This is an old thread, but still relevant to the tipping discussion:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rted-tours.cfm

How did we go from recommending tour companies to the always controversial question of tipping?

For landfree1, I have not toured with Traflagar, CIE, Rick Steves, Insight and am not familiar with Irish Elegance. I have toured with Rabbies and can highly recommend them. From hearsay and what I have researched over the years,I would not travel with Trafalgar. I 've heard CIE is good and some seem to like Insight but once again they are big coach companies and that's not my thing. I have heard good things about Rick Steves, but I prefer a smaller group.

Rick Steves is generally not known for his expertise on Great Britain. I concur that his guidebooks on Great Britain are not nearly as good as most other offerings. I am not familiar with his guidebooks on Ireland.