RV Tours

We have taken two tours -- the Maritime provinces of Canada in 1999 and a national parks tour in 2005, both operated by Woodall's, which seems to now be out of business. We enjoyed both tours and felt it was money well spent.
Traveling with a tour was not as regimental as you might expect. The only travel requirement was to reach that day's destination by a certain time. Some participants left early, some took their time getting out in the morning. Some drove straight to the next destination, some of us made stops along the way. The pace of travel was up to you.
I would do it again. The friendships, the convenience of having campgrounds and activities pre-arranged, the assurance that someone was looking out for you made the tours relaxing and enjoyable. Still there was enough free time to do things on your own. Plus we planned a longer vacation around the national park tour and made stops before and after the tour.
Touring in a group may not be for everyone but they have their benefits.

We would take the Mississippi River barge cruise as mentioned by dicknellen. That would be fun to sit by a campfire with several friends set up on a barge and watch the shoreline pass by.
I understand that liabilities caused the operation to cease. This would be something to write home about for sure

Marine By Choice wrote:
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.

We also are considering doing one of the Baja Amigos tours. Seems like a reasonable price for an international tour.

We bought the Milepost and did Alaska alone, that said we did a caravan(destination ) trip to Calgary because all the campgrounds were full and they offered transportation and really good seats for the parade and stampede. We also met up with a caravan for the Rose Bowl parade. They had parking at the racetrack and great seats and transportation . Depends on where you are going, we have done all of US and Canada alone but those 2 trips suited our plans.

tomthyme wrote:
We are looking for a longer trip and this might be just the thing.

There's nothing scary or difficult about doing a long trip by yourself. Just break it up in multiple small trips and plan each leg at a time. For instance, don't think of it as from Ohio to California. Think of it as Ohio to Colorado, then Colorado to Utah, then Utah to Nevada and Nevada to California. Explore what you want to do in each state.

If you're looking at a particular tour then model your trip after the places they go and eliminate things you wouldn't be interested in and adding additional things. Stay as long or short as you want.

"priced at $3,500 per couple" that is more than my last trip from RI to my, AZ, UT, CO, and all points inbetween. 5300 miles, 17 days, which is eveything, gas, campgrounds, Tours, souvenirs etc....

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.

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.

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.

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!