Specialty & Cruises
Bring science, technology, engineering, and math to life on a custom STEM educational tour designed for your middle and high school students.
52+ years of custom educational travel · Trusted by school groups in all 50 states · SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA accredited
A specialty trip can be organized around almost anything. Groups have traveled with us for golf in Europe, the culture and landscape of New Zealand, the shoreline and towns of the Great Lakes, the wine country of Napa and Sonoma, and the national parks, and each of those trips was assembled from the ground up rather than pulled from a catalog. Cruise groups sail the Caribbean, Mexico, and Alaska, with the sailing booked directly through the line and the days at either end filled in around it.
Start with the subject, the rough dates, and how many are traveling, and we handle the rest, including the route, the motorcoaches, the hotels, the meals, and the reservations along the way. Signups and traveler questions come to us rather than to you, and we can prepare a brochure and posters to help fill the trip or send someone from our office to travel with the group.
The Challenge
The subject is what makes these trips difficult, because a group that has followed something for years arrives already knowing the difference between a vineyard worth the afternoon and one that runs a bus tour through the tasting room, and they will recognize which one they have been given within an hour of arriving. Meeting that standard takes more than a route and a set of confirmations, since it depends on knowing which courses will take an outside group at a workable tee time, which wineries will seat twenty people for a proper tasting rather than turn them loose at the bar, and which stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline is worth the drive in the third week of September rather than the second.
That knowledge is what our team has spent fifty years assembling, along with the supplier relationships these trips run on, and we use both to put a group in front of the places worth the trip rather than the ones that happen to be available on the date requested. The route, the reservations, the registrations, and the payments all run through our team, which leaves the organizer free to spend the planning months on the trip itself rather than on the arrangements behind it.
Where Specialty & Cruise Groups Travel
Bali Tour
Temples, a volcano sunrise, and island traditions, from Ubud's rice fields to Sanur's beaches.
Senior Groups Specialty & Cruises
9 Days / 7 Nights
Chicago Tour
Architecture, art, and big-league energy in the Windy City.
Art Senior & Class Trips Specialty & Cruises
5 Days / 4 Nights
East Coast Heritage Tour
Follow American history from the Capitol to Gettysburg, Philadelphia, New York, and beyond.
History & Civics Senior Groups Specialty & Cruises
7–10 Days
Germany & Austria Tour
Bavarian castles, Mozart's Salzburg, and imperial Vienna.
Art History & Civics Specialty & Cruises
8 Days / 6 Nights
Hawaii Tour
Pearl Harbor, Polynesian culture, and Waikiki sunsets on the island of Oahu.
Dance Studios Senior & Class Trips Specialty & Cruises
6–7 Days
Kenya Tour
Big-cat country in the Maasai Mara, elephants in Nairobi, and the Indian Ocean at Diani.
Popular Senior Groups Specialty & Cruises
9 Days / 8 Nights
Malta Tour
Ancient temples, fortified harbors, and a day on Gozo, all on one Mediterranean island nation.
History & Civics Specialty & Cruises
8 Days / 6 Nights
Scotland & Ireland Golf Tour
Links golf from St Andrews to Ireland's Donegal coast, with plenty to do for non-golfers.
History & Civics Specialty & Cruises
8 Days / 6 Nights
How It Works
Custom sounds like more work. With us, it’s less.
1
Discovery Call
Tell us your subject, grade level, rough dates, and group size. A short conversation, not a long form.
2
Custom proposal
We send a full proposal with itinerary, venues, and transparent pricing.
3
Revisions
Change anything. Swap a site, adjust a day, shift the budget. We revise until it fits.
4
Enrollment
We handle student signups, payments, and parent communication so you don’t have to.
5
Support on the trip
Your planner and a 24/7 emergency line are with your group the entire trip.
CUSTOM ITINERARY
What a real custom trip looks like:
The trip that makes an impact
The Experience
The arrangements are settled well before the group leaves, from the flights and the coaches to the hotels, the meals, the tastings, and the cabins held together on a sailing, so the trip a group arrives to is one that has already been worked out in full. Travelers who have organized something like this before tend to notice it first on the days that would otherwise go wrong, when the coach is at the airport as the group clears the terminal, when the restaurant is expecting twenty-two people at seven, and when the tee time or the tasting or the excursion ashore holds because it was confirmed months earlier.
