Recommendations for Malaysian tours?
 

Considering a tour of Malaysia with Singapore as our base. Tour East offers a 9 night tour covering Malacca, KL, Cameron Highlands, Penang, Pangkor Island and Port Dickson for approximately SGD 1500 including breakfast and lunch. I have found another tour covering Genting, Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, KL and Malacca through Nam Ho Travel which is considerably cheaper at only SGD 330 for 5 nights including breakfast, lunch and 2 dinners. Although I expect it may be very rushed, it seems a bargain at that price and an offer too good to refuse! Does anyone have any experiences with these two companies and can offer any suggestions?

Nam Ho is a very established travel agency.
They cater to the local market.

Not too familiar with Tour East. Appears to cater to tourists.

Hard to say which is better deal. You'll have to check on the hotels and whether the tour covers any leg by air. The Nam Ho tour should be by coach.

Hi, thanks KMLoke. I understand that both tours are by coach, no flights involved. Both tours include 4 star accommodation e.g. in KL, Tour East offers Novotel Hydro Majestic, Nam Ho offers Corus/Federal/Swiss Garden or similar. But it turns out Nam Ho made a mistake with the price, it's actually 435 SGD (not 330) but still a lot cheaper than Tour East.

Maybe if you post the actual itinerary, we could compare better?

If you go to the Cameron Highlands do not stay at the Old Smokehouse Hotel. If your travel agent suggest it, find another travel agent. It might be the worst hotel in SE Asia.
Look for reviews on Trip Advisor.

Thanks all.

JannaG, the Nam Ho itinerary appears here: http://www.namho.com.sg/video/malays...ting_6days.asp

Could not find Tour East info online so here is a brief summary:

Day 1: Singapore - Malacca
Day 2: Malacca - Kuala Lumpur
Day 3: Kuala Lumpur
Day 4: Kuala Lumpur - Cameron Highlands
Day 5: Cameron Highlands - Penang
Day 6: Penang
Day 7: Penang - Pangkor Island
Day 8: Pangkor Island
Day 9: Pangkor Island - Port Dickson
Day 10: Port Dickson - Singapore

For Tour East, each day's tour looks to last approximately 8 hours. Example, 1st day includes visit to Johor Bahru and after lunch a tour of Malacca, visiting St Pauls Hill, Porta De Santiago, Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Jonkers Street.

I have to say it sounds awful to me - not enough time to really get a sense of any of the places you visit. If these tours are your style, fine. But if they aren't your style, you can arrange your own travel easily and inexpensively and do exactly what you want in Malaysia.

Garmei, for the price and itinerary, I wouldn't consider Tour East or Nam Ho's package a tour. It's cheap alright but the so called "tour" should be renamed as "rush". Well, if you have lots of stamina and don't mind conveyor belt sightseeing, I guess the price is OK. But look out, most bus tours take cuts from souvenir shops, theme parks and expensive restaurants they herd tourists into. That's how they make a killing. They have ways to make sure your money stay within their network of business associates. So, don't dream of grabbing your bites or souvenirs somewhere else. Last year, the Malaysian government had big problems with "zero-start up" bus tours. They bait bargain-hunters with free tours and tourists end up paying lots more in restaurants, shopping ... etc. I suspect it's still going on. Now, I'm not saying Nam Ho or Tour East is in such category but I think you should know a bit about the local cut-throat tourism industry and hoodwinks. A good example - Novotel, Swiss or Corus hotel isn't exactly 4 stars as claimed. I'd put them as 3 star city hotel.

As Kathie mentioned, west coast peninsula Malaysia is very easy to DIY. It has a large English-speaking population and loads of info in the internet to help you. By doing the bus tour, I feel you will miss the best part of Malaysia - the rainforest and countryside accolades. Go for quality, not quantity.

Thanks all for your helpful suggestions!