Trying to determine if the family trip is worth the cost. from reading, it seems that we should be able to secure quad rooms to make this trip less expensive, but I do not see anything that implies a 3rd-5th person in a room is any cheaper I have seen that on many other tour site. Thoughts?
Edited to add: We are looking at the all inclusive European family tour from Rick Steves.
Sorry.. if you are a family of five.. you cannot use quad rooms.. Rick Steves tours does have some rooms on the Family tour ( I took my 11 yr old on it years ago.. super fun btw) and there was one family with three kids. In some places they got a room that would take five.. but in others they were put in double and triple rooms.
Do not compare a RS Family tour with any other tour.. they may be cheaper.. but they will not be better for kids.. My dd loved our tour.. it really did work well with the kids.. We had 26 people on our tour.. 14 of whom were kids aged 8-17.. and the kids had a blast.. as the parents.
RS tours are not cheaper then doing it on your own.. but they are easier.. no herding the family from train station to train station or hotel to hotel. .but.. if you want to save money.. instead of doing a tour.. choose 2 or 3 destinations and do them on your own.. London, Amsterdam, Paris and Rome .. mix and match to your tastes are good combos.
Finding hotel rooms for five will always be a huge hassle though.
I had three kids.. and that is why my husband and I decided to do our holidays in Europe differently. A five person holiday can be pricey , two hotel rooms, larger rental car etc.. so we did it this way. I took oldest son when he was 13.. we did London and Paris for 17 days. Then hubby took next oldest son when he was 14 , they did London , Paris and Germany.. 21 days.. then I took our youngest, daughter when she was 11.. we did the Rick Steves Family tour for 14 days.. and I added 12 days.. 7 to Paris where tour ended and 5 to Rome where tour started.
Not for everyone , but we all had a blast. Tour was not an option for one of my sons because he has some issues that make group travel impractical.. and other son wanted to do other things.. but my daughter and I though mixing the tour with independent travel was great.
When you have more than 4 people you need to start looking for apartment rentals...
Since you are looking at taking a RS tour, hopefully you checked the box so that an RS staff member will also answer. I would probably also call the tour office and talk with them about your particular situation.
In the US you can often have however many people you want in one room. In Europe, the number of people (including kids) that are in a room is strictly controlled so as Pat indicates a quad room is for 4 people only.
I didn't see a box to have a RS agent answer the call. I do plan on calling.
There used to be a box to check when you did your initial post asking if you wanted an RS staff to chime in on your thread with an answer or comment. I just tried to do a dummy post and don't see the box any more, so maybe they have done away with that. Sorry for the confusion.
Yes, do call and talk as the staff are very helpful.
Hi, I read your Forum question and also the replies you have rec'd from our savvy travelers. Yes, it is true, we do not offer accommodations for 5 people in a room. The largest room we can get for our tours are Quads for the Family tours and those are limited in number. When there are more than 4 people the family splits up in to a Double and a Triple or whatever rooming combination you might request. Sometimes the parents split up with the kids and sometimes the kids all room together. We try and put the Family's rooms as near to each other as possible but of course are slightly limited by the rooming configuration at each hotel. But usually it works out that they are very close to each other. Why don't you give us a call when you have a chance and if you would like to know more and we would be happy to answer any questions you might have. We love taking families to Europe and hopefully we can take yours. Cheers.
