Group tour recommendations?

ShakyJake_sl said:

Does anyone here have experience with group tours? Specifically, I'd like recommendations for any good tour services that offer these. I've run across "TrekAmerica" and "IntrepidTravel" in my Google searches which appear to have mostly good reviews. Currently I'm mostly interested in tours of the U.S. and Canada.

My main concern is getting a good tour guide. Most complaints I've read usually center around this fault, where the guide just dumps people in an area without any, well, guidance.

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Intrepid is amazing. (I've been on 6 tours with them). Never had any issue that wasn't my wife's fault. (fuck Chinese passport)

I've also never been in a tour with another American. It's always Aussies and Brits.
This alone makes it A+++++++

Please read the tour notes for Intrepid though. There is varying level of tour guide depending on the tour level. I don't know about the US but in some countries tour guides are not allowed inside of certain sites (Egypt in particular stood our for this).

Where in particular are you looking to go? I can have a quick chat with a friend of mine who works for Intrepid (She was on one of the tours my wife and I took)

ShakyJake_sl said:

I have my eye onUtah Parks Circuit, Wild Western USA, America's Cowboy Country. I really want to see Monument Valley.

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Quick comments. All of these are just with a Group Leader and don't have a real tour guide. As I mentioned in a previous post they actually cannot provide information at many sites. See the second Trip Notes snippit.

There is no tour guide on these tour. You have a group leader but they are not going to provide detailed insight. Their primary role is to keep the tour smooth and isn't to provide insight.
From my experience with Intrepid your tour guide can answer many questions but they won't be with you as you walk around the various sites.

Snippets from trip nodes

Trip Notes_sl said:

Your leader will provide basic information about the sights and cities you'll be visiting but please note that our leaders are not 'tour guides' in the traditional sense. They are adventure travel specialists and are there to organise your trip, arrange activities and help with questions or problems you may have while on your tour. Your leader will provide you with all the important information you need to embark on your own explorations.

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Trip Notes_sl said:

It's strictly forbidden for non-qualified rangers to present any information about some National Parks in North America, therefore we adopt a system (as requested by the park rangers) where our leader will encourage travellers to visit the information centres in the National Parks for details about the site.

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Biggest thing is that tour groups cannot provide tour guides for National Parks.No tour group will meet this need for you.That said, I haven't had an Intrepid guide who isn't knowledgeable about the area you touring.