Paul_V

I've heard both good and bad about Insight Vacations, but the bottom line is we're booked to go on their "Romantic Europe" & "Best of Britain" tours this September. So my question is: has anybody here taken either of these tours and, if so, how much "leisure time" is available in each of the cities on the itinerary to explore on one's own? We've got one night each in York, Glasgow, Windermere, Cardiff, Brussels, Amsterdam & Wurzberg, 2 nights each in Edinburgh, Plymouth, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence & Lucerne, 4 nights in Paris and 6 nights in London (this isn't the actual order we'll be visiting, I just grouped them by # of nights).

janisj

Looking at the itinerary - not much time in a most those places . .

ex:

Brussels: You only get there AFTER leaving London and taking a coach/ferry to France, and driving to Bruges and 'seeing the market square'. Sounds like the main thing you'll have time for in Brussels is an 'introduction to beer' by the tour director. Then you pile back on the buses the next morning for A'dam.

Amsterdam: All you get is a drive >>pass Dam Square and the Mint Tower en route to a demonstration of diamond cutting. Visit the fishing village of Volendam and learn how clogs and cheese are made<<. Next morning it is off to Germany. You essentially have no free time IN Amsterdam.

York: You start out in London, travel to Stratford and then on to York. You have 'free time' to see the Minster the next morning before you leave - but that is it.

Most of the rest are about the same. Don't want to rain on your plans - Insight is a good company. But don't confuse passing through these cities w/ actually seeing them.

You will stop briefly at a section of Hadrian's Wall - but not visit any of the Forts etc.

You drive past the ruins of Jedburgh Abbey w/o stopping

Same w/ Linlithgow Palace, Bannockburn, Doune Castle, etc. - you will not visit or enter any of these sites

nytraveler

The only places you have free time are London and Paris.

I would take a look at a lot of those excursions and figure out which you can avoid (without missing the bus) since I'm sure there are much better uses for your time than shopping for diamonds and clogs and cheese (that's what those "tours" amount to). I would skip the ones you can and have a look at some actual sights - museums, cute neighborhoods, other major sights.

Margo_Chester

See where your hotels are located (city center? edge of town? outside of town?) and plan on using you late afternoons/evenings for some exploring on your own. Hopefully you are based in town so you can easily leave the hotels and check out some of the things you want to see without making any elaborate transporation arrangements. Make sure you have a good street map of Paris and London as it's here that you'll have the most time to wander on your own. For other cities grab a map at the hotel desk before heading out. Don't feel obligated for every group activity - but as NYT mentioned, don't miss your bus and also don't hold the group up. Ask for your tour director's cell phone # so if you do get lost/sick/delayed you can phone and they will know where you are. Insight is a good company, I think you chose well.

thursdaysd

"Insight is a good company"? Really? Not based on that British itinerary - if ever I saw a "pajama tour" that's it. All that seeing at distance, and passing near, and loads and loads of bus time just make me tired to read.

Just take day 4 - you "see" the grounds of Blenheim from the gatehouse? There's a description of Coventry, but it's "nearby". Then it sounds like you get to York just in time for dinner - staying in a US chain hotel well out of the center. You do get to "stroll through" Woodstock, but that's it for the Cotswolds. Sometimes you can redeem a poorly planned tour by going off on your own, but I don't think this one gives you enough time off the bus to even do that. Good luck!

janisj

thursdaysd: Yep - Insight is a good tour company. It is just that they do these gawd awful itineraries - as do all the large volume companies. I saw that Blenheim bit too - at least that would make flanner happy

Any wonder most of us who post here try to talk folks out of these 'If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium, AND the Netherlands - and a bit of France thrown in for good measure' tours.

By good company I mean they are reputable, and provide what they say they will.

Paul_V

Appreciate the opinions, folks, but I already KNOW this is going to be a whirlwind tour. I'm looking for somebody who has actually BEEN on these tours and can accurately tell me how much "free time" I'll have to explore in those places where "free time" is provided. That way I can prepare for maximizing the opportunities to explore (infrequent though they might be) that will come up. If you haven't actually been on one or both of these tours, then you can't provide the information I'm looking for.

janisj

"<i> If you haven't actually been on one or both of these tours, then you can't provide the information I'm looking for.</i>"

We don't have to actually take one of these tours to know about how much free time you'll have. If you carefully read the itineraries you'll pretty much know where you will be almost every minute.

