I have mixed feelings about OAT.
On one hand they are very well organized and take you to excellent places. They also give you an often welcome chance to interact with the locals, such as going to dinner at someone's home. Their small group tours are well sized and easy to deal with.
On the other hand, they insist on sprinkling plenty of what they call "controversial topics" into their tours. Sometimes these turn into guilt trips and leave you with very negative emotions. Occasionally you can dodge these experiences by going off on your own that day, but not always. Just as one example, on our OAT tour of Ireland we were subjected to several days of lectures on the bus about the famine of the mid-19th century, an entire morning with a local guide in one town who carried on for hours about the trials and tribulations of his mother in the early 20th century, and much of a day in Derry wallowing in all the bad aspects of "the Troubles". Those were most unpleasant, but unavoidable.
On the whole, I would consider taking another (we've done two), but independent travel is much more to my liking.
