kleroux

We are about to sign up for an Elderhostel trip to Morocco. Anyone have any experience with Elderhostel? Feed back would be welcome.

Margo

Husband and I just returned from our latest Elderhostel trip to Zambia/Botswana/Namibia last week. Just a fabulous trip all around. So well planned and executed. This is our 9th trip with Elderhostel. Our great ones were the Train Trek trip to New Zealand/Australia, the one to Viet Nam/Cambodia/Laos, 2 to France and the classical music one to Germany/Austria.

I can't reocmmend them higher. I may even take that one to Morocco sometime. Please give feed back.

Luisah

I've taken a couple and they are good, but tend to have large groups, about forty people. I heard very good comments from a couple of people who took the Morroco tour and am considering it myself, and am comparing it to the Overseas Adventure Tours. I've seen great comments on the OAT tour on Fodors. One of the appealing aspects of the OAT tour is the size of the group, no more than 16, and the price is also lower than EH.

What date are you considering for the EH tour?

kleroux

we booked with Elderhostel. Dates worked better for us. Its in Sept. and finishes by Ramadan. We also are looking forward to the lectures etc. Group size is cut off at 30. That's big, but we hope OK. We couln't get OAT dates that worked for us.

Margo

One reason that the Elderhostel price may be higher is that all meals are included and there are no optional tours (all are included in the price). I found that the meals were very good and not always eaten in the hotel but at interesting locations, like in gardens in Australia, or at wonderful little restaurants in France.
Only one international trip had 40 people, all others had 12-28 people. I think that the tours in the US might have bigger groups for some reason. I haven't taken any US trips though.

I haven't taken any OAT trips myself so I can't compare companies. Just wanted to point out why the difference
in price. I agree that small groups are the best. Another small group tour compnay that I've taken is Odysseys-Unlimited. They are also good but not all inclusive. Just so you know what to compare.

Luisah

Glad it worked out for you. A group of 30 isn't too bad. The tour I took in France had 40, but two people had to leave a day or two after the tour began, so we continued with 38 and it was fine. The tour in Italy had 100, way, way too many. It was a special tour celebrating EH's 30th anniversay, but most participants, including me, had no idea how large the group would be. A lesson for next time, ask.
The OAT Morocco tour includes as many meals as EH, some in local homes, but EH is three days longer. OAT is part of Grand Circle Travel and does a lot more Morocco tours than EH so may get better hotel discounts. I think either would be good. I've heard and read great comments on both. I'm sure you'll be happy with the EH tour.