Small Group Excursions

[RetroRod]

In a few days I’ll  be booking our excursions for our first Regent cruise. A few of the excursions are listed as Small Group (SG) with only 16 people for an additional cost.  In most cases these excursions mirror the “free” excursions. For those that have done the SG excursions are they worth the additional cost?

[labonnevie]

4 hours ago, RetroRod said:

In a few days I’ll  be booking our excursions for our first Regent cruise. A few of the excursions are listed as Small Group (SG) with only 16 people for an additional cost.  In most cases these excursions mirror the “free” excursions. For those that have done the SG excursions are they worth the additional cost?

IMHO Yes!

[mj_holiday]

I haven't had the opportunity to take a Small Group excursion yet, but I have never felt that the Regent  excursions I have taken were that crowded.  The main thing that will cause me to be negative on an excursion, is one that someone had to think really hard to come up with someplace to drive around without anything to really see.

[thomastoo]

I have been happy with most Regent excursions with a few exceptions. I've done a few small group and I would say that they are worth the extra.

[flossie009]

We haven't tried the "small group" excursions, but have had good experiences with the "go-local" tours that are sometimes offered.

In 2019, in Cyprus, we booked  a “Go-Local” tour, “Crafts & Gastronomy”. Imagine our surprise & delight when we arrived at our bus to find it was a fairly new 25-seater Mercedes and that there was only one other couple on it. So off we went - 4 guests, the guide & the driver. It was very interesting, enjoyable & akin to an expensive private tour, even though it was included.

[1982CruzStart]

We have taken a few SG tours and I definitely think they are worth it.  For the most part we have enjoyed our Regent excursions even if they weren't small group.  The small group ones mean fewer people to go astray, fewer people to wait on at shopping stops and the chance to more easily interact with the tour guide if you want to. The small group ones were really helpful when we did our tours in Israel at some very crowded sites. When i looked at the excursions for our next cruise i checked out small group options for any excursions i wanted.

[ronrick1943]

I agree well worth the extra cost.

[RetroRod]

Thanks for all the comments. 

[A Tucson Guy]

Can anybody remember the approx. extra cost for small group tours?

Thanks

[Scout16]

I wonder if there may be some way to arrange small group tours for the less physically able.  I have been on m many tour when I was was with my aunt or my wife trying to keep track of the guide who was off at three to four miles an hour and my companions who were going at one mile an hour.  I know that the tours might need to miss some locations but it would be nice to not have the feeling that you were delaying the tour. 

[RetroRod]

39 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

Can anybody remember the approx. extra cost for small group tours?

Thanks

For the one cruise we were booked on and the excursions they were offered on the cost for SG ran from a low of $19 PP to $109 PP for the 8 hour Barcelona excursion. Most were in the $36 - $59 range. 

[A Tucson Guy]

21 minutes ago, RetroRod said:

For the one cruise we were booked on and the excursions they were offered on the cost for SG ran from a low of $19 PP to $109 PP for the 8 hour Barcelona excursion. Most were in the $36 - $59 range. 

Thank you and that sounds reasonable and I would opt for that!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 hours ago, Scout16 said:

I wonder if there may be some way to arrange small group tours for the less physically able.  I have been on m many tour when I was was with my aunt or my wife trying to keep track of the guide who was off at three to four miles an hour and my companions who were going at one mile an hour.  I know that the tours might need to miss some locations but it would be nice to not have the feeling that you were delaying the tour. 

I also would love this, given our own creeping infirmities.  Currently they do offer some designed for "accessibility", but this seems to mean for the wheel-chair bound, and of course for an extra cost. Some river cruise lines I believe have "slow" groups for excursions, that would be nice.  I guess the alternative is to pay for a private guide.

[Joanandjoe]

Pre-Covid, we chose small group tours when we were really interested in the tour, and they were well worth the extra money. When our interest was marginal, we did not pay extra for small group tours, and in one place - Greenland - all tours were pretty small.

 

We wonder whether tours that are not small group in the near future will nonetheless be smaller than the group size pre-Covid.  We have an excursion signup later this month, and will need to decide whether small groups are still worth the extra cost.  We will probably decide YES.

[mj_holiday]

21 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I also would love this, given our own creeping infirmities.  Currently they do offer some designed for "accessibility", but this seems to mean for the wheel-chair bound, and of course for an extra cost. Some river cruise lines I believe have "slow" groups for excursions, that would be nice.  I guess the alternative is to pay for a private guide.

The excursions that say panoramic and/or have a vehicle is the activity level are usually appropriate for less physically able.  We took one of these on our last day in Jerusalem, (knew we would be exhausted)  and it ended up being a small bus with about 8 people on and was a nice tour.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

6 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

The excursions that say panoramic and/or have a vehicle is the activity level are usually appropriate for less physically able.  We took one of these on our last day in Jerusalem, (knew we would be exhausted)  and it ended up being a small bus with about 8 people on and was a nice tour.

Thanks, yes, we've done the Panorama tours as well, when we're not up for much.

[Lvwindstar007]

We enjoyed many of Regent's regular tours when we did the Amazon a few years ago.  We also went on a Champagne Cruise on  a small catamaran which was arranged privately thru Roll Call with a few other couples.  I remember on a Viking river cruise they had at least two levels of difficulty as far as walking in old town European cities. 

[ronrick1943]

Being real, the smaller the group the better the tour, less people usually means less problem people.  The best of all is when you can do a tour by yourself or one other couple when possible.  You just have more time to see what you want and when you want..........

[liptastic]

We haven’t been on any small group excursions as yet.  Would anyone be able to clarify if the vehicles that are used are full size buses/coaches or small mini buses? 
I am not a good traveler on the small mini buses and would be  reluctant to book if that was the mode of transport. 
Thanks for any feedback. Jean.

[1982CruzStart]

The ones we were on were all mini buses that held about 20 to 25 people with a maximum of 16 of us onboard.  They were very comfortable for us but it doesn't work for everyone. 

[liptastic]

2 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

The ones we were on were all mini buses that held about 20 to 25 people with a maximum of 16 of us onboard.  They were very comfortable for us but it doesn't work for everyone. 

Thanks very much. Think what I have been concerned about is that it’s small wee mini vans they are using where you have to climb in the back ? 
Your experience sounds more like a small size bus/coach. Thanks, Jean.

[mrlevin]

On 5/4/2021 at 9:27 AM, RetroRod said:

For the one cruise we were booked on and the excursions they were offered on the cost for SG ran from a low of $19 PP to $109 PP for the 8 hour Barcelona excursion. Most were in the $36 - $59 range. 

SG excursions have gotten expensive - first three I looked at for June 2022 cruise were $99, $159, and $49 per person.  With that extreme pricing (especially on the two Iceland excursions) I wonder how "bad' they will make the "included" excursions to continuously get people to pay for the SG excursions.  Regent has always been good at not filling buses on tours even before they were included.

 

Needless to say I did not pay for the first two and third one is under consideration.