Taking a Globus Tour
 

We are planning a Globus Tour (The Popular) starting in London and going to several countries -- Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France. Has anyone done this tour? Can anyone give us comments on Amsterdam, Innsburck, Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Nice, Lyon, and London, and Paris. I know that's a lot to ask, but this is our first time and we would greatly appreciate any information you can give. We are especially interested in the quality of Globus Tours and specifically, The Popular Tour. What are the accomdations like and such. I thank you in advance for any information you can give. royal_1

I cannot speak directly to this particular tour but to Globus in general. My mother has taken a 12 night tour of Ireland and a 14 night tour of Italy. She had a fantastic time, excellent itinery, lovely hotels, very good food, experienced tour guides, comfortable buses and good airflights.

Most of the people on this board are independent travelers and will not have experience with Globus tours - never mind that one in particular.

My only comment is - to be sure you understand in advance exactly what you're getting to avoid any possible disappointment.

You will be moving very quickly, spending a great deal of time on the bus with early starts (often 7am breakfasts) and long days. Do;t cuont on any time for relaxing. When you read the itinerary understand that "visit" means you will actually go into a sight, "stop" means a 5 minute photo op and "view" means you'll see it out of the bus window.

That particular trip covers a lot of territory - so don;t expect to see anything in depth.

Also, understand that food will often be "americanized" rather than truly local - and there may be few if any choices (except for the interminable buffets).

I took Globus tour of Switzerland, and this is what I recommend - one (maybe 2) country only.

Doing a "pajama tour" of 6 countries, yes, this is what our tour guide called those jumping jacks tours, won't leave much to remember.

Unless you're absolutely sure this is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you, don't do it. Pick 1 or 2 countries at a time.

Globus is a nice, not luxury company, but not budget either. Hotel rooms were comfortable, locations mostly central.

Let me know if you're interested in reading my report, I'll post a link here, as clicking on my name won't pull it up - I post too much :)

By the way, most of the meals were not included, except arriving and departing dinners with wine, they were great! And the breakfast buffets offered by the hotels... yummy! cheeses, breads, fruit... I better go to lunch now :)

And you can find more information on tours at "affordable tours" site on the travel talk. This is the agency which sells tours with 10% discount, I've used it 3 times already!

My first trip to Europe was a similar Globus tour with my daughter. I had a lot of advice not to do this kind of trip but to pick a country and really see it. My feeling at the time was that this might be my only trip to Europe and, if not, at least I would have some feel for where I might like to go back.

It worked out exactly that way. We had a really good overview trip, and I've been able to go back to different places several times. Try it! It's only one trip, and you will probably return to the places you like most. It's pretty addictive.

I agree, we have taken several tours in Europe and at home in Australia - enjoyed them all and it is our preferred means of travel.
I think the major trick is to just 'go with the flow' - you will get tired and you will get sick of the early starts - but if you don't let it worry you - you will be fine. That goes also with some of your fellow passengers - who may or may not drive you nuts - take a deep breath and ignore them - there are always plenty of others more compatible. Enjoy yourself - I am sure you will.

I took 6 years ago a tour w/Globus to Italy, service excellent, guides very nice and helpfull, buses clean and in good shape, hotels!-well, centrally located yes, but!!!!!!! scary! did not like to be near the prostitutes streets, the rooms would smell and some where not clean even the guide had to complain. Tour was not a cheap
one.... I was told they were having problems with the hotels do to the Jubile year.... lies... they are still using same hotels, and I just check the russian tour (great itinerary) and good hotels I check them all, but guess what? museums, castles (like peterhof and Catherine p.) were going to be closed those days.... I called them and they did not care! they were willing to take my money, and @!%&@!@@! TO BAD , THE PALACES ARE CLOSED.

mile- I went on a Globus tour to Russia last year and was very happy with it. Yes, there are some discrepancies between the published itinerary and the opening days at certain sites. For example, our itinerary showed us visiting the Hermitage and the Armory Museum at the Kremlin on days that those would be closed - and we were a bit concerned, yes. However....our tour director, together with the local guides, worked very hard at rearranging the schedules in Moscow and St. Petersburg so that everything that was supposed to be included, was (btw, Peterhof was not included on our itinerary; we went on our own to visit the gardens).

