Frequently Asked Questions on Escorted Tours
1. What kind of meals will be provided for breakfast and dinner?
That is indicated in the day by day itinerary. Most European tours include breakfast daily and a couple of dinners included. They do not include a lot of meals because they believe that in Europe that most travelers want to go out and explore and enjoy local traditional cuisine.
2. What kind of hotel accommodations will I have in Europe? Can you give me the names of any of the Europe Hotels, or what a minimum star rating will be?
Depends on the type of tour you chose. Typically all first class hotels are used. Most tour operators now include the name of hotels they are using in each city in the day by say itinerary. Most first class tours use 4 and 5 star properties.
3. What is the minimum number of people on a European guided or escorted vacation, the max and the average?
The max is usually 48 minimum for tour to operate is 25. Average would be about 40, but again it depends on time of year you travel.
4. Will there be one tour guide for my whole Europe vacation, or multiple people?
There is one tour guide for the entire trip. However, tour operators do employ local city guides/historians to join the tour directors on special or optional excursions. For example a historian of the Vatican my join you for your tour of the Sistine Chapel or in France a local historian may join you when touring the historical chateaus. This only enhances the experience you receive while on a fully escorted tour.
5. What kind of experience/background does our European tour guide have?
Tour Directors come from a variety of backgrounds and include former teachers, sales managers and lecturers who all share the passion for travel. They have a minimum of five years’ experience as Tour Directors behind them, and have all been thoroughly trained, making them the best of the world’s elite travel professionals.
6. What kind of transportation will we be provided on and Escorted or guided tour of Europe?
You will travel in style on a very nice motor coach with air-conditioning. All with reclining seats from Mercedes, Setra, Volvo and Fiat with plenty of leg room and a lot of storage over head for shopping bags and plenty of storage underneath the coach for luggage. Traveling by motor coach is comfortable. The seats are wider than economy class seats on a plane and with more leg room.
7. How much are the typical out of pocket costs on a European Escorted Tour like this? What kinds of things do people end up needing to buy (excluding optional stuff)?
Depends on how much shopping you do and what kind of meals you prefer. I always allot $20.00 for lunch and $30.00 for dinner per person and if you do not spend that much you come out ahead and have more spending money. Nothing more needs to be bought for the tour portion unless you plan to do some of the optional excursions that are offered during your free time. On average those run about 40.00 euro a person.
8. How does health insurance, travel insurance and other matters work? Do we need to buy this separately?
All tour operators offer a Trip cancellation policy that includes emergency medical as part of the coverage. Most US based health insurance policies do not cover individuals while traveling abroad. However, please consult with your insurance provider before purchasing coverage you may not need. The policy from tour operators also includes trip delay, baggage loss and trip interruption coverage. I always encourage purchasing insurance through the tour operator as long as the tour operator is covered by USTOA. If not, purchase it separately.
9. What is the cancellation policy?
Cancellation policies vary from vendor to vendor. Most allow you to cancel for medical reasons and receive a full refund for covered reasons minus the cost of the insurance. Some tour operators have the additional perk that if you have to cancel for non-medical reasons you can get part of your refund back in the form of future travel vouchers.
10. How much needs to be placed in deposit?
The deposit varies with each tour operator. Most require a 200.00 deposit plus the cost of the insurance if being purchased with the tour operator.
11. Is there any risk that the agenda gets changed because of weather or other issues? If so, how is that generally handled in terms of alternative destinations?
Yes. If it is severe weather then rerouting is done to a different city. One example of other issues is traffic. In Venice we were supposed to drive along the Bretna Canal and view the beautiful homes. However there was a traffic accident and our tour director had the driver re-route us through this charming town of Ferrara. Best decision ever! It was a quaint walled town with cobblestones streets and everyone riding around on bikes with baskets on the front. I loved it.
If you would like to receive information about Europe escorted tours and the latest specials on touring in Europe please feel free to email me or call me (425) 821-4100.
