Globus tour to Central Europe
Sep 8th, 2005, 12:08 PM
#2
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I went with Globus to Switzerland off-season. Usually I travel with Cosmos - budget tours, and I didn't see any difference except better hotels. Not necessarily better locations, just better hotels. As you normally don't spend much time in the room, I didn't get the feel as money well spent.
Other then that, the tour was well organized, tour director and bus drivers were very good. Local guides - some better then others. A lot was included. And lots of "optionals" when they try to make a sell.
I will travel with a tour again, just with a budget tour.
Check out Affordable Tours website, they have a similar forum where the travelers post questions and answers, and they have by a tour company.
If you choose to go with a tour, I recommend land reservations through Affordable Tours for 10% off.
I never make air reservations through agencies, seen several times people missing connections or dates screwed up.
The age was mostly retirement age.
Also I didn't feel like "rich" or "snobby" people on this tour, same as on budget, only no youngsters.
Other then that, the tour was well organized, tour director and bus drivers were very good. Local guides - some better then others. A lot was included. And lots of "optionals" when they try to make a sell.
I will travel with a tour again, just with a budget tour.
Check out Affordable Tours website, they have a similar forum where the travelers post questions and answers, and they have by a tour company.
If you choose to go with a tour, I recommend land reservations through Affordable Tours for 10% off.
I never make air reservations through agencies, seen several times people missing connections or dates screwed up.
The age was mostly retirement age.
Also I didn't feel like "rich" or "snobby" people on this tour, same as on budget, only no youngsters.
Sep 8th, 2005, 12:28 PM
#3
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Personally, I like Trafalger somewhat better.
I went on a beautifully organized tour of central Europe with Trafalger called Bohemian Highlights...Frankfurt-Berlin-Warsaw-Krakow-Budapest-Vienna-Prague-Frankfurt 2 weeks with 2 night stop overs in each of the cities. It was great and attracted quite an international group, Americans, Canadians, Australians, even one young lady from South Africa as well as a couple of Asians (forget where they were from).....running parallel was a Globus tour which they ran withonly 12 passengers all Americans. I believe globus markets mostly to Americans which might be good or might not be good depending on your own preferences.
Globus runs tours in first class hotels as does Trafalger. And the previous poster is quite correct go to affordabletours.com and you will get at least a 10% discount on land arrangements for almost all tours.
I went on a beautifully organized tour of central Europe with Trafalger called Bohemian Highlights...Frankfurt-Berlin-Warsaw-Krakow-Budapest-Vienna-Prague-Frankfurt 2 weeks with 2 night stop overs in each of the cities. It was great and attracted quite an international group, Americans, Canadians, Australians, even one young lady from South Africa as well as a couple of Asians (forget where they were from).....running parallel was a Globus tour which they ran withonly 12 passengers all Americans. I believe globus markets mostly to Americans which might be good or might not be good depending on your own preferences.
Globus runs tours in first class hotels as does Trafalger. And the previous poster is quite correct go to affordabletours.com and you will get at least a 10% discount on land arrangements for almost all tours.
Sep 8th, 2005, 12:32 PM
#4
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I did a Globus Tour in 1999....my first trip to Europe. I didn't pick the company, my brother and SIL were going on it and I kind of on a whim said, "hey, how about it if I come along too?" I was totally gormless at the time.
Anyway, I felt wwe got a great value. We had good transportation from where our hotels were, the hotels were nice...London not so good, Venice OK, Florence was georgous...I digress, as usual. We had a great tour director that was just on top of everything all the time..I think the quality of you director could make or break it...we had a diverse group..youngest was 13, two single girls and two couples in early 20's, and the rest from early 40's to I'd say mid 60's. We had NO problems on our tour but I know anything at any time could go wrong and there have been people who have reported such. I was going to book a "stay-put" package with them a few years ago..week London, week Paris..I picked the higher grade of hotel but then they said the only hotel available in London was the lower grade one so therefore I had to also take the lower grade hotel in Paris. I did NOT WANT the lower grade hotels..but I could have compromised and taked the lower grade in London and then the higher grade in Paris, but they wouldn't budge so I canceled. Got all my money back too. I booked elsewhere.
Anyway, I felt wwe got a great value. We had good transportation from where our hotels were, the hotels were nice...London not so good, Venice OK, Florence was georgous...I digress, as usual. We had a great tour director that was just on top of everything all the time..I think the quality of you director could make or break it...we had a diverse group..youngest was 13, two single girls and two couples in early 20's, and the rest from early 40's to I'd say mid 60's. We had NO problems on our tour but I know anything at any time could go wrong and there have been people who have reported such. I was going to book a "stay-put" package with them a few years ago..week London, week Paris..I picked the higher grade of hotel but then they said the only hotel available in London was the lower grade one so therefore I had to also take the lower grade hotel in Paris. I did NOT WANT the lower grade hotels..but I could have compromised and taked the lower grade in London and then the higher grade in Paris, but they wouldn't budge so I canceled. Got all my money back too. I booked elsewhere.
