Covid Rules

“But it was also made clear that since we only had a few days left no one with covid wld be sent home.”

That’s all well and good but there might be others on the tour who are doing back to back tours or traveling on to another European destination whose trips would be ruined if they got covid. We were on four RS tours this year where many tour members were continuing to travel in Europe when the tour ended. One couple was leaving for a several week Mediterranean cruise. And we had someone who tested positive at the end of one tour who was symptomatic several days before the end of the tour and I suspect she knew she was positive but opted not to report and jeopardized the rest of us.

I so agree. I am one of those people. I stayed on & continued to mask and so far am good. Also, R Steves office told me the drivers cannot b forced to mask & since he was a friend of guide he didn't. So that's what greeted us at the front door each morning.

Thank you, Laurie Beth, for bringing this to our attention.

We've already identified the guide and the head of the department will be handling this directly with that guide to ensure that our protocols are being followed as expected moving forward. Wearing the mask for 10 minutes doesn't cut it. We all know things have evolved "on the ground" over this tour season, but more importantly we know that people signed up for our tours with the expectation of the safety protocols we set for this year. We're not changing course for this season and we expect our guides to lead by example.

For the sake of others reading along, we know full well that there have been a handful (4 or 5?) of varying issues with our guides following our protocols this season. What I wish to point out is we've had over 900 departures this season, so the likelihood of an issue arising is slim and isn't something you should expect.

I'll be checking in with Laurie Beth privately.

Thank you webmaster for following up. These types of reports, while rare, are extremely distressing.

If this is true, some RS guides perhaps think that the Covid masking rules of the company don’t apply to them. Just reckless.

This is apparently being addressed directly with the guide, which is good. It really shouldn’t be optional. If there is anything in the tour paperwork saying masks are required, then not complying with the agreed upon protocols (either by tour participants or guide) is a breach of contract. A contract worth thousands of dollars.

We had issues on our tour recently and people did get Covid. It’s not only the guides not wearing masks, but it’s also allowing tour members to wear masks not required by RS such as cloth and ill fitting surgical type masks.

Thank you Laurie Beth for bringing this info to the forum. Ugh. We were hoping that we wouldn't hear of any more guides slacking on the mask rules..... I get that people are fed up with Covid, but those of us who are at higher risk, RS protocols can make a big difference.

Webmaster - Is there an updated posting on last week's Covid numbers? It usually changes with new info on Friday. Important to those of us keeping track and using the info to plan for upcoming tours.

Lois - it's been updated for Week 33 (September 30) and it's not good news. 115 tested positive.

"Over the past week, the number of positive Covid cases nearly doubled to 4.6% (up from 2.5% the previous week). Several tours were hit especially hard with over half the tour members testing positive and having to self-isolate at some point during their tour."

Laurie Beth,
We communicated before our respective Best of England tours. Mine started 2 days before yours.
Neither our guide or our driver wore a mask at all on the bus. He said we would not hear him on the bus if he was wearing a mask.
At our welcome meeting, which was held in the breakfast room in our first hotel, he handed us a paper with rules. One rule was that we had to wear our masks on the bus and in close quarters indoors. At that meeting (close quarters), some of the tour members, as well as the tour guide were unmasked. I, as well as my travel partners, were wearing masks. I asked about that specific rule, and he said that wasn’t required anymore, just masking on the bus.
He enforced the mask wearing of the tour participants on the bus, but we were all compliant anyway. Luckily we didn’t have any positive tests, coughs or sniffles.
Our tour guide, David, was great in every other way. He was in a position of power, however, and I was reluctant to question him. Shame on me.

