My husband and I did some Grand Circle land trips to Italy and were more or less satisfied with our accommodations.

However, as a widow (and traveling singly), I've been dismayed by the low quality of Grand Circle rooms now available despite paying the single supplement.

In Mexico, e.g., I stayed in a lovely historic hotel - I saw some of the double rooms and was impressed by their beauty. My room, on the other hand, was tiny, smelled of the nearby kitchen, and depressing.

If you're traveling alone, as I now do, I suggest using Road Scholar as the rooms for singles are equal in quality to those of the doubles.

Good luck.
Suzy

How very ODD, Suzy, since neither GC nor OAT offer trips to Mexico.

No one is trying to force these companies on anyone. Two people can be on the exact same trip and one will have a wonderful time, the other miserable. Trips and life are what you choose to make it. We have done both and many others and honestly they are like women. They are basically all alike in the dark. Sometimes the so called " bad" trips end up being the most fun if you have the ability to laugh. Really, whining about getting less of a room and letting it ruin your trip. Really,really.

as Jane



as JaneB said.

We have traveled with the 7 times and never had a problem. Now, we are scheduled to go to the Rivieras with them next week and JUST LAST WEEK, they switched the hotel in the center of Cannes that we are staying at for 3 nights to one 10 miles away in a tiny town called Valbonne that noone ever heard of! They said there was a medical conference coming in - but WHY did they not know about that before 3 weeks before the trip? I would probably NOT have taken this trip since we enjoy being well-located and within walking distance of all the main sites-especially in Cannes. We had been looking forward to spending time on he beach and now we are nowhere near the lovely Cannes beach! And the original hotel is priced on TRIPADVISOR at $1140 while this one is priced at $440 for the same 3 nights we will be there!! They said we will be getting 2 additional dinners and some transportation into Cannes, but this is NOT what we had signed up for. I realize that a tour company can switch a hotel, but shouldn't it at least be in the same town as promised when you pay?? There are many many other companies we have traveled with - like GOAHEAD, GATE1, VANTAGE, WILDLAND, INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITION, etc - and NOTHING like this has ever happened to us before!

That's too bad. And no, its not the same to get bussed into Cannes, no matter for how many times. I would not be happy about that either and would think some price adjustment is appropriate!!!

This one's to Jane B re her comment that GC doesn't go to Mexico. How very ODD that she said that because the name of my trip (to which I referred to on discrimination against singles by GC) was titled Northern Mexico & the Copper Canyon. Departure 2/21/08.

suzy - I think they dropped that tour when a travel warning was issued for the area.

Why in the world was this CharlotteJORDAN ^&%$@* entry on Fodors? (Just back in town)

I emailed the mods twice about this. Don't know why its still there.

>>I emailed the mods twice about this. Don't know why its still there.<<

it isn't

Yep, they got. Thanks mods.

Hmm ...new user, made only 1 post and it is on an old thread about OAT.
Makes you wonder, doesn't it.

This thread is nearly 4 yrs. old. Time for the archives

In 2005 we took our first of what would be a total of 5 Grand Circle Travel river cruises in Europe. We have enjoyed each trip and have no complaints at all. I would like to tell a quick story of exceptional customer service by GCT.

On our first trip we were traveling from Amsterdam to Basel on an early December Christmas Markets trip. As we left Cologne (about 3 days into the ten day trip) it became apparent that something was wrong with the ship. That evening we were told that the ship had lost power in one of the two engines and that it could not continue on the journey. As the season was nearly at an end, GCT did not have another ship that was not already dry docked for the winter. It looked like a long and unpleasant disembarking would occur and a bus trip would follow....

However, there happened to be a Vantage ship that was nearby and had been broken down and prepared for the winter, but was still in the Rhine River nearby. So, the next day, while we toured the local city (Cologne) the ships crew moved EVERYTHING from the GCT ship to the Vantage ship. All the food, all the silverware, all the dishes, all the cookware, all the furniture, all the Christmas decorations and ornaments, all our luggage, all the bedding...you get the picture. When we returned from the days tour we boarded a DIFFERENT ship and were amazed to see that EVERYTHING was the same as it was on the other ship. We continued our journey and had a marvelous time.

That, my friends, is great customer service. We shall never forget it.

As Eschew said above on Jan. 23rd. .

TravyJa9, I would love to hear about your Columbia trip. We are thinking of booking that trip with OAT for Fall 2016. I know they recently modified their itinerary due to guests responses. Our other options with OAT that we are considering are Thailand or Nepal. Thanks.

>TravyJa9, I would love to hear about your Columbia trip.<<

Don't hold your breath. Tracy registered, made that one post in March, and never returned.

FWIIW OAT/Gate1 posters (pro and con) generally are one shot wonders.

Oh, darn. Thanks.

Well, this is an old thread but I found it doing a search for OAT. I just returned from my second GCT land tour. We went to Croatia and Slovenia and I could not be happier. The tour was great, our tour leader was great, the hotels were 4* although I had one sub-standard room in an otherwise nice hotel (they've changed hotels for next year). In Lake Bled everyone on the tour was given a lakefront room. I traveled solo and met other single people on the tour so I had company for touring, shopping, dining, etc. I'm already thinking about which trip to take next with GCT or OAT.