I did this very similar trip in the mid '80's with my parents, an aunt, and a cousin. Then we left it at the end to visit relatives in Germany and also went to Berlin. We also got Belgium in there somewhere.

It's absolutely exhausting, but it was a tremendous overview of Europe. You need to be young, and very healthy IMHO, with great ability to withstand extended time without bathroom breaks, if you know what I mean. It is not a vacation, more like a marathon. The smaller the group, the better, if you have any choices. And do as much "away" down time as possible. Do not go on the optional tours that take more than 1-1/2 hours on the bus each way if you are in the same hotel that night- regardless. We had a very high end tour that also included Oberamagau and the PASSION PLAY- it was not Globus. But still there were too many people for Hamlin, and all the French stops, IMHO.

Our accomodations were all much better than average, but my advice would be that you need to stay in the same hotel at least two nights several times during this trip. Moving every single day is way too much, as you spend too much of your time busing, checking in or checking out.

How long is the trip? If you are staying in one spot for two or three nights at least 2 times during the trip-you will enjoy the whole much more. If you have never been, it's worth doing once. Hopefully, like I said, when you still have stamina.

Hi Ms go, I'm glad it did workout for you and I know surprises can happen but if they know about this closures
ahead of time (for years now) then they are lying to the customers...
That's not very honest.

And I must say this. That trip has MEMORIES galore. And we saw the full tours at several places that are extremely difficult to access now. We did reach some depth. For instance we did Anne Frank's hiding attic with full tour, Amsterdam's wonderful art museum with the Rubens and Rembrandts all day, a canel trip etc. But it left absolutely no down time for shopping or wandering and on some mornings we were ON the bus by 7am. Take your vitamins.

Hi

We have been on a Trafalgar tour and two Cosmos (budget arm of Globus) and had a great time. You'll find that you stick to an itinerary but you still have plenty of time to do your own thing. When booking your tour make sure that the departure date is guaranteed. What this means is that the tour will not be cancelled due to the lack of numbers. This happened to us recently. We booked in Dec 05 to go to Turkey in Sept 06 with Cosmos. However they cancelled and suggested I do the tour one week later which was guaranteed. Unfortunately we had booked and paid our airfares (in full) and it got messy (and costly) from there. Now going with Insight but made sure we were on a guaranteed tour date!

As far as accommodation goes the Cosmos tours are budget but the hotels we stayed at were very good - a minimum of 3*, sometimes 5*. Well located too. So the Globus ones should be excellent.

As far as the tour goes, based on our Cosmos experiences Globus should be fantastic. I say go for it!

Ciao

Look...the vast majority of people who pan tours have never been on one....there is nothing wrong with them.

Personally I prefer Trafalger to Globus...greater mix of nationalities. Most globus tours cater to Americans...trafalger tours have more Aussies, Kiwis and whatever but the tour itineraries are identical.

There are some things you should be aware of...

1. Yes early starts...breakfast at 7 on a travelling day, departure at 8 AM. Stops every 2 hours for plumbing (as my latest tour guide called it), water, coffee, etc. None time stop for lunch which is usually on your own. Usual arrival late afternoon. Dinner included sometimes; other times it is an optional (more on this later).

2. Be aware of language in the brochure...see such and such a Castle means just that...as you pass such and such a castle you hear the tour director say thereis such and such a castle see you just saw it! Visit such and such a castle means they take you inside sometimes with a guided tour sometimes not.

2. Stops in the cities usually include a sightseeing orientation with a local guide and then an optional tour.

3. Two night stops in big cities give you a chance to catch up on things.

Globus and Trafalger usually are first class tours...cosmos is a budget class tour. Hotels sometimes (not always) especially in high season a little outside city centres....is this a problem? Maybe or maybe not....

Biggest complaint I hear is when people do a tour and then are told of all the optional tours which are extra. Generally if you stop in a cithy and dinner is not included, there will be an optional dinner. Do you have to take the optionals? No but sometimes the hotel is a bit out of the way and to get into town might require use of public transportation (sacre bleu)....

They can help you see a lot, they can help you develop life time friendships with other tour members and they can be great.....they can also drag if you are not aware of some of the things above...but at least when you arrive in town at 5 PM, your bus will go right to the hotel and you won't have to start searching.....

I don't have a problem with them...others who are not familiar with just what will happen do....but if you have specific questions just ask.

