allabout

PJMA. I hope I am not too late! I have conducted over 450 guided tours in Ireland & Great Britain - 15000 Americans, Aussies etc.. Do not under any circumstances do a guided tour anywhere in Europe where the tour operator sells optional extra excursions. They are a rip off. You will be bombarded on a Trafalgar Tour & Insight with these optional excursions & your tour cost will increase by about 30% on tour. Not only that they ruin the itinerary that you have paid for because you get rushed around. Check the itinerary & you will find that there are only about 30% of nights with dinner included & that means an optional excursion for every night with no dinner rushing to the hotel to leave on the excursion. On tour review sites this is still the biggest complaint. They are a rip off believe me. Try CIE tours - they do not sell optional excursions on tour & are cheaper than Trafalgar. No I never worked for CIE by the way! Good luck!

xyz123

While I do agree for the most part about the virtues of CIE for Irish, Scottish and English tours, the language regarding optional excursions is a bit harsh. The biggest problem with optional tours is so many participants on group tours are not briefed by whomever books the tours for them of their existance and then are hit with making the selection say on the second day out on tour and it is somewhat unexpected. But not all are rip offs. Some are fun especially as you have bonded with other members of the group. they are standard type excurxsions for the most part that are offered commercially in almost every tourist place in the world.

They can be tours of castles, say. It is up to you to decide whether you want to participate. To charactgerize all of them as rip offs, like I said, is somewhat harsh.

That is not to say some feel that way but I've been on a few Trafalgar tours and didn't feel that way. Sure I can visit an Irish pub probably somewhat cheaper than my tour does on an optional excursion. I don't question that. But the convenience of just going downstairs in the hotel, hopping on the coach, doing the optional, getting back on our tour bus with our tour group being driven back to the hotel might be worth the slight extra cost.

After rambling trough, the point is to be aware of the existance of these optonals and do them if you want. If not, there's always the hotel bar.

Sophie2135

Did you end up deciding on a tour?

I'm thinking on going on one either 2014/2015...

I've got three tours I'm trying to choose.....would anyone be able to provide some pointers?

1. CIE (British and Ireland Grandeur)
http://www.cietours.com/world/escort...d/default.aspx -- only issue is that it does not visit oxford or strathford or cliffs of moher (if I book additional day tours via Premium Tours...there is no pickup from Doubletree West End....and no option to book for post-tour accommodation via CIE).
2. Globus (13 day Shannon to the Thames) http://www.globaljourneys.com.au/coa.../globus/gu.php - issue is having to book additional day tours (which I may do through Premium Tours.....for oxfrod)
3. Insight vacations (22 day Britain & Ireland Discover) http://www.globaljourneys.com.au/coa...sight/b959.php (only issue is not getting a tour of London itelf)

I am comfortable sitting for hours on a coach, as long as the guide is awesome....as in thorough description of places we visit/history/ etc.

Thanks!!

janisj

"<i>I am comfortable sitting for hours on a coach, as long as the guide is awesome....as in thorough description of places we visit/history/ etc.</i>"

1) you can't guarantee the guide will be 'awesome' or even passable. So what if you pull the short straw and get their one totally crap guide?

2) Hours on a coach all day every day means you aren't visiting/seeing anything most of the time - just hours peering through the side windows.

but never mind - from your posts it seems clear you want a tour (three of you - right?) . To give you one example of how dreadful some bits of these tours are - on the third link they are traveling from Orkney to Ullapool to Skye to Loch Lomond to Glasgow . . . in <B>two days</B>. That is nutty.

Tell us a bit about who you are (ages, nationalities, physical limitations, etc) and we can maybe make suggestions of better tours or other ideas. Not all tours are awful - but some truly are. And the cheaper, large coach tours are generally pretty nasty.

janisj

My post was for Sophie2135 who topped this older thread. I'll copy my entry and add it to her other thread.

Sophie2135

thank you very much for giving a thorough explanation.....

mcandmc

Have done insight tour on first trip, shows you what you would like to go back and see at your leisure also have done five driving trip.driving in th UK is not a vacation,it is somewhat stressful,the advantage is you can stop whenever you want,as to train and bus travel,it's good too,just remember who is dragging the luggage on and off the bus or train and getting transportation to your hotel. Also parking in major cities I agree the options are a killer,but go on an Alasken Cruise and see what extras will cost you.Due to my wife and i's experience the dining part is somewhat easy although I agree so many unincluded dinners is a pain.The bus rides are long,it would be almost as long in a car,plus fuel,not cheep.some of the options are touristy,but we are tourists.planning a trip on your own is fine ,but be aware there is a lot of work and logistics involved,time tables to make etc.l have raced over the roads in Scotland many times to make a ferry because of a glitch in timing.last but not least enjoy the experience for what it is every trip we have had has had more good points than bad. You cannot buy a memory

janisj

Welcome to Fodors mcandmc. It is usually a good idea to check the dates before topping a thread - this one is 3 years old. Not that sometimes new info isn't good, but what happens is others don't notice it is an old, moldy thread and continue to try and help the OP.