truely a gem of a city !!!stimulating lectures great and friendly tour guide(pam). personable and friendly comrades good food and great food with lots of variety . beautiful hotel in historic distdrict . cannot wait for another trip wdith my pal m.j as road scholar!!!!a

This was my first but certainly not last Road Scholar trip. Along with savoring the beauty and history of Charleston, I met friendly and interesting people, enjoyed good food and gained real insight into SC culture. Pam, Ruth and all the lecturers were great. Marilyn and I are already planning our next program.

a wonderful introduction to the many delights of one of America's premier destination cities

Historic Charleston proved to be as described; a charming, hospitable city and our accommodations in the Francis Marion were excellent.

This approximately 5 day program was very good. The hotel (Francis Marion) was very nice and was located in the historic part of downtown Charleston. It is always nice to stay in the historic area: it helps keep you in the historic mood. Everything was within easy walking distance and there also were 3 free city trolley lines to ride when you were tired of walking.
The College of Charleston hosted the tour. College staff directing daily activities and those lecturing were interesting and knowledgeable. The schedule allowed reasonable amounts of free time to do things on your own.
Walks were done for architecture and history and there was also a nice garden walk. There was a college campus history walk, too, as well as a black history lecture and optional tour. The group was usually divided into 2 or 3 smaller groups for the tours. Even though walk areas were within reasonable distances, buses were used to quickly get the group to and from the hotel. A bus was used to take the group to a nice plantation tour in the greater Charleston area.
Meals were mostly at the college student dining hall - many good food choices and no problems with crowds. One restaurant lunch was provided and one night was free to seek your own dining destination. NOTE WELL: If you know a popular Charleston restaurant that you want to go to, call well in advance (days or weeks) for a reservation. The only improvement I would suggest for the tour is to build in a lunch or dinner in a historic Charleston area restaurant. The catered dinners at the intro and closing sessions were just so-so. TIP: Of course, you can always skip one night of dining hall food and eat on your own - my wife and I were glad we did this. There are so many great restaurants in historic Charleston. Jim

We really enjoyed this program. The cafeteria offered a variety of options, all very good. This was our 9th Elderhostel/Road Scholar and we've never attended one that offered local cuisine on the meal plan. We rather enjoyed the walk to & from the cafeteria, but we're walkers. The speakers were all interesting and we learned much from each one. The tours exposed us to the essence of Charleston - things we could not see elsewhere. And for the first time ever, our little tour microphones worked for us. We loved that the hotel was right in the historic district and that we were a part of the lovely College of Charleston. Our only real complaint is with the speaker system in our classroom.That just has to be remedied. But we'll certainly recommend this program to friends.

I agree with Ronald from CA on the 4/1/12 - 4/6/12 program in Charleston. A great deal was lost in this program eating in the cafeteria. Too far, too large, and loss of getting to know others. There was no getting to know local foods. Speakers were good except the first one who uh, uuh, and you know so often it took away from his talk. This was not one of my favorite Road Scholar programs, and this was our 15th. Doris from DE.

If this had been my first program with Road Scholar it would of been my last. The first day started out without the staff being totally prepared. The PA system had not been checked out and the video was confusing to them. When asked to speak into the microphone Claire told me to move up. Pamela would go to the microphone for about two words and would then move away from it. Most of the time when these two were talking was a waste.
The guest speakers and docents for the walks were great.
The one meal away from the cafeteria was a joke. The food I could of prepared (my wife is the cook). The ambiance was zero, the presentation zilch. The course write-up said the meals would be at the school cafeteria. What it did not say was that the cafeteria was a 10 minute walk from the hotel.
What was really missing was the camraderie that never materialized. Usually, in short order, the group comes together. I really think the problem with this group was the lack of being together for most of our meals. Also, by the time we got back to the hotel after a 15 minute walk most went to their rooms.