But don't let the naysayers on this board, many of whom have never been on an escorted tour, deter you. They can be a good way of saving money and seeing a lot.

Looks like I was interruptred in midsentence. I was just going to say that Elderhostel and Grand Circle do have more of a learning component and remain in one place longer. But taking your Globus tour will be a fun into to Europe.

Any specific questions?

ozarksbill
[email protected]

hello!
hey, xyz123 I think to say people who pan tours have never taken one is your
own personal statement. Yes, most of us have taken tours & have discovered and prefer to go independent...
I personally have taken GLOBUS,TAUCK,
EXETERINTERNATIONAL,PADITOUR,FAR&WIDE AND SATOTOUR now to Russia next summer
I do think, that all we're trying to do is to help travelers based on our
experiences.... and let's not forget
this is an open forum....
Have a great day.

We did "The Popular" 6 years ago for our 20th anniversary and had a great time. If you have never been to Europe before, I would recommend doing it this way. You will see a lot of things that you would never get to see if you traveled on your own, and the tour guide will feed you full of history all along the way. The bus trips between countries seem long some days, but they make you rotate seats on the bus (it is very fair the way they do it) so you end up meeting everyone in your group and it gives you a chance to make friends with them. We made friends with an older couple from Australia and ended up going to Australia last year and visiting with him. She had sadly passed away just a few months earlier. I had been to Europe before, but my husband had not, so we decided to go this route. I am taking my daughter to Europe this summer and I plan to book another Globus tour. My favorite places in your tour are Rome and Nice. You get to go to Monte Carlo one night and we even walked through the back yard of the princess. One word of caution: Your first morning in London will probably be dreadful. A van picked us up at the airport and transported us (we were like sardines) into London. It took over 1 1/2 hours because of traffic. We were exhausted and then could not get into our hotel rooms for another 2 hours. If you can, it would be great to fly in a day earlier and get rested up some. If you fly into Gatwick you can take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station. It is a nice roomy train and the trip only takes 30 minutes. You can then get a taxi to your hotel. This all depends of course on where your hotel is located. Have a blast!!

Sorry Mile...

Did not mean to offend but from reading some who pan tours, I just got that feeling. Guess it is too broad a generalization to say all who pan tours have never done one...

And believe me, I could write a whole lot of bad things about escorted tours (you have no control over who is going with you, you could be the only American in a tour full of Australians for example, not that that is necessarily bad) or your tour director could be an idiot, it happens.

I took a tour with Cosmos about 2 years ago which started in London, ferried across to Bergen in Norway, did the 3 Scandanavian countries then through Germany, Holland and back to London.

The tour director was a Hungarian woman who knew nothing about Scandanavia and thought, for example, Hans Christian Anderson was a woman. Also she had no concept of explaining to neophytes the ins and outs of changing money to their best advantage.

When I complained that we were promised a multi lingual tour guide who spoke the language of most of the countries we visit, I was told she speaks German (Germany was 1 day thourh the country overnighting in Hamburg)...she spoke not a word of the Scandanavian languages. Not that she was necessarily incompetent, nobody's baggage got lost and our hotels were always there but very disappointing.

My td's on Trafalger have all been outstanding however.

Again apologies for the generalization but I still think many people who pan tours have never done one based on their comments.

No problem... sometimes it reads worst
than what we tried to express.....
We have all done it. LOLOL!!
bye.

I have never taken one, but have heard good things about Rick Steves tours. They avoid some of the problems with big tours. (Smaller groups, central hotels, etc.). I am tempted to do the Turkey one myself . . . He has a whirlwind Europe tour, that sounds very well planned.

xyz123 -

I have been on one guided and one escorted tour - the former because I didn't know any better and the latter because at the time is was the only way to get to Russia.

Both were supposed to be fairly upscale tours (one AmEx, the other a company no loner in business). I have also gotten input from family/friends who have been on tours - mostly older folks on their first trip - thinking they needed the help.

My POV is still that most people would have a much more positive and enjoyable experience unless they are either extremely naiave/timid and truly concerned about being abroad - or somewhat elderly/frail and really need the physical help with luggage.

nytraveler...

You're certainly entitled to your opinion but somehow trying to locate my hotel at 5 PM after a day on the road (if I could afford to rent a car and navigate the local highway system, motorways would be not a problem of course), stopping in small towns and looking for a car park, locking the car, hoping nothing is stolen yada yada yada might not (or it might) be a positive experience.