Sep 8th, 2005, 12:48 PM
#5
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Let me say this...
This particular bulletin board might not be the best place to get good information. Most people here are adamantly opposed to the concept of organized tours and prefer to make their own arrangements. That's fine; I don't necessarily completely agree with them but yes these tours have some pitfalls.
Generally on a moving day you have to be up before 7 AM to put your luggage out and have breakfast around 7 AM with usually an 8 AM departure no matter how spaced out you might be from the night before. Some of the hops on the bus can be long but the bus is air conditioned on trafalger and globus tours at least and most of the cheaper ones too. There are rest stops generally every 2 hours and the toilets are usually clean; sometimes the stops are rest areas on the motorway or other organized locations. Lunch stops they generally dump you at some central place in some town point out local restaurants and give you an hour and a half to eat and explore..personally I find the most efficient and best places for me to eat are Mickey D's as I don't particularly like new cuisines and know what I'm going to get....You usually arrive at your destination around 5 PM, the rush up to the rooms to freshen up and sometimes dinner at the hotel or a nearby restaurant is included (sometimes not and that's where the next paragraph comes in)..
Sightseeing included with the tour is generally an orientation tour in each city you arrive in and there are optional tours which can boost the price quite a bit sometimes covering lunch or evening entertainment and dining. If you don't take the optionals, you are on your own. Sometimes you have to use public transportation to get back to the hotel, other times you are provided a pick up point where the bus will pick you up and take you back to the hotel.
Watch the language of the brochure...if it says see the xyz palace, as you go by on the motorway or the highway the tour director says look to your right and you can see xyz palace. If you're on your own, you might decide to visit the palace which you can't do on the organized tour. OTOH if it say visit xyz, the bus stops and indeed you visit with either your tour director serving as a guide or a local guide doing the honours.
Advantages no worry about luggage. You leave your luggage out in the morning and when yo get to your room in the afternoon, the luggage is delivered. No worry about having to start looking for a hotel at 5 PM, all the hotels are prebooked. On Trafalger and Globus tours, the hotels are generally first class such as Hiltons, Marriots or Westins and no real complaints. Breakfasts are very bountiful and included.
You get to meet quite a lot of people and can make life long friends of people who are a long way from you.
But that doesn't mean, of course, the organized tours are for everybody. You just have to make your own decision but I will say this, if you go to the trafalgertours.com bulletin board, you will find most people on trafalger tours, at least, are very very satisfied.
This particular bulletin board might not be the best place to get good information. Most people here are adamantly opposed to the concept of organized tours and prefer to make their own arrangements. That's fine; I don't necessarily completely agree with them but yes these tours have some pitfalls.
Generally on a moving day you have to be up before 7 AM to put your luggage out and have breakfast around 7 AM with usually an 8 AM departure no matter how spaced out you might be from the night before. Some of the hops on the bus can be long but the bus is air conditioned on trafalger and globus tours at least and most of the cheaper ones too. There are rest stops generally every 2 hours and the toilets are usually clean; sometimes the stops are rest areas on the motorway or other organized locations. Lunch stops they generally dump you at some central place in some town point out local restaurants and give you an hour and a half to eat and explore..personally I find the most efficient and best places for me to eat are Mickey D's as I don't particularly like new cuisines and know what I'm going to get....You usually arrive at your destination around 5 PM, the rush up to the rooms to freshen up and sometimes dinner at the hotel or a nearby restaurant is included (sometimes not and that's where the next paragraph comes in)..
Sightseeing included with the tour is generally an orientation tour in each city you arrive in and there are optional tours which can boost the price quite a bit sometimes covering lunch or evening entertainment and dining. If you don't take the optionals, you are on your own. Sometimes you have to use public transportation to get back to the hotel, other times you are provided a pick up point where the bus will pick you up and take you back to the hotel.
Watch the language of the brochure...if it says see the xyz palace, as you go by on the motorway or the highway the tour director says look to your right and you can see xyz palace. If you're on your own, you might decide to visit the palace which you can't do on the organized tour. OTOH if it say visit xyz, the bus stops and indeed you visit with either your tour director serving as a guide or a local guide doing the honours.
Advantages no worry about luggage. You leave your luggage out in the morning and when yo get to your room in the afternoon, the luggage is delivered. No worry about having to start looking for a hotel at 5 PM, all the hotels are prebooked. On Trafalger and Globus tours, the hotels are generally first class such as Hiltons, Marriots or Westins and no real complaints. Breakfasts are very bountiful and included.
