I just looked at the tour roster for an upcoming trip and I'm surprised to see that there are 29 people on the tour. That's larger than I expected. Has anyone else had this many people on a tour? I thought the maximum for Rick Steves tours was 26.
Posted by
Southern Oregon
797 posts
We always thought the limit was 28 but sure enough, one time out of our 9 tours there were 29 of us. I was not happy about it. But 28 is the limit we’ve always read.
Posted by
Minneapolis, Mn
8 posts
I read through the tour documents and it states 28 is the usual size of the tour group. It also state that occasionally there could be 29.
Posted by
Bend, OR
2166 posts
It does seem to be creeping up.
Before Covid we did have one tour that was 17, most of the tours we’ve taken, though have been between 24 and 26. The tour we just took in May was 28. We took a Tauck tour years ago that was 44 people and we wore name tags. If RS wants to keep increasing the number, fine, but don’t expect me to play that horrid “name game.” Half the people on the last tour just walked away when our guide attempted to do some “fun” rendition of it. But even then, the last guy picked had the 5th grade playground look on his face at being picked last.
Posted by
Virginia
881 posts
I guess an RS tour is like a Leap Year February — when you get to 28 the last thing you want is one more.
Posted by
1919 posts
It's always between 26-28 with an occasional 29. We had 29 one of our RS tours. 26 or 29 didn't made a difference.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
10463 posts
I think those types of numbers happen more as a courtesy to guests than some hidden plan to make groups bigger. Imagine 2 slots left on a tour but a party of 3 wants to join….
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
4224 posts
It is possible the "extra" person is a guide in training or an assistant guide.
FWIW here here are a couple pages that list the "maximum" size 28 max:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/rave-reviews-tour-groups
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/the-most-value-for-your-money
Posted by
Ithaca, NY, USA
1007 posts
Only a couple of months ago someone on the Forum went on a RS tour with a total of 8 people. Maybe RS tours are maxing out numbers because more people are canceling this year and they want to keep the tours as close to capacity as possible? With the price of fuel in Europe right now, that’s understandable.
I have no idea whether or not this is true (not the most reliable source) but we were on a small group tour—NOT a RS tour— last month and our guide claimed Americans were canceling tour reservations in record numbers this year. He said for every person who actually joined his 2026 tours, 1.5 had cancelled. He claimed the same was true of other small tour companies as well as RS, but (again) I’m not sure where his information on other tour companies came from.
Posted by
101 posts
Our Heart of Scotland tour in May had 27 on the roster, but 4 canceled. So who knows, maybe you will have some no-shows too.