You can have a very very positive experience on the escorted tours. I believe Trafalger is an excellent company, I have done 3 tours with them, have not felt cheated for one second and seen lots of places that would have been well a pain to get to.

Did I miss things? Most likely of course...was I ever coerced to take an optional tour...no....could I go off and do my own thing of course...was I happy to have a td recommend places for lunch when stopping in strange cities off the motorways...yes...did I always know that by 5 pm I would be in a nice hotel room for the most part washing up for dinner...yes...was it great rolling my bone out of bed and carrying out my official wake up procedures at 6 AM most every morning, no....but once I got on the bus if I so desired and it was a motorway day, I could sleep it off on a nice comfortable air conditioned bus.

I mean again there are good things and bad things and to say most people would have a better time if they did it independently is as much a generalization as my original one.

And for orientation, well you know you do the tour the first time and then go back, it is a great introduction.

Once again we all are entitled to our opinions on these things and I don't think there is ever one answer for everybody.

Let me ask you a question and think about it...in the high tourist season, do you think it is wise to reserve hotels in advance? If not, aren't you taking a chance especially if arriving by train or other public carriage? So if you book everything in advance, how much less regimented is that as opposed to a Globus or Trfalger tour?

But again, it is not my intent to be argumentative and to put down those with different opinions.

I just think that everybody ultimately has to make their own decision based on facts that are correct.....

NY traveler - hope you're reading this, what is the difference between a guided tour and an escorted tour?

fainaagain; HI!
From what I think I know....
the guided tour is a larger group, in a bus with a guide.
the escorted is a smaller group on individual cars with driver and guide
it's more personal and $$$$. but very
popular in Russia. They cater you all he way...

I don't think that most people on their own simply roll into town without a hotel reservation.
I have never taken a tour, but have traveled lots. With my parents as a small child.... high schol trips with friends...., college solo adventures, and "family of six" travel.
The best experiences have been the unplanned and unexpected ones. Getting lost and finding an amazing park. Waiting for the best moment to take a photo. Pulling over in a tiny Italian village because my daughter got car sick...and then watching donkeys carry building materials up stairs. ( Ok, you HAD to be there to see the positive in this one!!)
Sometimes you want an extra hour to visit a museum in depth. Or watch the world go by from a cafe chair (hey kids, wantsome ice cream??). Travel is more of a see, touch, hear and taste experience than on and off a bus at a rapid pace. But that's for me. Other do enjoy a tour.
Sorry royal_1 that I've posted without answering your question.

Marti, no, your assumption is wrong. I always get on "escorted tours" which are larger groups like Globus, Cosmos, Trafalgar.

I am still trying to figure out what is a "guided tour". One-day? Small group? Specialized, like photo or hiking?

Somehow my first post didn't make it. Just wanted to say that in 1982 my wife and I took approx. the same tour you will be on...and it was a good overview of European sights. Yes, you do move almost every day as you are covering lots of ground. But then as we did you can revisit places you like over the years. Accomodations were modest smaller hotels and we did most of the options.

I think xyz123 makes a good case for Globus or other tours although many do prefer individual travel. We have felt that you will learn more with guides than being strictly on your own. We also read books (besides travel guides) that give us more on sights, history, culture, etc.

ozarksbill
[email protected]

Guided tours are the ones in which the tour guide does not "escort" you the entire way. If you have say 3 cities there are 3 different guides - 1 in each city. They pick you up at the airport, take you to the hotel, give you a 1/2 day city tour and try to sell you extras. Then they give you a phone # to reach them - or may be at your hotel for an hour per day. At the end of the visit they put you on the plane or train to the next stop and you never seen them again.

This is repeatd in the next city.

This is the way they usually organize those tours that just do London, Paris and Rome - or London, Amsterdam and Paris - rather than the 12 stops in 14 days tours - when you have a single escort with you 24 hours per day throughout.

XYZ123 -

Yes - we book all hotels in advance - as well as rent our car. The difference is we pick the cities and the # of days in each as WE plan - so we get to see exactly what we want. We may spend longer in a small towm (3 days in Spa - not on any tour) and skip Brussels entirely.

Another major difference is that we never spend less than 3 nights anywhere and often spend a week in a major city - so we're not rushed, can relax and cafe sit and search out the unusual places as much as we want.

