Rick Steves Tours (Hotel Roommate vs Single)

Tony, I believe the single supplement on that particular tour is $625, not $325. I have willingly paid the single supplement for city tours (around $300 in the past) because I snore and I wouldn't want to torture a roommate with that. I don't know if I'd be willing to pay $625 though; I'd probably just bring a few pairs of earplugs for my roomie!

Teresa, think you are correct about the $625 so that pretty well answers that. If I take the trip I will sign up as single. Sure not worth another $50 per night. Thanks

I have been on two RS tours. The first trip there were three single women. Every two nights, I shared a room with one of them and on the third stop I had a room to myself for two nights. They were wonderful women . . . complete opposites of each other. The next trip, I went to GAS (Germany, Austria, & Switzerland) and went with one of the women who was one of my roommates on the first tour. We have contact every month. If you snore, take breathing strips for your nose (it helps) and take ear plugs if they snore. I'm traveling with another friend on my next trip. Oh, by the way, another single traveler on the first trip (male) had a great roommate and he too went with us on the GAS tour where he had a single room all to himself as there no other single male travelers. Don't pay the extra money --- make new friends!

I don't really think you can anticipate getting the exact same experience with a potential roommate that someone else got on a different tour.

I've never been on a RS tour, but if you do a search on this site for past comments, those that have been on the tours seem extremely positive about the experience and the camraderie amongst fellow travelers.

You know yourself and your bedtime routine...if you don't want to chance being disturbed, pay the $325 and get your own room.

Tony, I went on the Rick Steves Italy in 17 days tour in May of 2006. As a single man I had no trouble. There was one other single woman and we both had rooms to ourselves the whole trip. Not only that but they too extra care not to give us the small and often poorer quality single rooms that many european hotels have. When I travel alone now I rent doubles. One of the rooms I had was in the Cinque Terra. It was a double with a grand view of the sea and town. There will be times when everyone will get a room with the view of the light well. RS tour guides take great pains to make sure no individual person gets slighted. Nor are romemates forever on a tour a lot depends on what is availabe at each hotel. I would forego the supplement. I would have roomed with any of the people on the tour, even the teenagers were fun.

If a single only cost $325...I would go for it. Originally, I was to share a double room with some one I did not know....she was injured 3 weeks before the start of the tour. Because I had Travel Insurance I had a double room for the 14 day tour in 4 & 5 star hotels in Israel. The Travel Insurance paid the $730 difference.

This is why I always am pushing travel insurance on this board.

JB, you made this same comment on another thread recently. I responded that I am surprised that they would have charged you, since most tours that I know of wouldn't charge you if you signed up as a single and they didn't have a roommate for you. Travel insurance is a great idea (I never go without it) but I've never heard of it paying for this kind of situation. What tour company was this?

You may not be as "easy going" as you think if this is an issue for you. I have been on RS tours as a single woman and shared with strangers all but once. A couple of my roommates were somewhat annoying to me. I don't consider myself to be 100% "easy going," and would pay the extra single supplement when it is available and I can afford it.

I did not sign up as a "single" I signed up to share a room with someone. The person that was to share a room with me was injured 3 weeks before the tour was to depart and was unable to go on the tour; therefore, due to a clause in the Travel Insurance if your "travel companion" was unable to go on the tour the insurance paid the difference.

The Travel Insurance company was Travel Mate which paid the $730 difference for me to have a double room.

The Tour Company was Friendly Planet.

I assumed since you said you didn't know the person, you had just been randomly assigned, as you would be on a RS tour. That's what I meant by signing on as a single (who was willing to have a roommate). I had a room to myself in China for that reason -- there were seven couples and me on the tour, so no one to room with, but at no extra expense to me for the double room. I'm still surprised that the tour company would have charged you the supplement under those circumstances. I wouldn't have considered your potential roommate to be a "travel companion" unless you planned ahead to sign up for the tour together.

The Rick Steves trip that I took did not have a single supplement choice and I was a little uneasy going into it at first. But it turned out fine. I got to know some people a little bit better than I would have otherwise. Do take ear plugs. Do take the proper attitude adjustment with you. There is a single supplement as we were staying in such small hotels that there would not have been enough rooms for the tour if all the singles had had a separate room. At the last stop, one of the women did request her own room, and paid a significant extra amount to get it. I am undecided as to whether or not I'd pop for the supplement if it was available.

Pam

I have taken two RS tours as a single. First trip (17 days Italy) there were only two singles, so we shared rooms the whole time. We got along fine, but this was in part because we both were very accommodating - sometimes you just have to set your mind to getting along, letting go when you need to. I also took the Ireland trip solo. There were 4 women that rotated as roommates, so you weren't "stuck" with the same person in each town. This too worked out fine - you don't spend much time in your room after all. That said, there are typically few single men and many single women - this means (lucky!) you'll have a decent chance of your own room. But even then, I don't think it's that bad. But if you've got particular issues with needing your own space, you might consider paying the extra. BTW this is a new thing for their tours - it used to only be city tours you could pay a single supplement.

On one RS trip my roommate and I decided to share the cost of a single room for one night. That way we both got our private space in our own single room and it didn't cost much. Some hotels will have rooms available for a night's rent. Whether you and your roomie get along or not, if you are used to having your own space it is nice to have your own room. On one city tour a single man and I both had payed the single supplement; then it turned out that we were the only singles of each gender and could have had single rooms for no single supplement!

I did a city tour of Rome and thought I would live dangerously and didn't pay the supplement. I was up for a room mate. There were 5 other women on the tour as singles, THEY all paid the supplement so I had a room to myself without paying the extra and since I got to the hotel first they put me in a double by myself and some of the other women had the smaller single rooms. I really lucked out. But I would have been ok with a roommate.