I am trying to decide on a tour group to Eastern Europe. I like the tour from Grand Circle because it stays in each city for 3 or 4 days. All of the other tours stay 2 nights in each. I am concerned about the age of the group, however. I am 59 but I am very active and have no problems walking etc. Is the age on Grand Circle older and more disabled then other tours? I have traveled with Trafalgar, Globus and Uniworld.

marymander,

We have travlled 6 times with Grand Circle, 5 of them before we were 60. The average age may be somewhat higher than other groups, but, by and large, the travellers are very active. We have never been the youngest on the trip. Their more relaxed pace and time to absorb the culture and history and to get to understand more about the people are strong points. We have taken trips with one and two night stays in cities with other groups and found them very rushed. Even on these trips the people were older, as the older people are the ones with the time and the money to travel.

We would be glad to answer any questions that you might have, either on this forum or by Email. Unfortunately the Eastern Europe tour is not one of the trips that we ahve taken wuth them, but we have been to Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague with them on a river cruise.

Jack and Ann

I think Grand Circle groups skew a bit older than some of the other group tours. However, that's not my main problem with Grand Circle. What I don't like as much are the large groups; because of the size, they are often based in less than convenient hotels on the outskirts, which doesn't exactly encourage independent exploration, even on your off-hours. If I were you, I'd consider the sister company, Overseas Adventure Travel. Groups are limited to 12 people, so you always get to travel in a smaller bus instead of a larger one. OAT trips are a bit more expensive, but they include a lot of meals, and I think they're a good value. I took an OAT trip to Egypt last Fall, and while my friends and I were the youngest people in the group by far, we had a wonderful time. The people were very active, and I had trouble keeping up at some points.

Marymader.
We just took the GCT tour to Eastern Europe in late August/early September. It was absolutely fabulous. We, and everyone else on the tour, loved the fact that we were in three of the cities for 4 nights, and in the fourth city for 3 nights.
On our tour, the ages ranged from the twenties to the seventies - with most people in their fifties and sixties. Most of the people on the tour were experienced and active travelers. We had the very best tour director, Agnes, that we have ever had - and we take several trips each year. (We have had our very best tour directors on GCT and OAT.)
I don't understand why so many people complain about GCT.
On our specific tour, there was one change that they notified us about at least a month before departure. For some reason they couldn't get the fourth hotel night in Krakow - the hotel was completely booked, so we needed to stay a fourth night in Warsaw instead. GCT and Agnes rearranged the touring so that we didn't miss any of the touring promised in the brochure. AND to make up for the inconvenience, they made one of the Optionals in Warsaw part of the "included" tour, and they added additional touring in Warsaw.
If you have any questions about this tour, feel free to email me at [email protected].

I'm a bit perplexed by Sandys previous post, which suggests that a Grand Circle group included a wide range of age groups on a Europe tour, including people in their 20s. It is the policy of GCT to allow only travelers who are 50+, while OAT allows all ages except younger kids. Perhaps Sandys can comment further and explain.

That was the age range on this specific tour. There were two brothers in their twenties (sons of one of the couples on the tour) and another young couple in their late twenties. But as I said, most of the people on our tour were in their fifties and sixties.

I heard someone say that GCT was for "older" tourists. However, I don't recall anything to that effect in their brochure and no one asked my age when I called to sign up. Also 3 of the 4 hotels I stayed in on the Lake Bled-Dubrovnik tour last spring were right in the middle of things. The fourth was a quick bus ride into town and was near places to eat and shop with a wonderful view of the sea.

On the tour I was on the ages were mid fifties on up. However, the older crew was very active. There were two people with canes, but they never complained and often led the pack on walks through cities (over cobblestones and uneven paths).

From my experience, I would recommend GCT. I also found their single supplement to be one of the most reasonable. OAT's single supplement was a bit higher. I can't compare actual experience with the other groups youy mention, but do know they had higher single supplements. I ultimately chose GCT because of their longer stays in one place (4 nights or more on my trip).

I do believe that there were Trafalgar and Uniworld groups in some of the hotels in which we stayed, but they were never there for more than two nights and I noticed that on their schedule board, they had pretty early departures.

Hope all works out for you.

I forgot to say that many meals were included with GCT and several were "Dine around" coupons which you could use at your choice of several restaurants in different destinations. The coupon entitled you to one drink (wine, beer, or soft drink) and a choice of two or three set menus. I enjoyed these. I went off on my own and met up with interesting people at the restaurant. Even went back to one of them on a free night to try the extensive menu which I had had a chance to study a few nights before.