We also get to pick our own hotels - and can decide in each case how we're willing to balance cost versus location - and make sure it has the amenities we want (we MUST have AC in the summer - and always a room with mini fridge and siting area - other amenities are flexible).

And we may decide to get up at 8am (never before - it IS a vacation) if we feel like doing a lot that day or go out dancing and get up at 10 or 11 the next day.

On the two tours I've been on there was way too much time wasted waiting for the confused and/or inconsiderate, too many early starts for no reason, way too much opportunity for "shopping" (I hate it at home and don;t need piles of cheap tschokes) and the meals provided, including breakfast were mediocre at best. (And I'm not talking about Michelin stars - but there's a big difference between a prepackaged half mushy/half stale sandwich in a dump at the side of the highway and a beautiful freshly made sandwich in a charming cafe in a cute village.)

And I can;t bear it when the guide gives incorrect info - esp when reading it out of one of the standard guide books. (Of one escort and 3 guides only one was reasonably competent/knowledgeable - and these were upscale tours.)

Never mind the risk of last minute changes and substitutions. (I do admit that I have control issues.) But I'm much better at getting what I want than any tour guide I've met. I don;t know if it's because I want it more, I'm more persuasive/determined/demanding - or they just give me what I want to shut me up. In any case - it works - we got into our hotel room in London hours before the rest of the group - although it was still more than an hour after it was promised. We showered, unpacked, went out and had lunch, bought theater tickets and got back to the hotel to rest for dinner and the others were just getting their rooms - since the "guide" had disappeared.

You're right - it is much more work upfront - but we enjoy that almost as much as we do the trip. And - if something goes wrong - we have only ourselves to blame (and so far - in 60+ trips nothing unfixable - or even serious has gone wrong).

I understand that some people don;t want to - or can;t - do the work to organize it themselves. But I think they're missing a huge amount by just skimming the surface and keeping a "guide" between themselves and reality.

(Have you ever seen an Italian principessa getting married in the same Vatican grounds chapel in which Charlemagne seized the crown from the Pope and crowned himself first Holy Roman Emperor?

Have you ever spent an hour convincing a non-english speaking Spanish cop that he had to organize the rescue of a dog trapped at the base of a bridge?

Have you ever gone to a vaudeville show in St Pete for 75 cents - surrounded by packs of local matrons in bright sateen dresses and gallons of perfune and their tightly double breasted husbands?

Have you ever sat at breakfast when the room was invaded by a leathered motorcycle gang - having them all take off their helmets and Gruss Gott us - as well as the feather-hatted German matrons - very politely?

Have you ever danced at 3am on the banks of the Seine?

Hard to do any of these on a tour!)

nytraveler...

Good points...as I said much of the success or lack thereof of a tour is dependent on the tour director and perhaps I've been fortunate in that regard with at least the Trafalger guides and yes I could have danced along the Seine at 3 AM and yes when the others went shopping in Paris I went off on my own to Notre Dame and walked the left bank.

Breakfasts, again dependng on the tour, have been excellent on almost every tour I've been on (the first class tours especially)...we've been lucky in that lateness has not been a problem (it could be!) and yes I read the itineraries carefully....but again as I tried to emphasize to each his or her own and there are good points and bad points either way so I guess we will all have to make our own decisions n'est ce pas.

I have read a alot of very positive feedback about Globus tours and so I am expecting to really enjoy our upcoming Italian Globus tour. However I would not choose a tour; this was a gift. Decades I traveled alone from Florence to Rome by train after shipping my bicycle home at the end of a trip down the Rhine. I have vivid memories of Italy and of this adventurous time. I will miss the adventure.

The Globus price quoted for an airfare inclusive tour is ____. It does not basically change when I search different dates. Yet summer and fall are high season cost-wise. I do not understand how this works! I want to chose as low-cost a trip as possible as this is a gift from a family member. Yet I cannot go in the off-season as I teach school.

Took a Globus tour of Scandinavian Capitals and St. Petersburg this summer, the hotels were all nice, centrally located, and the tour guide, a capable and intelligent Dutch lady who knew how to tour Russia , all made for a well-organized vacation!! Do not even consider going with one of the school-lead tours, like through a high school. They are expensive, and we have been cheated out of some money by one. Won't name. Bad experience.