I joined the Spirit of Sicily tour (September 3-15). Overall it was good and I would like to thank you for letting us have the optional tour despite the fact that some people had cancelled and only a small number participated. Regarding the Tour Directors: the first one (Oliviero Olivieri) was very good and helpful. The one at the Aeolian Islands was also quite good, but I don't like it when TDs take travelers to restaurants where they get free food for bringing travelers. The local specialists varied a lot. The one in Palermo was excellent, though I would have preferred to have more time in the churches to view the beautiful mosaics (NOT her fault). The same goes to the other archaeological sites: we should have had more time. The local specialist in Catania was really bad and lost most of the travelers over time. The hotels were quite good, but I was very unhappy during the first stay at the Olimpo Antares: I received a very small room facing a walkway, so one couldn't have the shades up, it was extremely noisy, and there wasn't even a place to put the suitcase. I paid the single supplement and should have received a room of the same quality as other participants. I could see on my 2nd stay there (on the way back from the islands) what I missed the first time. I really felt cheated the way I was treated. They said they were fully booked, but since I made the reservation months ahead of the trip it wasn't a last minute reservation and I should have received the high quality room as the other tour participants. The included dinners were not that impressive: in the first two, the main dish was really like an appetizer, and in the Olimpo we had the general buffet in the main dining room with another few hundred guests, similar to what we got when we went there individually.