RS Croatia Tour Guides

Have you tried reading the tour reviews related to each tour? Folks comment directly on the guide, which is what you're looking for

LaRae, I've been on seven RS tours and in my experience part of the Guides "duties" are providing lots of information on the culture and history of the places being visited. In many cases, this does involve standing for periods of time listening to lectures either from the Lead Guide or the local Guides. That's just the way the tours are structured. Tour members are free to either take part in the local tours or not, depending on their wishes at the time. If you'd rather not take part in a particular lecture or walking tour, just let the Guide know and head out on your own. The best place to address this question will be the annual tour reunion and Test Drive A Tour Guide sessions, which are scheduled for Edmonds on 18 January 2014. If you're free that day, you can attend a free lecture (registration required) on the Croatia/Adriatic tour and speak with some of the Guides that lead the various tours. Charlie (Seattle/Hawaii) just took that one, so hopefully he'll spot this post as he'll be able to provide current information from a tour member's perspective. Happy travels!

Not making reference to the local guides. Guides have different management styles. Just trying to find out what the different guides for the Croatia tour are like I've been on two and the guides have been very different. Would love to go to a reunion tour and meet the guides. Hard in the winter months for some of us to get to the Seattle area.

LaRae, Have you checked the tour reviews for that particular tour? The Adriatic tour is one I'm considering also, and I was reading through some of those tonight. There were some interesting comments. As far as travelling in the winter, you could always take a short flight. That's what I have to do. Cheers!

LaRae,
This is a very difficult question to find an answer to. The guides sometimes change from year to year and the office is not willing to give out info on who the guides may be ahead of time. Also, the tour evaluations no longer allow the name of the guide to be used in the response, which limits your information even more. So, while I can't answer your question, I can offer some encouragement. We took the Adriatic tour in 2008 (too far ago for relevant guide info) and it was fantastic! We made the mistake of going in mid-July when the temperatures were around 100 degrees many days, but, even given the heat misery, we loved this tour. We've been on 16 RS tours and have only had two guides who we thought were poor, so the odds are pretty good. I would rate the great majority of the guides we've had as outstanding. Take the plunge!

@Nancy, "and the office is not willing to give out info on who the guides may be ahead of time." IMO, it's not so much that the tour office isn't "willing" to provide the information, but on some tours they may not know who the Guide will be until about a month before tour departure. Assigning Guides is handled by a different department. Cheers!

I have taken 11 RS tours and have only had one assistant guide and one lead guide who I would rate a B, all the rest I would rate as A's with two getting A+. I go up to RS headquarters in Edmonds, WA often (I sometimes live only a 20 minute drive away) and have repeatedly been told by the Travel Desk that they do not give out the name of the guides for individual tours for two reasons. One, as Ken mentioned, is that they do not always know until a month ahead of time, and the other being that they do not want prospective tour participants "shopping tours for particular guides". In the 11 tours that I have taken, I have experienced many occasions where we stood in one place for nearly and hour. I tend to walk around the group so that I do not have to remain stationary. I just returned from the Adriatic tour to which I took a small folding stool. I never used it. Good luck in your future tours. And, keep on traveling.