Grain of Sand Moments

After getting my passport and going to Iceland with friends in 2013, I knew I wanted to travel more. My next few trips were in the US, but I was itching to use my passport again. Unfortunately, none of my friends were up for a trip, and I was nervous to travel abroad by myself.

A friend had recently posted pictures from a trip she and her husband had taken to Italy, and she mentioned using a tour company. I reached out to her for details and decided that was perfect for my situation. I booked a trip with that same company and have taken more trips with them – and other tour companies – in the years since. Here are my thoughts based on my experiences with three tour companies I’ve traveled with.

Globus

The tour company that started my love of travel is Globus. My first trip with them was to Switzerland in 2018, and I also went on one of their Escapes tours to London and Scotland in 2020. My experience with them is a few years old and was pre-pandemic, so things have likely changed a bit.

Both of my trips with Globus were land tours and were booked directly with Globus. Their team couldn’t have been any nicer to work with. Here are a few pros and cons about my trips.

Pros

• Hotels – the hotels we stayed in for each trip were in desirable locations in the heart of the action. It was easy to explore during free time and walk to shops, restaurants, and attractions. They were all very nice, but in some cases, the hotels were older and not always comparable to US hotels of the same class with respect to comfort, at least in my opinion. That said, they were nice and they were clean.
• Excursions – for the most part, the choice with excursions was whether you wanted to participate, I didn’t often have to choose between multiple options, so I didn’t feel like I missed out on one thing by choosing something else. There was a variety of things to choose from, such as special tours and dinner shows. One of my favorites was dinner at a restaurant only accessible by boat, followed by a boat ride around Lake Lugano in Switzerland.

Things I’d Change

• Tour Pace – the tours I went on had a quicker pace, which meant we changed hotels pretty much every night. While I got to see more towns/cities that way, it was also tiring and I felt like I was living out of a suitcase the entire trip because I couldn’t unpack and never felt settled. The quicker pace also meant that mornings often started early, leaving the hotel by 8 or 8:30 in the morning.
• Bus Time – depending on the tour, you might spend a fair amount of time on the bus, often a few hours every day. They do a good job of breaking it up with breaks to use the restroom and stretch your legs, and in some cases, stops at attractions along the way between points A and B. But when on vacation, I’d rather not spend 4-5 hours of the day on a bus.

Cosmos

Cosmos is part of the Globus family of brands and is basically a cheaper alternative to Globus. I did one tour to Italy in 2019, so again, my experience is pre-pandemic and things may have changed.

Pros

• Price – the price of the Cosmos tour was cheaper than with Globus, but there are reasons for that. I’ll explain those below, but if you’re looking for a cheaper tour option, this could be a good fit.
• Tour Itinerary – I chose this trip because I enjoyed my Globus trip to Switzerland so much, and this tour was to the lake region of northern Italy and overlapped a few stops with my Switzerland trip. The area was beautiful, and I’d love to go back.

Cons

• Price – while the initial cost was cheaper, there were a lot of add-ons during this trip. Whereas with Globus there were both included excursions and optional add-ons, with Cosmos, it felt like everything was extra. I don’t like feeling nickle and dimed on vacation or like I’m missing out for not paying for extras. Overall, it made the trip feel a little bit like a timeshare pitch where we were being sold to each day.
• Hotels – whereas the Globus hotels were centrally located, the Cosmos hotels were a few miles outside of the city center. This meant that we couldn’t easily walk from our hotel to restaurants or to sightsee, we had to pay for a taxi or find transportation.
• Tour Guide – I’m not sure if it’s like this with all tour companies, but with Globus and Cosmos, the tour guides are independent contractors, and there’s a lack of consistency with how good they are. With my Switzerland trip with Globus, my tour guide was amazing. But the guide for our Cosmos trip was awful. She didn’t coordinate guests’ food preferences with the restaurants and was frequently unavailable (or at times just plain ignored guests). The quality of the guide can make or break a trip, and our guide certainly didn’t help to make the trip a good one.

Tauck

I took a Danube river cruise with Tauck in November/December of 2024 to visit Christmas markets. Unlike my trips with Globus and Cosmos, this was a river cruise versus a land tour, and I also booked it using a travel agent instead of directly with Tauck.

Pros

• Customer Experience – a few weeks before my trip, Tauck sent me a leather coin purse with 10 euros inside. It came beautifully boxed and included a note to use the money to buy my first drink on land on Tauck. There were Christmas stockings hanging outside all of the staterooms, and each night the tour guides would put gifts in them. The gifts typically related to the town we visited each day, so by the end of the trip, we had a collection of souvenirs from Tauck.
• Truly All Inclusive – Everything is included with Tauck. There’s no beverage package to buy or extra charges for specialty dining. I could have a cocktail at 8am or ask the Chef to make me a special dinner if I didn’t like what was on the menu, and it was included. But they went beyond that. In Europe, it typically costs money to use public restrooms, so Tauck would either give us coins or have a tour guide stationed by the facilities to pay for Tauck guests. They bought us mulled wine at the Christmas markets and paid for us to keep the collectible mugs. I had private car service drive me between the airport, hotel, and the boat, and all gratuities were paid. I could’ve left my wallet at home and still would’ve gotten to experience treats at the market and come home with souvenirs, thanks to Tauck.
• Hotels – Although this was a river cruise, I went a day early and stayed a day late, and the hotels were booked through Tauck. The hotels were nicer than any I’d ever stayed in, and the locations were perfect.

Cons

• Price – while I appreciate that this was a truly all-inclusive experience, I’ve never paid this much for a vacation in my life. Although I was traveling solo, I basically had to pay double for my trip because of the single supplement. Tauck does offer some staterooms without a single supplement, but those were already booked. They’re also small rooms in the lower level of the boat, and I wonder what that would’ve felt like and how comfortable it would’ve been.
• Food – I’m an incredibly picky eater, so for most people, this would probably be listed as a pro instead of a con. I had trouble finding food I liked at each meal, dishes tended to be complex, and while I like high-quality food, I prefer really simple dishes.

Summary

Overall, I had pretty good experiences with each of these companies. If I were taking a land tour, I’d choose Globus or give Tauck’s land tour option a try if budget allowed. I would need a very compelling reason to take another trip with Cosmos, I really don’t have a desire to travel with them again.

I mentioned above that one of my Globus tours was one of their Escapes offerings. Escapes tours are the same as a regular Globus tour but it’s during the off season, making it less expensive. While I liked the tour, I wish that I’d have taken the trip when the weather was a little nicer – London and Scotland in February is cold and wet. It would’ve cost more, but I think I’d have enjoyed the trip more.

Have any questions about traveling with a tour company? Let me know!