I have some questions about the luggage the day you leave a city on a bus tour.

Do you have to have your luggage out BEFORE you go down to breakfast?

Can you go back up to brush your teeth after breakfast and then pick up your carryons?

What time does the bus USUALLY get going in the mornings?

We have just 5 more weeks til our Heart fo Europe tour and are so excited

Thanks,

To answer your questions -yes your luggage must be placed outside your room before breakfast. This will give your driver time to load the bus before you leave for your day of travel. I have been on eight tours with Globus and find it convenient to take my carryon to breakfast with me. All the hotels have a rest room on the main floor where you can brush your teeth after eating and freshen up before leaving. This will enable you to have time to turn in your room key etc. without having to go back to your room again. On most tours you will leave before eight in the morning so you see that time is at a premium. Bon voyage.

Just got home from Colleseum to Big Ben w Globus . .. . great trip but VERY regimented.. . every morning was at a min 630 wake up call bags out 700 AM..breakrfast 700-730/ on the bus at 745.. . something like that.. .. . im sure u will have great time but be prepared.. . there is no sleeping late & u must bring ur carryon bag down to go right on the bus from breakfast.. . Truth is.. . I never had time to use the restroom after breakfast & it kinda ruined some days for me . .. . because of this & the nonstop crammed into one day sightseeing.. . I will probably never do a TOUR again.. .. . but we did get to 4 counntries in 12 days.!!

It's best to choose a tour that has a more leisurely pace!! We took the "Thames to the Tiber Tour" last September and found the 3 days in each of the big cities to be great! I could never last if I had to get up 5am every day! This way we only had the included city tour in the mornings, then the rest of the time could be spent at leisure or on the optional tours!

That is exactly why Richard and I suggested taking a tour that had a minimum of at LEAST 2 days in each city.I will never do that fast paced coach tour again. I am thinking about the Globus Leisurely Italy tour for next summer. That is 3 days in each location. Believe me if I could see Italy by river boat I would do it that way!!
WE just finished an Avalon river cruise Budapset to Amsterdam and it was the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken. We had NO early mornings and it is very nice to only unpack 1 time and to take your hotel with you. I can hardly wait to do a river cruise again. We are planning a France river cruise next that will travel from Paris to Nice.

I would love to do a river cruise but as I'm single the single supplement is just outrageous on the cruises

Hillarie,

We did have several single travelers on our cruise. I don't really know what the single supplement is as in my catalogs it says to call for single price.

It really is a great way to tour. We docked everyday and had a land tour just like the coach tours but really,a whole lot more relaxing. No ealy morning suitcases out for us.Even on our last day breakfast was served untill 9:00 am and we were welcome to stay on the ship until 10:00 AM.The transports to the airport and the taxis to hotels were coming and going from 5:00 am for those who had early flights.

Letsgo

The single supplement on a cruise is usually almost the same as the cost of the cruise itself or 100%. .
Unfortunately all my friends are married with children and can't generally afford to travel so I do my traveling by myself as I am single without children and all my money goes to me . .

Insight has a single shares program. Volunteer on your selected tour to share a room with another single and only pay the per person price. If there are no other singles on the tour, you get a room to yourself without paying the upcharge. My wife did this on an Insight winter tour: Vienna, Prague and Budapest in 2005. She ended up with the room to herself.

I'm actually doing that for my upcoming tour in October with Cosmos. I don't know that they offer that for cruises.

Hillarie,

I think there is a river cruise company that actually has some single cabins on their ships. I'm a member on cruisecritic dot com and I will see what I can find out for you.

Hillarie.
It appears to be Grand Circle River Cruise that has a reasonable priced single supplement for their river cruises. Grand Circle has a good reputation.

I just received my 2008 catalog from Amadeus Waterways and they offer some single cabins on their Amadante and Armacello ships.

Thanks for that information! I'll have to look into those companies.

Cosmos is a sister company of Globus. They offer more budget-oriented tours.