Rick Steves tour VS Road Scholar tour -- tour decision made

Pam and Valerie ( Pacific Northwest) have taken multiple Road Scholar tours and with the exception of one Pam did, they both like the company and their tours. They convinced me. We are signed up for our first Road Scholar tour in January of 2024. Best Of Central Mexico. I say, go for it! So nice you don’t have to worry about being kicked off a tour because of Covid.

I have done 3 Road Scholar and 1 Rick Steves. I have 2 more Road Scholar booked for 2024.

I prefer Road Scholar although I like both companies. Here are my general thoughts, as I have not done either of the tours you ask about.

Rick Steves' groups are too big for me at 28. If you look at the departures for 2023, they are all sold out except for one so you'd likely be traveling with a group of 28.

My Road Scholar tours have been 11, 18 and 19, which is a better travel group size.

I prefer Road Scholar's pacing. The Rick Steves' tour is all 2 night stops. The Road Scholar is 5 nights, 4 nights and then one night near Rome as you head home.

The Rick Steves' tour is $4300 for a 10 night tour in September. The Road Scholar is $3500 for an 11 night tour.

Both tours include tips.

I checked the hotel list of the Road Scholar tour - quickly - and they look nice.

I haven’t taken a Road Scholar tour but wouldn’t hesitate to try one if the itinerary was a match for my interests. I literally labeled my first RIck Steves tour “the experiment.” I needed to try one to see if it was a match for me or not. Why not make this your experiment? Try it and see how it feels to you for you. Yours is really the opinion that matters and you won’t know if you don’t try one. I don’t think you will go wrong no matter what you decide.

I've taken 6 Rick Steves tours and one Road Scholar and would definitely take another Road Scholar trip in the future. They have a similar travel style, and I found the travelers to be roughly the same demographic. One thing I liked on the Road Scholar trip I took to the Baltics (which was a wonderful trip, BTW) was the daily 1 hour lecture from a local expert and several of them focused on the current economic, social and political situation. The group guide and the local guides were all good and comparable to the Rick Steves tours. The one difference I noted was more group dinners with Road Scholar but the food was very good. The hotels were in the center of the city and in good locations. Group size is similar as well. I would look at which tour best covers the places you really want to see.

Have not been on a a Road Scholar tour but this post and Valerie's reply have peeked my interest as well. We have been on 6 RS tours and while we have enjoyed them all, the idea of an even smaller group size is appealing. I recognize group size is all relative but we have found during the orientation walking tours and local guide tours in the city centers that the larger groups can get really bunched up or extended a city block. Our last RS tour in France we started to breaking away on some of the walks to optimize our time. I don't know if the smaller group size improves navigational efficiency and therefore quality time but sounds like it could be advantageous.

We haven’t gone on tours with either RS or Road Scholar, but learning just now the size of RS tours is discouraging us from considering them. We have only gone on a few tours and they averaged 16-18 participants each.

We've done tours with both companies when we didn't want to travel independently - Rick Steves for Europe and Road Scholar for outside Europe. The guides for both were very good. What I like about Road Scholar - they have tours outside Europe.

Valerie, which Rick Steves tour is $4300 for 10 days? Have never seen one at $430/day.

Three of the five September 2024 departures are $4295. Three of the four May 2024 departures are as well.

Yes, I agree with those who have done both RS and RS tours. Very similar. I’ve done 13 with Rick and 13 with Road Scholar (8 in Europe and 5 activity-based in the US. )Some thoughts:

• I have had Road Scholar tours that have been “small group “ tours that were 24 and 26 so I wouldn’t really expect the group size to be much smaller than Rick’s. I signed up for a Road Sch garden tour in the UK for May 2022 thinking it was a small group but saw the number of participants on the specific forum for that tour departure and counted 39 people and cancelled the tour. That is way too many. Read carefully that you are on a small group departure.

• I think Rick’s No Grumps policy makes a decided difference. Sometimes there are a number of complainers on the Road Scholar tours. Maybe I notice because I’m a solo traveler and when sitting with the other solos that is when people start.