Especially when you factor in how long it takes to drive between those destinations.

thursdaysd

I would think your odds of finding someone on this board aren't good - it's mostly independent travelers. Have you tried the bulletin board on Insight Tour's own web site?

worldinabag

Hi

I've used Insight in Turkey and can thoroughly recommend them. On my suggestion my neighbours are currently touring Spain with Insight and they are having a great time. There are plus and minus in using a tour. The schedule is hectic but you do still have plenty of free time to sightsee on your own. I have travelled independently and have been on 4 tours as well. Our Insight tour had great hotels and food. And don't be put off with the myth spread on this forum that tours are about visiting jewellery shops and driving past attractions rather than visiting them. These notions are simply false! VERDICT: Do it!

janisj

Worldinabag: "<i>don't be put off with the myth spread on this forum that tours are about visiting jewellery shops and driving past attractions rather than visiting them. These notions are simply false!</i>"

The examples we cited <u>came directly from Insight's own tour descriptions</u>. We didn't make them up -- they do not get to see Blenheim -- except through the gate. They do not get off the bus at Jedburgh. They get a "brief stop" next to Hadrian's wall. They DO drive past Dam Square and the Mint Tower en route to a demonstration of diamond cutting. Those are all direct quotes

Maybe your tours have been better - and I did say Insight is a reputable company. But parts of the two tours the OP is asking about are truly head spinning.

adrienne

<< We don't have to actually take one of these tours to know about how much free time you'll have. If you carefully read the itineraries you'll pretty much know where you will be almost every minute. >>

janisj is absolutely correct - all you have to do is read the itinerary. For example in the Best of Britain tour:

Day 2 - arrive London:
Once you check into the hotel you are on your own for the rest of the day.

Day 3 - London Sightseeing:
The description clearly states a half day sightseeing (morning). You can skip this morning tour and have the entire day on your own or have the afternoon and evening after the tour. Breakfast is the only included meal.

Day 4 - since lunch is not included this will be your free time. You will also have free time after dinner or you can skip dinner and the welcome drink and use that as free time.

Just because someone has been on these tours does not mean that they will remember every minute of free time and you can give up included things to have free time. It's up to you how much free time you will have.

thursdaysd

There are at least two TRs for the European tour on Insight's web site. Although both posters said they loved the tours, they also both said that they didn't spend long enough at sites and spent too long on the bus. They also got up VERY early in the morning! I didn't see a TR for the British tour, which looks to me to be even more rushed than the European one. You might also want to read the description of the many "optionals".

Paul_V

I found the TRs on the Insight board shortly after I posted this question, and they provided a great deal of the type of information I'm looking for (e.g., free time in Bruge is about 2 hours), though not 100%. From the descriptions, it is a mix of both "go inside" and "drive-by" touring, as I expected. This forum (Fodors), and a couple of others, was recommended by somebody in the Rick Steves forum as a potential source of info. from Insight customers after I posted a similar question there.

I'd still like to hear from somebody who's taken either of these tours, if you can provide further info. than what's posted on the Insight board.

nytraveler

The key thin you need to remember is the tour brochure language:

View - means out of the bus window
Stop - means you get off the bus for a 5 minute photo op
Visit - means you actually go inside (although it doesn;t say for how long)

And it's true that - in part - you determine how much free time you have. Understand what each scheduled activity actually includes - and if you would prefer something else - arrange to meet the group later (as long as the bus hasn't left town for good).

Also - don;t feel tied to any optionals.

On one package tour I took (London, Amsterdam and Paris in 16 days - with air, hotels, transfers and 1/2 day city tours) the hostess tried to sell us all sorts of optionals on her schedule. We happened to be in England at the time of the Derby and wanted to go there - on the day she was taking the group to Windsor. She informed us we had to go that day, since that was the only day with tours to Windsor (they run every day) and you couldn't do it alone (it's a 30 minute train ride and can easily be done by anyone who isn't mentally handicapped). We also got off the bus for good at the first stop on the 1/2 day tour of London -over her protest - it was a total waste of time. Who wants to look at the outside of museums and monuments?

The host/guide makes money off these optionals (as well as commission off the "shopping") - so decide in advance if you really want to do them - or have other priorities.

janisj

adrienne: It is true there is a fair amount of free time in London. The tour description makes that pretty clear. It is in some of the other places that there is no free time.

re nytraveler's good advice to skip some of the organized bits and go off on your own -- definitely yes. But that really only works in some places. Some days there is so little off-bus time you really can't go off piste.

adrienne

janis - I was not going to give descriptions of free time for 36 days so I just used the first three days as an example; I could have taken any three days at random. I thought the OP would then read the itinerary to identify free time for all days.

zeppole

Paul V--

I had friends of mine who took a tour in Italy and it much of what was advertised in the brochure -- especially in terms of free time -- did not happen because of mismanagement of time by the tour operators.

You really should just go to another board. On Fodor's, people are extremely defensive about being told they have no basis for their opinion. They don't get it.

it's your money. It's your time. Ignore the bluster -- and on message boards like Frommer's, people will be more helpful, not insult you to cover up their lack of real knowledge beyond the one trip they keep taking over and over.

thursdaysd

"not insult you to cover up their lack of real knowledge beyond the one trip they keep taking over and over" - the only person throwing insults around on this thread is you, zeppole. And if you think the people posting on this thread take the same trip over and over you have clearly done zero research. And did your friends take an Insight Tour? If not, their experience is irrelevant. Chill.

janisj

zeppy, you keep telling people how bad Fodors is, and referring them over to Frommers . . . . ???

Why would you stick around on a site you hate?