RV Tours

I once thought about a caravan. I ordered the brochures and was shocked at the price. I looked at the itinerary and figured the cost if I went solo and found that I could do about the same for a lot less.
Granted, the caravan cost included some meals and a few other things.

We eventually want to take a trip to Alaska. I looked at the "Caravan" options out there and was also SHOCKED at the cost. I do understand that there are a lot of perks in going with the Caravan option. ( on site mechanic, tour guide, meals, other RV folks etc...). But the cost is way too much for us at this time. I like the idea of having those perks listed, but again... So much $$$$$!

I went on one caravan. Never again. It was way too social for me with silly "get to know you" games, always eating together, etc. Then there were activities that I paid for and participated in that I had no interest in. Other activities that I wanted to spend more time on were rushed through. When traveling in safe areas like the US and Canada, there is no need for a caravan. I did a trip to Egypt this Spring, and there that was the only safe way to travel. So there are places where organized tours make sense. They just don't make sense RVing in the US and Canada...maybe Mexico, yes.

I have just looked at 3 websites and so far the prices are from $8,900.00 to 11,600.00 :E

See what route and stops the trip makes and do it yourself. Unless you are really into all that group stuff, you can take the money you would spend on a caravan and enhance your trip so much more. Think about what you are really going to get vs what it costs

We never have done a caravan because of everything mentioned above. But having watched these caravans in motion over the years it just added to our reasons not too. Love seeing them leave a park at in the AM at a certain time, getting into a park at a certain time. When we did Alaska in 2014, they pull into rest areas at the same time. If meals that day are provided by the tour, we all eat at the same time. And a lot of the parks they use are certainly OK, but they sure can vary by site size and the price of the tour doesn't reflect that. We saw a good one at Indianapolis 500 one year. There was a tour/caravan in the same park as we were. Well as luck would have it, the race rained out on Sunday and was postponed to the NEXT clear day. Well it turned out that if the race didn't get run that Sunday you were on your own the next day! Another thing we ran into in Denali National Park in Alaska. We went into the park visitors center to check on an all day bus tour back as far as they can go in the park. A private vehicle can only go so far as the road is very narrow after that and that is why we needed the bus. We looked at the overhead reader board in the visitors center, it listed tours available, times of departure, etc. but NO prices. We asked a very nice gentleman about the price of the ride we wanted and he told us what it was and we bought the tickets. Then as "inquiring minds want to know" I just had to ask why the prices weren't posted and you had to ask what they were. His answer, "because bus tour and caravan people come in here, if the prices are posted, they immediately notice the tour/caravan company prices on their brochure they were given, showed a higher price than if you bought it yourself. If you need your hand held I guess this is the way to go, but I personally believe that the folks really enjoy wearing name tags and the BIG caravan decal on their rig!

Thanks for the input. I too was amazed at the numbers. I can't reconcile roughly $100/day/couple without being on a rather nice cruise ship. Besides, if we wanted all that togetherness, we probably wouldn't have a rig at all.

Thanks again!

I too have looked at these and just don't get it, particularly the shorter ones, there is one being billed as "Christmas in New Orleans", it is actually on the first week of December, priced at $3,500 per couple. This is a tour where you are parked in the same place for 7 days, and they shuttle you around the city, featuring the usual New Orleans tourist stuff, french quarter shopping, beignets at Cafe DuMond, and dining in some known name places (1 meal per day, usually lunch). A quick estimate as a DIY I would estimate $70 per day for prime RV campground, $30 per day for taxi service to and from the tourist areas, lets say $50-90 per day for lunch OR dinner for 2 at world class dining establishments, perhaps not the most expensive ones, but it is New Orleans finding good food is not a problem. Lets assume another $60 per day for tourist stuff, admissions, etc. so as a DIY $230 per day plus expenses you would have either way. $230 X 7 = $1650 This is being generous as the itinerary for day 1 is a social and welcome dinner, and day 7 is a goodbye breakfast, so the reality is this is a 5 day 7 night tour and so the DIY version should be a couple of hundred dollars less.

This is all for what, this is a ZERO MILE tour, you have to get to New Orleans on your own, it is billed as a Chirstmas tour, but is the first week of December, which is likely the one of the slowest tourist times for the city, the tourist things to do may be nice enough, a few of the dining places may require reservations (suggest) for dinner, but even that is often not required on a week day night, and that is about it.

We took a 28 day Baja, Mexico tour a couple years ago with Baja Amigos. Here are our thoughts:
1. The price to us seemed reasonable
2. Their tours are smaller than many, so access to all sites is good, as compared to large caravans where there is just not enough space to accommodate everyone
3. Being in a 9 vehicle caravan made traveling easy, as we communicated by 2-way radio (furnished) to alert us of road conditions, upcoming turn outs, etc

Most things, to us, were favorable. There were a couple of the overnight places where we would not have chosen if by ourselves (since eliminated and replaced with more comfortable sites). We are not really drinkers, so did not participate in the wagonmaster's nightly margarita parties.

Being in a small group was perfect. We were able to communicate with the wagonmaster of our concerns which were quickly addressed and remedied.

We chose to do the tour to Cabo San Lucas, rather than doing it on our own, because we had never driven in Mexico, were not fluent in their language (not needed!), didn't know gas station locations, etc. if we had it to do again we would, again, choose Baja Amigos.

We would not choose a caravan for anywhere in the U.S.A. or Canada.

In December 2001 we took Camping World Tours “On & Beyond the Mississippi” RV River Barge Trip. It was great! These tours are no longer offered, but if they start up again sign up for it. This has been trip we will remember for the rest of our lives. Now we can say “Been There Done That”.

Here is part of their write up.
2001 Christmas On & Beyond the Mississippi RV River Barge December 2 - 9, 2001.
On this tour we will load our RVs onto a specially designed river barges that will become our "floating campground" for the next 6 days. Our "cruising campground" gives us all the comfort and convenience of great camping and adds all the adventure and exploration of marvelous cruising as we travel On & Beyond the Mississippi through the famous Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway, the Louisiana Bayou, the Bayou Boeuf Locks along the Port Allen Route to the Bayou Sorrel Locks; and, of course, the Mighty Mississippi River. We'll also dock at the River Front near the French Quarter in New Orleans. If ever you wanted to get away from it all and relax and enjoy, this is the perfect cruise for you and your RV. Don't forget the camera, there will be plenty of time to savor the season.
NOTE: Many activities will be planned on board during our cruising days. Our tour will include the "Party Barge" which is a completely enclosed barge with kitchen.

This was 3 barge hooked together the middle barge called the party barge with on the roof observation deck all pushed by Miss Georgie. The two RV barges each held 11 or 12 RV’s. . We tied up each night along our trip.