We did back to back tours and just got home yesterday. At our first tour group meeting only a few attendees wore a mask. Everyone but 4 took them off after being told we only needed them on the bus and public transportation. We and a couple others kept them on. The same happened at the first meeting on the second tour. Everyone but the guide wore one until he said Covid was not an issue anymore due to high vaccination rates. People then took off their masks. It was extremely crowded inside and on the streets with hoards of people. If the guides would have said” it’s really crowded here so let’s use our masks until we get out of the crowd” I think we might not have had Covid cases on both tours.
Our first guide wore appropriate masks and some tour mates did not. On the second tour our guide wore appropriate masks at times but at times wore a thin see through voile material like masks. It was his voile mask he held up at our first meeting and should have been our first clue. Both never asked those with surgical type masks to wear the required masks. Our second guide never looked at our pre test nor our CDC card. He just had us sign our own result and last date of vaccine. One couple never did the pre test. One guy admitted to flying home a few months ago sick with Covid.
Every meal was in a small or very crowded restaurant with two exceptions where we were in a tiny place and it was just our group. It was very uncomfortable once people left with Covid.
We also had one tour mate possibly positive. She had sniffles, a red crusty painful right eye and claimed it was an allergy. In one eye?? Her two travel partners left earlier due to Covid.

I had a very positive experience on two recent tours with guides and tour mates following protocols and no one on either tour needing to leave because of positive Covid tests. People will follow the protocols if provided quality leadership.

That said, the problem here seems to be much bigger than the “4-5 guides” the webmaster claims.

I think RS tours needs to increase the pressure on the guides for compliance. I also think tour members need to step up the heat. If your guide isn’t following the protocols, call them out on it right away. Remind them the types of masks required and insist they require compliance on the bus. This is not a time to “just let things go” or be afraid of rocking the boat. You should also contact RS tours and make them aware of the problem right away. They can’t solve a problem with a guide they don’t know about.

You paid a whole lot of money for that tour and both you and the company agreed to certain requirements. Both of you need to follow them.

How about a different approach. RSE can get out of the Covid control business and let everyone manage their own health as in the past. Different people have different risk levels and far different fear levels, so one size fits all does not work. Looking forward to “traveling like a temporary local” like Rick promotes, and the locals are neither masked nor constantly tested.

How about a different approach. RSE can get out of the Covid control
business and let everyone manage their own health as in the past.
Different people have different risk levels and far different fear
levels, so one size fits all does not work. Looking forward to
“traveling like a temporary local” like Rick promotes, and the locals
are neither masked nor constantly tested.

Yup.

We were looking forward to booking the Sicily tour for next Spring, but we're avoiding until RS restrictions are lifted.

Earlier this spring my husband and I had to spend much more time masked up ( routine medical procedures) than usual in our daily lives. After spending 2 + hours at a time masked up I realized that spending long hours masked up on a bus would seriously impact my enjoyment of a tour..
I’ve got all the recommended boosters so feel that if I did get Covid it would probably not be serious like the time I got a GI illness in India. I was still able to continue traveling, just stayed in the room to rest for some of the activities. By the end of that long tour many people had picked up some sort of bug, either GI or respiratory, but just soldiered on and recovered.
I don’t know at what point RS will go back to normal, but the guides or tour members ( obvious illness, but no testing required) noncompliance to their rules must be balanced with local regulations. Info about the tours that were seriously impacted could perhaps lead to decisions by the main office i.e. were the cases symptomatic or just found by chance?, had the guides/ drivers been diligent about everyone masking,
My personal opinion/ experience is whenever you are traveling with a group you are around them so much that ANY illness is much more likely to spread among everyone. So the decision to have the ease of a tour versus doing everything yourself will determine when and if travel is right for each person.

Heidi here, from Rick Steves Tour Sales department. We understand the concerns associated with the guide in question and the bus driver not wearing a mask on the bus and I’m glad that you have brought it up for discussion on the Forum. I do want to contribute to the conversation to let our tour members know a few things that wouldn’t be top of mind for everyone involved. For instance, throughout the European Union, Rick Steves Europe is not legally able to enforce our health and safety policies on the companies from which we hire charter buses and drivers. Labor laws are quite strict in this regard so unless our policies coincide with those of the country we are visiting, drivers need only follow the policies of the company from which we contract them out. That said, we do ask our drivers to mask in hopes that they will and if not, for our guides to situate people on the coach so as to minimize the chance of exposure. More often than not however, our tour members like to sit at the front of the bus so we simply do the best we can.

