Waitlist Question

Hi. I was on a waitlist for a Belgium trip and was notified about a month before the trip was scheduled to leave. It really depends on someone dropping out.

Have you contacted the RS office to ask how big the wait list is?

They can probably offer some idea of how good/bad your odds are.

I was on two waitlists this year, and received notice of availability on one. i don't think there is any way to predict the likelihood of that happening. My understanding is that waitlists are not in sequential order of when someone signs up. When there are open seats, an email goes out to everyone on the waitlist, and whoever responds first, gets the spot. I have noticed openings may appear at the time payments are nonrefundable (as in 30 days after booking the deposit) or around the time the final payment is due (60 days prior to the tour departure). I think all you can do is stay on top of incoming emails, and be ready to book if you get that notice. Good luck, hope you get the tour you are hoping for!

Thank you all for the info and advice. I will try to reach out and see how big the waitlist is. I also want the single supplement so I hope that will be available as well. I adjusted my email notifications so I’ll know when an email comes. High alert 🔔 Thanks again!

Good luck! What an adventure you will have, either in December or February. Calling the office sounds like a great idea to see how close you are to getting a spot. Have a wonderful time, and consider writing us a trip report afterwards.

I was on the waitlist for multiple May departures of the Best of Ireland trip earlier this year. In late February, I was notified that there was an opening for one seat on the May 18 trip and I had 48 hours to book. I did book.

Final payments are due 60 days out, so I would speculate around that time is when a cancellation is more likely.

The length of the waitlist may be only an indirect factor. RS changed a few years back from taking people in order off the waitlist to simply blasting out an email to everyone on it and taking the first to respond online.

The OP might want to check with the office to see if a special process is followed for those requesting a single spot -- eg. does someone who already has a single spot have to cancel or do they offer any opening to all on the waitlist? And if you do check let us know what they say.

What I've done in the past is set my phone to notify me with a sound when a message arrives from the RS company and if it's the offer of a space on a tour then immediately accept.

I see there’s 5 spots currently for the 11/25-12/5 tour. You may want to try and grab one of those and switch (if they still allow that) if another later in Dec spot pops up. I also agree to contact their office to see how they do the single supp. on their wait lists.

I called and the really nice lady said I may have a 15% chance of getting it. She said they don’t like to get our hopes up. Also, and like many others have said, as it gets closer to the final payment there may be some cancellations. She said if I do get it, I also will get the single supplemental. So worst case scenario is if I don’t get it in December, I will definitely go in February.

@Margie, I don’t see five spots open for the Sicily tour. Either way that would be over Thanksgiving and I have to be with my family for the holidays. She said it’s just a wait-and-see type of deal at this point.

@KC, Thank you and I will definitely write a trip report if I could get onto one of these tours!

Wow, what timing! About 30 minutes ago I got the email saying there’s openings, so I hurried up and paid for my deposit and the single supplemental. Then I received an email that says I will have to wait between 3 to 5 business days to process my request and see if I got it. So funny that I just called them yesterday and then I get the email. So my fingers are crossed that I will get it.

Woohoo! How exciting!

Well, I just got the email that I’m confirmed to go. Super excited! Thanks for all the tips and advice!

now that's a REsult!

I went into the Seats available for 2025 tours. Going into that today I see that tour now has 6 spots available with a $100 sale discount. But as you said, it is during Thanksgiving. I also see the 12/7-12/17 tour with one spot available so I hope you grabbed it. Happy travels!!!