Switching tours

Yes, we did this once. Just call or email the office. They may not get back to you immediately, but you should hear from them within a couple of days.

The RSE tour folks can put you on the waiting list for the tour you want while keeping your current reservation. Then if someone cancels, they can move your reservation over, without having to do another signup and deposit process. We've done that before.

Problem being there are four of us traveling on this tour. Us and another couple of friends. Doubtful 4 seats would open up on same tour. But I guess it can be worth a try.

Julie, you have nothing to lose. As stan said, they will put you on a waiting list for the other tour. Actually, now that I think about it, that's what we did. Twice.

One of the times, our preferred dates opened up, and we switched with no problem The other time, we opted to stay with our original plan.

The staff is very helpful; talk to them and see what they suggest. In fact, it was a staff member who suggested we get on the waiting list while keeping our seats on the tour we'd already booked. We didn't know that was possible.

There's no deposit necessary to get on a waiting list.

We booked 2 tours together, then found out our first grandchild was due during the first tour! We canceled the first tour and added a second tour at the end. No problem. He came 10 days early so we got to see him for 3 weeks, did our 2 tours with extra time, and made it back for the baptism! RS office was very accommodating.

I have done it twice. The RS office was easy to deal with.

thanks so much for all the advice. makes me feel better about the whole situation. luckily, no air had been purchased yet.

Yes. We call it a "transfer." It's easy for us to do as long as there are open seats for your chosen tour. As others have recommended, start with emailing tour@ricksteves.com about it. If a waitlist is involved, they may add notes to your account to assist in the transfer.

I will personally say that it may indeed be a challenge to successfully wait for 4 seats on a waitlist. You'd have to get lucky and have 4 people cancel or depart at the same time. However, maybe exactly that will happen this week if there are folks who don't like our newly released 2023 Covid protocols (see our Tour FAQ for more info). Beyond that, I'd look closer at your options with tour dates that have open seats.

Thanks for all the responses. Puts our minds at ease. And to the Webmaster, we’ll be reaching out once we’ve decided which tour we’ll be switching to. Thanks!