Regarding the OPs guide, he is an exceptional guide who follows RSEs protocols. Unfortunately in this instance, he should have proactively explained why he was unable to wear his mask. It wasn’t to flout our policy but rather to ensure his physical safety and ability to effectively guide the group as he was unable to see well due to the fog created on his glasses. We approved of the reasoning for the exception to our standard policy and asked him to take precautions in regard to spacing between himself and others. We understand how this might frustrate some, but we are doing the best we can to balance all of the issues that have arisen over concern about covid. We have granted exceptions to our standard policies on several occasions for both guides and tour members when reasonable. And do know that we have discussed this issue with the guide, and we are confident he will address the issue proactively moving forward.

I'm sure that everyone at the RS organization realizes that "fog on the glasses" is also an issue for many of the customers as well. I've struggled for 3 years now to find any mask that creates less fog and nothing seems ideal for me. Tour participants also face the same safety issues with their glasses. Fortunately the tour guide and customers aren't driving the buses!

I've struggled for 3 years now to find any mask that creates less fog and nothing seems ideal for me.

Try KF94 style masks. (They are accepted where N95's are required.) They don't fog up my glasses and are very comfortable to wear for long periods.

Here's an example:

https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-HAPPYDAY-Black-Large-Adult/dp/B08Y8VRLFB/ref=sr_1_5_mod_primary_new?crid=9UDQZGPIHNXN&keywords=kf94&qid=1664940637&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI4LjM4IiwicXNhIjoiOC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjcuNzYifQ%3D%3D&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=kf9%2Caps%2C330&sr=8-5

Reading that RS allowed a guide to not mask up because their glasses got foggy leaves me dismayed. Many of us with have struggled with this problem but have followed protocols without getting an exemption for this common issue. If I agree to wear a mask on RS tour, I expect to deal with the fogging issue, not skip the mask wearing and increase risk for others. Does RS grant exemptions to glasses wearing tour members? Do (or did) medical personnel get exemptions from their employers because they wear glasses? I think they found a solution to the problem with different masks or glass defoggers. I am very disappointed.

Thanks Frank II - I have tried those and many others. There's only a small difference for me among any of them. I just can't get a good seal for several reasons: the round glasses I prefer and the upper edge of the masks can't conform to the shape of the bridge of my nose. I've also got the no-glare coatings on both sides of my Crizal high index lenses which appears to fog easily inside.

Believe me, I've got a cabinet full of various masks that I've bought and people have given me. It's just a ridiculous number of masks now.

On my next pair I'm tempted to try getting the new "no fog" coating on the back and anti-glare on the front only but I'm really sensitive to glare bouncing around the back side.

Lynn, I agree with you 100%. I am booked on a 2023 RS tour, and am alarmed that the health and safety rules--which to me were a key reason to select an RS tour--seem to be eroding. I accept that I am taking a risk by traveling, of course, and accept that when out and about I might be the only one wearing a face covering. But we all sign a contract saying we will follow specific protocols on the tour, and I was expecting that those protocols would be adhered to by tour members and guides. And that guides would enforce those rules. Reports that have appeared on this forum of no masks, inadequate masks, people deliberately flouting the rules, and exceptions made concern me. The guide should set the example, and seek a better-fitting mask. I see that the percentage testing positive on RS tours has doubled in this last report; I expect people not following the agreed-upon guidelines may be contributing to that increase.

About foggy glasses:
I wear glasses too with Crizal antiglare coating and my optician recommended FogAway spray. I have had very good luck with it keeping my glasses clear when I wear a mask. You spray it very sparingly on both sides of clean lenses, rub it evenly over the entire surface, let the lenses dry fully, then buff them lightly with a cloth.

If my glasses get wet (in the rain for example), I have to reapply it but otherwise the coating works for a week or more before needing reapplication. The bottle is small enough to meet carry-on 3-1-1 regulations. I hope this is helpful for the eyeglass wearers who have posted on this thread.

FogAway
https://gameradvantage.com/products/fog-away-spray

We recently returned from Rick Steves's Best of England tour and these are my observations. Our guide did not often wear his mask on the bus but he did explain that we would not be able to hear his narratives if he did. The bus driver never had a mask on. I personally wasn't alarmed by this as I felt the bus was probably one of our least likely sources of spread. On numerous occasions, we were all bunched together very closely. Our first dinner together was a Sunday roast in a smallish room of a pub. We were literally inches away from each other in an enclosed room with a presentation by an unmasked young woman. We then were asked to pass the dishes around as we were served family style. I was initially surprised as we had been emailed before the trip that all efforts were being made to eat either outside or with social distancing when possible. This continued pretty much throughout the trip when we were eating or had a happy hour. I didn't hear anyone complaining and I didn't really have any problems with it. I just found it ironic that we would then mask up to sit well-spaced out on the bus.
I have no complaints about our guide not wearing a mask. At this point, I think it's time to make masking a personal choice. Our guide was wonderful in every way. He had to deal with the Queen's funeral changing the scheduled plans and he made sure our journey was pleasurable.

