Trip Review - European Destinations
Europe
Exotik - Hannibals Journey tour - Tunisia, Malta
The trip was fabulous! I would highly recommend this trip to anyone. As well, it was exceptionally good value for the price.
February 2010
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Trafalgar's "Highlights of New Europe Tour"
Our trip was great. Our weather was lousy, but we walked around like ‘Wet Ducks� and enjoyed every minute of it. Our tour guide, Xavier Libert and our driver, Lada, were exceptional. Their expertise and courteous manners were well appreciated. They made our travel from city to city very easy and pleasurable.
Our only complaints were the hotel in Warsaw, where the included dinner buffet ran out of food and the reaction of the dining room staff was that we were out of luck! (us and another couple from Australia) After telling them we were going to get our Tour Director to come and handle the situation, they finally advised they will serve us dinner to our table.
Also, we felt that our hotel in Prague, Hotel Duo, was below tour standards. The room was dirty and the breakfasts were terrible. The soap scum in the shower stall in our room had been there for quite some time and I actually had hairs on my pillow. Other folks on the tour with us expressed similar concerns. One other couple had to change rooms because of the foul smell emitting from their bathroom. Our opinion is that this hotel reflects badly on the Trafalgar name. Consideration should be made regarding this hotel on future tours.
All in all, the tour was exceptional and we will definitely consider Trafalgar tours in our future travel plans.
June 2009
Trafalgar's "Best of Italy and Greece Tour"
The tour was unbelievable, even better than I had hoped for! The tour guide was awesome ; he expertly took care of everything and was very charming and personable.
The weather was great and so were the accomodations and food, not to mention the spectacular scenery.
My favorite spot was Venice and hope to return soon. I also loved Sorrento and the isle of Capri.
Greece also was lovely and I plan to visit there again as well.
May 2009
European Interlude Trafalgar Tour
We had just a wonderful holiday. The places we went and the sights we saw will be lifetime memories. I would recommend Trafalgar to anyone and our tour director was the best. He was a walking history book and made the tour so enjoyable. Everything went like clockwork he was so organized. We only had a few days of light rain and other than that weather was great so a good time of year to go.
We only have 2 small complaints about Trafalgar, the first being we never saw a Trafalgar representative in the hotel in London. Some people missed the Saturday morning bus tour because they didn’t know what time it went. I asked the receptionist at the hotel when the Trafalgar rep would be there and she said she was suppose to be there from 10am to 12 every day but the day before she had seen her there at 3pm!!!! The next day at 11:30 we looked for her and she wasn’t there then either. And the hotel people had different ideas on where this rep would be in the hotel. The Trafalgar book also said when the rep wasn’t there there would be some kind of book or something with info in it, we never saw that either. Other tours had bulletin boards right in the lobby.
The tour on Saturday did drop us off at the Trafalgar office and the people stormed in there quite mad but the ladies there didn’t seem to care too much. They called the hotel and said the rep was there then but of course we were on the bus tour so that did us a lot of good. There was also some concern about that tour not taking people back to the hotel.
The other complaint we had was the luggage restriction. We followed the rules but a lot of people didn’t and they got away with a bigger piece of luggage and more than 1 carry on which the bus stored with the luggage it was so big. The extra pieces would have made the trip for us a little easier.
But it was a wonderful experience and we are glad that we picked Trafalgar as our tour company.
May 2009
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Switzerland/Austria
Switzerland and Austria Trafalgar Tour
I absolutely loved every second, I felt like Cinderalla at the ball, everything was magical!! I only had a problem with the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Zurich, they over sold the flight and I had to wait for the seat to open. I was told to avoid this problem next time I have to get a seat assigned when booked. This way I am guaranteed to be on the flight. Our tour director was a wonder, so organized, lots of humour, David Gordon is the BEST!!! I recommand this tour to everyone. Your sales agents where filled with information that was a must for this trip. Countries did not readily accept travellers cheques so thank you for this tip. I had the best vacation ever!!!!
Thank you for all your work!
October 2008
Italy
NH Vittorio Veneto - Rome Italy
The trip was excellent, we had a great time. Weather and food were amazing, as was the hotel (room was very nice, breakfast buffet was exceptional) and there is never a shortage of things to do in Rome!
