What is a private tour?

[drkitkat123]

Just off mariner and had an interesting experience. Not quite a regent issue but I would like opinions. We booked through Virtuosa and was offered a choose of 3 perks. One was a private car and driver in aPort, second was onboard credit and third was 

 

Delve into the rich history of Athens, with this half-day private sightseeing tour that will show how it became one of the greatest cities in the world. We will start from Piraeus port and travel into the heart of the city with an experienced professional guide. Etc

 

we chose the third and was very surprised to find our tour had 19 people.  

 

what would your expectation be for the third choice? I assumed a private tour would be just my wife nd myself?

 

[gcorgain]

I would've made the same assumption and been pretty disappointed had 17 of my closest friends been along for the ride.

[irishwitchy]

Three doors and a bad choice.  Was the tour at least good?  

[taxare]

What does your Virtuoso travel agent think?  He or she should have lots of experience with these situations. I would agree private should be private.....

[drkitkat123]

6 hours ago, taxare said:

What does your Virtuoso travel agent think?  He or she should have lots of experience with these situations. I would agree private should be private.....

Our travel agent was as surprised as we were and is trying to get feedback from Virtuosa. 

[frantic36]

15 hours ago, drkitkat123 said:

Our travel agent was as surprised as we were and is trying to get feedback from Virtuosa. 

Having done one Virtuoso tour previously I am not surprised there were others on your tour. Their private tour is differentiated as being "private" from the ship tour and only including Virtuoso guests.

 

It is why my husband and I now opt for the OBC and organise our own tours.

[Jim Avery]

Private is the two of us with guides/drivers.  ANYTHING else is a small group tour....🥃

[DaveFr]

It's just a matter of semantics. Here's a private tour in Singapore from Viator that can have up to eight participants:

 

 

Dave

[Euphegenia 2]

I once was on an excellent Virtuoso tour in Kusadasi, so maybe I would have known what private meant here. But if I tuned into a TV show call The Bear and wasn't about a bear, I might be disappointed - initially anyway. 

[donaldsc]

I have done many private tours.  I always book them directly with the company doing the tour and not w a consolidator.  It is my tour and I define the number of people that will be on my tour.  

 

The positive is that I have complete control.  The negative is that if I don't fill all my spaces the tour costs me more.  

 

It looks to me like Virtuoso is a tour consolidator and not a company that is actually doing tours.  To me a private tour is one that is not given by the cruise ship but by an outsider company.  These can be private group tours which is what the OP got or a private tour such as what I book.  It seems to me that the OP got a private group tour.  They just did not know to ask the right questions of the tour consolidator.

 

DON

[donaldsc]

8 hours ago, DaveFr said:

It's just a matter of semantics. Here's a private tour in Singapore from Viator that can have up to eight participants:

 

 

Dave

 

To me this looks like what I would define as a true private tour.  You select the number of travelers who will be in YOUR group up to a maximum of 8 people.  However as I read it the group will not be open to outsiders or strangers but will be as few as 2 people or as many as you and up tp 6 people whom you recruit to fill your group.

 

DON

[ldubs]

I agree with the OP.  A "private tour" would not include others outside of my group. That was a group tour.  Even Virtuoso distinguishes between private and group tours.   It was wrong to advertise the OP's experience as a private tour.  

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Perhaps they meant Virtuoso clients only? I.e., none of the normal Regent riffraff?