Cosmos (Rome to Lond) for my parents
 

Hi all,

My parents are travelling to Europe in June 06. We are Australian. I was looking at booking them into a Cosmos tour. After looking at the tours I thought the Rome to London was a decent, short sort of tour enabling them to fly into Rome and then go from London to do other things.

Has anyone done this tour? What are you thoughts? How is the bus trip? Do you get to see enough of everything?

What about the age groups? My parents are 55 and a fairly young 55. Although my father's health is not the greatest and that is why i am choosing a tour for them so it doesnt place too much stress on him.

Anyway feedback would be great.

For a little more, I would look into a similar tour with either Globus or Trafalger; I am sure they are available.

Cosmos is considered a budget tour operator.....the itinerary will be the same with other companies but the hotel and food will be a distinct step better. Cosmos hotels are what is considered superior tourist. They will be clean, there will be private facilities but in the big cities they will be a long way out of town.

Cosmos is run by Globus and is the budget version. I HAVE read reports from people who have liked them. I took a Globus tour in 1999..going just the oposite of your parents tour..started in London and ended in Rome. Ours was a full 14 days so not too rushed. Our director was meeting another tour the day we left for home, and that tour was starting in Rome and ending in London and was 12 days, so on the move more. The buses on Globus were quite roomy compared to other tours. They hold fewer people than some of the other buses so more comfortable seats and more leg room. Why don't you check out Globus and see if it affordable for you.

crefloors,

Thanks for your reply. I have a fair idea of the costs involved.

Out of curiousity, what did you think of the tour you went on. Was it to rushed? How much time on the bus? Were you in Paris long enough?

What about the age groups?

Thanks!!!

geoffspears: the tour I took was called Thames to Tiber. We had three nights London, with one day on our own, three nights Paris, with one day on our own, two nights Lucerne, two nights Venice, one night Florence (our only one nighter), and three nights Rome with one day on our own. From what I have seen of a lot of tours, mine was pretty "leisurly". There were optional tours offered and if you didn't want to do those you would have more time on our own in each city or more down time if needed. Florence was our only one nighter as I said, and that was enough to convince me that I would never want to do one of thoses tours where you are in a different city almost every night. I think the longest day on the bus as I recall was from Lucerne to..I THINK Venice..I can't remember if we did Venice or Florence first honestly. We actually had a diverse age group: two single girls in their early twenties, one young man in his late twenties or early thirties..he actually left the group quite a bit to go out on his own giving our tour director fits..she's get worried about him LOL, a Globus tour director, from Australia actually...she was on the tour to learn..she would be taking groups from Australia to Europe for Globus, she had her husband and thirteen year old daughter with her, we had two sets of honeymooners, and the others were mostly in their 50's and 60's. One couple was supposed to be trying to save their marriage..VERY interesting dynamics there..got stuck with them at dinner one night..ghastly but made for interesting gossip later..so, as you can see, we were quite a group. I don't know if that is typical. I don't remember anyone being really ancient. There was another couple from New Zeland and I remember they picked up the tour in Paris, not in London where we started and I think that had something to do with their travel connections. You might take a look at the Thames to Tiber..I think it's still offered and may be just the thing for your parents. The hotels were all over the place. They use a lot of different ones so I think the location is the luck of the draw. In London we were in Hammersmith, NOT the city center, but at the time I didn't know any better but Hammersmith is on the Piccadilly Line, so getting closer in wasn't really a problem. The hotel was just OK. In Paris we were on the left bank, the Soffitel Rive Gauche and that was a really nice hotel. Can't remember the name of the hotel in Florence but it was just gorgous, Lucerne was nice..sort of a bed and breakfast feel to it. Venice..well we were in Maestre and I certainly would have rather been in Venice but it was OK..I know the DO use hotels in Venice, again luck of the draw. Rome was nice and not too far from the Coloseum...we walked there in a short amount of time on our free day. Your parents would not necessarily get those same hotels. All in all, (it was my first trip to Europe)I was happy with the tour. I think this tour was about as relaxed as you can get and still be traveling to see different cities. Our tour director was wonderful and most of the local guides were good, all were very knowledgable. If you want to check out Globus, you might check out the tour that went backwards from mine, but keeping in mind it's two days less so moves a little faster. You can see in the brochures how many nights you are in each city and can make a judgement if it would be too strenuous for your parents. Good luck in your search.

Hi

Yes we did a 12 day Trafalgar tour from Rome to London in 2001. We have used Cosmos twice - for Greece and Spain. Both tour companies were excellent but we preferred Cosmos to Trafalgar. Cosmos seemed to have less optional extras. The Cosmos hotels were a minimum of 3 stars and were in central locations. However in fairness to Trafalgar that tour was over several countries so comparing hotels to the Cosmos tours may be like comparing apples and pears. Both tour companies had excellent directors and drivers and first class coaches. Age group varies but generally over 55. We are in our mid/late forties and had no trouble fitting in. I found the Trafalgar tour (and in fact any tour)over several countries is rather rushed but you have to look at it as a taster so you can return for another trip to places you liked. We found that these escorted tours do leave you plenty of free time to do your own thing. The advantages include queue jumping at attractions, professional guides at those attractions, hassle free travel and good quality accommodation at lower prices. My only criticism is the meals. Breakfasts were great. But the free dinners were bad. I'm not a fussy eater but the standard at times was less than cafeteria food! We ate out a few times to get around the problem. Finally you need to be aware that tipping the director and driver is customary. There is a huge recent thread on this forum about just how much. For the record we paid A$100 for the director and A$50 for the driver for the two of us. Will definitely do Cosmos again, hopefully Turkey.

Good luck