has anyone ever taken one of these tours and how have they felt about the tour and accomadations?

Hello, Jean. I just returned from a wonderful two-week vacation in France with Brendan Tours, which is associated with Globus. This was my first escorted tour and I can't wait to take another one. I got to see and do so much. The tour director and bus driver were a great part of the fun. Can't say enough good things about those two. <BR> <BR>A couple things some people might consider as drawbacks, when we stopped in several places, Carcasone for instance, I wish we could have stayed a little longer. You do have to watch your time and be back on the bus when they tell you to. But you get to see so many different places in all. The accomodations were not exactly first-rate, but I think part of this is just a European thing. Don't care for the water closets, and some of the showers were a little different. My favorite place ended up being a Holiday Inn in Blois. Most of the other hotels were Mercures and Novotels. But this is all so minor in comparison with the trip as a whole. Most dinners were included, and all breakfasts. All were good. <BR> <BR>Let me know if you have any more specific questions. Would be happy to share my experience. <BR> <BR>Sandi <BR>

We've taken Globus to England, also Switzerland/Austria/Germany. On the whole, pretty decent and very good local guides. Didn't like that too many hotels were away from center of town making it hard to move around on your own, but we managed with local trans. Our bus guide was particularly forceful about staying with the group (translation: eat and shop where I tell you because I get kickbacks). This is business-as-usual but our guide made us feel very uncomfortable about it. Som very enjoyable times were a quick lunch at a bakery/stand/or grocery store and a great walk around town while everyone else was waiting for their meals to be served. Eventually lots of people on the bus decided to do the same thing. Dinners are included, often at the hotel, and were very plain most of the time. MUCH preferred our Perillo/no meals trip to Italy. Would never take a meals-included trip if I could help it. Additional tours were expensive. I'd skip the special dinners, Very expensive. We didn't go but many who did said they weren't worth it. We skipped most tours and opted for local trans to same places. If you're a little adventurous, this is fun, local color, meet people, and very inexpensive. People on your bus can help guide you, many have gotten suggestions from friends.

I would second Cam's message above. <BR> <BR>We took the Globus Rome, Florence & Venice tour Oct '98 and were, in the words of my travel agent, "burned". Had done several cruises and, of course, many many ½day tours in England, France & Holland -- thought Globus with it's ½ day of free time would be very much like those experiences combined -- some dinners with group, morning group tour and then on our own. What a false impression that was! <BR> <BR>Some points for you to be aware of: <BR>1) All included meals are in the hotels -- don't expect to have the great food you read about on these forums. Also, meals are heavy on the red meat (poorly cooked). <BR>2) Hotels are located for ease of access by a large tour bus -- that means NOT near the center of the historical cities. And none were easily accessible by public transportation, which we enjoy using as part of the experience of Europe. Be willing to spend for taxies. <BR>4) The hotels themselves were part of an American chain & you could be anywhere, USA. <BR>5) Change $ before join the tour -- one trick to keep everyone in line is to provide $ changing time only toward end of tour -- and then at their "selected" store -- no lira, no freedom to hire that taxi, etc. We had gotten several hundred in lira before we left and were very happy to have local money in our pockets. <BR>6) Only 2 of the local guides were good. -- The driver was great, the driving was safe & he was very accommodating. The tour director used Hitler as her role model, plus she would be pleasant one minute and very nasty the next. <BR>6) Optional meals and activities are pushed VERY HARD. Only good one was the Sistine Chapel tour. If your tour does Florence, suggest you skip the optional "Beef" dinner -- it's bad pot roast, not what non-tour diners were served, although the drive out in the countryside was nice. <BR> <BR> On the plus side, we did stop at places we really enjoyed such as Pisa & Verona but would not have done had we been traveling by train. And we did not have the hassel of driving a car. <BR> <BR>Be aware that most mornings you will be up by 6 am, especially if traveling from 1 place to next. <BR>We start early ourselves, but usually "sleep in" until 7:30/8 am, get breakfast in hotel, out by 9 to see garden and at museum by 10. The land tours lack both the efficiency that cruise ships seem to have mastered and the cruise ship attitude that their patrons are mature adults, with some common sense. <BR> <BR>In Sept 99 we did venture forth on a tour of Spain with a different company -- it was like night & day! Great guide, actually adjusted printed schedule so we had more time to ourselves, no pushing of extras or shops, excellent local guides. <BR> <BR>Have heard Brendan does great in Ireland, but would avoid both Globus & Brendan for any other venue. <BR>

We traveled with Globus on two trips, one to eastern Europe and another to western Turkey. Neither is what you would call an "easy" destination. The facilities we encountered were the best available, however. Our experiences were quite different than the one posted above. Excellent -- no, SUPERB -- guides on both trips. Clean, efficient hotels with good meals. Excellent drivers and buses. Help from our guides when we needed it. Each was an encyclopedia of information and a model of efficiency--at all hours. In all, I would give Globus (in our experience) four stars, and excellent value for money. I would fault them for lack of salesmanship follow-up. They know our names, addresses, and interests but have never attempted to sell us other tours or cruises to other destinations. If I were running that business, I would make my past customers my first line of attack.

I think that the successfulness of a tour like this depends mostly on the tour director. As I stated previously, I had the best time on my recent trip to France with Brendan Tours. Actually, about three-fourths of the bus was Globus participants, and the rest of us were Brendan, but the bus was a Globus bus. Anyway, Susan Boldis was the tour director, and I don't think anyone will ever rate as well as she did in my book. I could probably not be so lucky to have her on another trip. She was the most charming and enjoyable lady, always talking to us about the places we were approaching, the history, the layout of the towns, etc. She never tried to sway us one way or the other for the optional excursions, just explained what they were about and so forth. But I am so glad I chose to go on most of them. The optional trip to Monaco and the optional dinner cruise on the Seine were two of my favorite evenings spent. I will say the optional dinners out were okay, but not spectacular. But it was fun to be with the group, talking about past trips, future plans for trips, and having a good time. The group I was with were an exceptionally fun bunch of people. <BR> <BR>Jean, if you go I hope you will have a good time. Where are you thinking of traveling to? <BR> <BR>Sandi <BR>