• Road Scholar tour members sometimes need a little more handholding than on Rick’s tours. If you book airfare through them they usually provide transportation from the airport. I generally do my own because I want independent time before and after and don’t want to wait until 3 months out to have them purchased.

• As mentioned Road Scholar has more meals included. I’ll sometimes skip out on a few dinners to have something lighter and quicker. Their Paris coordination office makes sure the food is excellent on the France tours and there is wine with lunch and dinner.

• Tips included for both tours.

• Generally excellent guides/leaders for both

• Both are good for solo travelers

• If you plan to sign up for a Road Scholar tour of Netherlands or Belgium, PM me so I can give you questions to ask.

• The Rick Steves organization is much more transparent and forthcoming with info than Road Scholar. Odd since Rick is a for profit organization and Road Scholar is a not-for-profit.

• Right now I don’t have tours scheduled with either company. I did a very small group tour with a former Rick Steves guide in May which I enjoyed enormously and am going with him to Orkney and Shetland in 35 days according to the countdown timer on my phone.

• I’d not hesitate to travel with either group again if they had an itinerary that interested me.

Whew!!

Pam
Do you mind sharing the name of the guide/company for your upcoming tour.
Thanks

Interesting timing, Horsewoofie! I just finished an evening of thoroughly reading through one of the Road Scholar tours - their Puglia, Basilicata & Calabria: Southern Italy From “Heel” to “Toe”. I want to travel into that area - just not sure, yet, whether I want to do it with a tour company.

I have been on ( and loved) 4 RS tours before COViD and used Road Scholar to visit Cuba (early in the Obama years) so my experiences are not current and with only the one Road Scholar tour it's not enough to extrapolate its very slow pace to what others are like.
Ironically I thought often of the RS efficient buddy system and strict adherence followed by all to departure times, because it was disorganized and just so SLOW a lot of valuable time was wasted getting from point A to point B and rinse and repeat.
The guide had an actual clipboard with our names and called "attendance" with check marks and folks were very often late. I was by far the youngest, and this was also not rated as a highly active tour. I hugely admired the vitality and thirst for travel and adventure of my fellow tour members but many had canes or other mobility issues that made it challenging to navigate stairs, etc. It made for more slow- going once at a destination.
The group meals were lengthy and mandatory. I wanted to skip one ( I am a solo traveler) and was told I was rude to consider it! Again, this might have been unique to this tour.
But I certainly felt safe, which was my #1 goal, and the guides were knowledgeable and efficient.

I’m pretty sure Pam is going with Seymour Travels, run by Mark Seymour and Elizabeth Boardman.
https://www.seymourtravels.co.uk/about

Carolyn, the former Rick Steves guide is Mark Seymour and his company is Seymour Travels. He actually may be doing one or two Rick tours this summer so maybe not actually “former” yet, lol.

https://www.seymourtravels.co.uk/

They are probably more expensive than Rick’s tours but on Rick’s I always get a single supplement so that is $800-$1,000 more. Mark does not charge a single supplement.

“The group meals were lengthy and mandatory. I wanted to skip one ( I am a solo traveler) and was told I was rude to consider it! Again, this might have been unique to this tour.”

I believe this was due to the tour being in Cuba. I’ve never had a problem when I’ve told a Road Scholar guide I was going to skip dinner or an activity. Since there is no buddy system I will usually let some of the folks (generally other solo women, lol) know my plans so no one is concerned when I don’t show up.

My international programs have all been in Europe so no experience with Cuba or other areas.

I would also say that unless it was in a country with restricted access or rules, no one would get away with saying I was rude to skip a meal or activity. I’ve paid for the tour and it’s mine to do with as I please as long as I notify the person in charge of my plans so no one is waiting for me to appear. I’m sure in Cuba you did not have that option!