Also Grand Circle gets you into homes for a meal. You are divided into smaller groups (8to12). these give you a chance to talk with local people.

Our group was 42, which while larger than OAT, was on a 57 passenger bus so there was room to spread out. And in two cities we were divided into smaller groups for the city tour.

We also have found GCT and OAT hotels to be well-located – either fairly central or close to public transportation. We definitely prefer to travel with GCT and OAT than with Trafalgar, Insight, or Globus. There seems to be much more included with GCT and OAT than with the other tour companies that I listed – and the Optionals offered are of more interest than with the other companies that we have traveled with. (Not just an excuse to have another group dinner.) Also, with included meals with GCT and OAT, usually one alcoholic drink (beer, wine, or a local drink – vodka or pisco sours or ???) are included. Our experience has been that the tour directors with GCT and OAT are more flexible than with the other companies we have traveled with. On our Eastern Europe tour, while in Krakow, I asked our TD if we could be dropped off in the old Jewish section of Krakow after the castle tour. In response, she offered an unscheduled additional tour for whoever was interested, and the bus took a large group of us to see Schindler’s factory and took us on a very nice tour of the Jewish quarter. Her flexibility in adding sights of interest was greatly appreciated by all of us on the tour.

Doug,

Please do your homework if you are going to post as an authority. We have taken 6 trips with Grand Circle and have not seen any restrictions based on age. On one trip, there was a 13 year old girl travelling with her mother and grandmother. On two other trips, there were college age girls, travelling with parents or grandparents. There have also been couples in their 40s travelling with parents. Grand Circle does target the older audience, but they have never asked our age.

Jack and Ann

Thank you all for your replys.
This certainly clears things up concerning the age of the group. I as also worried about the information I had seen about their problems with the Better Business Bureau but after reading what you all had to say this does not really sound like a real problem. Now I am a little concerned about the size of the group. I have traveled with other groups that have say 38 in the group. this not a problem for me but if it was a full bus of 57 this might be. What were the size of some of your other tours with Grand Circle? I did look at OATS trips but they don't have one going exactly where I want to go. This trip with Grand Circle to Eastern Europe does. Sandys, I would love to hear more about your trip.
Mary

Hi Mary.
If I recall correctly, our group was also 42 participants. I think that's about the max on a GCT tour. Since the tour participants were virtually all experienced travelers, everyone was always on-time to the bus. There were no problem travelers on the bus.
In each country there was a lecture about the history and political situation for that country. The lecturers were all excellent.
Some of the hotels that we stayed at were also used by other tour companies. We all chuckled at the rush itineraries of these other groups, and really appreciated the relaxed pace of our GCT tour. My husband and I love to spend time exploring cities on our own - walking or taking public transportation. We skipped many of the optionals so that we could explore on our own. I did lots of research ahead of time so that I knew what we wanted to do in our free time. We did enjoy the dine-around coupons provided, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the dine-around meals. We also either walked or took public transportation to recommended restaurants on the days where dinner wasn't included.
If you have any specific questions, just ask.
Also, if you haven't traveled with either GCT or OAT before, you can get a discount by using our customer number. Just e-mail me and I can send it to you.

Clearly GCT caters to older travelers, since they spend a lot for advertisting in AARP Mags. I've never taken a GCT tour before, but I am of retirement age also.

GCT and Vantage are considered about the same "level." If you do a Google search on them you will find some very specific and angry complaints. The ones I noted were mostly concerned about their own travel insurance programs...and failure to cover claims.

This issue goes along with an important caveat: We NEVER purchase travel insurance through the carrier venue. We always buy the best plan offered from a SEPARATE travel insurance company. They always cost more...but when it comes to TI, you get what you pay for.

For us, "counting pennies" on travel insurance makes no sense. When we travel, we are always "vulnerable." When or if you get sick, or cannot make the tour...you no longer "count pennies" of how much you saved on your TI.

sanjosemike

We have taken six trips with Grand Circle, and have had to cancel two additional trips for medical reasons. In both cases, we received prompt refunds with no hassles, having only to provide letters from our doctors substanciating the claim.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth about travelling/touring with Grand Circle...
I've had 3 great trips with them--Copper Canyon (Mexico), Thailand, and a Russia River cruise. On my trips most of the partipants were 50+ but there were quite a few younger travellers too (usually adult children of the retired folks).
I was in Thailand during the Tsunami madness of December, 2004. GCT handled things beautifully calling the families of tour partipants.
I also like the itinerary of the Eastern Europe tour and am thinking about doing this trip in the near future.
Faith