Single share room option

The tours FAQ:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-help/tours-faq

says "As of 2/4/25, we've sold out of shared rooms for solo travelers for 2025 tours."

Lisa,
To tell you the truth, I thought you must be doing something wrong, because this was hard for me to believe. Since I have been aware of Rick Steves from 2015, the policy was that solo travelers didn't need to pay more as long as they chose this option. But, I tried a few dummy bookings and I found the same thing. No option to choose a shared room as a solo traveler.

I would suggest calling the office. It is either a policy change, which would be good for forum users to be aware of or there is a computer glitch.

I was typing while CW was posting.

This seems to be a policy change. I have never seen a limit on solo travelers sharing a room before.

@ CW Social - thank you for finding that. I am kind of shocked and yes, feel like they are moving away from wanting solo travelers. I always took the single supplement option because I need some time away from the group but that isn't an option for everyone.

Lisa, thanks for bringing this up.

We've been on four RS tours, and on each one, none of the single travelers were doing the room share option - they didn't want to commit to sharing a room each night with someone they didn't know. If this is the trend, perhaps RS has realized it doesn't make financial sense to offer the single share option, and likely eat the cost if only one person wants to share so they get a double room at the single share rate. I'm sorry this impacts your travel plans. It will be good for the RS office to be address this apparent change.

Here is what the Webmaster posted on a recent thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-partners/seeking-female-travel-partner-for-european-adventure

Room shares for 2025 that are already booked are being honored, which is why the 2025 Tour Conditions still refer to them. Room shares - aka when we take two solo travelers and pair them together in hotel rooms - are no longer available as an option when making new 2025 bookings. Solo travelers need to pair up themselves and sign up together, or they can pay the single supplement for their own room.

Thanks Mary, I had completely missed that explanation!

Thanks, Mary, for adding the other discussion which included the webmaster. As a solo traveler I have paid the single supplement on all but one of my Rick S. tours. On that tour I was lucky to have a great roommate and was happy the option existed. I'm so sorry the policy seems to be changing as to me it was one sign solo travelers were welcome. I'm also sad about this because it will also probably mean there will be less solos on the tours as some people will not be comfortable with the extra cost of the single supplement. Traveling alone on these tours I've enjoyed meeting so many other interesting solo travelers. Some couples on tours are not very receptive to having solos join them and it always assured me to know we solos could band together for non tour adventures. That is not to say that I havent met some wonderful folks who were traveling together or as a couple. Thanks, Lisa, for posting this information.

If it is important to you to travel without paying a solo supplement, then pay attention to Gate 1 tours. Once or twice a year they have a special offer where they waive the solo supplement on all new bookings. This saved me $700 on my Turkey tour and $3900 on an upcoming River Cruise/Land tour in Central Europe.

Almost every tour company or cruise company where the base price is listed as a double occupancy rate will have a solo supplement.

Thank you everyone for responding.

So either there is a policy change they are calling "sold out" or they really are sold out. Did not know there was a cap as I have been on 5 RS tours where I traveled solo and was paired with another person.

There are quite a few tours with limited availability of one "seat" so to speak left. So I guess RS is more interested in selling the "seat" to someone who is a single and willing to pay the supplement versus to those more interested in saving money. Either way if there is a cap or move to wanting people to pay for the single supplement RS makes more money.

It would be nice either way that they would put a notification on all the tours that the option of sharing a single is "sold old" for remainder of 2025 tours. Since they haven't made a blanket announcement I suspect at this point this is a true cap or a "soft" policy change that may become official when the open bookings for 2026 tours.
As to my experience with sharing rooms on past tours, some have been better than others but nothing horrible. They all worked out quite amicably even if we did not end up as bff's. We both were respectful of each other's needs and asked questions to see what preferences there were for say using bathroom first for showering or what time we should set alarms in the morning knowing that we both had to be up for the group but that we had to allow time for each of us to do needed things. We kept our spaces tidy, respectful that each of us needed space for our things without encroaching on the other. Luckily none of my roommates had to sleep with things like tv or music on. That is one thing that would have been hard, but hey I would deal with it nicely since if you opt for the single share you do what you need to do to get along. Of course if your part of single share and it means you have to sign an extra waiver beyond don't be a grump so be it! It would be a real shame if some bad apples have created one too many headaches for the guides and they decided to cut the option out. I guess we will see when 2026 tours are offered. Unfortunately I waited too long to sign up 2025 tours.

I would try some of the other tours as mentioned, but the issue I have with Gate 1 and EF tours is that you have to pay monthly and if you need to change your plans it is very difficult to get a refund and there is a pretty heavy penalty also. I hate to be locked in like that for so much money for something many months away, Their tours are a little like a ponzi scheme as they are able to fund their trips so far into the future based on those required monthly payments they are getting now.
Thank you again everyone for your help!

@Carol now retired
How does the value of what you get from say Gate 1 compare to RS especially when it comes with what I call direct contact with what you are on the trip to see. When I read tour materials and see words like "pass by", "will see", "view" etc I get the sense they are saying you will be driven past them without stopping. Or possibly a brief drive by with a hop off for a picture and hop back on the bus sort of thing. I like how RS tours say "this day your guide will take you on a walking tour of....". If you are on a bus, they say so even on the general tour site overview versus the more detailed itinerary description. You clearly know you will be getting up close and personal with what the tour says you will see.
How should I interpret their descriptions and how much of the drive by happens versus really seeing something? How can you tell what the activity level is. I really like RS tours being predominantly above average active compared with some. For example Smithsonian tours and Odyssesy Unlimited sound like they are quite active but most of their tours are rated low activity which seems to imply you will see a lot, but it will either be from transport or short visit duration.
Any insight would be appreciated!

I found that my Gate 1 Turkey tour was excellent in terms of sites visited. It was not a “drive by tour”. I had expected that it would somehow be “less” of an experience than a RS tour but was delighted to discover it was not.

My suggestion: Find a tour you are interested in , no matter what company, and go on it. Try some new experiences.