I'll supplement Pam's response as to skipping stuff on Road Scholar...I always skip a few meals and often I skip an evening activity. I always inform the guide. No one cares.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. Does anyone know Road Scholars refund policy? I tried to find it on their website but they hid it very good. September 2024 is a year away and much can happen between now and then. I know Rick Steves’ full refund policy is 120 days before the tour.

To counter balance Karen's Cuba experience, we took a two-week Road Scholar Cuba tour from Guantanamo to Havana in 2019. It was an extraordinary group of very experienced travelers, wonderful guide and camaraderie. Our time was prescribed by the US and Cuban governments 8 hours minimum a day. No stragglers, no health issues, all oldies like me. Wonderful lectures and experiences. So Road Scholar but obviously a different road.

When we lived in the US, we did several Road Scholar tours to Indian lands and forest areas. Never done a Rick Steves tour. I prefer to travel independently and hire guides.

Taking my mom on a Road Scholar tour of Mexico next year so I may have some insight.

1)For refund and other questions, call them tomorrow. My mom had a ton of questions about Mexico and payments and got all her questions answered.

2)Scholar trends old. I just made the cut and know I will be the youngest there. Unlike Steves, people use canes and some have oxygen-so its a slower pace.

3)From talking to folks on the Friends of Road Scholar FB group, you can skip meals or activities. Caveat- it depends what country you are in. Cuba probably had different rules than most.

Mom and I had planned on a REI tour but unfortunately the got rid off all their international tours. I think a Rick Steves Latin America tour would be great but I understand why he wants to focus on Europe.

Horsewoofie, addtionally regarding cancellation policies, this page.....

https://www.roadscholar.org/Terms-Conditions/

....states under "Program Policies" that "Road Scholar requires deposits for all its programs, and charges fees if you transfer or cancel your enrollment. Deposits and fees vary between programs. Please refer to the Deposit, Transfer & Cancellation Policy on program webpages for specific deposit amounts, and transfer and cancellation fee schedules."

So if you click on a program you're especially interested in and then click the "Start Enrolling", button, the next page that pops up has "Deposit, Transfer & Cancellation Policy" live-link text under "What's included". Click on that for details regarding that specific program. For instance, here's the enrollment page for "The Medieval Villages of Tuscany and Umbria"; see the text (in blue) on the left side?

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22977/The-Medieval-Villages-of-Tuscany-and-Umbria/dates/

Does this help? My parents did several domestic Road Scholar trips years ago and enjoyed them very much.

Thanks for all the posts, this is informative and timely information, helpful to me looking towards 2024.

A Rick Steves tour for $4,300 for 10 days? I question this and would appreciate the poster coming back to name the specific tour. I see this dollar amount for 14 day tours.
Please be specific when tossing around numbers like this.
Thanks.

A Rick Steves tour for $4,300 for 10 days?

None of my business, but the discussion up thread was about Tuscany, and I found this showing "11 day" Tuscany tours in Sept '24, several priced $4300.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/tuscany#tour-dates

I have taken 3 Rd Scholar and 8 Rick Steves' tour. I found Road Scholar tours to be more inconsistent. I loved my tour to Cuba, but the tour to San Miguel de Allende was just ok and one in the SE of US advertised as a garden tour was barely ok (distant guide who brought his wife along so never sat with any of the tour members at dinner or engaged much with us, very old & dirty bus.) All of the Rd Scholar tours had more guests than any of my Rick tours and there were more complainers (grumps.) Finally, I found their customer service department to be much more difficult to deal with. I would still go on a Road Scholar trip if I found one with an itinerary and hotels that sounded really good, but I probably wouldn't approach it with the same joy and anticipation as I do with my Rick tours. I have been lucky to have great guides, great travel companions and generally good hotels with Rick's group. However, I do realize I might get lucky again as in Cuba and find this again with Rd Scholar.

Kathy, thank you for the links for terms and conditions. Don’t know how I missed them.
the other Kathy

I find the side discussion about cost interesting. As stated on the website, some RS Tuscany tours in May and September are $4295 + single supplement of $775. It’s about $1000 more than Road Scholar.

