Greetings.

I'm considering taking the Leisurely Tuscany and Rome tour in September of 2007. I like the idea of staying in a central location for 4 nights and having 1 free day to explore on my own.

From web searches on this tour, someone commented that the inexpensive base tour price was soon as expensive as a first class tour after adding in all the optionals offered. I'd like to see what elective optionals are offered and what the costs are for each. I was unable to find anything published on their site. All I can find is;
OPTIONALS

Choice of optional excursions at reasonable prices to customize your own experience. Please find a detailed list in your travel documents.

Would my travel agent be able to provide this to me or does it really come from the tour guide & only after booking the tour while you are on the bus? Other tour companies list a brief description and a price.

Can anyone provide me some information about what I can do and expect to pay for these add-ons?

Thanks in advance,
fman99

We did the From Rome to London tour last July and I had to call Cosmos to ask them to email me their list of optional exursions. Since it was several months ahead of my trip,they said the prices could not be guaranteed as exactly on the email, but they would be close. Turns out some of them actually dropped in price. I believe the list of optionals increased by the time we received the documents, about a month ahead of our trip, but the list they emailed was a big help in deciding what to plan for.

The way the optionals work is you do not book ahead of your trip. While on the trip you are given the list and you choose during your first meeting with your guide. You do not pay at that time. My advice it to sign up for everything you think you may want to do and then you can change your mind as the tour progresses. The reason for this is if no one signs up the trip will be cancelled or there may not be room for you on the day of the excursion if you did not plan for it. You do not pay if you are not on the excurions. The tour guide goes over the optionals you took toward the end of your tour and you pay then. We used a credit card (Capitol One - no fees in Europe). . I did not find the tours to be outrageously priced. Many were dinner excursions and they might be considered pricey but they also included all the wine you could drink and full course dinners with some touring included (in Rome we went to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, in Venice we were in St. Mark's Square at night, in Florence we were at a villa with the owner turning out to be a real character, and in Paris we went to Montemarte prior to dinner). . We enjoyed every one and thought they were well worth the money. The sight-seeing tours were equally wonderful. The tour guides were knowledgeable and saved us time since that is limited on these tours. We had plenty of free time to explore on our own and we did that every time we could.

If you have any more questions, please let me know! Jenice

Before you make a final decision check out Globus. Many of the things that are optional with Cosmos are included with the Globus tours.in addition the hotels are more centrally located.
IMO I have found that the optionals that include dinner the food is not very good.What is fun is enjoying the company of your traveling companions.

While Globus' hotels are sometimes more centrally located, we found that a few of our hotels actually had some Globus and Trafalgar tours there also.

Also, some of the tours are a maximum of 2 nights in each city. So that means that you are arriving probably in the afternoon of the first day and really only spending one entire day in that city. For that reason, you have minimal free time unless you choose to not participate in any included tours or the excursions. We found that all hotels, regardless of location, were near public transportation.

The INCLUDED dinners are adequate at best. I like to describe it as banquet food. You do not have to participate in these, but it is a time to meet and talk with your fellow travelers. However, the dinners that were part of the EXCURSIONS were more than expected. Wonderful food, atmosphere, wine and entertainment along with some touring. We thoroughly enjoyed all of them as did our fellow travelers.

Sorry I will have to disagree with Jenniceves on this one.

IMO the optional dinners in Venice,Garmisch and Paris were very good.. . However the optional dinners in Lucerne,London,Dublin. and Edinburgh were not good at all.The good things were the free flowing wine and the company. Considering those odds after 3 tours and 11 countries and now 2 more trips on my own I usually avoid the optionals that include dinner unless I want to party with my tour mates. If you do some research,say on tripadvisor or Fodors or Rick Steves books you can usually find out what some of the best restaurants in the area are and you can go there instead of paying for the optional and getting mediocre food.I prefer to try to find the places where the natives eat for good food at reasonable prices and to be honest I find that at times after all that togetherness I need some solitude and to get away.. ..Just my opinion of course.
I do agree that the included dinners are banquet food and not great but not gross either. The breakfasts are always very good.I can't eat 3 meals a day so I never ate lunch when we stopped for the noon break but preferred to grab a piece of fruit and explored the town while others ate lunch.
In Paris we were able to go to the Louvre and the Museum d'Orsay for a fraction of the cost that Globus wanted just for the tickets to the Louvre.Again it is important to do your homework before you travel so you are aware of what optionals are good to do with the tour company and which ones are better to do on your own taking public transportation.Just about every place we visited had very good public transportation and it is easy to find your way around and fun too.. .. .

Since we only did the optionals in Rome, Venice, Florence and Paris, I can only speak to those cities, but every in every one of these cities the meals were outstanding as were the tours/entertainment that were part of the optionals. I've reviewed our trip in this site (From Rome to London review) for more info. on what we did. There isn't much I would change about that trip as we enjoyed every tour, but if I go again (and I plan to!), I probably won't do an organized tour such as this after seeing how easy it is to get around. Even the language barrier was not what I thought it would be!

It sounds like you had the cities with the good food.LOL I've also toured Great Britian and the only good food I had there was pub grub when DH and I were there last summer on our own.
It would be fun to tour just Italy as I want to go back to Venice with DH. This time however I think I will do the Monogram tour where your hotel and transfers and a 1/2 day tour are included and you are on your own the remainder of the time.That way would allow you to enjoy the local restaurants and just safor the flavor of the different towns and the culture.. .
You are correct in that after you find out how easy it is to get around Europe the idea of doing it on your own becomes very appealing.We are thinking of renting a car to explore Ireland and Scotland. I have been there before but it was a very quick visit with Globus.
Next July we are looking forward to a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam.I have heard the food is really good on the river cruise ships.

I prefer tours with less meals and excursions included. I always do better on my own. Sorry to say but in my opinion no matter what tour, budget or first class the meals at hotels are like wedding reception food. Dining out is a big part of traveling with me. I like a nice view or people watching. Also with the internet you can book your own excursion and do exactly what you want.

I totally agree with you about the included meals. Threy are usually pretty awful. As far as the optionals I also will often make my own arrangements. It is usually much cheaper to do it on your own.