One minor note of logistics: the hotel shuttle was not as top quality as it could have been, particularly given the price. On the way to the hotel upon arrival, we seemed to take a somewhat round-about route, which was partially due to the fact that there were quite a number of hotels on the route, and we were towards the end of the list. Other than being ready to get to breakfast, the time wasn't a significant factor. However, on the way back for departure, the same thing happened (going to far as to have passed the same intersections muliple times, and waiting at one intersection while the driver actually got out to talk on his cell - presumably to figure out where to go next.) We ended up spending a very long time on the shuttle, and made it to our gate with only minutes to spare (not even enough time to grab a coffee on the way to the gate.) So, we figured we would pass that on to you, for your information.
Other than than, the trip was great!
December 2009
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Collettes Discover Tuscany, Italy
We had a wonderful holiday! The tour was great I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the third Collette tour that I've been on and all 3 have been of high calibre. Our guide and driver were fantastic and went above and beyond their job descriptions. The local guides that we had were also very informative and friendly.
Our flight home (from Zurich) went very smoothly. Unfortunately the girls who left for Canada at the end of the tour were not so fortunate! Fog in Frankfurt made the Rome flight late and so the connection with AC was missed.
One of the highlights for me was the Tuscan cooking class. There were only 9 of us and the wine started to flow even before we donned our aprons!!!
All the meals, bar one which I would class as mediocre, were great and we certainly did not want for wine!
All in all a great holiday!
October 2009
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Splendours of Italy Trafalgar Tour
Loved it, had an amazing time. Been on both the regular 1st class tours and Cost Saver and was pleased with both. However liked the idea of saving over $1000 per person this time taking the Cost Saver.
The hotels were very good, clean and all very different, definitely away from the center city but easy enough to get to. The only complaint was that the food included became very repetitive and wonder why whoever planned the menus didn’t notice that all meals were pork.
The tour guide was fantastic and helped decide what to do on off time. Liked the idea of having a choice to do things or not, as 40% of the time was free.
Unfortunately missed the shuttle bus by 10 minutes and then had to wait 3 hours for the next one.
I had rented a car in Florence with Auto Europe and it was awesome, no hidden costs or surprises. GPS is a definite must in Italy. 4 older ladies travelling together.
Booked the Ibis hotel at airport in Florence for last night and loved it. 5 minutes from airport, I confirmed and held the rooms at $75 Euros but they offered a $72 Euros price at arrival. It was perfect for stopover hotel.
Rented a villa from RentVilla.com or something and that also went well. Stayed at a place called “il Borgo di Salvino�, it was cheap and clean and nice location, very comfortable. Another nice place was Montalbino Azienda Agricola.
October 2009
Italian Discoveries with Collette Explorations
I had a wonderful trip- the group was wonderful, the weather was great every day and the sites we visited were amazing. The flights went smoothly too- I had a wonderful holiday.
October 2009
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Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe Tour
We really enjoyed our Highlights of Eastern Europe Tour with Trafalgar. We had an excellent guide who managed a group of 48 people very well.The hotels were all first class, A couple of them were spacious - unusual in Europe. We had an interesting group with lots of Australians and New Zealanders. Lake Bled in Slovenia and the underground caves at Postojna were real highlights. Adam thought the traditional Polish dinner(optional tour) and entertainment in a farmhouse outside Krakow was also a highlight. There was a huge art gallery in Berlin that had 16 Rembrandt's in one room. Berlin impressed us more than we thought it would Budapest was also a highlight.. We enjoyed having 2 night stays in each city. We were blessed with good weather and had some rain when it really didn't matter.
Our flights went well and we had no trouble with the transfers on our own. There was a taxi surcharge going back to Vienna airport that no one told us about. Apparently the surcharge is because taxis often go back to the city empty. It wasn't a problem just unexpected.
June 2008
Great Britain
Transat 2 tours, Ireland-go-as-you-please and Duo City London Paris
It was a fabulous trip and gave us a taste for more travel.
Driving on the other side of the road took some concentration and we have some tales to tell of narrow roads and wide buses but in the end I did come to appreciate the roundabout system. But without a GPS we would still be lost in Ireland (if a person wants to drive without a GPS they had best find a very small scale map because street signs are impossible to find if they even exist in many small towns and villages).
The B&B turned out to be a great experience and they were excellent with two outstanding places, one in Bunratty (the best 4 star ) and one in Kenmare.
