Smallest RS tours?

If you say which tour that small size just might inspire some last minute additions!

South Italy, June 6. PLEASE come. I'm really nice!

... and also important, now saving 400$ on new bookings 😉

Please come. I'm so so sad. I don't want to go on a RS tour without RS people.

Good News

As I write this only 9 spaces left

South Italy❤️is a wonderful tour! We had one of our all time favorite guides for that tour. Today we finished our 9th RS tour and there were only 21 of us. It was also our first My Way tour. The group was absolutely lovely! Kind, caring and friendly tour mates. Don’t know if because smaller size, My Way tour or just lucked out. We have had mostly great tour mates but a few tours were challenging. The tour mates just didn’t jell well. Embrace the low number of tour mates and get ready for a fabulous visit to South Italy❤️

I just returned from the Best of Tuscany tour, April 8-18, and there were only 10 of us! I was shocked because the only other tour with a small group was in 2016, The 17 Days Best of Italy tour- 19 people. I have now taken 15 RS tours and this is the first time a tour was discounted $500 off and the single supplement of $550 waived. And now to read your South Italy tour has 6 people, I am very shocked. I also enjoy the larger group size (20-28) because I have so many opportunities to mix with and chat with lots of different people. If it’s a really small group, you hope everyone is congenial and open to meeting new people. Generally RS tour groups are friendly.

A couple of years ago we were on a RS Tour with just 13 in the group. It was nice because everything moved faster (loading/unloading the bus, walking to dinner, etc). It also seemed easier when the group was riding public transport (like we weren’t taking over an entire subway car). It was also easier to get closer to the local guides as they were explaining things (but we did have whisper devices). I had a great time and everyone in the group was friendly and we all seemed to get along. I would say that with a smaller group you end up sitting with the same people at meals, etc more often because there are less people to ‘rotate’ through (although there’s not an official rotation on larger tours). So there could be a higher chance of irritation if there’s someone you’re not particularly compatible with.

I’ve often wondered if there’s a minimum number of attendees that RS needs for a tour to run. Although I suppose once they confirm your spot on the tour and you’ve bought your airfare, they’d face some angry customers if said tour was then cancelled (maybe this would be covered in trip insurance?). I suppose financially it evens out for RS, if most tours are close to full or sold out and a smaller percentage are undersold.

I’ve often wondered if there’s a minimum number of attendees that RS
needs for a tour to run.

There is a minimum number but I believe it varies by tour. I know someone who had their tour canceled and had to change dates, it was a hassle but no different than if you had to do so for something like a volcano erupting and preventing you from flying (that happened to me!)

lanomatic having been on mostly very full RS tours, I think a small group sounds like an excellent opportunity to test out how you like a small group, without the typically added cost to have a smaller crowd. You'll have easier access to the guide, be more nimble, and still have all the RS tour feels. Buddy checks will take no time at all :)

One time, many years back I was signed up for the first tour of the year as I usually do and they cancelled it because they didn’t have enough bodies. They called me to explain and said they would reschedule me and pay for any penalty changing my airfare might bring. As it turned out I hadn’t booked airfare yet so it wasn’t a big problem for me. I can’t remember how far out from the start of the tour it was but it must have been at least a month or more.

Then in 2015 on my Paris and the Heart of France tour there were only 12 of us. Our guide, Arnaud, said in the beginning, ‘oh yeah, Rick is loosing money on this one.’ It was a great tour with good folks, I was the only solo woman and we had one solo guy. And the group dynamics were very good, typical to most tours I’ve been on. But even doing the very first or last tour in recent years they have all been 20+. Number 13 tour for me will be in Oct.

Not Rick Steves tours but on my Seymour Travels tours I’ve had 5-10 people on the 6 tours I’ve done with Mark. I LOVE the small group! I’m not sure if the RS guides have the flexibility but Mark can tailor some sights to the group interest. Honestly this is a plus in my book!

For reference I’ve done 11 RS tours and the last one, Best of Italy, was 28 which felt too big.

We were on the first Best of Paris tour this February, there were a total of 9 of us. It was WONDERFUL!
Everyone bonded and we all had a great time. Rolinka was our guide and she was outstanding.
I wouldn’t worry about not enjoying a smaller tour.

Smallest tour 13. Best of London over Thanksgiving. We were a family of four. There were quite a few single people on the tour and it was a good group. Amazing guide, Tom. Would love to have him again. I would love smaller tour sizes for many reasons. Think your tour sounds like the perfect size.
One of our tours (the longest one we have taken) had 7 of the 28 people from a Church group. So more people doesn’t necessarily mean more people to do things with. They all were vegetarians and tended to stick together. We still had a great time & met nice people. And they were very nice people too just didn’t socialize.
Enjoy

I took one of the first Best of Sicily tours after the pandemic. The group had only 12 people and we had a terrific time together! Everyone was friendly and inclusive, and the guide was able to spend lots of individual time with each of us.

I enjoy RS tours very much (I’ve taken 12), but I sometimes find the maximum of 28 a bit much - not really “small.” I have traveled with other companies besides RS and I think the “sweet spot” for tours is around 16-20 travelers. I see that your tour now has nine spaces available, so it would be about 19 travelers if that holds. I think that would be perfect!

By the way, South Italy was a wonderful tour!

It has actually said "9 spaces available" for several weeks, and I had thought that meant a tour of around 16-19, which would have been fantastic. But when the roster came out, there are only 8 on it. I called the office on Saturday and there are indeed only 6 other people on the tour. Not sure where the "9 available" comes from.

That "x seats avail" flag only appears on tours with 9 or fewer seats left. My guess is they want that flag displaying to encourage people to book since people might hesitate to book if they thought there were too many seats available. So they've manually set it in the system to 9.

I've taken 6 RS tours since 2001. Taking my 7th this year. The small group sizes being mentioned in this thread (fewer than 15 people) surprise me. Every tour I've been on with the company has had over 21 people--usually about 24.

Another reason there might only be 9 seats left is that given the size of the group and the cost of fuel, they may have switched to slightly smaller busses for some of the tours. No need to be wasting fuel on a bus that seats 60 (so everyone gets 2 seats) when you could downsize to a bus that seats 40. I imagine a smaller bus might maneuver some narrow roads better, too.

Just a guess but at this point the RS office may have contacted the hotels to release several of the rooms to cut the greater losses, so they may only be able to accommodate 9 more on the tour.

My smallest was Villages and Vineyards of France. We discovered it was almost cancelled because of the low number, but one single added at the last minute. We were 10 people with a guide AND a guide in training. It was one of my favorite trips! We got to know everyone so well.

A small group sounds good to me. Our first Rick Steves tour (Village Italy) in 2007, there were 12 people. The following year on a Best of Germany, Austria and Switzerland tour there were 32. I much preferred the smaller group. A France tour had been cancelled due to lack of people and the company allowed 4 people to join our tour. We have been on 13 Rick Steves tours and most of them have had 24-28 people. I would prefer a group size of 20-24.

It now shows as "Wait list"

Did RS give you a 'bonus' for drumming up business? :-)

It might show Wait List, but I think they just closed it out for bookings.