The good thing is having all the planning done for you and all your transportation and accommodations arranged in advance. You get to see stuff that you might not have thought of by yoursef.The tour manager and guide were excellent on our trip to Costa Rica. The other side of the pre-arranged coin is that you lose the spontaneity of being able to eat where you like and when you like and to set off to explore a little bit. On our trip, the hotels were OK to so-so and ditto the food apart from a memorable steak at the welcome dinner and my introduction to rice and beans.