the same tour through Walks of Italy, and had sent them a message through the chat feature. They finally sent me an email a week later, and basically, they are not offering the tour. Here is their reply; “ This tour is unfortunately closed and will not be operating, since the Colosseum has not released tickets for this event with us. Currently, we have only two Colosseum tours running, those are Skip-the-Line: Premium Colosseum, and Gladiator's Gate Colosseum & Arena Floor tour.”
I have booked the Colosseum Underground tour with Palatine Hill and the Forum through the Roman Guy. They seemed to be running the tour this summer.
I have this tour booked in the first week of June and have received nothing from them indicating that it is canceled or changed in any way. I’ve sent and email but still waiting for a response.
gparvin,
They seem to be completely off line. There is no number to call on their website, and like you said, the number one can try (from my ticket confirmations) sends you to an automated response that gets you nowhere. I am extremely concerned as I have several trips booked with them. There is also no agent online for the chat feature. I'll try emailing them. If you have luck contacting them I hope you return to the forum and let us know. I will do the same.
I’m losing faith in “Walks of Italy” and the tours I’ve already booked with them; Pristine Sistine and Borghese Gallery. Apparently they’ve changed their name to “Walks & Devour”
They don’t respond to emails, no matter what time of day or night I call (888) 683-8670 the menu choices keep you in a loop and I can never find an agent “on-line” from their website.
I’m beginning to wonder if they’re still in business. If they are still in business their customer service is non-existent.
Have you tried the chat feature during their office hours? This worked for me. I see you mention calling, but not trying the chat. I did this 3 am pacific time.
Their international brand name is "Walks". It's an expanded version of WOI as it includes other countries.
The Rome section of that site:
https://www.takewalks.com/rome-tours/
I don't know if the contact info on that site is different than on the "Walks of Italy" site but you could try?
Just chatted with someone on the website. Not sure if it was a chatbot or not, so take it with a grain of salt. They confirmed my tour for the first week of June and said if any changes I would be contacted via email. I also tried to send the a message via direct message on Twitter and never got a response there either.
Hi all,
So my experience:
At 12:16 (AST) I noticed that the chat option was available (earlier it said no agent online). I initiated a chat and inquired about the Colisseum tour. The agent said they would check and be right back, and then the chat was ended. I got a transcript of our chat via email at 12:21 pm.
At 12:23 I called the number I had been trying again. I chose option 1, to buy a new tour and got an agent named Sasha. She looked up my bookings (I used a voucher for tours I had in 2020) and confirmed all but the Colisseum tour. One of the tours had a change in time. As confirmation I had emails, but no booking or reference numbers or a QR code. The agent sent me new emails, from Walks (instead of Walks of Italy) and these have both a booking number and a QR code. She then told me that the Colisseum closed the option for tour providers like them to purchase tickets for the underground part so they are not offering the tours. She gave the option to choose another of the tours, or to get a full refund. So I am figuring out what we are going to do. I was on the phone with her for 10 minutes.
So those of you who are in doubt, maybe keep trying, She said that when you get the message repeating (like I did the first two times I called) its because all of their agents are busy. If you do not have booking numbers maybe its a good idea to request them.
Crossing my fingers all goes well in the end.
She then told me that the Colisseum closed the option for tour
providers like them to purchase tickets for the underground part so
they are not offering the tours.
Hmmm, interesting that The Roman Guy is still marketing their very similar tour which includes the underground. Maybe coopculture cut back on the number of outside tour companies allowed to purchase tickets but didn't eliminate ALL of them. Hmmm.
Just got through to someone on the phone. My tour the first week of June is still a go.
Hey all. Thanks for this. I am booked for this tour in mid-June. My 14-year-old only has three requests for this trip: the Colosseum floor, parmesan cheese, and unlimited gelato!
I called Walks of Italy's 1-888 number and they picked up. They confirmed that my tour was still on but they are no longer selling this tour given the challenges of getting underground tickets. Fingers crossed --
However, they had canceled my Express St. Sistine/St. Peter's tour, though I had not received a note. Fortunately, I was able to find another tour company offering something similar on the same date and time.
A reminder to myself to confirm and be flexible!
I FINALLY GOT THROUGH!!! Spoke to a lovely lady in Galway, Ireland who picked up the phone on the first ring (888) 683-8670. It took awhile for her to find my 2020 credit as they have moved to a “new system” but she found it. Im a bit disappointed I wasn’t able to use it on the Colosseum Underground Tour as she told me it was “sold out” for the next two months. I had called last December and was told it was too early to book.
It’s all good though. She confirmed my previously booked Pristine Sistine, Borghese Gallery, and booked a new Coli tour without the underground.
Sorry if I caused other people angst about their W.O.I. tours.
Walkertobi - when you said they cancelled your tour without letting you know - did you just show up and they weren’t there or how did you know they cancelled? I have 3 tours scheduled with them in June and am kind of worried about it. Although I am relieved that it sounds like pre-booked tours are still being done, they just are not booking any new ones for the underground experience.
I was just able to use the chat feature and confirmed that my May 27 tour is still on. The representative on the chat did say that the tour was cancelled later in the summer. He also mentioned that if anything changes, they would contact me (though he didn't specify how...presumably by email). I had tour by another company (The Tour Guy) have its time changed and received an email about it just this morning.
"The Tour Guy" is the same company as "The Roman Guy."
https://theromanguy.com/tours/italy
https://thetourguy.com/tours
@lindsay9, my trip isn't until mid-June. I was confirming given the chatter I was reading on this forum post. I learned they canceled when I called; I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they just hadn't sent the email.
Update: I just received a notification that my 27 May tour has been cancelled. I'm pretty annoyed by this since I did confirm with them just last week that it was still on. They did offer a full refund (or to select a different tour...which would mean rearranging my entire schedule, so no thanks). The good news is that I was able to get a discounted tour from another company since its so last minute (though it does not include the underground). I think until the Colosseum changes their policy on the underground tour its going to be difficult to get through a third party operator.
Thanks for the update. I won’t hold out a great deal of hope that my Sept tour will take place and start work on an alternative plan.