None of my business, but the discussion up thread was about Tuscany, and I found this showing "11 day" Tuscany tours in Sept '24, several priced $4300.

This is correct and add in a single supplement of $775, it increases to $5,075. Not to mention the tour is really only "9 days or 10 nights". Day one begins at 4:00pm for a couple of hours and Day 11 ends at breakfast time. You are looking at either $564 per day or $508 per night. This is why I can never pull the trigger for a tour.

However, to each their own.

Heather mentions the Friends of Road Scholar FB page which is good. There is also a Women of Road Scholar FB page that is pretty informative. I will say there are some on both pages who view with a a bit too much rose-colored glass, lol.

Road Scholar does have forum pages but they are truly awful and have been made difficult to find. They were terrible before Covid when they actually had a staff member to respond to questions although a friend and I seemed to answer most things. During Covid they laid off most staff and have never apparently assigned anyone back to the forums. There are staff members who are assigned to the Women of RS page and they will answer specific policy questions.

They are not as good about refunds as Rick so read carefully and bookmark policies. They issue vouchers but watch your time limit on expiration. On my tour in May 2022 that was quite bad they offered a $1500 voucher or a $1,000 cash refund. I took the cash because I was afraid the time would expire before I used it.

The Road Sch activity level is pretty accurate at present. I’ve never had anyone with oxygen on a tour. I have had a few people with canes or using hiking poles. They would skip things that were too much (I’m thinking of the steps up from the bus drop off area at the Marseilles Cathedral).

I think the program inconsistencies stem from the fact that Road Scholar does not actually run any of their tours. They contract out to various organizations. In the US that often used to be Educational Outreach programming from Universities but they seem to have gotten away from that. That was the problem with my last tour. The people who had run the previously highly rated program retired during Covid and the new sub contractor was not up to snuff. Some areas have a regional office that supervises (like France) but it’s a bit hard to ferret out details on who actually runs a program.

*** Be aware that with Road Scholar on International programs, Day 1 is the day they have you leaving the US. Day 2 is actually the meet up day. The final day is counted the same way as Rick’s programs with there being no activity planned except the hotel breakfast.

I always arrive a day or two before the program start with any tour-Rick, Road Scholar or Mark to give myself flex time in case of travel delays and to allow me to adjust to jet lag.

So nice you don’t have to worry about being kicked off a tour because of Covid.

Diveloonie, make sure to read the fine print re: covid and Road Scholar tours. There are circumstances where participants are required to isolate. See the FAQs under ”While on your program”:
https://www.roadscholar.org/practical-information/travel-updates/

Laura, I don’t want this thread to veer into another covid discussion, but this is from Road Scholar website. As far as I know, no one has been removed from a Road Scholar tour or been asked to take a covid test. Obviously if you are too sick to participate ( with any illness), well, you can’t participate!

From Road Scholar website;

Does Road Scholar require participants to test for COVID-19 during program?
No. Road Scholar does not require participants to test for COVID. Any testing for COVID is optional and at the participant’s discretion and expense. However, if a participant chooses to get tested, and if the test result is positive for COVID-19, the protocols outlined in the following FAQ will apply.

Participants who become ill will not be permitted to rejoin the program if they continue to exhibit symptoms of illness, or do not feel well enough to participate fully in days’ worth of program activities. Participants will only be allowed to rejoin the program if they meet a number of requirements, all of which are intended to protect their health, as well as the health and welfare of their follow participants.

This is from the page to which Laura just shared a link. Not that different from Rick's policy.

Do read that entire portion of the website carefully; there's a lot more, especially about reimbursement when missing tour days because for illness.

Kathy, thank you for the links for terms and conditions. Don’t know
how I missed them. the other Kathy

You're welcome, Other Kathy! They did sort of bury the stuff, and I was up for some info sniffing this morning. :O)

As one poster mentioned, the biggest difference is that Rick Steves tours are all owned fully by Rick Steves. While there are often local guides for specific tours, you always have your Rick Steves guide with you.