Accidental Southerner, thanks for your response. Out of curiosity, do you have the anti-glare coating on both the front and back surfaces of your lenses?

I clean my glasses with soft soap and running water at least once a day. Other cleaning tools and methods result in scratching for me. So I would need to reapply the spray quite often. I have already tried a spray given to me by my ophthalmologist (can't recall name of it) but I was not happy with it at all. First, I'm starting with Restasis in my eyes daily. Then adding the anti-fog layer to the double anti-glare coatings, anti-scratch surface and whatever might be in the atmosphere du jour became too much for me. Each of them seems to introduce a filtering layer that in total resulted in very soft focus. I'll have to give your recommendation a try.

I miss the years decades ago when I could wear soft contact lenses. I've had friends and relatives attempt the various laser surgeries with varying degrees of success and happiness. It's definitely not appropriate for me.

This will be a continuing quest for me.

Heidi here, from Rick Steves Tour Sales department

So in the case of total transparency to your tour members, I trust that you have conveyed to them by email that drivers and guides on their specific tours have been "granted" waivers by RS that they have been permitted to go maskless throughout the tour, is that correct?

"Over the past week, the number of positive Covid cases nearly doubled to 4.6% (up from 2.5% the previous week). Several tours were hit especially hard with over half the tour members testing positive and having to self-isolate at some point during their tour."

That's disconcerting - there's a serious shortcoming somewhere in the RS protocols.

I think it's unfortunate we're still reading about failure to enforce the protocols, but I'm not assuming that has much to do with the blip in positive tests. Many countries in Europe are reporting a lot more cases than the US right now. (I have no idea whether test levels are different enough to contribute to that.) When you're on an RS tour, you can be asked to test if you show symptoms, so I'd guess tour members are more likely to be tested than members of the general population.

The fact is that you cannot eat while wearing a mask. Very few hotels are set up for guests to eat breakfast outdoors. As someone who opts to take rooms without breakfast wherever possible but found that often not possible in Norway and Sweden during this year's trip, I was pretty horrified at the crowding in the breakfast rooms. That's a daily exposure for all members of tours that provide breakfast, even aside from what happens at other meals and any masking failures on buses.

Furthermore, it takes only one susceptible person who spends free time in crowded places (bars, theatres, indoor market halls, etc.) to bring COVID back to the tour group. The tour leader cannot police what people do during their free time.

I am going to ignore the endless wrangling about whether Covid protocols are appropriate or not. This isn’t even supposed to be on the forum under guidelines.

What I want to address is communication. Heidi from the tour office stated that the guide failed to proactively communicate. That’s true. However, I keep seeing major communication errors on the side of tour members that are adding to the issues. Your guide isn’t wearing a mask? Talk to him/her about it. Don’t feel frustrated an entire tour and then do something about it. Wondering why the driver isn’t wearing a mask? Talk to your guide and find out about labor laws. Don’t just feel bad and do nothing.

Every guide I have ever met is completely approachable when done politely and privately. If you have a concern, on any aspect of the tour, talk to the guide. A little communication can go a long ways.

Accidental Southerner, thanks for your response. Out of curiosity, do you have the anti-glare coating on both the front and back surfaces of your lenses?

Silas, yes I have the Crizal coating on both sides. I’ve always washed my glasses in the same way you do but only about once a fortnight. I can see how having to apply the FogAway every day would be a drag.

It’s nonsense that you can’t hear the guide if a mask is worn. Our first guide wore KN 95 on the bus and there was no problem hearing him.
Our second guide wore an appropriate mask at times and there was no issues with hearing him.

It’s time to move on. Know your limits, know what you’re willing to risk, wear your mask if you choose to and go from there. Otherwise, stay home.