I've been back for a week now. The accountant in me did a lot of analyzing during the tour on whether the trip was worth the money or not. I decided to wait to post anything until I had time to really process what the trip was worth to me. Here is my list of pros and cons of taking a tour (some of which is specific to the tour company I used, Rick Steves and some of which is generic). To briefly sum it up, I would do it again, but I will be sure to pick places I don't feel comfortable going myself (Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, South Italy come to mind).
Pros:
1. No hassle pre-trip planning transportation, hotels and sites to see. That's all taken care of. If you are short on time on a regular basis like me, this instantly pays for the trip. Time is money in a lot of cases.
2. No waits on tour. The trip was almost planned to the minute. Yes, we only saw a brief itinerary for each day, but I got a glimpse of the tour guide and bus driver's manual - it was literally planned to the minute, even if you didn't feel it. I never felt managed, but the whole time, I was being managed. As a result, we never waited in lines, never were turned away, and most importantly, there was not a single moment wasted, unless you wanted to waste some time in your free time.
3. Right balance of free time and group time - I thought RS did a good job of mixing free time and group time. There were days I could wander off alone if I wanted to and there were also days where I needed time with the group which were available to me. If I didn't want to see another Viking boat, it was my right to skip out on it.
4. RS encourages the use of public transport. I like that.
5. RS encourages long walking days - the benefit to the tour is that you don't spend long walking days on accident. They are always planned and therefore all of your steps are meaningful.
6. The dinners/lunches together as a group (ie included in the tour) were relatively frequent and good. They usually included a local dish that brought flavor to the area. Norway was definitely the highlight of the food - I'm looking at you Bergen. Who knew reindeer steak would be so good. I also really enjoyed the lingonberries on every meal. The dinners were good quality - i.e. Michelin won't be writing about the places we went to, but the food was really good. I did learn I'm not a fan of pickled herring.
7. Transportation was arranged (have I mentioned that already?). It deserves multiple mentions because that's the hardest part of a trip like this.
8. The hotels were generally what I would have chosen had I done the trip solo. All of them were comfortable and most of them were clean. Stockholm's hotel felt dirty....the funny part is that was supposedly the most upscale hotel we stayed in. It wasn't clean. But they did include dinner with the room, which is unheard of. This was outside of what was listed on RS's included meals, so I felt like I won that one. All of the breakfasts at the hotels were standard Euro fare, with the exception of Oslo and Bergen (Thon hotels). They had the best breakfast buffets I've seen in Europe.
9. All of the guided walks/tours - suffice it to say, had I done this trip on my own, I would have gotten a lot less out of it. There is no way I would have paid for a guide in each city or at any of the sites. Having a guide makes a huge difference. The neat thing about the trip is that they used guides throughout that are listed in the RS books. I always read the guided tour section and think it would be nice to hire one of those guys, but by myself is not realistic cost wise. I do think that should my family come over again and we do solo touring, I would plan to spend money on one of them. Just super helpful to have someone orient you and give you the history behind what you are seeing.
10. The group. Whilst I wasn't keen on going with a group in the first place, it turned out a lot better than I expected. Being on my own for 2 weeks may have made me go crazy. I really got along with a number of the tour members/employees, so that made it fun to see things with friends. If I have a week-2 weeks off in the future, I would choose the tour just for the group. A weekend by yourself is fine. 2 weeks and you might need to call the asylum. RS attracts people like me (a bit adventurous, history loving, enjoys a good beer/wine, self sufficient, clean fun loving) so I would take his tour again for that reason. The group was a bit older than I expected given all of the walking, but most were young at heart and easy to get along with. I've heard that the group was older than most of his tours, which I think is because the Scandinavian tour is more expensive than his other tours.
11. The vacation from the vacation on Aero Island was nice - I would build something like that into any 2 week itinerary.
Cons:
1. Concentration on one item - I am Vikinged out. I can't see another Viking ship. I should have read the itinerary a bit closer to mentally prepare myself for the number of boats we were going to see on this tour.
2. Cost. The tour was expensive and it was not all inclusive. Even though there were a good number of lunches and dinners included, it didn't cover everything. That being said, it was nice to have free time to find your own food - if you were potatoed out, you could go for Thai. Looking back on it though, I can't figure out where RS made money. Here's a list of the expenses:
a. Hotels
b. Bus (gas, rental)
c. Driver (hotels, food, flights to/from Stockholm/Bergen, tip, salary)
d. Guide for 2 weeks (hotels, food, flight from Bergen, tip, salary)
e. Assistant guide for 2 weeks (hotels, food, flight from Bergen, tip, salary)
f. Local guides at all the sites (tips, cost)
g. Most museum entrances (including Oslo card for public transport/museums)
h. Public transport
I. Ferry rides (300 euros per ride for the bus, plus passengers)
j. Treats along the way (guide provided candy and other goodies from all the different countries)
k. Included meals (lunches were light, but dinners were definitely expensive)
Looking at that list, there are definitely items that had I done it on my own, I would have cut out (i.e. bus, driver, guides). I wouldn't have gotten as much out of the trip and there is no way I could have done the exact same trip on my own for close to what I paid for it. If I had done a watered down version on my own, yes, it would have been cheaper, but I don't think I would have gotten out of it what I did. The other con is that Scandinavia is just ridiculously expensive. At least RS kept me from spending unnecessary money - I could see that getting out of hand very quickly Norway if you don't know what you are doing. Also - I didn't pay a single tip along the way, that was all included (other than on your own restaurants).
3. Being with a group - I know I raved above about the group, but there are times when you really don't want to be with a group of people, like 8AM on a vacation day. I am not chipper and not excited about the camera you just put in front of my face to "document the day".
4. I would have chosen a different hotel in Stockholm.
5. I would have spent more time in the mountains of Norway and less in Oslo and none in Bergen - personal preference, but I heard a number of other people say it too.
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