New Tours for 2022?

Hi Donna, I think there were new tours added that didn’t get to happen, so hopefully, they will be on the schedule for 2022. Poland and Tuscany are new.

I think the question is (and I have the same question).....when will 2022 itineraries be available?

I read somewhere that RS will announce the 2022 tours in May. Excited to see the dates for my favored itineraries.

Also, Andalusia tour is new.

We had planned to take our first RS tour September 2020 (Turkey). Hope it will fit into our 2022 plans.

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I’ve done 9 RS tours and just looking for ideas for when we can travel again. Thinking about Eastern Europe, Scotland or maybe Italy. Hoping for some new surprises for 2022.

You'd probably get the most accurate answer by writing the Rick Steves office that sells the tours directly
https://www.ricksteves.com/about-us/contact-us

New tours take research, dry runs, etc

I wonder how many people they take on a dry run of a new tour and where do they get the volunteers? That could be an interesting experience.

trixie, I think they take some of their other tour guides

"I wonder how many people they take on a dry run of a new tour and where do they get the volunteers? That could be an interesting experience."

A few years ago I was on a Best of England tour with guide Tom and bus driver Ben. A bunch of RS guides and coach drivers were going in a couple of vans to do a dry run of the Villages of Southern England tour. They were both looking forward to it and Ben was so happy they were including the drivers so they could assess what was possible and what was going to be a tight squeeze from their professional point of view.

Donna,
Now that RS is not going to Scandinavia in August-September, I’m interested in Eastern Europe in October. Fingers crossed! Scotland in 14 days is also on my list.
Maybe we will meet on a tour, I’ve taken 7 tours. I like his philosophy and style of travel.

Hi Judy, we looked at the RS Scandinavia tour too. We were supposed to do a Viking cruise to Sweden, Russia and Copenhagen in July but rescheduled it to 2022. Still haven’t definitely decided which RS tour to do next year but maybe we will run into each other!

I to have had my hopes dashed in the last year or so. We had a Best of Portugal tour scheduled in April last year. It would have been our 4th RS tour. We then had back to back
tours planned for September, Best of Turkey followed by Portugal. Alas, that did not come to pass. So now we are hoping to try again in April with the two tours planned for September as back to back tours. Given the news from the Monday night travel shows that they will be reducing the tour size from 28 to 24 just adds more stress trying get space on both trips that does not require a large amount of time between tours. Then to add more stress I am trying to coordinate with 2-3 other couples who we travel with across both trips. I too have heard 2022 will go on sale this Month. Keeping my fingers crossed and an eye on the website.

I was glad to see that Tour Conditions for 2022 include a more forgiving deposit refund policy. Deposits made prior to December 2, 2021 are fully refundable until December 31, 2021. The pre-pandemic policy was that all deposits became non-refundable after 30 days. I checked my correspondence from RS pertaining to our last tour: Village Italy in 2019. We paid our deposit in June 2018 for a tour with an April 2019 departure. Here is the language from the RS tour confirmation email: Your deposit is fully refundable for 30 days from the date it is received (or until your final payment due date, whichever comes first). After that period, deposits are not refundable for any reason.

The 2022 guidelines retain the customer’s ability to apply a deposit to a different tour departing in the same calendar year.

What we don’t know is the status of the so-called early bird discount.

I may be misremembering, but I believe the previous policy on refunds was fully refundable until 30 Nov for tours planned for the following year - then after that, 60 days after booking. But I’ve never had to cancel, just changed tours after booking.

Bob, where are you reading new tour conditions?

Bob, where are you reading new tour conditions?

I'm not Bob, but it is easy to find.

Go to https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-help/tours-faq and click on Tour Reservations and the answer is in the third question down.

What is your cancellation policy?
For tours departing in 2022, deposits received before December 2, 2021,  are 100% refundable until December 31, 2021. Deposits received on or after December 2, 2021, are  fully refundable for 30 days from the date  they are  received (or until the final payment due date, whichever comes first).