With Road Scholar tours are subcontracted out to local companies. I don't think the quality control is as good. I think this gives an advantage to Rick Steves.

The Road Scholar tour I’m debating on is Southwest France instead of the Loire and the South of France tour with Rick Steves. Pam took this tour and wrote a great trip report about it. They are both 12 nights and the Road Scholar tour is $4499., Rick Steves $4295. And the single supplement for Road Scholar is more as well, $850 vs $775. I’m still very tempted but after reading the grump factor issue may be noticeable I’m reconsidering. I hadn’t even considered that could be an issue actually.

Jane, I disagree. The Rick Steves policy and the Road Scholar policies are very different in dealing with Covid. Of course, if you are too sick with any illness it goes without saying, you will not be able to participate in the tour. On Road Scholar you will not be kicked off the tour or asked by guide to take a covid test. This is the clear difference between the two companies.

@Lyndash - I also did the Southwest France and the Perigord Road Scholar tour. It is the single best tour I have ever done. Our guide, Tom, was fantastic. Best I’ve had.

It’s a great itinerary - wine chateaux, prehistoric caves, small villages, good hotels. It’s a rock solid tour choice.

I sent you a Private Message as well - it’s a link to my trip blogging - I’m not allowed to link it directly on the RS site but it’s an extensive assessment/review of the trip.

Lyndash, I did the Rick Steve’s South of France tour last year. Loved it! Highly recommend. Unfortunately we were hit hard by Covid. I was among the 10 survivors. Like having your own small group tour, although we all missed our companions.

Here’s my trip report which includes my independent travel pre- and post-tour and includes miscellaneous lessons learned: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/finally-trip-report-8-31-7-28-22-london-paris-rs-tour-venice

This is in the Road Scholar info on Covid for tour members that test positive: ‘‘per current CDC guidance and Road Scholar policy, they are required to remain away from the rest of the group for no fewer than 5 days (or longer if local regulations…’
Not sure how you would handle being on a tour and being required to ‘remain away’. Would you be able to take the bus to the next hotel for instance? Definitely not the complete severing from the tour that RSteves current policy is but I’d have more questions.

Thanks so much Valerie and horsewoofie, I’ve been eyeing that tour and the Eastern F tour for ages. Because I was waffling on which company to go with I reserved the Eastern F tour first and I’m going in Oct of next year.

Hey everyone. Although Covid policy is part of the difference between the companies, I hoped this would not evolve into a debate about Covid. People have to choose what is best for them.

As one poster mentioned, the biggest difference is that Rick Steves tours are all owned fully by Rick Steves. While there are often local guides for specific tours, you always have your Rick Steves guide with you.

Rick Steves guides are 1099 contractors not employees. Employees from the office were paid during the pandemic. Guides were cut loose to fend for themselves. Rick did try to support them with links to their contact info & such. As a guide you just have to know if a catastrophe happens you are on your own. I suppose that applies to employees as well

"As one poster mentioned, the biggest difference is that Rick Steves tours are all owned fully by Rick Steves. While there are often local guides for specific tours, you always have your Rick Steves guide with you.

"Rick Steves guides are 1099 contractors not employees."

@Mark McG - To me the point is not the employment status of the guides but who selects the itinerary and then implements it. Rick's office is hands on with the itinerary (although I understand they did have some hotel bookings contracted out). The guides are given a budget for meals and often choose the restaurants themselves. They also have a slush fund budget for extras.

Road Scholar's main office in Boston area is not hands on with the itinerary, bookings, quality of the guides etc. They contract those functions out to the folks that run the tours. I hate to keep bringing up my poor experience with Road Scholar but recent reviews of programs that contractor is running include her employing leaders/guides who do not even have fluency in English. Contract employees or not, you'll never get an RS guide who does not speak English.

I chose to do a Rick tour in Fall of 2022 because I knew there was closer attention to guides, hotels, activities etc from the Rick Steves home office than from the Road Scholar home office.