The hotel we booked in Edinburgh, Ten Hill Place, was one of the best of the trip (ultra modern room, good breakfast and reasonable location) but Paris was the best experience overall. The hotel was down a side street but you could walk a block and catch the metro or a bus (#95) which would take you to the major sites and shopping districts. And the food was great, reasonably priced, good portions but best of all was being able to sit in a cafe, sipping coffee and wine, watching life pass by (the sport of Paris).
September 2009
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Ireland and Scotland Tour - Trafalgar Tours
We enjoyed our tour a great deal. We had 32 people on the bus made for 48 so we weren't too crowded - quite an interesting group.. We had a great tour director and lots of great local guides. We really enjoyed Ireland - the scenery is amazing and there are some wonderful natural places - Cliffs of Mohr and the Giant's Causeway as well as interesting cities - Dublin,Londonderry and Belfast. We also enjoyed Scotland especially the highlands. History was amazing in both places! Enjoyed seeing the famous St. Andrew's Golf Course - picture taken in front of the first tee.
We found the Irish people particularly friendly and they had a great sense of humour.
All our travel connections went well with no delays.
August 2009
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Ireland - Go As You Please Tour - Air Transat
Wonderful! The B&Bs were all really nice - very different, but comfortable and the owners were all focused on making our stay enjoyable.
The only hitch was the car. It wasn't nearly the same class as they had said it would be so it cost us an extra couple hundred dollars to upgrade to something that would hold us and our luggage - we couldn't get two suitcases in the one that came with the package.
The weather was pretty good although there was a bit of rain almost everyday, but it never really impacted what we wanted to do. We drove 2080 km, say each coast (east, west, north and south), drove the Antrium coast road and the Ring of Kerry (both gorgeous views), golfed a couple of times, ate amazing seafood, visited castles and caves and spent some time in a pub or two - just an amazing vacation - thanks for your help!
August 2009
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London, England
We took two one day tours out of London with Holiday House and saw everything on our list and had absolutely "fab" weather. Only rained for 1hr the whole time. We did have a few cool days - but no complaints.
Cranley Gardens Hotel was OK (I'd say a 2.5- 3 star). It was clean and staff very helpful but we needed to buy ear plugs to sleep. noise would be our only complaint. We had no problem but "larger or older" person would have trouble in the tub. On the bright side the location was great we could walk to lots of sights and were only a 5 min walk to the tube.
Travel went right on schedule and the ride to and from the airport worked the best.
We are very happy we went.
March 2009
Portugal/Spain
Portugal and Spain with JM Vacations
Villa Gale Atlantico - Albufeira, Portugal
Pestana Palm Gardens - Carvoeiro, Portugal
Sol Principito - Torremolinos, Spain
It sure was nice coming home to no snow and wonderful temps. Almost as warm as there! It was cooler than the last time we were there but no rain. We were in shorts and sandals every day so it really wasn't too bad. Cool winds so not alot of beaching til Spain the last part of our trip. Portugal was as beautiful as we remembered and truthfully, I'd go again. We enjoyed our time in Gale and it felt very familiar. Carvoeiro was great. The accomodation was perfect but you really need a car there as everything is pretty spread out. Unfortunately, Torremolinos was a disappointment. We found it way too developed and no thought given to architecture in their building designs.Just lots of ugly concrete highrises. There were nicer places a bit further down the coast. The hotel left a lot to be desired too. It was older and not very well maintained. The kitchen facilities were very rudimentary and after what we had in Portugal we really were disappointed. All in all I wouldn't recommend the place.
As far as JM we felt there were a few things that could have been better.(aside from the hotel in Spain.) The maps they included to the hotels were less than helpful. And we thought a highway map would have been a good thing if you are expected to get yourself from Portugal to Spain. The extra car insurance which is actually quite necessary given the way they drive there was an unexpected expense. So a word of warning on that score would be appreciated. The information from the staff in Portugal was minimal compared to what we experienced last time.
But I have to say we had a great trip.
April 2010
Sunset Beach Resort, Costa del Sol, Spain
Hola! We got home from two wonderful weeks in Spain last night. Our trip was incredible! The price of the trip was really reasonable and we were sorry that we didn't pick the three week package.