What is left for the group is the trip itself, whether that is the round, the tasting, the coastline, or the afternoon in port, and the days run without anyone in the group counting heads or working out what comes next. The person who organized the trip is not running it once it starts, which on a trip like this means they get to take it alongside everyone else.
Custom tours since 1974
Why Use ET Tours for Cruises and Specialty Trips?
No two of our trips look quite the same, because we start with you. Tell us what you’re hoping your group takes away from it, and we’ll shape the trip around that, right down to the dates that work for your calendar.
The planner who quotes your trip stays with you through it. The same person who designs your proposal makes your revisions and can travel with your group on the road. You get one point of contact who knows your trip because they built it with you.
For families, that means a trip run by people who have done this for decades. We’ve been planning group travel for over 50 years, we’re accredited by SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA, and every detail from transportation to accommodations is vetted before your group ever leaves. Our custom pricing is transparent, with no upsells and no surprises, and payment plans are available so cost never has to be the reason anyone stays home.
The Difference a Custom Trip Makes
With a packaged tour, you get a fixed schedule and it’s on you to make your group fit it. We’d rather do it the other way around, building the trip around your group and what they want out of it, so every day feels like it belongs there. With a packaged tour, you get a fixed schedule and it’s on you to make your group fit it. We’d rather do it the other way around, building the trip around your group and what they want out of it, so every day feels like it belongs there.
A Few of Our Favorite Trips
Scotland & Ireland Golf
Play the links courses the group has watched on television for years, with tee times arranged well ahead and the days between rounds given to the countryside, the towns, and the distilleries that surround them.
New Zealand's Nature
Travel both islands at a pace that leaves room for the landscape, from the fjords and the mountains to the coastal drives, with time set aside for the Māori cultural sites and the towns that most itineraries pass through.
Caribbean Group Cruise
Sail out of Florida with the group booked in cabins near one another, go ashore together at each port, and add a night in the departure city at either end.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FAQs
Can a trip be organized around any subject?
In most cases, yes. Groups have traveled with us for golf, wine, the national parks, cultural touring, and a range of other interests, and the planning starts from what the group wants to see rather than from an existing itinerary. If a subject requires access we do not already hold, we will tell you during the first conversation rather than after a proposal is issued.
How far in advance should we start planning?
Most trips come together comfortably in under a year, including international travel. Earlier is better where tee times, seated tastings, or limited-capacity sites are involved, since those fill on their own schedules, but the planning itself does not require the long lead time people often assume.
Is there a minimum group size?
It depends on the trip rather than on a fixed number, and pricing improves as the group grows. Cruises are the exception, since the lines set their own thresholds for group space, and we confirm the current requirement before anything is held.
How far in advance should we start planning?
Most groups come to us nine to twelve months out, which spreads deposits across the school year and gives us the best selection on flights and motorcoaches. Later starts are possible, and shorter timelines usually mean fewer options rather than no trip.
How do travelers pay?
Each traveler registers and pays us directly rather than paying the organizer, on an installment schedule set for your trip. The organizer never handles the money, and we provide the accounting for the trip.
Who books the cruise portion?
We book sailings directly with the cruise lines and hold the group space with them. The land days before or after the sailing, along with flights and transfers, are arranged by our team as part of the same trip.
What documentation do travelers need?
International travel requires a valid passport, and some destinations require additional entry documentation or have validity rules of their own. We confirm the requirements for your specific itinerary well ahead of departure so nobody is resolving it close to the date.
Can someone from your team travel with the group?
Yes. A tour manager can accompany the group and run the daily schedule, and our 24/7 emergency line is staffed throughout the trip regardless.
Safety & Support
Every group travels with named tour managers, vetted transportation, and vetted accommodations. A 24/7 emergency line reaches our team at any hour of the trip. From enrollment onward we keep travelers informed directly, so everyone always knows the schedule and who to call. We are accredited by SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA. Full details, insurance information, and our incident protocol are on our Safety page.
Request a custom proposal
Tell us what you teach and where you want to go, we’ll handle everything else.