Rick's office is hands on with the itinerary (although I understand they did have some hotel bookings contracted out). The guides are given a budget for meals and often choose the restaurants themselves.

Pam, I am not sure that the guides choose the restaurants any more. I know that used to be true, but on my last tour (Portugal), the guide said that the restaurants and meal choices were chosen by the RS office and she had no input. Maybe it varies by tour.

Rick Steves guides are 1099 contractors not employees. Employees from the office were paid during the pandemic. Guides were cut loose to fend for themselves.

By the very nature of being a contractor, you fend for yourself, Mark. That's part of what being a contractor is. If they were treated like an employee, they can't be a contractor. And quite frankly, I think their jobs as tour guides are more suited for contractual work, which I would imagine that is true of just about any tour company. Believe me, I've worked as an independent contractor before, and that's the name of the game. When your job is over, you move on to another one. I would never expect a company that hired me to keep me on if there was no work. If you want some stability, you become an employee.

Maybe I'm reading more into this than you meant, but the last sentence seemed a bit critical of him.

Hello. Newbie here. Although I enjoy reading the posts and have learned so much from so many knowledgeable contributors, this is my first post. Why? It may be uncomfortable to participate when, unlike other posters on this forum, I have never taken a Rick Steves tour (reasons explained below), although I have read many itineraries carefully. However, I have taken 14 Road Scholar tours, 11 in Europe and 3 in the United States, so I do feel comfortable writing about this.

Although daily itineraries, hotels, and meal options vary and make exact comparisons difficult, prices do seem fairly comparable between the two groups. Also, individual preferences vary about which factors are and are not important when selecting a tour. So please understand that I am not criticizing Rick Steves tours but am explaining why Road Scholar work best for me:

Itineraries:
1. Road Scholar has more European tours than Rick Steves, although the fewer than before the pandemic, and more tours featuring Central and Eastern Europe where it may be somewhat challenging to travel on your own.
2. Road Scholar tends to stay for more nights at many locations.
3. Most Road Scholar tours have expert outside lecturers and docent-led museum tours. It's important to emphasize that the lectures are not mandatory and it's easy to skip those that aren't of interest.

Hotels:
1. All Road Scholar tours list the hotels used in their mail and online catalogues rather than after booking,
2. With one exception at one hotel in Europe, all luggage on my Road Scholar tours was delivered either to the hotel entrance or to the lobby.
3. All the Road Scholar hotels that I have stayed in, including those in small towns, have had elevators. Since prices are fairly comparable, I don't understand why Rick Steves risks participants falling and sustaining injuries from carrying even light luggage up and down flights of stairs rather than booking more accessible options. Perhaps this is my bias, as I am very much toward the older age range of Rick Steves participants and have mild arthritis. Although I walk easily for extended periods, climbing stairs with luggage throws me off balance and causes fear of falling. Perhaps other older travelers experience this as well.

Miscellaneous:
1. I travel solo and enjoy having more group dinners that Road Scholar provides (just my preference as I don't like eating dinner alone).
2. If you are still reading this, here's where you may strongly disagree with me. I really don't understand the "No Grumps" policy and actually find it somewhat condescending to expect mature, well-traveled adults to sign such a policy. On all my tours, and I've also traveled with Overseas Adventure Travel and Odysseys Unlimited, this was never an issue. Of course, it's understood that participants on all tours will be considerate of others, enthusiastic, on time, and friendly. The very few times that one of my tours had a major grump (everyone is entitled to one off day), that person was ostracized from the group (i.e, no one wanted to sit or eat with him or her). Perhaps an interesting new forum topic would be which negative comments are legitimate on a Rick Steves tour versus which would be considered a violation of the "No Grumps" policy.

People differ. Thanks for understanding that these are my personal feelings. I completely understand why Rick Steves has such a large and loyal following but Road Scholar works better for me.

Hello. Newbie here.