You get to meet quite a lot of people and can make life long friends of people who are a long way from you.
But that doesn't mean, of course, the organized tours are for everybody. You just have to make your own decision but I will say this, if you go to the trafalgertours.com bulletin board, you will find most people on trafalger tours, at least, are very very satisfied.
Sep 8th, 2005, 12:56 PM
#6
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I'm very much an independent traveler (as are many on this board). Nevertheless, I agreed to join my mother on a tour of Warsaw, the Baltic capitals and Russia this past summer, and we ended up chosing Globus. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised and the trip exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed, for once, being able to relax and not worry about any of the logistics. Even though this was a new tour, it ran like clockwork.
On the downside, it was pretty fast paced. There were a couple of long days on the bus, and we didn't really have enough time in any location - but this is pretty common with most tours. I approached this trip as an opportunity to get an overview of the various stops and help me prioritize future trips - and I accomplished just that.
Also, the provided meals were average, but for the most part, not too bad. Optionals were somewhat better.
On the plus side:
-I felt most of the hotels were well located and enabled us to make the most of our free time. I researched this extensively beforehand; Globus's hotels, on this particular itinerary, were better than Trafalgar's.
-Between the included and optional tours, I felt that Globus included a few things that are not typically part of the tour-group trail.
-Outstanding tour director who really made this trip a success, and excellent local guides in all locations. This was a very educational trip. I learned a lot; more than I would have on my own given an equal amount of time in the various locations. I agree with crefloors that the TD can make a big difference. Ours was not only knowledgeable and very organized, but also easy to travel with.
-We did have free time in most locations to supplement the organized part of the tour.
-A really good group, ranging in age from 25 to 70s, and most were very well traveled (to be expected with these destinations). I enjoyed many interesting discussions about all parts of the world.
-Overall, I felt it was a good value for the cost. I am an obsessive planner, and I don't think I could have put this trip together, with similar logistics or accommodations, on my own for less money.
I have a more in-depth report here, with some comments on the tour experience:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34654471
On the downside, it was pretty fast paced. There were a couple of long days on the bus, and we didn't really have enough time in any location - but this is pretty common with most tours. I approached this trip as an opportunity to get an overview of the various stops and help me prioritize future trips - and I accomplished just that.
Also, the provided meals were average, but for the most part, not too bad. Optionals were somewhat better.
On the plus side:
-I felt most of the hotels were well located and enabled us to make the most of our free time. I researched this extensively beforehand; Globus's hotels, on this particular itinerary, were better than Trafalgar's.
-Between the included and optional tours, I felt that Globus included a few things that are not typically part of the tour-group trail.
-Outstanding tour director who really made this trip a success, and excellent local guides in all locations. This was a very educational trip. I learned a lot; more than I would have on my own given an equal amount of time in the various locations. I agree with crefloors that the TD can make a big difference. Ours was not only knowledgeable and very organized, but also easy to travel with.
-We did have free time in most locations to supplement the organized part of the tour.
-A really good group, ranging in age from 25 to 70s, and most were very well traveled (to be expected with these destinations). I enjoyed many interesting discussions about all parts of the world.
-Overall, I felt it was a good value for the cost. I am an obsessive planner, and I don't think I could have put this trip together, with similar logistics or accommodations, on my own for less money.
I have a more in-depth report here, with some comments on the tour experience:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34654471
Sep 8th, 2005, 01:02 PM
#7
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I don't know about Central Europe, but when we were traveling on the tour I took we mostly stopped at the Auto Grills along the highway...I LOVED those places!!!! When we were in a town, like we stopped in Lugano, they just gave you a time to be back to the bus and turned ya loose. I think we had about 2 hours..so it worked. I mean, its NOT like traveling on your own, I have done it on my own since, and am doing Copenhagen and Stockholm on my own, right after Christmas this year...I'm packing a flash light and a seeing eye dog by the way 
..but I will say, I don't regret that tour in anyway, it taught me a lot about some of the little "customs" we discuss here from time to time, so it helped eliminate a lot of the misunderstandings that lead to first timers coming back and saying that everyone was rude to them..we got in and out of museums, into restaurants when we ate with the group, things like that...no waiting, no line, we had usually good local guides and I liked having the comentary at various sites...so it worked for me.
..but I will say, I don't regret that tour in anyway, it taught me a lot about some of the little "customs" we discuss here from time to time, so it helped eliminate a lot of the misunderstandings that lead to first timers coming back and saying that everyone was rude to them..we got in and out of museums, into restaurants when we ate with the group, things like that...no waiting, no line, we had usually good local guides and I liked having the comentary at various sites...so it worked for me.