We really liked the hotel-apartment, The Sunset Beach Resort. It was well located and we were able to walk/run the promenade to Torremolinos every day. A pleasant surprise for us was that the breakfast buffet was included in our package. There was lots of variety in the buffet and gave us a great start to the day. We were met at the airport by Nathalie from "Come & Si". We had a meeting with Nathalie on the afternoon of our first full day there. She was excellent! She not only explained the hows, wheres and whys of the area, she gave us some terrific suggestions as to self-guided day trips as well as tour company offered trips. She also went out of her way to find out information for us regarding our own interests. We really appreciated all that she did for us.
We had planned to take three day trips with Andalucia tours and were able to visit Granada and Gibraltar. Our tour to Morocco was canceled due to the weather, but can't do much about that. We will have to do that next time... Getting around by local bus and train was easy - efficient and reasonably priced. There are several supermarkets nearby and we had no difficulties finding everything/anything we needed. Even though we don't speak Spanish, the people of Costa del Sol were lovely and did everything they could to make our visit to Spain a wonderful one. The staff at the resort and restaurants were friendly and helpful.
The resort itself was clean and the view from our balcony was incredible! We were lulled to sleep by the waves of the Mediterranean and were able to watch the sunrise and sunset from our balcony. We had a full sea view of the Mediterranean. We have plans to go back... there was a lot to do and we already have started a list of things to do for next time! We would highly recommend this for anyone else who is thinking of going there. We had a terrific holiday!
February 2010
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Portugal
Everything was very smooth and worked out well from the flights to the condo to the pousadas, not a single hitch. The weather was great, as were the people.
Organizing things the way we did was great, starting in the south for a week before heading around the rest of the country as it really allowed us to get into being there. We actually preferred the rest of the country as opposed to the Algarve anyway! The Balai golf village was fine - it wasn’t our first choice but it worked out just fine. We liked the location (a little further out from Albufiera) as we had a car and were able to get around but enjoyed the peace and quiet. We found a great little restaurant in Olhos D’Agua (tavertino’s) which we ate at a number of times. Meeting with the JM rep there was good as she gave us good info with how to plan our week in the south. That was the only contact we had with someone from JM as the second week I guess we were kind of on our own.
The pousadas were all great - a neat experience for sure and there were hardly any people there! We ate a few dinners at the pousadas because we felt like we should spend more time there as they are neat places - but we were typically the only ones there for dinner which was odd.
Overall it was a fantastic trip (it was our 10th anniversary treat) & we would definitely consider heading back (although there are lots of places we would also like to try)! If/when we do head back, I think we would stay north and just go for 2 weeks of the pousadas and avoid the south - Albufiera itself was the worst as although there were LOTS of options for eating & drinking, it was far too focused on the tourism and really lost all of the flavor that we found in the cafes of the tiny towns off of the main roads in the north (where it was just us and a couple of the locals with limited English hanging out for an espresso!) November 2008
Vila Gale Atlantico, Portugal
Although the Vila Gale Atlantico was not our first choice we are very glad that we changed to this hotel. There are free shuttles into Albufeiro daily and one can spend the day or just a few hours there. The beach is really, really lovely and not far from the hotel. The fact that there is an indoor pool and an outdoor pool is also very convenient. The weather for all three weeks that we were there was terrific. In the 20’s every day and lots of sunshine…
The staff was very helpful and accommodating. The hotel and rooms are very clean. This hotel has entertainment in the lobby every night which most, if not all, other hotels during this time of year do not. The entertainment was top notch and it gave people an opportunity to mix with other guests in the hotel. We met and got to know a number of people.
There are a number of good restaurants within walking distance of the hotel where the prices and quality of the food is exceptional! There is also a golf course not far and guests at the hotel can get a discount. We found that golf fees everywhere are quite steep, however.
The JM Vacations rep. Emmy, was also very helpful and in my opinion went above and beyond. For example, I caught some kind of intestinal bug in Tangiers and when Jim told her about this Emmy had the hotel restaurant make some chicken soup (apparently an international remedy) for me and gave Jim the name of a medication that would coat my stomach. After that, I felt much better!
There is a brand new grocery store just a block from the hotel where people can stock up if they plan on preparing meals in their apartments.
We were really delighted with this choice of hotel and would highly recommend it.
We took advantage of some tours while we were there, arranged by Emmy, and these also were well worth it.
April 2009
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