Dena, thanks for that wonderful 1st post, very informative, and helpful to me as I am looking at joining a tour for the first time ever in the coming year...I am medicare aged, so a bit late to tours, but you made some very helpful points that have me leaning towards Road Scholar tours.

Come back and post again when the mood strikes you.

FYI, Road Scholar also has micro groups on some tours. Our Mexico trip is 12 or less. Only some of the tours have this micro group.

Dena, that was very helpful, and welcome to the forum! I was looking at the Road Scholar Puglia (Italy) trip last night. I did notice that they post the hotel names and even the link, plus the Trip Advisor rating link. And glad to hear that some of the lectures could be skipped. : ) I really like to be out taking photos of cities in the morning light.

I'm hoping you can find a tour for you. Sometimes actually going on a tour or cruise can solidify our feelings one way or the other.

I will say while I understand Pam's feelings toward Road Scholars and the FB groups, as a non-Rick nick, I have read about poor tour guides on his tours. One was favoring one group of people over the others in the group and another tour guide was just not engaged. Both were dealt with by the company after the tour, but it does happen.
I also read the reviews of RS tours and some tour members can be a bit rosy eyed as well.

That said, good tours are usually in the eyes of the beholders. Went on a wonderful Barcelona history tour with a guide majoring in Cataln history.. He talked about dates, different groups that settled, etc. I thought he was wonderful but as I was walking to the Metro, I overheard another couple talking about how they couldn't wait for him to shut up and it was the a boring tour just full of history. Different strokes.

Maybe I'm reading more into this than you meant, but the last sentence seemed a bit critical of him.

Mardee

was not meant to be critical, I see where it might have sounded that way. Upthread a poster mentioned Rick Steves tours are fully owned by Rick steves company. I took that to mean that the guides are employees fully under control of the office admin.
Road Scholar tours also employ 1099 contractors. It's a fine line between contractor & employee as far as control of the guides time & process. The more a company controls the time & methods of a contractor the closer they get to being a employee. Rick steves office has a good system to keep the tours similar across the platform. I'm sure the office has plenty of legal advice on where the line is. One former guide was pretty bitter about being left to fend for themselves. (I didn't sympathise much) As you say on to the next gig

That makes sense, Mark - thanks for the clarification.

Horsewoofie,
I did the RS Tuscany tour in May, 2023. I just haven’t had time to write a trip report. I do have a couple of things to share that might be important for you to know:

1. Starting in 2024, The La Moscadella agriturismo will no longer be included in the RS Tuscany tour. They are moving to a “7 night minimum” business model. That is a real pity, because it is one of the nicest, most luxurious places we have ever stayed. ( tour or independent). It will be replaced with the agriturismo at the Marenna cattle ranch. We had a tour/lunch there. We didn’t see any of the accommodations, so I can’t speak to that. However, the property is very isolated, flat, and rustic.

2. Starting in 2024, Elba is removed from the itinerary. To us, that is a good choice. Ironic that it was of the big draws for us when selecting that itinerary. The reality was disappointing. Our hotel room was tiny, dark, dingy, reeked of mold and we had no hot water. Two long nights for sure. Elba is the only place we have ever traveled where we felt unwelcome as tourists. In two separate restaurants we actually had to leave ( after 30 minutes of waiting) because no one would come take our order. ( Yes, we asked to order. Yes, other people were ordering at their tables. ) I am sure the language barrier was part of it, but it still made finding food a quest.

3. There is a lot of redundancy on this tour. While charming, the hill towns start to feel all the same. There were many activities that just sort of felt like “ fillers”.

4. This is a very rigorous tour. Turns out that hill towns are…hilly!😂 There was no respite from steep, stony inclines. And as we were often reminded “ what goes down must come back up”. As challenging as that was, the standing time was worse. On one occasion we were standing for 4 hours without any chance to sit down, use the bathroom, etc.

5. Food choices are also quite redundant. While every bite we had was delicious, the menus in every location were almost identical. We found ourselves craving some diversity from antipasti, pasta, and pizza. It was even challenging to find a solid salad.

