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anyone ever use any Smithsonian Tours (including Odyssey)?

anyone ever use any Smithsonian Tours (including Odyssey)?

Old May 14th, 2002, 07:05 PM
  #1  
beth anderson
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anyone ever use any Smithsonian Tours (including Odyssey)?

Just curious.

I get their brochures (I volunteer so I get every brochure from them I swear) and was checking out the prices.

I wouldn't use them for Europe (too easy to do it myself) but I see their Asia tours are REALLY reasonable.

Not much more than their Europe ones, incl. airfare - for example Washington DC- Hong Kong to Bangkok to Malaysia to Singapore, maybe total only 600 bucks more than England/France tour, not bad. I'm not a tour person, but to hop around like that for their prices, why not. (esp if it is flexible and you can escape - they provide the shell and you do the rest, etc.)

just curious, and just some musings. if you've used them anywhere, Europe, wherever, and have had good luck, I would be curious to know..

thank you!

Beth
 
Old May 14th, 2002, 09:35 PM
  #2  
Karen
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My neighbor went on an Asian Smithsonian tour and thought it was absolutely sensational...everything from hotels, guides, food, opportunities for unusual sightseeing. The whole tour sounded just fabulous, meeting families of the areas, primitive remote locations, etc. It seems to me that you couldn't miss.
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 03:19 AM
  #3  
xxx
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I've noticed that their 3-week China tours are well over $7000 which is not my idea of really reasonable.
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 04:18 AM
  #4  
Hiho
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I agree with the above poster - the Smithsonian tours are very expensive - everything from their day trips from Wash. DC to multi-week trips to exotic locales. I am not questioning how good the trips are - but at the prices they charge, they should be beyond excellent. I also would not use the word "reasonable".

Also, I am not sure why the original poster seems to think that Asian trips being only $600 more than European trips is a good deal. Other than airfare, there is no reason they should be any more expensive.
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 05:26 AM
  #5  
anon
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I am not trying to cause a stir, but honestly - three weeks in China for 7000 is not bad, if they cover everything - I doubt these tours put their folks in huts.

Besides, who is to say what is "reasonable" for one person? It's quite easy to spend 4000-5000 per person on just a few weeks in France.

She didn't post anything about total prices - sounds like a few others are trying to stir things up.
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 06:01 AM
  #6  
Span
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Took the Smithsonian two week trip to China in 1998 - it was absolutely fabulous. Everything was included and we stayed at top, top hotels. At that time paid about $5500 each including air fare. All food was included as were tours, no options at all. One of the best things about a Smithsonian trip is their use of experts on the trip. Our expert was a professor of asian studies from the University of Ohio and who previously worked at the Cleveland Museum. She was fabulous and greatly enhanced our knowledge of what we were seeing. The tours are not cheap, but as a "special" trip they cannot be beat. Other tour members were interesting and knowledgeable and the ratio of group leader(s) to tour members was 1 to 4 on our trip. We had about 18 folks in the group.

Spanky
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 06:06 AM
  #7  
xxx
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I was not trying to stir anything up, and I'm quite amazed that my little post would be construed that way. Simply said $7000+ isn't MY idea of reasonable. I've seen tours in the $3-4000 range by recognized tour companies or academic groups for the same amount of time. They do not include some of the special features that the Smithsonian provides, and fellow travelers might not be as well educated and well travelled as the Smithsonian travelers, but the price is "reasonable" by my standards. I'm not poor, and I no longer travel extremely low-budget, but a $7,000 tour, for me, would be extremely expensive, even if it's very good, and as appealing and worthwhile as it might be, I just wouldn't take a tour at that price. That doesn't mean that someone else who can afford a higher priced tour shouldn't take it. But I'd guess many of us reading this thread would hesitate to spend that much on a tour.

No "stirring" up intended. Really. Just posted as "xxx" because I felt silly checking the computer so early in the a.m.
 
Old May 15th, 2002, 02:34 PM
  #8  
Karen
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The only tours I have ever taken were Smithsonian (so I don't have any comparisons with others that may be in a different price category). I loved the three trips I took with them. The tour guides were natives of the countries and so knowledgeable.The other travelers were sophisticated and very involved from beginning to end. The guide on the Turkey trip listened to requests and responded. For example, I mentioned one afternoon that I had read about the Whirling Dervishes, and she arranged for a dance group to come to our hotel that evening to perform for us and talk with us about the meaning of the religious expression.
I travel independently almost all the time, but if I were to take another trip, I would definitely go with the Smithsonian. The Odyssey tours are a little more reasonably priced. A friend works for the Smithsonian and told me that they make a nice profit on their domestic trips, but barely break even on the international ones. They pay their guides very well...and it shows! I still correspond with people I traveled with in l996.

Karen
 
Old May 31st, 2002, 09:36 AM
  #9  
xxx
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Are there mostly elderly people on their tours? (By that I mean mostly over 60, few under 50, and quite a few over 70.)
 
Old Jun 6th, 2002, 03:22 PM
  #10  
Barb
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I get the Museum of Natural History tours (NYC)anybody ever use them? They are also over the top in price but listening to some of the responses here perhaps it is worth it. I traveled throughout Egypt alone and found it very difficult. Not sure I would brave a country like China without staying in the best accomodations. Anyone have experience with the NYC Museum of Natural History tours.

Thanks everyone who answered Beth's question your responses were interesting.

Also would like to know age specifics on your trips. I am 41
 
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