Rick Steves Home > 2009 Tours > Tour Planning Essentials

How to Sign Up

How do I sign up for an ETBD tour?

The speediest way to confirm your favorite 2009 tours is to select and reserve your tour online, and make your deposit with a credit or debit card. You can also sign up for a tour by faxing your tour application and credit card information to 425-771-0833, or mailing the information to us at: Rick Steves ETBD, Attn: Tour Department, P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020. We need a $400 deposit per person to confirm the tour seat of your choice. (Sorry, we can't take credit cards for final tour payments — just checks or money orders). Deposits for all 2009 tours received by 12/17/08 are 100% refundable until December 31, 2008. Deposits for 2009 tours received after 12/17/08 are 100% refundable for 2 weeks from the day received. After that time, your deposit will not be refundable for any reason and will be forfeited if you cancel your tour reservation. If you wish to reserve a tour that is departing within 60 days, the full tour payment is required to reserve the tour, and the deposit portion is non-refundable. Please be sure to read our Terms and Conditions for all the details.

We suggest that you watch our free  "Rick Steves' Europe: The Tour Experience " DVD to be sure our style of tours is right for you. Order your copy today by emailing or phoning the Tour Department at tour@ricksteves.com or 425/608-4217, request  this free DVD with your tour reservation, or request your copy online.

Can I pay for my ETBD tour by credit card or in installments?

We accept credit cards for your initial tour deposit of $400 per person (and single supplements for an additional $325 - $925 depending upon the 2009 itinerary you have selected; see www.ricksteves.com for current 2009 tour and single supplement prices).   We can only accept checks (personal, business, or cashier), or money orders for final tour payments. (You may be able to request "blank checks" from your credit card company. They work like regular checks but the amount is charged to your credit card. These may be considered a cash-advance which can be extremely expensive if not paid off immediately. Be sure to verify all the details before considering this option.)

After securing your tour seat with a deposit, we ask that you pay the balance shortly before the due date, at least 60 days prior to the start of the tour, in one payment (rather than sending multiple tour payments). Please note that we only accept personal checks, money orders or bank drafts for the final payment. We cannot accept credit cards for the final tour payment.

How do I know if there are enough seats left on the tour for me and my travel partners?

We update the number of seats available on our tours several times daily, so you can be sure to get the most current information on our tour offerings. If you see a tour showing as 'Sign Up Now' on our website, that means there are at least 6 seats left. If the tour shows as 'Filling Fast', it means we have 5 or fewer seats left on that tour date. Therefore, it is possible that the tour will be sold out by the time we receive your reservation. If we are unable to confirm you on the tour you have requested, we will call you promptly to discuss alternate tour dates or ask if you prefer to waitlist your original tour. A 'Waitlist' tour means there are no more seats available and we can add you to our waitlist and call you if seats become available.

What does it mean to be on a waitlist for a sold out tour?

We are happy to add your name to as many as three waitlists. Please provide your address, a daytime telephone number where we can reach you if something opens up, and the names and addresses of your travel partners (if any).

There is always a chance that a seat will eventually open up on one of the tours you are interested in, as we receive cancellations and transfers for a variety of reasons throughout the year. Although cancellations can happen at any time, they most often occur close to 60 days prior to departure, when one's final tour payment is due. We will contact you immediately, if and when something opens up.

You may also want to consider signing up for a tour with seats currently available, to guarantee you have a reservation on one of our tours — and then if seats become available on your first choice tour which you have waitlisted, we will contact you and discuss your options. As long as the tour you originally reserved is not departing within 90 days, we should have time to try to resell your seats, so we'd be happy to offer to transfer you to that alternate tour date. Please note, if you transfer to an alternate 2009 tour date, as long as you remain on the same 2009 tour itinerary, the initial tour price will be honored. If you transfer to a different 2009 tour itinerary, the tour price effective on the date we confirm your tour transfer will be applied.

If you've ever taken a Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door tour, you can discount $50 per tour you've taken (prior to 2009) off the price of any tour departing in 2009. That's right, your discount is cumulative — for example, a veteran of five tours automatically saves $250 on his or her next Rick Steves tour!

Book early, save an extra $100! Reserve a seat on any of our 2009 tours by October 15, 2008, and we'll add another $100 to your alum discount! You'll also get a 20%-off shopping spree in our online Travel Store — a great chance to save on travel bags and accessories for your 2009 trip.

It's easy to take advantage of your Tour Alum Discount: The speediest way to confirm your favorite 2009 tour is to book it on our website. You can pay your $400 per-person deposit with a credit card, note the year and country of each tour you've taken with us prior to 2009, and when you receive your written confirmation letter, you'll see that we have automatically deducted your alum discount from your final tour balance. If you prefer to print our 2009 tour application and mail your deposit to us, you can enter your prior tours on the printed application and we'll be sure to add your alum discount!

We loved traveling with you before, and we hope you'll join us again in 2009!

Important fine print: The discount may be used on one tour per calendar year and is not transferable (e.g., parents can't use kids'/spouses' "credits").