If I were to choose a tour for this area again, I would look for an itinerary that has more unique activities. We had one pasta- making class at Moscadella which will not be used next year, and one wine tasting. We originally considered the RS Village Italy tour, and if we had it do again would have picked that over the Tuscany tour.

TravelingMom, thank you so much for your trip report. It is very helpful. Why in the world were you standing for 4 hours straight? I struggle with 2 hour bathroom breaks!

I appreciate everyone’s feedback. Although I like the idea of extended stays, I’m questioning all the morning and afternoon day trips on the Road Scholar tour. I envision a lot of redundancy in the hill towns.

I’m not ready to make a decision yet. September next year seems so far away.

Honestly, you will never know until you try.I am taking my mom on a Road Scholar tour of Mexico-Oaxaca next year. My mom took a tour a few years ago and I'm not really a tour person but we decided just to see how it goes and have some mom/daughter time.

I just made the youngest age cutoff so expect more elderly members on a Road Scholar tour. Which is not always bad as some of them outpace me when I'm walking in my neighborhood. I did notice that most dinners on our tour are on your own. Which can be intimidating for some but for those of us not used to big meals, it's really more free time to shop or lounge in the hotel. The hotels look similar to the RS kind of hotels so I really think there is no advantage either way. I've heard mixed reviews about the shared meals on Road Scholars.

So I think you should go for it. You could love it or like my Gilligan Island cruise experience, decide that the experience is not for you. Either way you'll had good guides and at least learn about new places.

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your great ideas and information. It is much appreciated. I want to follow up to let you know my decision.

The more I looked at both the Road Scholar and Rick Steves Tuscany tours, I decided both were not for me. So….
Yesterday I signed up for Rick Steves Village Italy tour for next September. I’ll add pre-tour time in Venice (my happy spot) and post-tour time in Florence and Rome.

horsewoofie, my 1st tour ever with Rick was Village Italy and still one of my top three. I have been taking it again because last time was 2008. My tour guide was Trisha (sp?) and she encouraged a happy hour most evenings & in a country known for its wine there was always folks who had purchased a bottle. We really bonded as a group.

Horsewoofie, you’ve made the right decision in my opinion. My first and only RS tour was the Heart of Italy with days tacked on pre and post tour. That tour was way back in 2010 and I enjoyed it immensely.. I will probably sign up for an RS tour to Turkey or the Adriatic in the future. Have fun planning.

horsewoofie, glad to hear you made a decision - yay! I've heard many good things here about that tour - so many, if fact, that I've been looking into it. I'm sure you will have a fantastic time!

Horsewoofie, great call! We did this tour in 2017, also with Tricia, and it immediately became one of our all-time favorites. It is one that I would gladly do again.

Tricia was a fantastic guide. Oh, here's my trip report, in case you need more convincing: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/tour-report-village-italy

Horsewoofie, that’s a great decision! I haven’t been on the Village tour but have been to almost all of the locations independently. That’s a wonderful itinerary!

Horsewoofie, congratulations on your decision ! It sounds like it will be great.

This has been a very interesting thread. Thanks to everyone who contributed their experiences.

This has been an interesting thread, and I appreciate the thoughtful discussion. Village Italy was my first RS tour, in June 2022, and I loved it. A few days in Venice before and a few after sounds lovely. I wrote a trip report — https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/june-2022-village-italy-trip-report-better-late-than — you might find helpful.

PS: if you’re interested in other RS Italy tours, I highly recommend South Italy in the shoulder season. I went in April and the weather and smaller crowds were welcome.

Thanks everyone for making this an interesting thread. You experiences with both Rick Steves and Road Scholar help all of us.

Felicia, I agree. South of Italy is a great tour. It was my first RS tour in 2019. I doubt that there is any "bad" tour. The tours cover so many countries/regions that there is something for everyone's interests. Narrowing down preference is the difficult part.