I honestly think this summs up tours. Not everyone wil be pleased and there will always be some issues in rooms or food. Perillo are expensive and I remember a friend and her mothwr and sisters went on a tour many years ago. The firend thought the food was pretty awful but for their mother she was taking them on a grand tour of their heritage and they visited some relations while over. I personally would not go for it bbut I could see how a solo traveller may find it appealing.

Shame about the trip.

Sounds like this lady was a tad too picky, had unrealistic expectations, and was frustrated at being "stung" by the single supplement. Live and learn.

A couple of points:

I think this story clearly points out the detriments of tours in general - you don;t control which hotels you stay in - and group meals by their very nature tend to be mediocre and are often somewhat "americanized" vs authentic local cuisine

Also - it sounds like you were expecting a fairly deluxe experiene- which Perillo is not - it's not bottom of the barrel - but distinctly moderate at best - so the hotels are likely to be uneven - and subject to the vagaries of moderate european hotels - some great, some eccentric/awful - vs standard american chains

Another example of caveat emptor - esp with a big budget item like a tour - learn everything you can in advance - and recognize the sample hotels they list are the best you would ever get - and you might well get some that are more modest, inconvenient etc.

(If you want a tour with really reliable, excellent hotels I think you need to go for the Tauck price range)

Exactly, Bruno!

I think too many of us get caught up in planning minutely before we even leave and don't leave room for spontaneous tours from the locals.

Some of my most fascinating day tours came from happenstance. But we also have to be wise and not get caught up in a worse tour than we bargain for.

I'll never forget a tour at Herculaneum from a local who was so excited about each and every room he showed us. He even acted out the events he was describing.

I think if we talk to a local tour guide we can get a feel of how he will conduct a tour and then take it from there.

Hi
Check to see what is promised in the contract with Perillo tours and what did you receive. Write to Conde Nast
Travel Magazine. They have an ombudsman column, where they attemp to get problems resolved, between traveler and whatever company, they've had a problem with. They are on line also but I don't have the e-mail address. Good luck.

Hi All,

I've been on 1 tour with Cosmos (budget tour company) and 3 tours with Grand Circle Travel (mostly over 50 groups).

My Cosmos tour was to England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland and I had a great tour guide and a great fun international group to hang with for the 2+ weeks.

Cosmos gave us a lot of details about the trip beforehand--a day by day itinerary, maps, driving distances, etc. and people still complained about spending too much time on the bus! I think that many people don't read these itineraries thoroughly enough. We had one man leave us on day four of the tour because he decided that he didn't like the go go go itinerary. I like doing the budget tours because there is less included--I figure I can make the trip in to what I want it to be.

My Grand Circle Tours were to Mexico (Copper Canyon),Thailand, and Russia (tour and cruise) All were wonderful trips but we did have full buses (45 people)on the tours and 240 on our riverboat (we were separated in to groups for land tours). I figure this means we are all part of 'tour administration'--wake up calls, luggage out by such and such a time, bathroom stops every 2 hours--this drives some people crazy. I think anyone going on a large group tour has to realize that 'scheduling' is going to be a part of the deal.

Anyway, it's been interesting reading other people's experiences with tours.

Faith