yclarke123

I saw a posting earlier today (which I can't find) about a negative experience on a Paris Vision tour. I have booked the minibus to Giverney and Versailles (including fountain show)for a Saturday in June. Anybody have experience with this, good or bad? Were you returned to your hotel directly at the end or taken to the office first? How was the guide?

djkbooks

We've used Paris Vision many times in Paris. Our Giverny experience was a half day trip in a mini-van, which included hotel pick-up AND return. It could not have been more pleasant and efficient. We would have been returned to our hotel, but we opted for the office, since it was steps from our dinner reservations - and we were dropped off at the front door of the restaurant (instead of the office).

We also used them for a day trip to Brugges. The trip was nicely paced and the guide was absolutely extraordinary. Coming back, the destination was the office, but if your hotel was on the way they'd drop you off there.

Our Vaux le Vicompte (sp!)/Barbizon/Fontainbleau excursion could not have been nicer. There was a "trainee" guide along who was even better than the assigned guide...

Regarding hotel pickup/return, it depends upon the tour. Often "pickup" involved riding all around to pick up others, then return to the "office" for departure. It may be more convenient/efficient for you to get yourself to the office yourself. And, with some tours, there's pickup for the departure, but everyone is dropped at the "office" at the conclusion.

Since you're booked already, just have the concierge or someone at the front desk at your hotel clarify the details.

We've used Paris Vision more than half a dozen times with no negative experiences whatsoever. Some guides were better than others, but none were less than excellent.

adrienne

Here's the link to the thread you're looking for.

http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....&start=100

StCirq

My best Parisian friend in the whole world is a veteran ParisVision guide. She is amazing in her knowledge of French history and particularly Versailles. I had tea with her in Paris last week and was asking about her current tours, and she related to me that the only time she ever left a tour without all the people on board during 25 years of touring was several years ago when a couple in a wheelchair didn't show up in Le Havre, and they waited 45 minutes for them to no avail. She says the company policy is to wait 30 minutes and then leave, but she waited longer because she was worried about the guy in the wheelchair. They never showed but turned up two days later at the cruise launch in Monaco.I, too, think people who sign onto tours have to abide by the time rules and be back at the tour bus by whatever time they tell you, or else .....hey you're on your own in Europe!

newdawn

I was part of a Paris Vision tour from Paris to Mont St. Michel on April 17, 2004. Two women of our group were late in coming to the bus for the return trip to Paris. The guides made no attempt to discover why the women were delayed; they just directed the driver to leave. Two women, who spoke no French, were left stranded at Mont St. Michel, from where transportation is hard, if not impossible, to find.

francophile03

I believe the topic of people being stranded by a tour company came up about two months ago.

That's very scary to know about this particular tour company stranding these two women. But hopefully it's limited to just this particular tour guide and driver.

Statia

We used them for a day trip to London and were very pleased with the service.

thomthumb

I'm using them next week for a trip to Normandy. I guess I'll make sure that I'm on time for the ride home!

francophile03

Yes, Tom, as Normandy is over 100 miles from Paris!

nytraveler

I took a day trip from London about 5 years ago and they also left a couple behind. But I certainly don;t blame them.

The couple was late back to the bus at every stop and meal - obviously with no consideration for others. At the last stop the guide was very specific about the departure time - and that there was no leeway since we had already been delayed along the way. Again, the couple was late. We waited 20 minutes - and the guide even went a couple of blocks back into the town to look for them - to no avail. So eventually we left. I'm sorry for the couple left behind - but really it was their own fault - and it was unreasonable to make the entire group wait yet again (people with theater tickets would have put their evening at risk).

This is only one of the reasons that I avoid group tours whenever posible - in my experience even with day tours the group always includes one or more of these self-indulgent beings who believe the world revolves solely around them.

travelbunny

..fully agree that people on a tour bus must be considerate to others...on day tours i have found that a guide always emphasises the time of departure and chooses a very prominent meeting site...if someone is so rude to inconvenience others, "stranding" is mild punishment!!

Ciel

Author: Ciel
Date: 11/30/2003, 07:53 pm
Message: We were very happy with the Paris vision company. We used Paris Vision's minibus tour of the Loire chateaus. We were picked up at the hotel at 6:45 am then enjoyed a beautiful day visiting Chateau Du Clos Luce (Leonardo da Vinci's home at Amboise), Chenonceau, and finally Chambord. We returned to the hotel about 7pm.

They were all fascinating. We had a spectacular lunch (I'm not kidding, the food was excellent including the wines)at L'Orangerie restaurant on the grounds of Chenonceau.

We (my mother & I) were accompanied by a very informed (historically), sweet & contientious driver and five other passengers. It was an interesting, international group & we enjoyed the conversations among us.

One impressive thing about this company was that, due to a computer glitch last summer, our reservations were lost, though our credit cards were charged. After discovering the mix up, Paris Vision went out of their way to repair the mistake. They even substituted a more expensive tour for the one we had originally booked.

We also used their 3-hour minivan tour of the Seine cruise/Illuminations combination. It was exactly as advertised, the driver was prompt & informative. A lot of fun, especially for our last night in Paris. We highly recommend Paris Vision and you can book them from many hotels. We would definitely use this company again.

sandypaws3

We went on a Paris Vision tour to Giverny and Versailles, and our tour guide was Claude. She waited for almost half an hour for a young girl who was late. Poor girl was in tears by the time she got back to the bus. She had been lost and couldn't find the bus. Out guide was nothing but kind to her. We still remember our guide fondly and would use Paris Vision again because her.

Best,
Sandy